Assessing Risk perception and Insurane Knowledge in Accra, Ghana Literature review

Assessing Risk perception and Insurane Knowledge in Accra, Ghana - Literature review Example Conventional policies have been used even though they are not necessary because the crisis in the Ghanaian insurance industry is not as acute as in some African countries. This has made a majority of the people in this city to participate in large scale asset purchasing and other business ventures with the aim of achieving stabilization in their lives and creation of employment (Buatsi, 2002). It has encouraged these individuals to turn towards the acquisition of insurance policies because of the risks involved in the diverse number of businesses that they are involved in despite the fact that the government policies that have been employed have created significant amounts of uncertainty with regards to their effectiveness hence proving the fact that its policies are not farsighted (Chalfin, 2008). One important channel that has come to affect the insurance policies is the currency value and much evidence shows that the depreciation of the currency value over the history of the count ry has tended to discourage individuals from subscribing for different insurance policies. The insurance policies in Ghana have been made in a manner that is relatively predictable and in asystematic way, the methods of advertising to the public by insurance companies has provided the latter with the necessary knowledge to know what type of policies to select for themselves. The key factors in these policies were aimed at being short term interest rates, and exchange rates together with monetary aggregates that could undergo adjustments in a free manner. One reason why many individuals choose to take insurance policies in this city is not necessarily to secure themselves against any potential losses but as a form of investment where they tend to put their spare money into what they consider to be worthwhile investments (Anim-Odame, 2012). Market expectations may also be considered to be a reason why individuals choose to purchase insurance policies because they believe that if anyth ing happens to the property which they have insured, then they will be able to recover it in a short time span from the insurance company. When normal rigidities in the insurance sector occur, changes in normal returns have an effect on the number of people who are interested in insuring themselves and this has over time been reflected in the economic decisions that were real which included investments and consumptions, as individuals opt to undertake lesser risks rather than purchase insurance policies. This has been observed to have an effect on the insurance sector as insurance companies compete to ensure that they attract a larger clientele than their rivals through the offering of insurance packages which are likely to encourage unlikely insurance policy purchasers to do so. While this has been the case in Accra, one of the biggest effects in the market was the global financial crisis which in the past few years has come to challenge the insurance industry of Ghana in three dif ferent ways. These have come to include financial disruptions that are wide spread, broke arbitrage conditions which hinders policy transmission on the yield curve; there is the presence of heightened vulnerability that leads to freezing of the markets, this is because there is the presence of self-fulfilling equillibria that is badly coordinated, and lastly there is severe recession that pushes the

Effects On Prisons On Inmates Essay Example for Free

Effects On Prisons On Inmates Essay In the premodern times, societies used to mutilate bodies and cut off the heads of their culprits as a way of punishing the wrongdoers. However through a series of imperceptible measures of reform and development, punishment became less physical and less directed to the body of the offenders as people became more civilized and the prisons replaced the gallows. They stopped locking up the insane in asylums and began forms of treatment in institutions which had features of both hospitals and prisons, (Alan Gary 4). In most parts of the world, it is taken that a person convicted of serious crime should be sent to prison. Countries like the U.S, where capital punishment has not yet been abolished, a small but significant number of people are sentenced to death for what is especially considered as grave crimes, (Angela 3). The condition of prisons in the past was a nightmare to both the country as well as the society as they were damp, dark, and noisy. Prison wardens were brutal, poor diet and miserable portions of food were given to prisoners who were usually dressed in rags and suffered from many diseases which were not treated in time resulting to poor heath of the inmates. All these inhuman acts were however viewed by the wardens as a way of punishment to prisoners and therefore the prisons lacked a sense of reformation and charity as brutal acts were directed to inmates. According to (Thomas 602), Inmates who entered prison capable of moral improvement went back in to the society as impure, hardened and irreclaimable persons as there was no separation of sexes, classification of age and character therefore the convicted felon corrupted the untried and innocent prisoners. The unfortunate According to (Douglas Eric 2004), military officers in Iraq used dogs to intimidate prisoners. This was one of the several tactics they adopted even without approval from their seniors. They set strict limits on Red Cross access to prisoners and delayed them and accused them of, unannounced visit to the cellblock where the worst abuses occurred. There were also unreported incidents in which Iraq prisoners died after being questioned by American interrogators. Initially, imprisonment was based on punishing wrongdoers by inflicting suffering of the body. However, today’s imprisonment is not only an acute form of corporal punishment, but as a way of working on a persons mind and body through three areas which include: punishment, deterrence and rehabilitation. Prisons are intended to allow the society remove criminals from them place them into an institution for reformation, persuade them to avoid activities which are not beneficial, and in time become productive and law abiding citizens. However this well thought plan is not put in place due to the bad experiences in prisons hence the initial meaning of prisons is not realized by the society.   The main objectives and responsibilities of prisons are to safeguard inmates and maintain and improve welfare of everyone in it. Safe guarding involves keeping inmates locked away and controlled while having moments of recreation, education and counseling. However, it should be realized that psychological freedom depends on relations with others and that it is what the prisoners experience in this world, attain satisfaction and avoid its detrimental effects and not the education or counseling that decide how, if ever, they will emerge hence life imprisonment of an inmate does not add to his becoming upright. It should therefore be remembered that offenders are drawn from societies where possessions are related to personal worth unlike in prison where they are reduced to a level of bare possessions. Lockups, isolation, condemnation and rejection dehumanize prisoners resulting to psychological discomforts to prisoners. A Prisons aim is to cure and straighten the bad behaviors of criminals, however their record has not been encouraging and instead they are found to do more harm than good as the pains of jail confinement affect all prisoners in different negative ways most of which destroy a person instead of reforming his or her past bad behavior. The need to quickly adapt to prison life and withstand prison shock, exposure to a new culture and maintain outside links like keeping in contact with family and friends becomes frustrating to prisoners. The prisoners must therefore determine their way of passing time which affects the great deal and this end up affecting them psychologically. (Tosh 43). All these question the practice of life imprisonment of people since instead of reforming them they end up becoming worse both in their behaviors and their psychological status. Prisons therefore should be opposed to the idea of locking up people for the rest of their lives to avoid more harm than good to them. (Alison 14-19), came up with several negative effects on prisoners as a result of imprisonment which therefore opposes the idea of life imprisonment. First is that imprisonment can be detrimental both to physical and mental health of prisoners particularly with regard to long term and aged prisoners. Though many prisoners receive medical treatment in prison that would be unavailable to them outside, the health risk of imprisonment are high, uneven and specific to the condition of confinement. For instance, Scottish prisons have reported increased risk of HIV and hepatitis B and C transmission due to random sharing of injection equipment, tattooing and unprotected sexual intercourse. One study estimates showed that 36% prisoners had injected themselves intravenously and 12% had anal intercourse at least once while in prison. Post- traumatic stress is second where its psychological effects apply to certain group of prisoners who have shown symptoms of PTSD in medico-legal assessments. Such symptoms can have debilitating effect and are associated with difficulties in restoring and maintaining relationships. High level of anxiety, disturbed sleep, chronic depression, withdrawal and persistent feeling of being different from others and from previous self are described by clinicians working with former prisoners. There may also be physical symptoms like increased arousal, outbursts of anger, difficulties in concentration and hyper vigilance which are associated with increased alcohol and drug abuse.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (Davis 322) in the third effect argued that inmates’ family and dependants suffer most. Despite considerable progress in understanding immediate and long term effects of separation trauma upon children, the impact of imprisonment upon the children of prisoners includes increased behavior disturbance and later delinquency, depression and feeling of low self esteem, behavioral disturbance and deterioration in school performance. Imprisonment and distance from crime is another effect which results to informal social control which suggests that social bonds like employment and marriage may inhibit offending. The imprisonment reduces opportunities to achieve relational and economic stability and therefore increase re-offending. Imprisonment also weakens the bonds and makes them difficult to re-establish hence suffering a significant source of legitimate or law abiding behavior and therefore imprisonment becomes part of the cycle of delinquency and crime. Another effect is on imprisonment and prison staff. Power especially overuse has dehumanizing effect as the culture of masculinity characteristic of prison staff bring a range of emotions and new emotion management techniques. Some of these techniques can lead to hardening, distancing and distrust. The process of adaptation could lead to enduring changes in their character and family life to preparedness to respond to danger. Imprisonments also result to some prisoners using sexual assaults and rape to make them feel powerful. Many of them use this assault to make them feel powerful than others and also express their manhood. The victims as a result are affected psychologically by being stressed, having nightmares and resulting to criminal activities and some forms of self destructive behaviour. The main solution to all these problems is to avoid inmate staying for a very long time in prisons since they tend to be harder than before and that certainly does not cure inmates rather it makes them more aggressive. Others is by ensuring good living and health conditions for the inmates, counsel them on how to handle people and relationships within and outside the prisons especially their families, provide good counseling facilities on the negative effects of using sex as a tool to feel good and demoralize other inmates. In conclusion prisons and punishments that are given to the prisoners do not necessarily bring a positive change of behaviour.In most cases they end up destroying the person as he or she becomes immune to the situations, therefore putting a person in prison for the rest of his/her life does not ensure behavior change and should therefore opposed. WORK CITED Angela Yvonne Davis Are prisoners obsolete? Seven stories press ISBN 1583225811, 2003 Alan Hunt and Gary Wickman Sociological jurisprudence Pluto press ISBN 0745308422, 1994   Douglas Jehl and Eric Schmitt New York times 21st May 2004 Joanne Mariner and Michael Bochenek punishment before trial Human rights watch org ISBN 1564322017, 1997 Tosh John The pains of imprisonment sage publications California 1982

The Failure of Software Copyright Law Essay -- Technology Computers Pa

The Failure of Software Copyright Law A Definition With the Copyright Act of 1980, the following was added to the existing copyright laws: A "computer program" is a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about a certain result.1 A "program" or "software" instructs the "hardware," the computer, in its task of adding, storing, exchanging data, etc.2 At the base level, a program is simply a mathematical algorithm, a stream of on/off states, which the hardware uses. Copyright and patent law has generally excluded mathematical algorithms from legal protection due to the social benefits of their widespread dissemination.3 Software, however, is primarily protected by copyright law under the premise that an author is entitled to the financial incentive. The debate is this: "Is there a way to protect innovators without strangling further innovation?"4 The Harms of Protection Early makers of computers handed out free accompanying software particular to their machines.5 Their thought was that this would encourage the purchase of their hardware. Soon, however, software producers began to copyright their products and the result was that each computer-maker had incompatible software.6 A company with sufficient lead-time ... ... 58 West's 3d, 10.4. 59 West's Feb. '90, 308. 60 ibid., 422. 61 Menell, 1084. 62 Menell, 1088. 63 Menell, 1087. 64 Menell, 1082. 65 Menell, 1088. 66 Weigner, 137. 67 Menell, 1078. 68 Barinaga, Marcia, "Computer microcode instructions judged within copyright," Nature 16 February 1989: 591. 69 Business Week, 122. 70 Menell, 1060. 71 Hammonds, 86.

What Are the Risks of an Extended Supply Chain?

What are the risks of an extended supply chain? In order to remain competitive, a company must offer superior quality goods or services at the lowest prices possible. Supply chain enables a company to reduce the cost while increasing the efficiency. However, there are risks that are associated with such benefits. These issues should be properly addressed when a company is trying to rely heavily on supply chain management in order to stay competitive within its industry. A company is exposed to risk by sharing confidential information to its vendors.For example, Apple recently reported that arts and specs for both the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini leaked out well before their release dates. Apple accused its vendors for information leak. â€Å"Apple’s security practices are targeted marking sure US employees don’t leak stuff, but everything comes out from China now. † A company is held accountable for its vendors being socially responsible. This includes making sure that vendors do not employ minors. For example, Nestle’s cocoa supplier, Ivory Coast, failed to pass the Fair Labor Association’s inspection because it employed children to process cocoa.Nestle’s held accountable for Ivory Coast’s violation of FLA, it will seriously damage the company’s image as well as its profits. While a proper supply chain management produces cost effective products, there is a setback as it is difficult to quality control products that a vendor produces from oversea. For example, in 2007, Toys R Us vendor Mattel produced 83 products containing lead based paint, which is hazardous to health. Consequently, Toys R Us had to recall 967,000 affected toys from reaching consumers. A natural disaster or political instability of a vendor’s country could affect a company’s operation.For example, Dallas-based Texas Instruments said late Monday that it had suffered substantial damage to its production plant in Miho, Japan an d slight damage to its Aizu-wakamatsu plant. Both facilities are located north of Tokyo in the areas most affected by the disaster. The company makes silicon wafers at its Miho plant, which are the thin pieces of silicon glass used to manufacture microchips. In conclusion, for those companies that rely heavily on extended supply chain management to remain lucrative should consider the following strategies to avoid the risks mentioned above.First, a company should have more flexibility. Flexibility, in this context, means that a company should incorporate a vendor-auditing program to make sure that it is meeting your standard. Second, a company should only share non-confidential information to its vendors to prevent them from compromising vital information. Lastly, a company should have multiple vendors to run a project in case one vendor fails to complete the project on timely manner. These are the key preventive strategy to avoid or mitigate the risks of a supply chain management.

At universities and colleges Essay

In today’s society, a large number of the students in universities and colleges have less physical exercise than ever before and hardly go out of the campus to have some social activities. Many people argue that students pay more attention to the study than their health which may because they[SQQ1] do not get enough financial support. As to this problem, I hold the opinion that sports and social activities are just the same significant as classes and libraries and receiving equal financial support can have many benefits though it still has some shortages[SQQ2]. In what follows, I will illustrate my point of view. First of all, today’s students need to face more challenges which means they specially should have a better body[SQQ3] to fight for their future. Enough sports and social activities can help them become healthy not only physically but also mentally. As we can see, some of the students in universities choose to end their own lives because of their pressure on scores or other things and we can easily find most of these students hardly do exercise and even never go out to do social activities such as volunteer work. If this part of the students can regard sports and social activities quite important, they may have a healthier psychology and may not end their own life[SQQ4]. Secondly, if the universities can give sports and activities equal financial support as classes and libraries and build up enough gyms and exercise areas, it can be more convenient for students to keep fit. Because of the schools’ support, the students do not need to go out of the school to do social activities and they can find more chances in school campus like joining the school’s Red Cross to visit the local welfare center for children. Also, the increasing sports place can even bring students the convenience to do any sports any time they like. However, it can still have several disadvantages. For example, the schools  may have less money than before to support students’ study which means the school may invite less famous professors from all over the world to make speech for students. In conclusion, I hold the view that sports and social activities should be regarded as important as classes and libraries and should also get the same large amount of financial support which can help the students have a healthy body physically and mentally. These two facto

More Names of Plants, Food, and Drinks Formed by Folk Etymology

More Names of Plants, Food, and Drinks Formed by Folk Etymology More Names of Plants, Food, and Drinks Formed by Folk Etymology More Names of Plants, Food, and Drinks Formed by Folk Etymology By Mark Nichol This post lists words derived from words in other languages as a result of folk etymology, a process by which speakers adopt the foreign terms after revising them by using existing elements from their native language. acorn: This word is descended from the Old English term aecerne, meaning â€Å"tree nut† but originally referring in various forms in Germanic languages to the trunk of a tree; by folk etymology, the current spelling derived from a false association with ac (â€Å"oak†) and corn (â€Å"grain†). (The word is, however, related to acre.) ketchup/catsup: Ketchup, which stems from various spellings of a Malay word probably based on the Chinese term koechiap, meaning â€Å"brine of fish,† originally referred to a fish sauce but now generally pertains to the tomato-based condiment; the word became a catch-all term for a variety of sauces and gravies, of which the most predominant in the United States, by the early nineteenth century, was tomato based. The variant catchup was eventually altered, perhaps from the influence of sup, to catsup, but ketchup predominates. chestnut: The name of a type of tree, the wood harvested from it, and the edible nut it produces stems from the Latin term castanea (probably itself borrowed from a language of Asia Minor) by way of Old French and Middle English. By the early 1500s, it was (redundantly) called a chesten nut; that word developed into the current form. couch grass: This term for various types of grass has nothing to do with furniture. The word couch, and variants quack, quitch, twitch, and witch, are all corruptions of the Old English word cwice, meaning â€Å"alive† and also the forebear of quick, meaning â€Å"alive† in addition to its primary sense of â€Å"fast† (as in the phrase â€Å"the quick and the dead,† which alludes to contrasting states of being). dogwood: The first element of these names for various trees and shrubs and wood produced by dogwood trees, and the berries they produce, has nothing to do with canines; dogwood is a corruption of dagwood, with the same first element as dagger. (The very hard wood of the tree was used for making arrows and skewers.) gin: Gin, the name for a liquor flavored with juniper berries, is a truncation of genever, related to the Old French term genià ©vre and the Dutch word jenever, all of which derive from the Latin word juniperus. gingerbread: The name of the molasses- and ginger-based confection has nothing to do with bread; the term derives from the Old French word gingembrat, a variation of gimgembre, meaning â€Å"ginger.† Gingembrat, and its Middle English derivation gingebred, referred originally to a ginger paste used both in cooking and medicine. gooseberry: This shrub and its berry have no association with waterfowl; the first element may be a corruption of the Old French term grosele or the German word Krausebeere. jerky: The name of the dried meat is from the word ch’arki, from Quechua, the language of the Incas, by way of the American Spanish term charqui, meaning â€Å"jerked meat.† (Jerked means â€Å"sun-dried.†) Jerusalem artichoke: The name of this sunflower and its edible tubers has no association with the Middle Eastern city; the first word is a corruption of the Italian term girasole (â€Å"sunflower†). (The second element of that word, which was adopted directly into English, is from the Latin word sol, meaning â€Å"sun.†) rosemary: The name of this herb has nothing to do with the rose or the name Mary; it is a corruption of rosmarine, from the Latin term rosmarinus, meaning â€Å"dew of the sea,† alluding to the flourishing of the plant near coasts. (Marinus, from which marine is derived, means â€Å"from the sea.†) sandalwood: Various types of wood have been used to make sandals, but sandalwood is not one of them. Sandal, in this word, derives from the Sanskrit term Ä andana-m, which may have alluded to its use for burning incense. (That Sanskrit word, which passed through Greek, Latin, Old French, and Middle English in various forms, may be related to the Latin word candere, meaning â€Å"glow† or â€Å"shine,† from which candle is descended.) shamrock: There’s no connection between the clover and the notion of a fake stone; shamrock is merely the Anglicized spelling of the Irish word seamrog. spare rib: This term for a cut of pork ribs alludes to its scarcity of fat, but the source is the Middle Low German word ribbesper; sper meant â€Å"spear† or â€Å"spit† and referred to the method of roasting the meat on a spit. (Spear, spar, and spire are all related.) (This post is a sequel to a previous post.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:85 Synonyms for â€Å"Help†Abstract Nouns from Adjectives50 Tips on How to Write Good

20 Biology Essay Topics What to Discuss about Alfred Russel Wallace vs Charles Darwin

20 Biology Essay Topics What to Discuss about Alfred Russel Wallace vs Charles Darwin If you are tasked with writing a controversial essay on the topic of Alfred Russell Wallace versus Charles Darwin, it is important that you pick a controversial topic about which you can substantiate an argumentative paper. If you are having any difficulties finding the perfect topic, look over the list of 20 topics below: Apply Wallace’s Idea in an Animal Species of Your Choosing That Variation in Animal Species Is Indicative of the Necessary Changes The Impact of Darwin’s Work on His Colleagues How Publishing Books Compares to Publishing Articles in Academic Journals (is Darwin better known around the world then and today because he published multiple books widely available to the masses, or would he have been less famous if he followed in the footsteps of Wallace and published only academic journal articles for those within his field?) How Darwin Influenced His Field Compared to How Wallace’s Impact What Impact Can the Length of Time Have on Biological Studies? (comparing the notes by Wallace and Darwin from Brazil, and the amount of time each spent there) â€Å"The Descent of Man† and the Impact It Continues to Have Today The Formal Education: Wallace vs Darwin Did Darwin Steal Wallace’s Theory of Natural Selection? â€Å"The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals† and the Impact It Had at the Time of Its Publication The Comparison of Two Different Adaptations Made by Two Species Living in Different Ecosystems (e.g. the development of improved hearing and the loss of eyesight for lizards that dwell in pitch black caves in South America compared to now-land-based species which have grown larger eyeballs since emerging from their prehistoric ocean-based counterpart) How Important Is Formal Education? (Wallace didn’t get formal education) Why Both Wallace and Darwin Discovered the Theory of Natural Selection Independently but Only One is Referred to Today How Wallace’s Concept That Each Part of an Animal’s Organization Can Be Modified as Necessary to an Exact Specification to Prevent Extinction Can be Applied to People Living in Space The Events Which Caused Wallace to Go from Being the Most Famous Biologist around the World at the Time of His Death, to be Overshadowed After Why â€Å"Darwin Theory of Evolution† Today Changed from Its Original â€Å"The Darwin-Wallace Theory of Evolution† The Theory of Evolution and What Evidence Is Presented to Support It â€Å"The Power of Movement in Plants† and How It Is Relevant Today Why Do Certain Organizations Continue to Ignore the Theory of Natural Selection and Evolution? The Importance of Information Presented by Both Wallace and Darwin in Today’s World The Impact That the Findings of either Wallace or Darwin Has Had on Other Fields Beyond Biology Sample Essay: Theories of Evolution and Natural Selection The Theory of Evolution and that of Natural Selection were proposed in 1859 and have since remained ignored by individual sections of society. Certain organizations continue to ignore the theory of natural selection and evolution because of its conflict with their personal beliefs. This is something namely associated with religious organizations, as many of Darwin’s counterparts accepted his beliefs after a few decades. Charles Darwin published his book on the idea of natural selection and the theory of origins in 1859. This book details how every species originates from common ancestors and how each species has the unique ability to adapt itself over time to existing environments. Traits which are no longer viable to the overall survival of a species are eventually removed from the genetic code of the species, replaced by more desirable traits. Upon publishing this information, many scientific members of the community did not agree with all of the information being presented. It took decades for all members of the educated and scientific communities to come around to acceptance, something which took place after substantial review of the data and evidence Darwin presented. Upon confirmation that he was not the only one to present such findings, this theory was widely accepted. Darwin began to discuss the implication of these findings with other communities, such as philosophers and religious leaders. Then, as it remains today, many religious units fail to accept the theory of evolution in the face of substantial scientific evidence. Certain religious groups, such as those following Ken Hamm, do not accept the theory or the evidence because they claim the scientific method itself to be flawed, to be a unique way of testing data which they do not accept. Other religious groups such as Protestant followers do not accept the theory of evolution or natural selection because it implies that all beings originate from the same ancestor and in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament, there are verses which state that it was a deity who created a list of species one day after the next, and not that all species came from one another. For this reason, many groups refuse today to accept the scientifically proven results presented by Darwin. References Darwin, Charles, Frederick Burkhardt, and Duncan M. Porter.  The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. Vol. 13. Cambridge University Press, 2002. Darwin, Charles.  More letters of Charles Darwin: a record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. Vol. 2. D. Appleton, 1903. Darwin, Charles, Paul Ekman, and Phillip Prodger.  The expression of the emotions in man and animals. Oxford University Press, USA, 1998. Spruce, Richard, and Alfred Russel Wallace.  Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, 2014. Wallace, Alfred Russel.  The geographical distribution of animals: with a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the earths surface. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press, 2011. Wallace, Alfred Russel, and James Marchant.  Alfred Russel Wallace: letters and reminiscences. Harper, 1916. Wallace, Alfred Russel, and Sir James Marchant.  Alfred Russel Wallace. Cassell, Limited, 1916.

The Most Common North American Spruces

The Most Common North American Spruces A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the earth. In North America, there are 8 important spruce species most important to the  timber trade, the Christmas tree industry and to landscapers. Spruce trees grow at either high altitudes in the southern Appalachians to New England or at higher latitudes in Canada and the higher elevations of Pacific coastal mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Red spruce occupies the Appalachians into upper Northeastern states and provinces. White and blue spruce trees mainly grow throughout most of Canada. Englemann spruce, blue spruce, and Sitka  spruce are native to the western states and Canadian provinces.   Note: Norway spruce is a common non-native European tree that has been extensively planted and has naturalized in North America. They are primarily found in areas of the Northeast, the Great Lake States and Southeastern Canada and the best are cut for New York Citys Rockefeller  Center annual Christmas Tree. Identification of the Common North American Spruce Trees Spruces are large trees and can be distinguished by their whorled branches where needles radiate equally in all directions around the branch (and look very much like a bristle brush). The needles of spruce trees are attached singly to the branches sometimes in a spiral fashion. On firs, there is  a distinct lack of needles on the bottom side of its  twig, unlike spruces that carry needles in a whirl all around the twig. In true firs, the base of each needle is attached to a twig by a structure that looks like a suction cup.   On the other hand, each spruce needle is situated on a small peg-like structure called a pulvinus. This  structure will remain on the branch after the needle drops and will have a rough texture to the touch. The needles (with the exception of Sitka spruce) under magnification are clearly four-sided, four-angled and with four whitish stripe line. The cones of spruce are oblong and cylindrical that tend to be attached to limbs mostly at the top of the trees. Fir trees also have similar looking  cones,  primarily at the top, but tend  to stand upright where spruce hangs downward. These cones do not drop and disintegrate attached to the tree twig.   The Common North American Spruce Red spruceColorado blue spruceBlack spruceWhite spruceSitka spruceEnglemann spruce More on Spruce Trees Spruces, like firs, have absolutely no insect or decay resistance when exposed to the outside environment. Therefore, the wood  is generally recommended for indoor housing use, for sheltered support framing and in furniture for cheaper structural construction. It is also used when pulped to make bleached softwood kraft. Spruce is considered to be a significant North American timber product and the timber trade gives it names like SPF (spruce, pine, fir) and whitewood. Spruce wood is used for many purposes, ranging from general construction work and crates to highly specialized uses in wooden aircraft. The  Wright brothers first aircraft, the  Flyer, was built of spruce. Spruces are popular ornamental trees in the  horticultural landscaping trade and enjoyed  for their evergreen, symmetrical narrow-conic growth habit. For the same reason, non-native  Norway spruce is also extensively used as  Christmas trees. The Most Common North American Conifer List Bald cypress  - Genus  TaxodiumCedar  - Genus  CedrusDouglas Fir  - Genus  PseudotsugaTrue Fir  - Genus  AbiesHemlock  - Genus  TsugaLarch  - Genus  LarixPine  - Genus  PinusRedwood  - Genus  SequoiaSpruce  - Genus  Picea

Week4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week4 - Essay Example The above firms’ intellectual properties are patents, trademarks and other trade secrets like product design more so in relation to Covidien. These go a long way in protecting the companies’ production and innovations. BioMarin is heavily guarded by these intellectual properties as it deals with a tighter environment which is about chemical compositions, discoveries and developments. Factors considered in determining intellectual properties range from the type of products or services that the firms deal in and the nature of the industry according to Lindberg (2008). As earlier mentioned BioMarin is in the drug manufacturing arena which has stiff intellectual property rules and regulations. Each brand’s trademark needs to be well guarded as well as its chemical composition. For Covidien, the design of the surgical products is more important to patent. This is because a design is there for all to see and another firm may adopt it altogether if not lawfully guarded. Intellectual properties are quite expensive to acquire and maintain. This is more so in respect to health related products. Lindberg (2008) states that huge amount of time and resources are poured into research so as to come up with a unique product and to have such a product patented and inserted as a trademark. In the current global market place and intensified competition, stiffer environment is in the offing for entrepreneurs wishing to start operations. Firms are facing challenges which there before were not as huge as today making the contemporary market place a huge challenge to overcome. One of these is stiffer laws on copyrights, patenting and other intellectual property factors says Reynolds (2007). Due to increased competition firms are finding it prudent to have their products protected and this has become a huge requirement. As mentioned earlier, the entrepreneur will need to cough more and spend more time in these

Discussion Questions #3 and #4 Personal Statement

Discussion Questions #3 and #4 - Personal Statement Example This has become an accepted economic activity in some countries bringing about a heated debate in some areas as to whether it is moral or not. Aesthetics are not left behind. The dressing codes of people are aimed at attracting the attention of others. In some areas, some clothes are not acceptable especially by females as they are seen to expose them naked hence entice the male counterparts to desire them sexually. This is seen as dangerous to the society because of several sexually transmitted diseases that can potentially claim lives of people thereby drastically reducing human population (White, 2004, p. 116). Zero population growth refers to the situation where there is no growth in human population. It technically occurs when the number of babies born is equal to the number of people dying. It could be reasonable for the world’s global growth since it makes it possible to predict and plan effectively for both the current and future populations. However, it is not attainable since there are different policies in different countries regarding issues of

Happiness in the Main Pursuit of Humans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Happiness in the Main Pursuit of Humans - Essay Example The protagonists in both stories go through their life searching for their true happiness. Gatsby in Great Gatsby tries to gain happiness in searching for his lost love. Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God tries to gain happiness in searching for a true love. Gatsby’s love for Daisy is very evident in his musings about her. He says that â€Å"once in awhile I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time (Fitzgerald, 251). But he begins to get entangled in his occasional sprees leading him to find temporary happiness in wealth and fame. When he felt that good feeling in being rich and famous, he began to veer away from his real pursuit. He begins to justify his clamor for wealth as a means to impress Daisy and to win her back. He starts to believe that his wealth is the key to get her love back and away from Tom, her husband. Yes, he succeeds in winning back the affection of Daisy, but it became a hollowed succe ss as Daisy realizes that Gatsby became strongly attached to his wealth. The luster of money and power blinds him and he begins to lose his grip of his true goal: to win back Daisy. Gatsby’s search for Daisy is analogous to anyone’s search for the American dream. ... The American dream is set on principles of success and possession of wealth. Daisy is the American dream. Gatsby’s migration from his birthplace to the town is actually an allusion to the mass migration to the United States, the land of opportunities, or so they say. But the American dream is not an easy thing to achieve as Gatsby finds it difficult to win back Daisy. He needed to work hard to achieve material success, which he wrongly believed would be the way to win back Daisy. Daisy was still a green light, â€Å"minute and far away†¦(like) the end of the dock† (Fitzgerald, 152). While Gatsby knew who his true love is, Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God searches for the one. She begins her conquest of true love when she witnessed a bee pollinating a flower in her backyard pear tree. Her three marriages signify the different life lessons that made her conclude what true love really is. Her first marriage is pre-arranged by her grandmother. Her grandmother stro ngly believed that the marriage will ensure the Janie’s well-being and future. Unfortunately, Janie has a totally different perspective about love and marriage. She feels unhappy and trapped and so she breaks away from the first marriage only to find herself in yet another disappointing married life. This further proves that wealth and power can never guarantee one’s happiness. With Joe, she is the unappreciated wife, only the wife. Although she is at the peak of a great life, with great wealth, power and fame, it is only an illusion because it is not hers. It is her husband’s and she is not very keen on that. She wants to speak up but she is silenced. She strives to become an individual apart from just being the wife of Joe to no avail. Joe is always there to limit her and her

The Role of the World Bank in a Global Economy Essay

The Role of the World Bank in a Global Economy - Essay Example d its operations on 25 June 1946 and its first loan was approved on 9 May 1947 for the postwar rehabilitation and reconstruction ventures as concerns to France. It was at the time the largest loans to have been issued by the World Bank. The five parts (agencies) of the World Bank comprise of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Development Association (IDA), International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and lastly the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The activities of the World Bank emphasize more on its role towards the developing nations, ones which are doing their best to catch on to the bandwagon of the developed nations. The fields that the World Bank focuses upon in these developed nations include human development which can take into concern the subjects related with education and health. Then there is the field of agriculture and rural areas development emp hasizing more towards the irrigation activities and steps and the rural services. Environmental protection is also a related field coming under the focus discussion of the World Bank. This field takes a look at the areas which discuss the reduction of pollution as well as the manners in which regulations could not only be established but also enforced as a result. Infrastructure is a significant area that is seen courtesy the World Bank whereby the main point of emphasis is on the construction of roads, electricity provision and urban regeneration. Governance is the last pivotal area that World Bank takes into account and this speaks about the anti-corruption laws and measures in place and if the same are missing, then the manner in which these can be had in the first place. Also governance entails of the development of the legal institutions and other relevant corporations coming under this banner. World Bank tries its best to provide loans and other related incentives at preferent ial

Creative memoir Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Creative memoir - Essay Example My nanny saw me and took me in her arms and tried explaining that my beloved grandmother had passed away and the people were mourning for her. My grandmother laid on a makeshift wooden bed in the living room. Soon people started moving from the house to go prepare the burial ground where she would be buried and I could not understand the burial process. I had a lot of questions about it and I approached my father who was accompanied by other men. He explained that they were burying her in the ground in a hole and close up the hole with dirt. Even though I did not understand the ritual, I knew that underground was full of insects and they would surely eat my grandmother and harm her. There was also a lot of mud on the ground and I was adamant right then that I would not go underground amidst all the mud and insects but this statement only raised laughter all around my uncles. I realize now after reflecting on that moment that all of us have to die someday and according to my culture be buried underground in a grave. Further reflection makes me understand that they were laughing at my innocence and lack of knowledge of our culture and the world in general like I do now. Meanwhile inside the house, my mother who was stricken with grief sat done on my grandmother’s bed crying her eyes out. Since no one was providing me with answers about death, I assumed my grandmother would hear me and explain it herself. All my efforts to talk to her were futile as she could obviously not hear or understand. Throughout my childhood, I did not understand the issue but years later I came to understand the issue of death. My mother fainted soon afterwards and was taken to my grandmother’s bedroom to be attended. I accompanied her out of curiosity as to what had happened to her as well as out of concern mixed with fear. The room was filled with nine other people all talking animatedly about the life of my grandmother and her good selfless deeds all around the neighborhood and

Reclassification of marijuana Annotated Bibliography

Reclassification of marijuana - Annotated Bibliography Example 2. The article titled Medical Marijuana: Legalities and Health Condition Uses describes possible therapeutic applications and uses of marijuana in medicine as well as the benefits it gives to patients. In addition to this, the article provides the information on legal and semi legal marijuana use in various countries and in the USA by states. The article can be used in the research for it provides a short review of positive sides and also shows that many countries have chosen to use marijuana in medicine because of the benefits it gives. 3. The article The Pharmacologic and Clinical Effects of Medical Cannabis summarizes the information on the medical use and benefits of medical cannabis for patients. In particular, the article describes pharmacodynamics of cannabis and describes its role in treating the most common conditions, which are pain and muscle spasms. The article is useful and relevant to the research as it shows that marijuana should be reclassified for its use leads to significant improvement in different types of muscle spasticity and pain. 4. The article titled The Medical Necessity for Medicinal Cannabis describes the research on the influence of cannabis on the state of patients with cancer. The article provides evidence on the improvement in symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, weight loss, loss of appetite, anxiety, depression etc. The positive effects of marijuana on different cancer-related symptoms described in the article suggest the use of cannabis in medical practice should be legalized. 5. The article Marijuana: Myths vs. Reality deals with the most common misconceptions associated with the use of cannabis in medicine and marijuana legalization. The article lists the myths and, more importantly, dispels them. The article can be useful for the research for it puts common myths and misconceptions about medical use of marijuana to rest and provides background for the further

Creative memoir Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Creative memoir - Essay Example My nanny saw me and took me in her arms and tried explaining that my beloved grandmother had passed away and the people were mourning for her. My grandmother laid on a makeshift wooden bed in the living room. Soon people started moving from the house to go prepare the burial ground where she would be buried and I could not understand the burial process. I had a lot of questions about it and I approached my father who was accompanied by other men. He explained that they were burying her in the ground in a hole and close up the hole with dirt. Even though I did not understand the ritual, I knew that underground was full of insects and they would surely eat my grandmother and harm her. There was also a lot of mud on the ground and I was adamant right then that I would not go underground amidst all the mud and insects but this statement only raised laughter all around my uncles. I realize now after reflecting on that moment that all of us have to die someday and according to my culture be buried underground in a grave. Further reflection makes me understand that they were laughing at my innocence and lack of knowledge of our culture and the world in general like I do now. Meanwhile inside the house, my mother who was stricken with grief sat done on my grandmother’s bed crying her eyes out. Since no one was providing me with answers about death, I assumed my grandmother would hear me and explain it herself. All my efforts to talk to her were futile as she could obviously not hear or understand. Throughout my childhood, I did not understand the issue but years later I came to understand the issue of death. My mother fainted soon afterwards and was taken to my grandmother’s bedroom to be attended. I accompanied her out of curiosity as to what had happened to her as well as out of concern mixed with fear. The room was filled with nine other people all talking animatedly about the life of my grandmother and her good selfless deeds all around the neighborhood and

Introduction to social media in the classroom Research Proposal

Introduction to social media in the classroom - Research Proposal Example The intended audience for this study will be teachers, students and administrators of institutions who are keen to reduce the negative effect that social media has in classroom learning and gain from the benefits that it promises to bring. This study is important in the sense that it provides insights to how social media has been used by students in classroom settings; this will inform this research on how to carry out this (Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2012). Literature will also provide insights on how scholars designed their research in order to answer their research questions; this will be relevant in this study since the research design used by previous scholars may be applicable to this study, therefore saving on time. The literature reviewed will also be used as a comparison tool for this study to ascertain the precision of the result. An experimental design will be used where the respondents will be divided into two groups, the experiment group will be allowed to access social sites for a week where statistics on their usage will be carried out, and the other group will not be allowed to use social networks for a week, after the experimentation period, questionnaires were given to the students. The study population is defined as all the elements involved in a study that satisfy the sample selection criteria to be included in the study, in our case, the population consists of all the students and the teaching staff of selected institutions. A sample size of 60 students was selected from schools where the experimental group would consist of 40 students and the remaining 20 would belong to the control group. The students who were selected to participate in the study were required to have been in the institution for at least one academic year and must be active users of at least two social media sites. A questionnaire and an in-depth interview were identified as the most

Japanese Management System Essay Example for Free

Japanese Management System Essay Management Styles Corporation management is necessary for an institution to survive during times of change as it is the role of management to provide a plan of action, leadership and delegation of authority. Management structure ensures growth will be maintained for the organization and that the corporation will continue to function. Multiple styles of management are determined by who has the responsibility for the delegation of responsibility for decision-making as well as the degree of participation in the decision-making processes across the company. In general, management systems appear to be impacted upon by the aims of the corporation, the magnitude of the organization and the cultural context the organization operates within (Kim, pp. 538-39). Optimal management style is essential to a corporation as the style used will determine how the institutions processes are organized, as well as how efficiently employees will work cooperatively or in competition with each other. Work experiences such as employee cooperation, corporation leadership and employee loyalty to the company will be dependant on the style of management used by the corporation. As such, it is important for different nations to develop human resource management practices that reflect their local circumstances and socio-cultural, political and economic situations. For example, some Asian nations such as South Korea, Taiwan and Japan have adopted a HRM strategy that is grounded in Confucian values of respect for the family foremost, and an emphasis on obligations to the collective (Rowden, pp. 163-64). Japanese Management System Japan is a democratic nation and has a highly refined and formalized culture that is in many ways restrained. The work ethics of Japanese business appears to focus dealing with work pressures in ways that are remarkably different to those of western industries. This is due to the lifetime socialization of Japanese citizens to think in terms of the collective, and behaviours that resemble individualism are highly discouraged. One way to ensure that its people conform to the practice of â€Å"maintaining face† is by the use of ostracism to disengage the non-conforming individualist from the group. Hence, team work and cooperative practices are very salient within the Japanese society. Especially, employees work with a high commitment to their organization, and also display a commitment to the economic welfare of their nation. The Japanese legal system maintains the labour standards that currently exist, a principle one being lifetime employment. Although some employees would prefer a different system to lifetime employment, the ingrained cultural management means that the practice is likely to remain. In fact the government and industry work together most cooperatively. The overall aim of the nation and its industries appears to be steady and continuous growth rather than a focus on profits, shareholder interests are secondary, and investors appear to be content with making minimal profits as long as growth is the focus. The form of management appears to be quite paternal and authoritarian (Mroczkowski, pp. 21-22). Japan tends to be very authoritarian in management style, and so there is little dispersion of power sharing across the company. Redundancy does not seem to be a concern for employees, as lifetime employment ensures that they are receiving a wage at home or they are relegated to another part of the company. As part of lifetime employment the homes of employees may likely be owned by the corporation that they work for. Employees tend to go on leisure trips as a group. Many areas of employee’s lives are influenced by the corporation that they work with. This is one of the ways conformity is expected. There is an emphasis on a team-oriented approach to corporate running. This incorporates Common and consistent goals, Organizational commitment, Role clarity among team members, Team leadership, Mutual accountability with the team, Complementary knowledge and skills, Reinforcement of required behavioural competencies and shared rewards. It s expected that such approaches fulfil the familial and community need that there is a gap present in today’s society, and so the company can fulfil a basic human need. Kaizen   The Japanese style of management is clearly characteristic of its collectivist cultural background. Foremost, the most prominent characteristic of the Japanese corporation is that it is family like in quality. As such, the Japanese corporation can be described as an â€Å"entity† firm, in contrast to a â€Å"property† firm. As an entity, the corporation functions as an institution in that it is maintained across time and has an identity of its own, that is separate and non-dependant on the employees and managers who work within it. This system of corporate governance has existed by way of lifetime employment, seniority of wages and promotion, as well as enterprise-based unions. Lifetime employment is characterized by management being primarily of employees who have spent their entire career within the firm. In this way the seniority wage system could be utilized as a promotion process by way of seniority of age and on the job task ability. Performance merit remained and rivalry was highly dependant on ones ability to cooperate with others (Bamber, p. 303).    What Is The Japanese Management System? This segment sketches the chief management practices that are mostly agreed to have applied in Japan until now, at least in large corporations in the manufacturing sector. As we shall notice afterward, the system as illustrated here is currently experiencing significant amendments. Employment and Personnel Practices Amongst many prominent features of the Japanese management structure, one is the lifetime service. The expression is, however, something of a misnomer and is better expressed as enduring employment with a particular firm. In comparison with much western practice, large firms in Japan aim to sign up all their employees, both blue and white collar, directly from the learning system. Regular workers enter the firm at its minor levels and are then projected to keep with it for the rest of their operational lives. Though some movement between firms is bearable, this is generally restricted to immature employees at the start of their profession. Apart from this, there is an indulgent between employer and employee that to depart the firm amounts to a severe contravene of mutual commitment. This system is self-maintaining because large firms hardly ever enlist personnel from other corporations. Once the preliminary exploration phase is over, employees cannot leave without rigorously damaging their profession prospects. To westerners, life span employment seems perplexing, not least because it appears to restrain a firms capability to amend its employment costs in response to varying business surroundings. But the system is underpinned by the use of transitory workers who can be laid off as the need arises. Lifetime service is therefore far from worldwide in Japan, even in large manufacturing companies. Furthermore, women are expelled from the system. Some approximations have indicated that only 40 to 60% of those functioning in large firms and trading houses are covered by lifetime employment (Coad, pp. 314-16). New employees are given exhaustive technical guidance plus a more general orientation into the firms culture covering such subjects as its history and values. Additional training is offered during each step of the employees livelihood, and is anticipated to be taken very sincerely. For example, upgrading to better levels may depend on successful completion of the firms encouragement examinations. Job-rotation is another major trait of Japanese management approach and is not limited to ground levels and carries on all the way through an employees live of business. Besides rewards of job-security, pay and position, Japanese firms offer a broad range of safety benefits. These may consist of financial support with housing and schooling, medicinal facilities, free transportation and social conveniences. Retirement profits are, however, insufficient by western principles. As with life span employment, welfare necessities express the paternalistic relationship among employer and employee, although momentary workers are not permitted to obtain these benefits. They are also disqualified from membership of the organization union.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Finally, the Japanese policy to decision-making involves wide communication and discussion. Suggestions for change are disseminated within the organization and intricate attempts are made to secure agreement from the parties that are likely to be influenced. Ideas for enhancement to operating actions are encouraged from underneath and are considered at every stage until an agreement is completed (House, pp. 6-7). Taken collectively, practices such as lifetime service, constant teaching and job-rotation, seniority-based pay and sponsorship, wide-range welfare necessities, and agreement decision-making provide centre employees with employment sanctuary, non-stop upgrading in pay and status over a long period, extensive all-encompassing safety benefits, proficiency development through training, and a grade of contribution in decision-making. In return, employees are predicted to display full commitment to their job and to their company. Japanese Management in Japan The well-known advocates of learning from Japan be predisposed to assume that Japans employment and personnel practices and the Japanese management style were the foremost causes of the success of large firms, and hence of national success. Although Japans economy has been triumphant, its industry has not been uniformly so. Industrial and hi-tech competitiveness is one of the burning current issues in Japan. Japans dominance in manufacturing has been displayed chiefly in the mass-production and high-technology industries. This could signify that firms in less successful industries have not applied the employment and personnel practices of Japanese management in the way that those in flourishing industries have (Grein and Takada, pp. 19-20). But an alternative and more reasonable possibility is that these practices are less important to success than has been assumed. Conclusion Yet, the Japanese management system should not be conceptualized as if it is composed only by practices within firms. Japans system of alliance capitalism comprises commonly supportive networks of industrial and financial firms and relations with government which play a momentous role in the economys operation.   Theorists argued that Japans system is adjusting to new conditions but that its basic model of corporate governance, struggle and employment remains largely intact. So even if the personnel practices practiced by large Japanese firms are uniting with those of the Western States, Japans overall management system looks likely to retain its pre-eminent character. Works Cited Bamber, G. and Leggett, C. (2001), Changing employment relations in the Asia-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pacific Region, International Journal of Management, Vol. 22 No.4, pp. 303. Coad, A.F. (2002), Not everything is black and white for falling dominoes, Leadership and Organization Development Journal, Vol. 21 No.6, pp. 314-16. Grein, A.F. and Takada, H. (2001), Integration and responsiveness: marketing strategies of Japanese and European automobile manufacturers, Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 9 No.2, pp.19-20. House, R. (2002), Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE, Journal of World Business, Vol. 37 No.1, pp. 6-7. Kim, J. (2000), Perceptions of Japanese organizational culture, Journal of Managerial Culture, Vol. 15 No.6, pp. 538–39. Mroczkowski, T. and Hanaoka, M. (1998), The End of Japanese Management: How Soon? Human Resource Planning, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 21-22. Rowden, R.W. (2002), The strategic role of human resource management in developing a global corporate culture, International Journal of Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp.163-164.

Essay --

The documentary titled Killer at Large: Why Obesity is America’s Greatest Threat is a documentary shedding some light on the growing trend of America and its expanding waistlines. The documentary is geared to unmask the epidemic of obesity in our country. The film sheds some light to our society is how our society is fixated with living and unhealthy lifestyle. The film goes on to inform you on how bad the situation really is, where two-thirds of the American population qualifies as obese or overweight. The documentary tried to uncover the root and causes of how this epidemic came to be and how it can be reversed. This documentary shows great examples on how obesity is a rapidly growing epidemic as important as terrorism according to Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona. He stated, â€Å"Obesity is a terror within. It destroys our society from within†¦.† If we don’t take responsibility and change our horrible eating patter we are going to be doomed. One of the main reasons for obesity other than the lack of a healthy diet is the modernization of our world. In the years when our parents... Essay -- The documentary titled Killer at Large: Why Obesity is America’s Greatest Threat is a documentary shedding some light on the growing trend of America and its expanding waistlines. The documentary is geared to unmask the epidemic of obesity in our country. The film sheds some light to our society is how our society is fixated with living and unhealthy lifestyle. The film goes on to inform you on how bad the situation really is, where two-thirds of the American population qualifies as obese or overweight. The documentary tried to uncover the root and causes of how this epidemic came to be and how it can be reversed. This documentary shows great examples on how obesity is a rapidly growing epidemic as important as terrorism according to Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona. He stated, â€Å"Obesity is a terror within. It destroys our society from within†¦.† If we don’t take responsibility and change our horrible eating patter we are going to be doomed. One of the main reasons for obesity other than the lack of a healthy diet is the modernization of our world. In the years when our parents...

Allegory and Truman Show Essay -- Allegory Cave Truman Show Essays

Allegory and Truman Show The Allegory of the Cave has many parallels with The Truman Show. Initially, Truman is trapped in his own â€Å"cave†; a film set or fictional island known as Seahaven. Truman’s journey or ascension into the real world and into knowledge is similar to that of Plato’s cave dweller. In this paper, I will discuss these similarities along with the very intent of both of these works whose purpose is for us to question our own reality. In his Allegory Plato shows us how a man ascends from the darkness of a cave to the light of the outside world. In this ascent Plato’s man passes through four distinct stages of cognition: from imagination, to belief, understanding, and finally knowledge. Imagination In this first stage of cognition, the cave dweller is shackled and can only see shadows of figures on the wall in front of him. His reality is based on his imagination of these figures. â€Å"To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.† Similarly, Truman’s reality is based on this imaginary world where his parents, wife, and everyone else around him are hired actors. Early in the film Truman seems to be happy although he is already starting to imagine himself in Fiji which he points out is the furthest place from Seahaven. Belief In the second stage, the cave dweller can now see the objects that previously only appeared to him as shadows. â€Å"Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer th...

Geof is the only genuine caring character in the play Essay

Geof is the only genuine caring character in the play; the others are totally selfish and self centred. Discuss this statement. From the beginning of the play we can see Jo is the main character, she is highly independent and self reliant this is obvious from one of the opening pages were Jo’s mum Helen states ‘children owe their parents these little attentions’ to which Jo replies with ‘I don’t owe you a thing.’ This shows Jo sees her relationship with her mother as strained, she feels she has brought herself up and not really had her mother their to support her. She has learnt to rely on herself and not trust her mother. When Jo becomes pregnant with a black boy form the navy, who leaves her pregnant Jo reacts badly because she is so independent and used to looking after herself. Geof (Jo’s gay friend) offers her a shoulder to turn to and she turns on him ‘I’m not planning big plans for this baby or dreaming big dreams. You Know what happens when you do things like that. The baby will be born dead or daft!’ She feels she has let herself down and been promiscuous, however the sailor boy was offering her marriage and love before he left, she felt in a safe relationship and that was why she slept with him. But Jo just sees that she’s made the same mistakes her mother made when she had her at a young age. Most expectant mothers don’t have this negative attitude towards their unborn child however I feel it’s because she thinks she may let the child down like her mother let her down. Jimmy the black boy from the navy who got Jo pregnant gave the impression of a kind and genuine character who did honestly love Jo until he left. In my opinion he loved her and did intend to return for her but got scared of the prejudice he would face if he did return. He said to Jo about her mother finding out about their engagement ‘She’ll see a coloured boy.’ He obviously felt his race was going to be an issue in their relationship and how it was perceived and was worried about it. Jo however did know Jimmy was in the navy and even said to him on one occasion ‘I might as well be naughty while I’ve got the chance. I’ll probably never see you again I know it.’ So I believe deep down Jo knew there was a chance she wouldn’t be seeing him again. In my opinion Helen did love her daughter she just didn’t know how to treat her, maybe it was because she had her at a young age? She seems to think she should treat her daughter like a friend, she even encourages her underage daughter to drink ‘You don’t smell it, you drink it!’ I think the only way Helen knew to make her daughter love her was the way she made men love her, by getting her drunk. Helen did want her daughter to make something of her life I feel. She encouraged her to draw, saying her drawings were very good ‘Have you ever thought of going to a proper art school and getting proper training?’ But I think the main reason she wanted Jo to make something of herself was so she could sponge of her. Helen says to Jo ‘When you start earning you can start moaning.’ In my opinion she’s saying to Jo you make some money and get us somewhere nicer. She’s not taken the task upon herself to find her and her daughter somewhere nice to live she’s going to wait for her daughter to did it for them. Not a typical loving mother and daughter relationship, Helen is reliant on her daughter Jo. Helen is in my opinion lazy with regard to her relationship with her daughter. She is constantly asking her daughter to do stuff around the house ‘Pass me that bottle’ ‘Have we got any aspirins left Jo?’ Here is another example of Helen being reliant on her daughter. She also becomes strangely jealous of Jo’s gay friend Geof. She is constantly rude to him ‘Oh shut up Geof’ ‘Sling your hook’ I believe she is jealous of his strong bond with Jo. She feels jealous of their close relationship and doesn’t like him around as she feels inadequate compared to him. Jo maintains through out the play that she wants to be rid of her mother ‘as soon as I get a full-time job, I’m leaving Helen and starting up with a room somewhere’ so for Helen to know there’s someone in her life she wants there, that person being Geof it must make her feel less important. Even for Helen who shows no real care for her Jo to know that her own daughter feels like that must be difficult. I think part of her feels she should have a close loving relationship with Jo I just don’t think she knows how to or more importantly can be bothered. Peter, Helens latest fling who becomes her husband comes across as a decent sort of guy at first, however he is sleazy ‘Helen you look utterly fantastic’ ‘Got your blue garters on?’ He does turn nasty towards the end when their marriage isn’t going so well ‘Look at Helen, isn’t she a game old bird? Worn out on the beat but she’s still got a few good strokes left.’ and ‘I dragged you out of the gutter once , If you want to go back there it’s all the same to me.’ The way he speaks down to Helen are reminiscent of his character, he believes himself to be above everyone else, better looking, better dressed, better educated, a real snob. Geof takes a mothering role in Jo’s life, which I don’t think she always appreciates. ‘I’ll buy you one for Christmas. If you ask nice I’ll buy you two.’ ‘I’ll stay here and clear this place up a bit and make you a proper meal.’ I think Jo actually likes having a figure to look after her but I think she finds it difficult sometimes as she’s not used to it, she’s used to fending for herself. ‘Why don’t you leave me alone?’ I think that all this shows that despite Jo’s though exterior she does want looking after and companionship, especially from her mother even though she denies it, as that is what Geof is doing for her, being a substitute mother. Geof , a single gay man was evicted from his flat by his landlady because she caught him with another man. In those days being a sexually active gay man was frowned upon so he was probably quite ashamed about the reason for his eviction and that is why he tries to hide it from Jo. When she asks ‘has your landlady thrown you out?’ Geof replies ‘Don’t be silly,’ but later tells her the truth. Geof also agrees to move in with Jo, taking on the responsibilities of looking after a Jo and her baby. Also when Jo tells him her baby will be black he is extremely accepting and doesn’t seem to care. In my opinion this is due to the prejudice he has faced about being gay. Another time his kind and compassionate character is seen is when he tries to get Jo and Helen talking again despite Jo telling him exactly what her mother is like he still persists and tries to build bridges in their relationship with them and get Helen to help out with the baby. ‘Your mother should know, do you have her address?’ When he meets Helen though he is struck by how rude and uncaring she is and sticks up for Jo telling Helen. ‘If I’d known you were going to bully her like this I’d have never asked you to come!’ Here he shows true loyalty for Jo by sticking up for her. In my opinion Geof is a very lonely young man he didn’t seem to have any other friends besides Jo in the play, other than young man he was found in his flat with but in his own words ‘he didn’t really know the guy’ . We can’t really be sure of his past because the play doesn’t mention it but I feel he’s faced a lot of prejudice about his sexuality and perhaps that is why he so understands Jo. He doesn’t seem to have any family, and I think he was trying to make Jo and the baby into a surrogate family for himself. I feel he was the nicest character in the book but he did become quite irritating as he was too nice all of the time. All the other characters had floors and attributes that made them lovable or unlovable. Geof however, was just quite bland. Helen for instance was an interesting character because she was so unpredictable, she could have a new boyfriend at any moment, or get drunk and do something ridiculous. Goef on the other hand was predictable but provided the rock of the story. He was Mr. Reliable that Jo could turn to he wasn’t an interesting character like Helen but was a vital part of the play.

Early Learning and Childcare

Early learning and childcare 63 Trafford rd rushden northans nn10 Abigail wignall sh40856/NCC assignment 1 pg1 Task1. 1 From birth to adulthood children continually grow develop and learn,if children do not develop propely they may be unable to reach their full potential. All young people follow a similar pattern of develpoment,however each child is diffrent and may develop at a diffrent rate. There are three areas of development, physical, intellectual,social and emotional. heres is a guide of how they develop for the following age ranges â€Å"taken from study book early learning and childcare†. -3yrs physical development by6months a child will:  ·turn their head towars sounds and movement  ·watch an adults face while feeding  ·smile at familar faces and voices  ·reach up to hold their feet when lying on their backs  ·hold and shake a rattle  ·put everythings in their mouths between 6months and 1year  ·move from sitting with support to sitting alone  ·roll ov er from their tummy to their back  ·begin to creep, crawl or shuffle on their bottom  ·push on or push against adult hands or furniture to reach a standing position  ·raise arms to be lifted  ·turn and look up when they hear their name pat and poke objects when playing  ·pass objects from hand to hand  ·look for things thathave been hidden or dropped  ·reaches hand toward source of food Between one and two years  ·begin to walk  ·sits alone indefinitely  ·feed themselves  ·push and pull toys while walking  ·wave goodbye  ·point or make noises to indiacte wants  ·enjoy a picture book  ·shake head for no  ·uses thumb and first two fingers to grip  ·crawl upstairs  ·stoops to pick things up from floor  ·begins to show prefrence for onr hand  ·builds tower of few bricks  ·holds crayon in palm and makes marks on paper Between two and three  ·Kneels to play  ·throws kicks ball  ·builds larger bruck tower  ·pour liquids  ·uses pencil to m ake marks and circular scribbles Newborn to three months the social and emotional development should be the child very depdant on adults maily mother for comfort,cuddles and reassurance and the child will quieten while the adults do so. Between six to nine months the child enjoys the company of others and begin to like games such as peek a boo and show affection to known people but shywith strangers at one to two years their social development should extend to play alongside other children also like to please adults and perform to an audience.They may become upset and distressed if seperated from known adults, a object can be used for comfort. By two to three years they should be developing a sense of own identidy and want to do things themselves and demand adult attention and can become reluctant to share be prone to tantrums outburts but also enjoy playing with adults or older children who give attention, and play with others same age for short periods of time. intelectual develop ment between 0-3years should be begining to realise others are seperate beings from ourselves and become more confident but do still require adult reassurance.At 0-3 months language development should be making happy sounds 6-12 months they should be making babbling sounds and begin show feelings by squealing with pleasure, crying or laughing to show enjoyment. one to two years they should be joining words to make sentances and by two be using 50-150 words and start understand conversation and understand keywords. by 2-3 years should be able to put words together to make sentances scribble on paper use several hundread words by three be joining in songs and be asking questionns like how? why?. Physical development at age 3-7years yrs  ·jump with feet together  ·walk on tip toes  ·go up and down the stairs  ·catch and thow a ball  ·climb  ·paint  ·thread beads on to laces  ·gain controll over eating tools 4years  ·throw with aim  ·use sccissors  ·hold pencil be able draw houses/people 5years  ·hop  ·skip  ·ride bike  ·jump from height  ·climb confidently  ·write  ·thread needles  ·do laces and buttons (Information found children and young peoples workforce-early learning and childcare 2012) By 3-4years their intellectual development should be as follows, able sort objects into gropus eg colour or size.Understand simple tasks given for example fetch a story book and bring it to mummy. socialy and emotionaly they should have become more independant and self motivated feeling more secure and able cope with unfamilar faces and surroundings for small periods of time. By 4-5years grammar becomes more accurate and their questions become more complex communicating better, able understand books as a source of fun and begin to recoginze wn name and written words theve seen on few occasions, be able form some lettering and begin copying shapes.At age 5-7years they should be handling books well and understand text has meaning, be able make up stories and regonize an increasing number of letters linking them to sound. development at age 7-12 years should be thye child being able to run,hop skip,climb,swing confidently, and start enjoying team games and may misjudge their own abilty before age nine. Social and emotional development at this age range should becoming less dependant on adults nad enjoy being in a group of people at the same age wanting to fit in with the peer rules. They should have an understanding that certain behavoiurs are un acceptable.Begin form close relationships at age eight also becoming more aware of own gender can be bossy or arogant but enjoy playing with others same sex but need adult reassurance and help when comes to arguments in play. Intelecutaly at this age the child should be able to read,write and take an intrest in certain subjects he enjoys by around 9, also be knowing diffrence tenses and grammar,read out loud but may need help tackling complexities of spelling, their vocabular y will grow if adults introduce and encourage new words and ways of using lanuage.At the age 12-19years is said to be the period from childhood to adulthood could start at age 11 and last untill 19-20years. Adolesecnce is a transition period where young people grdually detach themselves from their parents, and form a close group of friends. many physical changes occur at this stage in life, changing their apperance and bodies, coordination and strength increase greatly although every persons rate can be diffrent.Adolesence for boys usually begins later than girls, boys begin to develop sex characteristics like deep voices body hair and muscle growth,testicals and scrotom growth begins in mid puberty penis growth beings a little later but continues growing for a longer period of time. Girls begin breast budding at around age ten, her pubic hair will begin to grow and darken and curl also body begins to to become more round developing curves of womanhood, By 13 some girls can almost b e physicaly mature, also this is average age to bein their menstral cycle this can depend on the age of pubertal onset.By age 15 a girl is most likely to e at her adult height and may have a woman figure but her hips and breasts may become fuller. Lanuage development in teenagers may become imtating but that is there way of testing out there new found language and skills like sarcasam, their logical thinking ability is also growing and maturing they may ut them into pratice by debate either fomaly or infomaly.

Case of Ge Growth

CHRISTOPHER A. BARTLETT GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative Yet, for the past year GE’s share price had been stuck at around $35, implying a multiple of around 20 times earnings, only half its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio in the heady days of 2000. (See Exhibit 2 for GE’s 10-year share price history. ) It frustrated Immelt that the market did not seem to share the belief that he and his management team had in his growth forecasts. â€Å"The stock is currently trading at one of the lowest earnings multiples in a decade,† he said. â€Å"Investors decide the stock price, but we love the way GE is positioned.We have good results and good governance. . . . What will it take to move the stock? †1 Taking Charge: Setting the Agenda On Friday, September 7, 2001, Immelt took over the reins of GE from Jack Welch, the nearlegendary CEO who preceded him. Four days later, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers, and the world was thrown int o turmoil. Not only did 9/11 destabilize an already fragile postInternet-bubble stock market, but it also triggered a downturn in an overheated economy, leading to a fall in confidence that soon spread into other economies worldwide.Do No After the chaos of the first few post-9/11 days during which he checked on GE casualties, authorized a $10 million donation to the families of rescue workers, and dispatched mobile generators and medical equipment to the World Trade Center, on September 18 Immelt finally focused on reassuring the financial markets by purchasing 25,000 GE shares on his personal account. Three days later, he appeared before a group of financial analysts and promised that 2001 profits would grow by 11% and by double digits again in 2002.As impressive as such a performance might have appeared, it was less than Welch’s expansive suggestion in the heady days of 2000 that GE’s profits could grow at 18% per annum in the future. 2 The net result was that by th e end of Immelt’s first week as CEO, GE’s shares had dropped 20%, taking almost $80 billion off the company’s market capitalization. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Professor Christopher A.Bartlett prepared this case from published sources. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. Copyright  © 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www. hbsp. harvard. edu.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwiseà ¢â‚¬â€without the permission of Harvard Business School. This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. tC op yo In February 2006, after four and a half years in the CEO role, Jeff Immelt felt General Electric (GE) was finally poised for the double-digit growth for which he had been positioning it.Having just announced an 11% increase in revenues for 2005 (including 8% organic growth), he was now forecasting a further 10% revenue increase in 2006. And following 12% growth in earnings from continuing operations in 2005 (with all six businesses delivering double-digit increases), he committed to leveraging the 2006 revenues into an even greater 12% to 17% earnings increase. It was a bold pledge for a $150 billion global company. (See Exhibit 1 for GE financial data, 2001–2004. ) rP os t 9-306-087 REV: NOVEMBER 3, 2006 306-087GE’s Gro wth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative To make matters worse, as the year wore on, a scandal that had been engulfing Enron finally led to that company’s bankruptcy. Soon, other companies were caught up in accusations of financial manipulation, including Tyco, a company that had billed itself as a â€Å"mini GE. † Again, the market punished GE stock, concerned that its large and complex operations were too difficult to understand. Beyond all this immediate market pressure, Immelt was acutely aware that he stood in the very long shadow cast by his predecessor, Welch.During his 20 years as CEO, Welch had built GE into a highly disciplined, extremely efficient machine that delivered consistent growth in sales and earnings—not only through effective operations management that resulted in organic growth (much of it productivity-driven) of 5% annually, but also through a continuous stream of timely acquisitions and clever deal making. This two-pronged approach had resulte d in double-digit profit increases through most of the 1990s. Building on the Past, Imagining the FutureImmelt committed to building on what he saw as the core elements of the company’s past success: a portfolio of strong businesses, bound through a set of companywide strategic initiatives and managed by great people in a culture that was performance driven and adaptive. It was a source of competitive advantage that Immelt felt was not easily imitated. â€Å"It requires financial and cultural commitments over decades,† he said. Having committed to GE’s fundamental business model, Immelt wasted little time in articulating a new vision of growth based on using GE’s size and diversity as strengths rather than weaknesses.He wanted to take the company into â€Å"big, fundamental high-technology infrastructure industries,† places where he felt GE could have competitive advantage and where others could not easily follow. He elaborated this into a vision o f a global, technology-based, service-intensive company by defining a growth strategy based on five key elements: 2 This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. Do No Our businesses are closely integrated.They share leading edge business initiatives, excellent financial disciplines, a tradition of sharing talent and best practices, and a culture whose cornerstone is absolute unyielding integrity. Without these powerful ties, we could actually merit the label â€Å"conglomerate† that people often inaccurately apply to us. That word just does not apply to GE. . . . What we have is a company of diverse benefits whose sum is truly greater than the parts; a company executing with excellence despite a brutal global economy. . . . We believe GE is different, and one of the things that makes us different is that— in good times and in badà ¢â‚¬â€we deliver.That is who we are. 4 tC While recognizing the need for change, Immelt saw little need to challenge the basic business model on which GE had operated for decades. Like his predecessor, he bristled at the characterization of GE as a conglomerate, preferring to see it as a well-integrated, diversified company. On taking charge, he explained: op yo The consistent reliability of GE’s growth had created an image in shareholders’ minds of a powerful machine that could not be stopped and earned the company a significant premium over price/earnings multiples in the broad stock market.As a result, over two decades, GE had generated a compound annual total return to shareholders of more than 23% per annum through the 1980s and 1990s. (See Exhibit 3 for summary GE financials, 1981–2000. ) But Immelt was very conscious that he could not hope to replicate that performance by simply continuing the same strategy. â€Å"I looked at the world post-9/11 and rea lized that over the next 10 or 20 years, there was not going to be much tailwind,† he said. â€Å"It would be more driven by innovation, and a premium would be placed on companies that could generate their own growth. 3 rP os t GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative 306-087 †¢ Technical leadership: Believing that technology had been at GE’s core since the day Thomas Edison founded the company, Immelt committed to technical leadership as a key driver of future growth. †¢ Services acceleration: By building service businesses on its massive installed base of aircraft engines, power turbines, locomotives, medical devices, and other hardware, Immelt believed GE could better serve customers while generating high margins and raising entry barriers.Commercial excellence: Reflecting his own sales and marketing background, Immelt committed to creating a world-class commercial culture to overlay the engineering bias and financial orientation of GE’s d ominant business approach under Welch. †¢ †¢ †¢ Growth platforms: Finally, he recognized that significant resource reallocation would be necessary to build new business platforms capitalizing on â€Å"unstoppable trends† that would provide growth into the future.Because plans at GE always came with measurable goals attached, Immelt committed to increasing the company’s organic growth from its historical 5% annual rate to 8% and, beginning in 2005, to generating consistent double-digit earnings growth. Investing through the Down Cycle Do No Within weeks of taking charge, he started making significant investments to align GE’s businesses for growth. Seeing opportunities to expand its NBC broadcast business to capture the fast-growing Hispanic advertising market, for example, the company acquired the Telemundo and Bravo networks.And its power-generation business acquired Enron’s wind energy business as a new platform that management felt was p ositioned for long-term growth and high returns in the future. In addition to these and other natural business extensions, management identified whole new segments that provided a stronger foundation for innovation and where future market opportunities would drive rapid growth. For example, in security systems, GE acquired Interlogix, a medium-sized player with excellent technology, and in water services, it bought BetzDearborn, a leading company with 2,000 sales engineers on the ground.Internally, Immelt also lost little time in making big financial commitments to the growth strategy. Within his first six months, he committed $100 million to upgrade GE’s major research and development (R&D) facility at Nishayuna in upstate New York. In addition to building new laboratories, the investment provided for new meeting centers on Nishayuna’s 525-acre campus, creating an environment where business managers and technologists could meet to discuss priorities. 3 This document i s authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. du or 617. 783. 7860. tC Perhaps predictably, the press was skeptical of the notion that a $130 billion company could grow at two to three times the global gross national product (GNP) rate. Still, there was no shortage of advice for the new CEO in his attempt to make the company do so. Some suggested he should sell off the mature lighting and appliances businesses. 5 Others proposed bold expansions—into the hospital business, for example. 6 And as always, there were calls for GE to break up the company and sell off its component businesses. 7 But Immelt insisted GE had great businesses that provided a strong foundation for the future.All he planned to do was rebalance and renew the portfolio, then drive growth from the revitalized base. op yo Globalization: Building on an old Welch initiative, Immelt committed to expanding GEâ₠¬â„¢s sourcing strategy and market access worldwide, in particular focusing on its underexploited opportunities in developing world countries such as China and India. rP os t 306-087 GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative Scott Donnelly, a 40-year-old researcher who led GE’s overall R&D activity, said, â€Å"GE is not the place for scientists who want to work on a concept for years without anybody bothering them.Here scientists can do long-term research, but they have to be willing to spar with the marketing guys. This is the best of both worlds. †8 Beyond its historic Nishayuna R&D facility, in 2000 the company had established a center in Bangalore, India. To build on that global expansion, in 2002 Immelt authorized the construction of a new facility in Shanghai, China. And as the year wore on, he began talking about adding a fourth global facility, probably in Europe. a Despite the slowing economy, he upped the R&D budget from $286 million in 2000 to $327 million in 2002.When asked about this increase in spending during such a difficult time for the company, he said, â€Å"Organic growth is the driver. Acquisitions are secondary to that—I can’t see us go out and pay a start-up $100 million for technology that, if we had just spent $2 million a year for 10 years, we could’ve done a better job at. I hate that, I just hate that. †10 Reflecting on his extensive investments in 2002, a year in which the stock dropped a further 39% from its 2001 close, Immelt said: Financial strength gives us the ability to invest in growth and we have viewed this economic cycle as a time to invest.We’ve increased the number of engineers, salespeople, and service resources. We will invest more than $3 billion in technology, including major investments in our global resource centers. We’ve strengthened our commitment to China, increasing resources there 25% in 2002, and we’ve increased our presence in Europe. Acquisitions are a key form of investment for us and we have invested nearly $35 billion in acquisitions over the past two years. They are a key way for us to redeploy cash flow for our future growth. 11Ongoing Operations: Rigor and Responsiveness To fund his strategy, Immelt drew his first source of capital from the sale of underperforming businesses, and the company’s struggling insurance business was his prime target for divesture. But in the depths of an economic downturn, getting good prices for any business was not easy. So the investments needed to drive the company’s growth still relied primarily on funds generated by ongoing operations, and Immelt drove the organization to deliver on the market’s expectations for current-year performance.Picking up on initiatives launched years earlier, he harnessed wellembedded capabilities such as Six Sigma and digitization to drive out costs, increase process efficiency, and manage resources more effectively. Do a I n 2003, GE opened its Shanghai research center and broke ground for another center in Siemens’s backyard in Munich, Germany. In 2004, its 2,500 researchers worldwide filed for more than 450 patents. 4 This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. du or 617. 783. 7860. No tC op yo Although Immelt was willing to increase his commitment to R&D, he pushed to change the balance of work being done. In addition to developing technologically sophisticated new products, he wanted to commit more resources to longer-term research that might not pay off for a decade or more. In the past, limited commitment to such long-term research had frustrated many of the center’s science and engineering Ph. Ds. (â€Å"Science was a dirty word for a while,† said Anil Duggal, a project leader on the advanced lighting project. â€Å"Now it’s not. )9 In selecting the long-term projects for funding, Donnelly whittled down more than 2,000 proposals and then worked with researchers to come up with the technologies that could transform a business. From the 20 big ideas his staff proposed, Donnelly had them focus on a group of five, representing fields as diverse as nanotechnology, advanced propulsion, and biotechnology. rP os t GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative 306-087 In this tough environment, Immelt’s primary operating focus was on cash flow, and he realigned all the powerful tools in GE’s toolbox to meet that objective.For example, Six Sigma discipline was applied to reducing the cash tied up in inventory and receivables, while process digitization was focused on sourcing economies and infrastructure efficiencies. By 2002, digitization alone was generating savings of almost $2 billion of savings a year. As always at GE, initiatives were tied to metrics, with 60% of incentive compensation dependent on cash flow gen eration. So, despite a tough 2002 economy that held GE’s revenue growth to 5%, its cash flow from operations was $15. 2 billion, up 10% on the previous year. Do NoThe new CEO also wanted to create a more open and less hard-edged environment within the company. He asked the 2002 class of GE’s Executive Development Course (EDC) to study where GE stood in its approach to corporate responsibility. b Historically, this was not an issue that had received much attention at GE. Although Welch had always emphasized the importance of integrity and compliance, he had shown little interest in reaching beyond that legal requirement. The several dozen participants in the 2002 EDC visited investors, regulators, activists, and 65 companies in the U. S. nd Europe to understand how GE was performing in terms of corporate responsibility. They reported to top management that although the company was ranked in the top five for its financial performance, investment value, and management tal ent, it was number 72 for social responsibility. One outcome of the EDC group’s report was that Immelt appointed GE’s first vice president for corporate citizenship. He tapped Bob Corcoran, a trusted colleague from his days running GE Medical Systems, to lead an effort to ensure that the company was more sensitive and responsive to its broader societal responsibilities.Ever the pragmatist, Immelt saw this as more than just an altruistic response. He believed it was important for the company to remain effective: To be a great company today, you also have to be a good company. The reason people come to work for GE is that they want to be involved in something bigger than themselves. They bEDC was the top-level course at GE’s renowned Crotonville training center and was reserved for those destined for the most senior echelons of management at GE. As part of their studies, each EDC class was assigned a major corporate issue to study in teams and then report back to GE’s Corporate Executive Council. C Immelt understood that in such a skeptical environment, there was a need for a CEO to establish much more openness and trust. Since his natural style tended to be open and communicative, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea of increasing the transparency of GE’s often complex operations. In July 2002, to make the performance of GE’s financial businesses easier to understand, he broke GE Capital into four separate businesses, each with its own balance sheet and explicit growth strategy. He also committed to communicating more frequently and in more detail with investors. We have the goal of talking about GE externally the way we run it internally,† he said. After his first analysts meeting, where everyone got an advance bound copy of the data and forecasts, BusinessWeek commented, â€Å"That’s already a break with the Welch regime where, some say, you were scared to blink in case you missed a chart. †1 4 op yo Although this disciplined approach was reminiscent of GE in decades past, Immelt’s management style contrasted with Welch’s in many ways. First, he recognized that in a post-Enron world, corporate executives faced a more skeptical and often cynical group of critics.For example, an article in BusinessWeek suggested, â€Å"Increasingly, the Welch record of steady double digit growth is looking less like a miracle of brilliant management and more like clever accounting that kept investors fat and happy in boom times. †12 And The Economist opined, â€Å"Immelt has had a torrid time since taking over from Jack Welch, GE’s former boss, in 2001. Waking from the dreamy 1990s, investors discovered that GE was not, after all, a smooth earnings machine that pumped out profit growth of 16 to 18% a year. †13 This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009.Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  prote cted] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. rP os t 5 306-087 GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative want to work hard, they want to get promoted, they want stock options. But they also want to work for a company that makes a difference, a company that’s doing great things in the world. . . . It’s up to us to use our platform to be a good citizen. Because not only is it a nice thing to do, it’s a business imperative. 15 Rebuilding the Foundation: Beginning a Marathon In the midst of the turmoil, however, he reminded himself of advice he received from his predecessor. One of the things Jack said early on that I think is totally right is: It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint,† Immelt recalled. â€Å"You have to have a plan, and you have to stick with it. You have to modify it at times, but every day you’ve got to get out there and play it hard. †17 Entering 2003 with that thought in mind, Immelt continued to drive his growth-s trategy agenda. Rebalancing the Portfolio Do Two days after announcing final terms in its purchase of Vivendi-Universal Entertainment (VUE), GE announced an agreement to purchase Amersham, a British life sciences and medical diagnostic company that Immelt had been pursuing for many months.He believed that health care was moving into an era of biotechnology, advanced diagnostics, and targeted therapies and combining GE’s imaging technology with Amersham’s pharmaceutical biomarkers, for example, could create whole new ways of diagnosing and treating diseases. At $10 billion, this was a more expensive acquisition but one that he believed could boost GE’s $9 billion medical products business to a $15 billion business by 2005. More important, he saw it as an engine of growth that would continue for years and even decades into the future. In his mind, it was a classic â€Å"growth platform. † This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until A ugust 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. No Immelt’s vision was to create a media business that was better positioned for a digital future. The NBC franchise, although strong, was being buffeted by changes in media distribution that saw the share of broadcast television’s market shrinking. Universal added content, production facilities, cable distribution, and a strong management team—all assets that Immelt felt could greatly strengthen GE’s core business.On top of that, the $5. 5 billion up-front purchase price for assets valued at $14 billion was seen as an excellent buy. tC The year turned out to be an important one in the new CEO’s efforts to rebuild the business portfolio on which he would drive GE’s growth. Even after completing $35 billion worth of acquisitions in the previous two years, 2003 became the biggest acquisition year in GE’s history with tota l commitments exceeding $30 billion. The first megadeal came when the company decided to bid for the Universal entertainment business of French conglomerate Vivendi.Defying those who suggested that GE should exit the volatile media business, Immelt pushed ahead with the acquisition, which included Universal’s film library, film studio, cable services, and theme park. â€Å"This is about stuff we know how to do,† he said. â€Å"We understand the nuances of this industry and where it’s going. †18 op yo As 2003 began, Immelt was not sorry to see the end of his first full year as CEO. Despite all his efforts, 2002 had been a terrible year for the company. Revenues were up only 5% after a 3% decline the prior year.And rather than the double-digit growth he had promised, 2002 earnings increased by only 7%. By year’s end the stock was at $24, down 39% from the year before and 60% from its all-time high of $60 in August 2000. Having lived through a struggl ing economy, the post-9/11 chaos, new regulatory demands following the corporate scandals, and an unstable global political situation, Immelt commented, â€Å"This was a not a great year to be a rookie CEO. †16 rP os t GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative 306-087The real issue that many saw in the deal, however, was less about strategic fit than organizational compatibility. The concern was that the highly innovative, science-oriented talent that Amersham had developed in the U. K. would not thrive when swallowed up by GE. It was the same criticism that Immelt had heard when critics wondered whether the creative talent in Universal’s film studios would tolerate the management discipline for which GE was so well-known. But the idea of bringing creative and innovative outsiders into GE was part of the appeal to Immelt.He saw people like Sir William Castell, Amersham’s CEO, as major assets who could help develop in GE the culture of innovation that he longed to build. To emphasize the point, he put U. K. -based Castell in charge of the combined $14 billion business renamed GE Health Care and made him a vice chairman of GE. For the first time, one of the company’s major businesses would be headquartered outside of the United States, a move that Immelt felt fit well with his thrust of globalization. Focusing on Customers, Emphasizing Services Do NoIn addition to his portfolio changes, the new CEO kept working on his internal growth initiatives. As an ex-salesman, Immelt had always directed attention toward the customer, and one of his priorities was to redirect GE’s somewhat internal focus—an unintended by-product of Welch’s obsession with operating efficiency and cost-cutting—toward the external environment. â€Å"In a deflationary world, you could get margin by working productivity,† he said. â€Å"Now you need marketing to get a price. †19 In 2001, among his first appointments ha d been Beth Comstock, named as GE’s first chief marketing officer.Next, to drive the change deeper, he redeployed most of GE’s extensive business development staff into marketing roles, then asked each of GE’s businesses to appoint a VP-level marketing head, many of whom had to be recruited from the outside. â€Å"We hired literally thousands of marketers,† he said. â€Å"For the best, we created the Experienced Commercial Leadership Program, the kind of intensive course we’ve long offered in finance. That’s 200 people a year, every year. †20 cAfter taking a $1. 4 billion write-off in 2004 due to claims relating to asbestos and September 11, the company finally sold ERC for $8. billion in 2005, but only after booking another $2. 9 billion insurance loss. tC To communicate the major portfolio transformation he had undertaken to date, in 2003 Immelt began describing GE’s businesses as â€Å"growth engines† and â€Å"cash generators† (see Exhibit 4). He characterized the former, which accounted for 85% of earnings, as market leaders that could grow at 15% annually through the business cycles with high returns. The latter were acknowledged as being more cyclical in nature but with consistently strong cash flows. p yo The other great challenge in the ongoing task of portfolio rebalancing was that GE was finding it difficult to dispose of some of the assets it no longer regarded as vital. While the recession provided lots of buying opportunities if one was willing to step up and invest, it was hardly an ideal environment in which to be selling businesses. For GE, the biggest challenge was to find buyers for the struggling insurance businesses. Although its 2003 sale of three of its major insurance entities had freed up $4. billion in cash, the company was still trying to find a buyer for Employers Reinsurance Company (ERC), a business generating huge ongoing losses due to its poor underwriting in the late 1990s. c And several other GE businesses from motors to super adhesives remained on the blocks with no bidder offering a price the company was willing to accept. Part of the problem was that bidders felt that if GE had run the business for years, most of the potential savings had already been extracted, making the units being offered less attractive for a company that wanted to squeeze out costs.This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. rP os t 7 306-087 GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative In 2003, with strong marketing capabilities now embedded in the businesses, he formed a Commercial Council to bring GE’s best sales and marketing leaders together in a forum that could transfer best practice, drive initiatives rapidly through the organization, and develop a world-class commercial culture.Chaired by Immelt per sonally, the council’s agenda included developing worldclass marketing capabilities, taking Six Sigma to customers, and driving sales force effectiveness. As always, metrics were attached. Using a tool called Net Promoter Score (NPS), the company began to track changes in customer attitudes and loyalty, tying compensation to improvements in NPS scores. â€Å"If we can create a sales and marketing function that’s as good as finance at GE, I’ll change this company,† he said. â€Å"But it will take ten years to drive these changes. †21 Yet despite all these efforts, the reality was that just as many of GE’s roducts were becoming commodities, its service contracts were increasingly going to the lowest bidder and not providing the barriers to entry they once did. GE’s solution was to make itself indispensable by building enduring relationships based not only on offering its products and services but also its expertise. One initiative, dubb ed â€Å"At the Customer, For the Customer† (ACFC, as it soon became known), was designed to bring GE’s most effective internal tools and practices to bear on its customers’ challenges. Immelt used health care as an example of what GE could offer.With cost control being a major concern as health-care expenditures headed toward 20% of GDP, Immelt felt that GE could help its customers, only 50% of which were profitable. â€Å"Through our health care services agreements, we are the hospitals’ productivity partner,† he said. â€Å"We completed more than 6,000 Six Sigma projects with health care providers in 2002 and these projects are improving the quality of patient care and lowering costs. †22 In addition, the company began bundling its services and linking its products to clinical information technology.It also added a health-care financial services business to the GE Health Care organization to provide it with specialized financing support. â€Å"The phrase ‘solutions provider’ is so overused it makes us all snore,† said Immelt. â€Å"I want GE to be essential to those whom we serve, a critical part of the profit equation, a long-term partner, a friend. †23 Driving for Growth: New Platforms, New Processes Beginning in 2002, Immelt had challenged his business leaders to identify growth business platforms with the potential to generate $1 billion in operating profit within the next few years.In response, six opportunities had emerged: health-care information systems, security and sensors, water technology and services, oil and gas technology, Hispanic broadcasting, and consumer finance. By the end of 2002, these businesses represented $9 billion in revenue and $2 billion in operating profit. But, as Immelt pointed out, at a 15% annual organic growth rate, they were on track to become a much larger portion of GE’s future business portfolio. With 2003’s major acquisitions such as Am ersham and VUE, the company added new growth platforms such as biosciences and film/DVD to its list.Through other acquisitions, renewable energy Do 8 This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. No tC op yo Immelt also believed GE could significantly strengthen its customer relationships by becoming more of a services provider. In 2002, $23 billion of the company’s $132 billion revenue came from services, but with its massive installed base of more than 100,000 long-lived jet engines, locomotives, power generators, and medical devices in the field, the CEO saw the potential service annuity stream.As someone who had increased GE Medical Systems’ share of service business from 25% to 42% in the three and a half years he headed that operation, Immelt was convinced that services could grow much faster than hardware and at much higher profit levels. To underscore his belief, whenever businesses developed important service contracts—GE Transportation’s sale of its IT-based dispatch system to railroad customers to increase locomotive utilization, for example—he celebrated them very publicly. rP os t GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative 06-087 (wind, solar, biomass), coal gasification, and supply chain financing became elements of GE’s new growth platform. And the emphasis on services built a series of businesses in environmental services, nondestructive testing, and asset optimization that were also seen as having high growth potential. In defining and then building these growth platforms, GE followed its normal disciplined approach. First, management segmented the broad markets and identified the high-growth segments where they believed they could add value.Then, they typically launched their initiative with a small acquisition in that growth platform. After integrating it into GE, the objective was to transform the acquisition’s business model by applying GE growth initiatives (services and globalization, for example) that could leverage its existing resources and capabilities. As a final step, the company applied its financial muscle to the new business, allowing it to invest in organic growth or further acquisitions. The objective was to grow it rapidly while simultaneously generating solid returns.As Immelt summarized, â€Å"A key GE strength is our ability to conceptualize the future, to identify unstoppable trends, and to develop new ways to grow. The growth platforms we have identified are markets that have above average growth rates and can uniquely benefit from GE’s capabilities. . . . Growth is the initiative, the core competency that we are building in GE. †24 Aligning Management: New People Profiles The biggest challenge Immelt saw in implementing his agenda was to make growth the personal mission of every one of the company’s 310,000 employees worldwide. If I want people to take more risks, solve bigger problems, and grow the business in a way that’s never been done before, I have to make it personal,† he said. â€Å"So I tell people, ‘Start your career tomorrow. If you had a bad year, learn from it and do better. If you had a good year, I’ve already forgotten about it. ’†25 As the company began to implement its new growth strategy, the CEO worried that some of his current management team might not have the skills or abilities to succeed in the more entrepreneurial risk-taking environment he was trying to create.Realizing that this implied a massive challenge to develop a new generation of what he termed â€Å"growth leaders,† he said: Historically, we have been known as a company that developed professional managers . . . broad problem solvers with experience in multiple businesses and functions. However, I wanted to raise a generation of g rowth leaders—people with market depth, customer touch, and technical understanding. This change emphasizes depth. We are expecting people to spend more time in a business or a job.We think this will help leaders develop â€Å"market instincts† so important for growth, and the confidence to grow global businesses. 26 Do No Beyond changes in career path development that emphasized more in-depth experience and fewer job rotations, GE’s HR professionals wanted to identify the new personal competencies that growth leaders would need to exhibit. Benchmarking GE against best practice, they researched the leadership tC op yo GE’s expansion into Hispanic broadcasting provides an example of the process.After identifying this as a fast-growth segment in its broadcast business, the company acquired Telemundo, the number two player in the Hispanic entertainment segment. Believing that the Hispanic demographic would drive growth, management felt that it would be able to apply GE’s capabilities to fix Telemundo’s struggling business model. Through 2002 and 2003, NBC offered its management and programming expertise, helping Telemundo to evolve from purchasing 80% of its content to producing two-thirds of its own broadcast material.In the second half of 2003, Telemundo grew its ratings by 50% over the first half and captured 25% of the Hispanic advertising market. The company expected revenues to grow more than 20% in 2004. This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. rP os t 9 306-087 GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative profiles at 15 large global companies —Toyota and Dell among them—that had grown for more than a decade at three times GDP rates or better.In late 2004, they arrived at a list of five action-oriented leadership traits they would require: an external f ocus that defines success in market terms; an ability to think clearly to simplify strategy into specific actions, make decisions, and communicate priorities; the imagination and courage to take risks on people and ideas; an ability to energize teams through inclusiveness and connection with people, building both loyalty and commitment; and an expertise in a function or domain, using depth as a source of confidence to drive change.To help develop these characteristics, each business created 20 to 30 â€Å"pillar jobs†: customer-facing, change-oriented assignments in which growth leaders could be developed in assignments of at least four to five years. The new leadership competencies also became the criteria for all internal training programs and were integrated into the evaluation processes used in all management feedback. Funding the Growth: Operating Excellence Do Yet another operating initiative called â€Å"simplification† aimed at reducing overhead from 11% of rev enue to 8%.Targeting reductions in the number of legal entities, headquarters, â€Å"rooftops,† computer systems, and other overhead-type costs not directly linked to growth, the company set a goal of removing $3 billion of such costs over three years. In the first year, the commercial finance business consolidated into three customer service/operations centers and expected to save $300 million over three years. In another simplification move, the consumer and industrial business brought its three existing headquarters into one, saving more than $100 million in structural costs.And the transportation and energy businesses began sharing some IT and operational assets that also reduced structural costs by some $300 million annually. 10 This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. No By 2004, while the drives for cash generation and cost re duction were still in place, Immelt added a new initiative called Lean Six Sigma, which borrowed the classic tools of lean manufacturing and set them to new applications.In its industrial businesses, the focus was on reducing working capital and improving return on equity, while in its commercial finance business it was on margin expansion, risk management, and cost reduction. Through these efforts, in 2003–2004, the company achieved $2. 7 billion in improvement in working capital and expected that kind of progress to continue. tC While driving growth, Immelt never forgot that he inherited a great operating company. He did not want long-term growth to distract managers from current performance. I’ve always worried about a jailbreak,† he said. â€Å"How do we make sure people don’t say ‘Jeff doesn’t care about productivity’? †29 So he insisted that innovation be â€Å"funded with an intent to lead, but paid for by increasing prod uctivity. †30 During 2003, for example, about one-third of the Six Sigma specialists were focused on a new initiative called â€Å"cash entitlement. † The target was for GE to be twice as good as competitors on a number of benchmarks such as accounts receivable or inventory turnover. At ull potential, Immelt told his team, it would free up an additional $7 billion in cash. op yo Immelt was also quite involved personally in developing growth leaders on his team. In response to a question about his time utilization, he said, â€Å"I’m probably spending 20% of my time with customers, 30% of my time on people, teaching and coaching . . . [and] 10% of my time on governance, working with the board, and meeting with investors. The rest would be time spent on the plumbing of the company, working on operating reviews and strategy sessions. 27 But, as he regularly pointed out, the time he spent on the â€Å"plumbing† in operating reviews and strategy sessionsâ€⠀Ã¢â‚¬Å"touch points,† he called them—was primarily about people development. He was committed to make â€Å"every moment a learning opportunity, every activity a source of evaluation. †28 rP os t GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative 306-087 Preparing for Liftoff: Innovation and Internationalization As 2004 progressed, the worldwide economy gradually started to turn around, and GE began showing signs of more robust growth. By year’s end, nine of its 11 businesses had grown their earnings by double digits.For the first time, Immelt sounded confident that the company was finally moving beyond the disappointing results of the previous three years and onto the growth trajectory for which he had been preparing it. In his annual letter to stakeholders in February 2005, he recalled his time as a college football player to draw a sports analogy to GE’s recent performance: GE has â€Å"played hurt† for the last few years. . . . So we we nt to the â€Å"training room. † These difficult years triggered a critical review of our capabilities, and as a result, we initiated an exciting transformation.We invested more than $60 billion to create a faster-growing company. We committed to divest $15 billion of slow-growth assets. We built new capabilities, launched new products, expanded globally and invested in the GE brand. Now the company has begun an era of strong performance. . . . We’re back at full strength. This is our time. 31 To underscore the point, he predicted that GE’s â€Å"growth engines†Ã¢â‚¬â€businesses whose earnings growth since 1999 had averaged 15% annually—would generate 90% of the company’s earnings in 2005, compared with only 67% in 2000. See Exhibit 5 for a representation of the shift. ) Due to this transformation of the business portfolio and also the addition of more than a dozen new capabilities from biosciences to renewable energy, Immelt claimed that f or the first time in 20 years, GE was positioned to grow its industrial earnings faster than its financial services earnings. Imagination Breakthroughs Do No To drive his earlier growth platform challenge deep into the organization, the CEO launched a process he called â€Å"imagination breakthroughs,† quickly abbreviated to IBs.These were projects— technological innovations, market expansion opportunities, product commercialization proposals, or ideas to create value for customers—that had the potential to generate, over a three-year horizon, at least $100 million in incremental earnings. The process required each business leader to submit at least three breakthrough proposals a year for review by the Commercial Council. â€Å"Imagination Breakthroughs are a protected class of ideas—safe from budget slashers because I’ve blessed each one,† said Immelt. â€Å"What we’re trying to do is take risks, using my point of view.I have the bi ggest risk profile and broadest time horizon in the company . . . so I can bring to bear the right risk-taking and time horizon tradeoffs. †32 A year into the program, 80 IB initiatives had been identified and qualified—half technically based programs and half commercial innovations. Immelt had assigned the company’s best people to drive them and had committed $5 billion over the next three years to fully fund them. In that time, they were expected to deliver $25 billion of additional revenue growth. By 2005, 25 IBs were generating revenue. The big difference is that the business leaders have no choices here,† Immelt explained. â€Å"Nobody is allowed not to play. Nobody can say, ‘I’m going to sit this one out. ’ That’s the way you drive change. †33 Believing that the businesses could initiate 200 such projects over the next year or two, Immelt said, â€Å"Our employees want to live their dreams. It is up to me to give the m that platform. I can help them take smart risks that will win over time. . . . We aim to be the best in the world at turning small ideas into huge businesses. †34 tC op yoThis document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. rP os t 11 306-087 GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative Of Town Halls and Dreaming To stimulate ideas that would drive the imagination breakthroughs, Immelt continued to push his leaders to get out in the field and in touch with the market. Setting the example himself by spending at least five days a month with customers, he began creating forums he called â€Å"town hall meetings. Here, several hundred customers would gather together to hear where GE’s CEO wanted to take his company, to provide input on that direction, and to suggest how GE could be more helpful to them. For example, in one meeting wit h the CEOs and key operating managers of companies in the railroad industry, Immelt spent an afternoon listening to their view of their industry situation, the key trends, and its five- to 10-year outlook. GE’s CEO then asked them to think through a number of scenarios including higher fuel prices, a growth in east-west rail shipments due to increasing Chinese imports, and so on.He then challenged them to think through how they would spend $200 million to $400 million on R&D at GE. The ensuing debate highlighted, for example, the relative importance of spending on fuel efficiency versus information technology to optimize rail movement planning. But Immelt was careful to note that while the company listened carefully to the input, GE always made its own choices on these investments. â€Å"I love customers. I get great insight from them, but I would never let them set our strategy for us,† he said. â€Å"But by talking to them, I can put it in my own language.Customers always pay our bills, but they will never pick our people or set our strategies. †36 Infrastructure for Developing Countries: A New Growth Market In 2004, Immelt’s push for globalization also began bearing fruit with revenues from outside the U. S. growing 18% to $72 billion. Of this, the developing world accounted for $21 billion, an even more impressive 37% increase on the previous year, leading Immelt to predict that over the next decade, 60% of GE’s international growth would come from developing countries.China represented the most visible growth opportunity, but he also planned to expand aggressively into India, Russia, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and South America. Through the imagination breakthrough program, proposals for improving GE’s ways of doing business in the developing world began bubbling up. For example, one plan that would quickly generate $100 million in sales involved shipping unassembled locomotives to Russia, In dia, and China, where they would be assembled in local factories and workshops. Furthermore, through an initiative known as â€Å"one GE,† the ompany began creating vertical teams to deliver what it called enterprise selling. For example, companywide enterprise teams had targeted the Olympics in Beijing, Vancouver, and London and were aiming to deliver additional sales of $1 billion in energy, security, lighting, and health-care products to those venues. And increasingly GE was adopting â€Å"company-to-country relationships† in selling infrastructure projects. It was an approach that had helped it book $8 billion in Middle East orders in 2005, twice the level of 2003. Do 12This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. No tC op yo As an outgrowth of these meetings, Immelt decided to create another forum that he described as â€Å" dreaming sessions. † In these sessions, he engaged in intensive conversations with a group of senior executives drawn from key customers in a particular industry to try to identify major industry trends, their likely implications for them, and how GE might be able to help them.Immelt understood the importance of his own role in these meetings. â€Å"If I show up, we’ll get six CEOs to show up,† he said. â€Å"So you don’t have to cut through anything else if we all do it together. We can make some high-level tradeoffs that way. †35 rP os t GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative 306-087 Reorganizing for Efficiency—and Growth Driven by such developments, in July 2005, Immelt announced a major reorganization that consolidated GE’s 11 businesses into six large units, one of which was GE Infrastructure.Integrating aircraft engines, rail products, water energy, oil and gas, and some financial services, the unit was headed by GE v eteran David Calhoun, who aimed to offer one-stop shopping for all infrastructure products and services. Immelt’s expectation was that by focusing on the needs of an underserved customer group—the governments of developing countries—GE could tap into investments in developing country infrastructure predicted to be $3 trillion over the next 10 years. Going Forward: Immelt’s Challenges His main challenge now as he saw it was to maintain the growth in this $150 billion global giant.But to those who felt GE was too big to grow so fast, he had a clear response: Do No The corporate landscape is littered with companies that allowed themselves to be trapped by size. But GE thrives because we use our size to help us grow. Our depth allows us to lead in big markets by providing unmatched solutions for our customers; our breadth allows us to spread concepts across the company, leveraging one small idea to create big financial gains; and our strength allows us to tak e the risks required to grow. . . Our goal is not just to be big, but to use our size to be great. 38 All he had to do now was convince the financial markets that the changes he had initiated would enable this global giant to deliver on his promise of continued double-digit growth. tC In 2006, Immelt felt that GE was well placed on the growth path he had laid out over four years earlier. Between 2002 and 2005, he had put $30 billion of divestitures on the block, completed $65 billion in acquisitions, and made major investments in new capabilities in technology, marketing, and innovation.He now represented GE’s growth engine as a linked six-part process (see Exhibit 6). While the components varied little from his original 2001 list of growth elements, he explained the difference: â€Å"You’ve got to have a process. Investors have to see it is repeatable. . . . It took time, though, to understand growth as a process. If I had worked out that wheel-shaped diagram in 2001 , I would have started with it. But in reality, you get these things by wallowing in them awhile. †37 op yoWhile one objective of the reorganization was to create savings (expected to be $400 million in administrative costs alone), Immelt emphasized that a more important goal was to better align the businesses with customer and market needs. But he also made clear that he wanted to create an organization that gave more opportunity for younger growth leaders to drive their businesses. The six new macrobusiness groups—GE Industrial, GE Commercial Financial Services, NBC Universal, GE Health Care, GE Consumer Finance, and GE Infrastructure—would each be led by one of GE’s most experienced top executives.But these individuals would be forced to step back more from operations and spend most of their time coaching, developing, and supporting the younger managers who were to be pulled up into the 50-odd profit-responsible units directly under them. It was all par t of the company’s commitment to developing its growth leaders and the businesses they ran. This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. rP os t 13 306-087 -14-Exhibit 1 GE’s Performance, 2001–2005: Selected Financial Data General Electric Company and Consolidated Affiliates (in millions, per share amounts in dollars) Do 2003 $112,886 13,766 2,057 15,823 -587 15,236 7,759 19. 60% 2002 $113,856 15,798 -616 15,182 -1,015 14,167 7,266 27. 20% 2001 $107,558 12,948 1,130 14,078 -287 13,791 6,555 24. 70% $ 1. 37 0. 2 1. 57 -0. 06 1. 51 1. 37 0. 21 1. 58 -0. 06 1. 52 0. 77 32. 42–21. 30 30. 98 503,610 647,828 170,309 10,018,587 670,000 $ 1. 58 -0. 06 1. 51 -0. 1 1. 41 1. 59 -0. 06 1. 52 -0. 1 1. 42 0. 73 41. 84–21. 40 24. 5 441,768 575,236 138,570 9,947,113 655,000 $ 1. 29 0. 11 1. 4 -0. 03 1. 37 1. 3 0. 11 1. 42 -0. 03 1. 39 0. 66 52. 90–28. 25 40. 08 373,550 495,012 77,818 9,932,245 625,000 No 2005 $149,702 18,275 -1,922 16,353 — 16,353 9,647 17. 60% 2004 $134,481 16,285 534 16,819 — 16,819 8,594 17. 60% tC 1. 73 -0. 18 1. 55 — 1. 55 0. 91 37. 34–32. 67 35. 05 626,586 673,342 212,281 10,569,805 634,000 161,000 155,000 316,000 This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860.Selected Financial Data Revenues Earnings from continuing operations before accounting changes Earnings (loss) from discontinued operations, net of taxes Earnings before accounting changes Cumulative effect of accounting changes Net earnings Dividends declared Return on average shareowners' equity (a) Per share Earnings from continuing operations before accounting changes— diluted Earnings (loss) from discontinued operations—diluted Earnings before accounting changes—diluted Cumulative effect of accounting changes—diluted Net earnings—diluted Earnings from continuing operations before accounting changes— basic Earnings (loss) from discontinued operations—basic Earnings before accounting changes—basic Cumulative effect of accounting changes—basic Net earnings—basic Dividends declared Stock price range Year-end closing stock price Total assets of continuing operations Total assets Long-term borrowings Shares outstanding—average (in thousands) Shareowner accounts—average Employees at year-end United States Other Countries Total Employees op yo 1. 72 -0. 18 1. 54 — 1. 54 $ 1. 56 0. 05 1. 61 — 1. 61 1. 57 0. 05 1. 62 — 1. 62 0. 82 37. 75–28. 88 36. 5 618,241 750,507 207,871 10,399,629 658,000 165,000 142,000 307,000 155,000 150,000 305,000 $ 161,000 154,000 315,000 158,000 152,000 310,000 Source: GE 2005 Annual Report. rP os t GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative 306-087 Exhibit 2GE Stock Price and P/E Multiple vs. S 500 Performance, 1995–2005 GE Price & P/E vs. S 500 1995-2006 (indexed 1/1995=100) 700 GE Price & S 500 (indexed 1/95=100) 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 97 96 95 Ja nJa nJa n- GE P/E S 500 GE Price op yo 99 00 01 02 Ja nJa n03 Ja nJa nJa n- 30 20 10 0 04 05 Ja nJa n06 Ja n- 98 Source: Thomson Datastream International. Do No tC Ja n- GE P/E (%) This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. rP os t 60 50 40 15 306-087 -16- Exhibit 3 GE Financial Performance, 1981–2000 ($ millions) Do 000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1991 1986 1981 $129,853 10,717 -9,296 4,081 25. 7% 25. 0% 24. 0% 3,535 3,138 1,808 12. 2% 8,203 7,280 2,636 –492 9,296 8,203 7,280 3,943 $111,630 $100,469 $90,840 $79,179 $51,283 $36,725 3,689 N/A 2,492 1,081 17. 3% $27,240 N/A N/A 1,652 715 19. 1% 12,735 –10,717 General Electric Company & Consolidated Affiliates Revenues Earnings from continuing operations Loss from discontinued operations 12,735 4,786 Net earnings 5,647 26. 8% Dividends declared 27. 5% No 3. 87 3. 81 1. 71 1. 47 159. 5-94. 3 405,200 71,427 3,277,826 3,268,998 3,274,692 59,663 46,603 355,935 304,012 103. 9-69. 0 76. 6-47. 9 1. 25 1. 08 0. 95 3. 21 2. 80 2. 46 2. 16 3. 27 2. 84 2. 50 2. 20 2. 55 1. 51 1. 04 78. 1-53. 272,402 49,246 3,307,394 166,508 22,602 1,737,863 2. 73 N/A 1. 18 44. 4-33. 2 84,818 100,001 912,594 Earned on average shareowners’ equity Per share: Net earnings N/A N/A N/A 69. 9-51. 1 20,942 1,059 227,528 Net earnings—diluted tC 53. 1-34. 7 167,000 143,000 -310,000 293,000 -130,000 163,000 165,000 155,000 111,000 173,000 84,000 -62,000 -276,000 49,000 Dividends declared 181. 5-125. 0 437,006 82,132 3,299,037 Stock price rangea Total assets of continuing operations Long-term borrowings Shares outsta nding—average (in thousands) Employees at year-end: 168,000 145,000 -313,000 United States 302,000 N/A 71,000 N/A N/A N/A 239,000 284,000 373,000 404,000Other countries Discontinued operations (primarily U. S. ) Total employees op yo Source: GE annual reports, various years. This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. aPrice unadjusted for four 2-for-1 stock splits during the period. rP os t 306-087 -17- Exhibit 4 Do No tC op yo GE Portfolio: Growth Engines and Cash Generators This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860.As of January 1, 2004, GE has reorganized its 13 businesses into 11 focused on markets and customers—seven Growth Engines, which generate about 85% of earnings and are market leaders with strengths in technology, cost, services, global distribution and capital efficiency; and four Cash Generators, which consistently generate strong cash flow and grow earnings in an expanding economy. This chart reflects the most significant changes: the combination of Aircraft Engines and Rail into GE Transportation; the combination of Industrial Systems and Consumer Products into Consumer & Industrial, with portions of Industrial Systems moving to other businesses; and the formation of Infrastructure from portions of Industrial Systems and Specialty Materials. Results for 2003 in this annual report are reported on the 13-business basis in effect in 2003. P os t Source: GE 2003 Annual Report, p. 6. 306-087 GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative Exhibit 5 GE’s Representation of its Portfolio Transformation, 2000–2006 Portfolio Transformation GE has added more than a dozen new capabilities to its seven Growth Engines, which should generate approx imately 90% of GE’s earnings in 2005, substantially more than five years ago. The Growth Engines—Transportation, Energy, Healthcare, NBC Universal, Infrastructure, Commercial Finance and Consumer Finance—are robust, capital-effective businesses with leadership positions for sustained doubledigit earnings and cash flow growth. New Growth CapabilitiesBiosciences Film + DVD Healthcare Information Technology Renewable Energy (Wind, Solar, Biomass) Coal Gasification Water Security Hispanic Television Oil & Gas Exploration Technology Services (Asset Optimization, Environmental Services, Non-Destructive Testing) â€Å"Vertical† Financing Full Supply-Chain Financing Real Estate Operations Global Mortgage Source: GE 2004 Annual Report, p. 4. Do 18 This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. No tC op yo rP os t GE’s Gr owth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative 306-087 Exhibit 6 GE Growth Strategy: Core Elements, 2005 Version Customer ValueUse our process excellence to create customer value and drive growth Growth Leaders Inspire and develop people who know how to help customers and GE grow Globalization tC Create opportunities everywhere and expand in developing markets Do No Source: ———————————————————————————————————————————————-GROWTH IS THE GE INITIATIVE After growing historically at an average of 5% revenue growth, in 2004, we launched this initiative to achieve 8% organic growth per year. This is about twice the rate of our industrial and financial peers. We want to make or ganic growth a process that is predictable and reliable. ———————————————————————————————————————————————- GE 2005 Annual Report. op yo Execute for Growth Commercial Excellence Create a world-class marketing and sales capability to drive â€Å"one GE† in the marketplace This document is authorized for use only by DINDIN SYARIFUDIN until August 2009. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. rP os t Innovation Generate new ideas and develop capabilities to make them a reality Leadership in Technology Have the best products, content and s