The novel Good Faith and the movie Glengarry Glen Ross

The novel Good Faith and the movie Glengarry Glen Ross Nowadays, it became a commonplace practice among conservative politicians to suggest that the key to America’s greatness is the citizens’ endowment with the sense of a commercial industriousness. Nevertheless, even though that there is a certain rationale to this suggestion, there are also a number of good reasons to believe that it is due to the American citizens’ earlier mentioned psychological trait that their country periodically finds itself standing on the threshold of an economic collapse.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The novel Good Faith and the movie Glengarry Glen Ross specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The analysis of what caused the outbreak of the Great Depression, during the course of the thirties, and what triggered the financial crisis of 2008-2009, confirms the validity of this statement. Apparently, contrary to what the proponents of neo-liberalism strive to make us to believe, people’s preoccupation with trying to generate a commercial profit, as the main point of their lives, cannot be regarded as such that represents the value of a ‘thing in itself’. This is because the notion of people’s ‘commercial industriousness’ is synonymous to the notion of a blind moneymaking greed, which in turn is synonymous with the notion of immorality. In my paper, I will explore the legitimacy of this suggestion at length, in regards to what account for the morally dubious ethics of many characters in the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross by James Foley and in the Jane Smiley’s 2003 novel Good Faith. As of today, the majority of ‘progressive’ political scientists in America never ceases pointing out to the fact that the biggest problem, faced by the American society, is racism. However, it is not racism, which accounts for the country’s ‘little dirty secret’, but rather classism. That is, the meas ure of just about every citizen’s worthiness is being accessed in regards to the sum of money that she or he happened to have in the bank – regardless of the actual source of this money. There is a memorable scene in Glengarry Glen Ross, where the character of Blake (Alec Baldwin) delivers a speech in front of real-estate agents, while insisting that it is namely the volume of one’s monetary assets that reflects the concerned individual’s true worth, and that there simply cannot be a good enough excuse for these agents to justify their professional unsuccessfulness: â€Å"I made $970,000 last year. How much you make? You see pal, thats who I am, and youre nothing. Nice guy? I dont give a shit. Good father? Fuck you! Go home and play with your kids. You want to work here close!† (00.11.56). Apparently, Blake firmly believed that, in the field of a real-estate business, there could only be two categories of professionals winners and losers. Everyth ing else is irrelevant. It is needless to mention, of course, that the Blake’s suggestion, in this respect, implies that contrary to the assumption that the American economy’s functioning has very little to do with the principles of a ‘wild capitalism’, this is far from being the actual case.Advertising Looking for essay on ethics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Just as it used to be the situation even as far back, as a hundred years ago, the extent of just about every American entrepreneur’s successfulness reflects the measure of his or her emotional comfortableness with the ‘law of jungle’, based upon the Darwinian principle of the ‘survival of the fittest’. However; whereas, in the animal kingdom the practical manifestations of this principle being at work are concerned with the process of carnivorous predators catching and eating herbivores, in human so cieties they are concerned with the process of cynically minded individuals taking away money from those who happened to be little too trustworthy. This provides us with an insight into the discursive significance of Blake’s ‘commandment’: â€Å"They are (buyers) sitting out there, waiting to give you their money. Are you gonna take it? Are you man enough to take it?† (00.12.27). Being deprived of any illusions, as to the fact that it is possible for people to conduct an ‘ethical business’, this character knew perfectly well that it is specifically the entrepreneurs’ willingness to deceive their business-partners, which creates objective preconditions for them to be able to succeed in commerce. As Geva noted: â€Å"Business is expected to do whatever is necessary in order to succeed, and is not expected to be concerned with abstract morality. Business is a one-dimensional, purely profit-seeking enterprise. Profit is not just prioritize d; it is elevated to the exclusion of all other interests† (585). It will not be much of an exaggeration, on our part, to suggest that in the world of a corporate business, the main ‘ethical’ rule is – if you have not been caught doing anything illegal, you are considered an upstanding citizen, even if everybody knows that you are in fact a con-master. The soundness of this statement can be well illustrated in relation to the psychological inclinations of one of the Smiley novel’s main characters – a land-developer Marcus Burns. The first thing we learn about him is that he used to work for the IRS. The second thing that we learn is that Burns used to take pride in the fact that, while working for the IRS, he figured out how to steal money without facing the consequences: â€Å"The tax code is transforming before your very eyes, and everyone is perfectly happy to see it happen†¦ Accountants are in the business of making sure the books ba lance. That’s all. You could steal a company blind, but if the books balanced, the accountant would have done his job† (Smiley 101). What is especially ironic about this character is that, as it appears from the novel, Burns never ceased considering himself a thoroughly moral individual.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The novel Good Faith and the movie Glengarry Glen Ross specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In its turn, this can be explained by the fact that, just as it happened to be the case with many of the novel’s characters, involved in real-estate trading, Burns was raised in the family of Protestant Bible-thumpers. As such, he was naturally inclined to consider speculative moneymaking to be the noblest pursuit of all according to the Protestant doctrine, one’s financial well-being is the foremost proof that he or she is in favor with law-imposing (rather than with mercy-granting) God . As opposed to what it is being the case with Catholics, Protestants consider the Old Testament being just as valid as the New One. Yet, the foremost idea that it is being promoted throughout the course of the Old Testament’s entirety, is that there are God’s ‘chosen people’, on the one hand, and ‘infidels’, on the other, and that it is fully permissible for ‘chosen people’ to deceive the latter, when it comes to making money. Partially, this explains why Burns used to make a point in maintaining the observable respectability of its physical appearance: â€Å"He (Marcus Burns) was very neat, almost formal. Even though the weather was hot, he was wearing a light blue shirt, a navy blue tie, and a sport coat. The shirt collar had a starchy sheen and lay smoothly against his neck. The cuffs emerged a half inch from the sleeve of his jacket† (58). Apparently, this was nothing but the extrapolation of Burns’ deep-seated irrational belief in his own infallibility, as someone who enjoyed the privilege of being able to steal and extort money from others, without sustaining any harm to its reputation, as a result The full soundness of suggestion can also be shown, in regards to a Burn’s genuine conviction that is indeed possible to enjoy a nice living, while paying for all the expenses with essentially non-existing money: â€Å"The simplest legal way that takes no cheating and no creative bookkeeping and passes every audit†¦ You live on borrowed money. You sell the property piece by piece to pay the interest and you keep borrowing more† (153). Formally speaking, this Burn’s idea does make a certain sense. After all, why does one need to be required to apply an effort into producing any factual products and services, when he or she can invest into some real-estate property, wait for a year or two, and to resell it for twice as much – hence, having made money out of the thin air? Burns outlined the philosophy behind this line of reasoning rather frankly: â€Å"More people mean scarcer resources, scarcer resources mean inflation, and inflation means property and interest-bearing capital have a higher value and work has a lower value. It’s as simple as that† (149). Yet, this way of thinking is clearly unethical.Advertising Looking for essay on ethics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More After all, it is a namely people’s willingness to indulge in financial speculations in the real-estate market that create objective prerequisites for the outbreaks of financial crises, such as the one of 2008-2009. Throughout the course of the decade, prior to the outbreak of this crisis, the majority of less than upstanding Americans rushed into applying for easy down-payment loans. Yet, even though these people were clearly incapable of sticking to the terms of the contract, banks were still qualifying them for credits – just as real-estate agents were willing to go as far as to overlook the mental inadequacy of many of potential house-buyers. There is another memorable scene in Glengarry Glen Ross, where after having bragged about selling the $82.000 real-estate unit, Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon) is being told by John Williamson (Kevin Spacey) that the buyers were in fact mentally ill: â€Å"They’re (buyers) nuts. They used to call in every week†¦ Theyà ¢â‚¬â„¢re nuts†¦ The people are insane. They just like talking to salesmen† (01.32.12). Despite being a professional real-estate agent, Levene still could not figure it out. The reason for this is simple – he has been trained to only care about accomplishing ‘closures’, regardless of whether these accomplishments were ethical or not. This also explains why, as it is being shown throughout the film, it represents a commonplace practice among real-estate agents to lie to their clients in the most blatant manner, without giving a thought that there could be anything wrong about it. This simply could not be otherwise, because up until comparatively recently, the very functioning of a real-estate business was fueled by the involved parties’ willingness to generate lies and to resell these lies to each other in the form of financial obligations. As Burns noted: â€Å"A big loan is an asset. All those deposits†¦ are the liabilities, and those loa ns are assets. (We need) to transform the savings and loan from a money loser to moneymaker, to make the books look good†¦ (to make) make big loans, which go on the asset side and cover old loans that aren’t making any profit† (152). Again, even though that the above quoted statement seems thoroughly logical, it is highly immoral. Apparently, while referring to loans in terms of an ‘asset’, Burns was promoting the idea that the practice of capitalizing on ‘derivatives’ (financial contracts between two parties, backed by the third party’s financial obligations, which could be bought and sold in the open market) is fully appropriate. However, as we are now well aware of, this practice created a paradoxical situation – while individual risks in the real-estate market were being continuously lowered, the overall risk for the whole financial system to lose its stability kept on growing evermore heightened. Therefore, it was only t he matter of time, before the ‘real-estate bubble’ would blow (which happened in 2008) – hence, instantly impoverishing millions and millions of ordinary Americans. It is needless to mention, of course, that those that are obsessed with making money at any cost are naturally inclined to adopt a positive attitude towards the notion of a so-called ‘victimless crime’, as nothing short of a driving force behind the free-market economy’s proper functioning. This is the reason why, while talking about the prospect of stealing Glengarry leads in the film, the characters of Dave Moss (Ed Harris) and George Aaronow (Alan Arkin) never made any mentioning of the fact that theft is a highly immoral deed. All they seemed to be concerned about was whether their thieving intention could be considered thoroughly safe or not: â€Å"Moss: Robery†¦ is a crime. That’s right. It’s also very safe† (00.43.50). After all, if one assumes that it is fully appropriate to make money out of the thin air, then there could be only a few obstacles on the way of the concerned individual coming to assume that there is nothing unethical about the concept of a robbery, as it fits rather well within the discursive framework of speculative moneymaking. However, it is not only that in both: the novel and the film, the characters’ moral ambivalence is being reflected by their willingness to participate in semi-illegal scheming in the real-estate market, but also by the very essence of their existential attitudes, in general. For example, while expounding on the subject of what should be considered the right way to live, the film’s character Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) states: â€Å"There’s an absolute morality? Maybe. And then what? If you think there is, go ahead, be that thing. Bad people go to hell? I don’t think so† (00.40.26). Even though that the above-statement appears being of a general nature, th ere can be only a few doubts, as to the fact that the person who uttered it is more than capable of acting anti-socially. Essentially the same can be said about the novel’s narrator Joe Stratford. Even though that Stratford is being represented as a socially established individual who adheres to the provisions of conventional ethics, he nevertheless appears fully comfortable with the idea that, in order for just about anyone to be able to succeed in life, he or she will need to ‘bend’ these provisions, if circumstances call for it. For example, the novel’s context implies that Stratford considered withholding certain information about the real-estate property from clients, as the main precondition for this property to be successfully sold: â€Å"The house was listed for $89.900, a kitchen and two large rooms down, four bedrooms, a bath, and a sleeping porch up†¦ They (buyers) offered $81,000†¦ I was sure the seller would take it because the prop erty was starting to deteriorate† (39). As this excerpt denotes, the real-estate item was sold to buyers, without the latter having been informed about the state of affairs with the item’s actual condition. As it was mentioned earlier, because of their preoccupation with profit-seeking, as the foremost purpose of their lives, the majority of the featured characters in Glengarry Glen Ross and Good Faith were naturally growing to adopt strongly cynical attitudes towards the surrounding societal reality. In its turn, this affected these characters’ private lives, as well. This explains the utterly graphic references to sex in both pieces. For example, while addressing the subject of happiness in his conversation with James Lingk (Jonathan Pryce), Roma states: â€Å"I’m in bed†¦ she brought me cafe au lait, gives me a cigarette, my balls feel like concrete† (00.41.39). As this Roma’s remark implies, it was due to the concerned woman’s behavioral submissiveness that he was becoming sexually aroused. We can well speculate that Roma’s chauvinistic attitude towards women indirectly derived out of his strive to ‘remain in control’, while working with clients. This simply could not be otherwise, because people’s continual successfulness in suppressing others intellectually and emotionally (as real-estate traders act towards their clients) naturally cause them to assume themselves being superior – and, those who believe in their ‘superiority’ strive to be surrounded by ‘servants’. The fact that working in the real-estate sector causes people to overlook the rules of conventional ethics can also be shown in regards to the graphically depicted sexual escapades between Stratford and Felicia in Good Faith, such as the following: â€Å"We kissed and kissed. I could feel the palm of her hand glowing against the back of my neck, her fingers pushed up into my hair. M y hands were somewhere- the small of her back, her cheek. And I could feel my cock pressing against her belly through our clothes, coats and all† (21). Given the Felicia’s status of a married woman, Stratford’s adulterous affair with her can hardly be considered ethical. Yet, even though that in the novel, the narrator positions himself as a mildly religious person, it never occurred to him to think that by pursuing a sexual relationship with Felicia he was acting sinfully. One of the reasons for that is that individuals, involved in speculative trading/selling, are being perfectly aware of the fact that it is specifically people’s animalistic instincts that make them ‘tick’ and not their rationale-based moral predispositions. This also explains the novel’s subtle hints as to the fact that, despite the skin-deep layer of ‘respectability’ that covers real-estate business, this business’ practitioners are driven by the ir utterly irrational sense of greed. Hence, these people’s strong fascination with money, as not only the mean of ensuring the effectiveness of commercial transactions, but as something that represents the metaphysical value of a ‘thing in itself’. The full soundness of this suggestion becomes self-evident in light of how Burns used to talk on the subject of money: â€Å"There’s money everywhere! Money, money, money! Reported income is like cockroaches. For every dollar you see, there are a hundred more in hiding. And it’s looking for a home!† (183). This statement cannot even be discussed within the conceptual framework of ethics, because the person who came up with it seems to have suffered from being not entirely adequate, in the psychological sense of this word. At the same time, however, it did not prevent him from being considered an upstanding citizen, right until the novel’s very end. This again highlights the foremost message , conveyed by this novel – it does not make much of a sense to believe that the considerations of ethics play even a small role, within the context of how real-estate traders go about addressing their professional challenges. All that matters for those who do business in the real-estate market is the prospect of generating a monetary profit – even at the expense of destroying the society’s integrity from within. I believe that the deployed line of argumentation, as to what should be considered the discursive significance of how Glengarry Glenn Ross and Good Faith tackle the subject of ethics, fully correlates with the paper’s initial thesis. Apparently, there can indeed be very little reason to think that, while left on its own, people’s sense of greed is capable of creating ‘economic miracles’. Therefore, there is nothing too surprising about the fact that, as of today, the economic paradigm of Socialism is again becoming ever more ap pealing to people in traditionally capitalist countries. Geva, Aviva. â€Å"Myth and Ethics in Business.† Business Ethics Quarterly 11.4 (2001): 575-597. Print. Glengarry Glenn Ross. Dir. James Foley. Perfs. Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin. New Line Cinema, 1992. Smiley, Jane. Good Faith. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2003.

Qualititive method, focus group Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Qualititive method, focus group - Research Paper Example And help researchers of any field or company to get an insight of human attitudes (Kitzinger, 1995). Researchers have found that the investigation made in this method, is unique from other research methods, as the question asked are not technical but conceptual. This allows an individual to put forward one’s concept and contribute equally in the research (Devers, 1999, p.1155-1156). The focus group research method is one of the types of the qualitative method which has gained significant popularity in the new businesses, helping them collect data about their company’s standards and internal issues more effectively (Gibbs, 1997, p.5-7). A simple definition of a focus group method given by David L. Morgan (1996) states that the focus group tends to look into the concepts and believes, forming human attitudes and norms (Morgan, Focus Groups, 1996, p .129). Unlike, the brainstorming method of researching, where everyone just raise their point, the focus group centers around one main topic and encourages people to give their responses on that topic. The group of people is chosen such that they do not differ from each other much, in their status, class or education, so they can be open in sharing their knowledge and experiences (Packer, Race, & Hotch, 1994, p.1-3). The focus group method has benefited largely in the field of academic literature, making easier for researchers and writers to get an insight of one’s life. Often a simple questionnaire is design to give an idea about the objective of the research to the participants. And to dilute a complicated topic, to make the participants comprehend and respond easily (Gibbs, 1997, p.5-7). Initially, this method was used in the field of social sciences, as a tool to define human attitudes and psyche, but by the passage of time it earned vast acceptance in the field of medical research. The reason lies in the flexibility of the method, in dealing with any kind of issue equally well

Using examples, examine the connections between gender, fear and urban Essay

Using examples, examine the connections between gender, fear and urban space - Essay Example While there are men who have small physical builds in comparison to other men, it is more likely to find a man with a build larger than a woman’s than to find the opposite scenario. Given this difference it is clear that, generally, women face a set of obstacles that most men will not have to ever experience. On the other hand, because of seeming biologically driven needs to defend one’s space, men are often faced with challenges that, similarly, women will unlikely ever have to face. Thus, as distinct as each gender’s biological makeup creates them to be, so too are the vast differences between the obstacles they must face. These differing gender fear invoking issues will be examined within the context of urban space. The urban environment can pose many stress inducing variables for any individual despite gender. Crime, natural disasters, and other such factors create a spectrum of varying fear and anxiety inducing possibilities for both men and women on a daily basis. Needing to be extra careful with personal possessions in public arenas and making sure to be respectful of an individual’s space are added factors that become automatic parts of one’s thought process while living in an urban environment. While both genders must face many similar urban space stressors, the differences begin to come to play when situations become more dependent on a person’s gender versus, for instance, specific environmental weather factors. For women, urban life poses specific problems due to biological factors. Because women are generally smaller and physically weaker than men, women must take this into account when they travel alone or even with other women to specific urban destinations. â€Å"Fear leads women to take precautions which are often spatial, such as avoiding certain parts of the city or not going out after dark† (Koskela, 1999, pp. 111). In other words, the reality

How Apple Incs Strategy Is Affected After Globalization Economics Essay

How Apple Incs Strategy Is Affected After Globalization Economics Essay In this twenty first century, globalisation has an impact in every economy. World of today is considered to be united as a bunch countries with no boundaries. Raw materials from different countries are being processed in another country to manufacture goods products are being marketed in another country. It is the modern concept of the globalisation. A company goes international for so many reasons like, small domestic market, adverse government policy in home country, high demand of the product in foreign market etc. FDI across the globe had a fixed upswing with a sharp growth in the second quarter of 2008. Even it was not affected so much by financial crisis during recession in 2008. FDI is mainly originated from the advanced economy like USA.[ Peter Dicken] In this essay we have chosen famous electronic gadget manufacturer APPLE as our company, which is mainly based in USA, has expanded its production unit in EUROPE and ASIA. It is manly famous for introduction of a new age in mobile phone industry by brining iPHONE MACBOOK in pc section. Recently they have launched iPAD in the market which turn to be a great success. How their strategy has been affected when they go global by the main three factors (1.Technology.2.geography.3.goverment policies ) has been described below. TECHNOLOGY: For a product to become more acceptable by quality, implied technology of production plays an important role. Foreign direct investment prospects can be propelled to a new level if the quality of production can be retained in a cost effective manner. Hence, investment opportunity of a country is significantly influenced by its internal development, technology and growth. These intrinsic developments are always in the lamplight of MNCs and are effectively made use by them. Apple has met its investment prospects in China as this country maintains the unique work quality in assembling the inputs for final production. As a part of corporate global strategy, company has given outsourcing more importance at the same time imparting mandate high control over product integrity. When apple produce iPods in China, it is not produced in a factory owned by Apple. It is been contracted with third party to produce IPods with the specifications Apple provides. Moreover from outsourcing, Apple is sourcing quality products for assemblage from foreign countries and some even from China itself by fragmenting its supply chain very effectively. The standard of factors of production is set to meet the requirements set by Apple Inc. If the company is not successful in monitoring the strategy which is being implemented in a country, it will eventually destroy companys reputation. The subtle implementation of internationalisation strategy is been spawned in such a way that Apple products are leveraged to its maximum utility. For leveraging the products to its maximum levels, sophisticated research and development is being carried out through international investments and intrinsic ground-breaking technologies. Trade theory gives light by how much proportions the various factors of inputs needed at each stage of a production process, together with various inputs at comparative costs, influencing the investment proposal. As technology is one of the important input of production, while framing up an international strategy it has to be dealt well while investing in a foreign country. The comparative cost of the technology brought forth for production is very significant as it contributes to the international pricing strategy. The quality technology which is been generated in China holds cost advantage when it is compared to the same technology implemented in US. Advanced technology is pioneer to production of any innovative products but this technology has to be accessed in a cost effective manner to produce competitively priced product. Skilled labour is another requisite which should be considered in quality production. High cost of labour in United States of America can be a down beating fa ctor in home country which can be eliminated through foreign direct investment. Hence, advantage is been derived in the host country in terms of technology implementation through skilled labour force at low cost. Apple Incs business establishment in China is a subtle example for their tactical part in internationalisation strategy. GEOGRAPHY: The geographical dispersion means that companys activities are not concentrated to a single country rather it is dispersed between different countries. The production in foreign country can be commenced in two ways namely Merges acquisition and Greenfield investment. Greenfield investment means setting up a new plant and physical assets in the foreign country whereas Merges acquisition means merging with a foreign firm or buying existing assets in a foreign country. The cost of geographical dispersion can be of three types which is firm level, plant level and the economies of integration foregone. Almost 54% companys geographical market place is situated in United States. Final assembly of companys product is mainly done in Ireland by external vendors in California, Texas, China, Korea, etc. Manufacturing supply of many critical components is executed by sole sourced third party vendors from Taiwan, Germany, US, Germany, Korea, Netherlands etc. But main assembly part is done in China by sole sourced third party vendors. That means its production input has been divided into sub category situated in different countries. So it is an example of centralized vertical Foreign Direct investment by apple where its headquartering is situated in US. The benefit of geographical dispersion for the company is that, it is able to reduce the cost of primary input as the price for inputs varies in different locations. It also helps the company to lower operating cost and reduces the companys direct control over the production and distribution. This also helps in lowering the trade cost and enables it to capture the markets. For example, the investment decision to manufacture the products from China helps the company to have a better control over the Asian markets. Also the cost incurred in exporting the products from United States to Asian market is much lower when it is from China. The firm also enjoys economies of scale as the cost of production is less due the dispersion and the company is able to employ skilled and cheap labor. In spite of its benefits, its uncertain what negative effects will this have on the company. The diminished operational control may have an effect on the quality of the products or services or its flexibility to respond to changes. This may adversely affect the reputation of the company. Another problem is that, if the manufacturing or providing logistical services in the other country is disturbed for any causes like natural disaster, war, political issues, public health, failure in information technology system, financial crises may materially affect the companys financial condition and operation. GOVERNMENT POLICIES: The vertical foreign direct investment strategy of Apple is advantageously and manifestly framed up by the influence of political environment or trade policies that operate within the country. The supply chain is fragmented and for assemblage, the Apples input commodities are sourced from special enterprise zones of China where much of import duties and taxes are waived. The government trade policy influences the intricate supply chain management and outsourcing of the company. Apple being an American multinational propels a strategy that insulates itself from foreign exchange risks. The price the company has to pay for a specific input item in a specific country is influenced by the exchange rates of currencies at the time. The company exhibits a pattern of a good net receiver of currencies except the American dollar. As the US dollars gains strength, it will negatively affect the Apples net sales and gross margin articulated in American dollars. Financial innovations are spawned by the international financial flows. The financial innovations are greatly influenced by the monetary and fiscal policy of a government. This level of influence determines the stability of economic performance. As US government tends to maintain very low interest rates to support the demand for housing and promoting the revival of building industry, international capital flows are possible. It may result in more capital outflows and a weaker dollar. An immediate effect can be not iced in the US output as a result of more US exports. Thus for Apple, weaker dollar gives more euro earning and allows it to state an elevated profit rate to it stakeholders. [Linden 2008] Many financial innovations are spawned out from the introduction of capital flows. There is an economic significance of international financial instruments like forwards or options when Apple deals with it. July 2008 Company reports stated that the Apple inc was willing to enter into forward and option dealings of foreign currencies. This also included some strategically committed transactions, the investment company possessed in foreign subsidiaries, forecasted future cash flows etc. Evidently, practice of the company was to hedge a large number of its material foreign exchange exposures for some months. [Apple inc, 2008] The progression of this model imparts light into the strategy framed up by Apple in tackling the effect of rising prices too. A developing country like China has remarkable success in controlling the inflation. Apple has a peculiar stake in China where country exhibits success in managing its economy from extreme pressures and creating higher inflation rates. Chinese central bank put forward a straight policy in framing up the exchange rates. Till July 2005, the policy upheld was to fix the rate it levied to exchange Chinese currencies for American dollars. In this context, Apple could assertively forecast the exchange rates weeks in advance. [Apple inc, 2005] Apple endeavours to do outsourcing in the country where there is minimal legal regulations as they can maximise their profits. As the operations are mainly concentrated in China, Apple Company has got relaxation from heavy tax burdens. Vertical specialisation with internalisation keeps the production cost low at the same time company benefits from low trade cost. The company is getting more and more innovative by research and development. Proper caution is taken as the economy breeds the risk of a global financial downturn that could have disastrous effect in their business. At last , after analysing the all the factors that affects companys internationalisation foreign direct investment we can conclude Apple is truly globalised . That means it has stretched its corporate arms in such a way that we can say that for Apple the difference across countries does not matter. They have fragmented their production parts across countries sell its products all most around the world just to take the benefit of the internationalisation globalised concept. Their main strategy is to take advantage from different counties favourable condition that helps their business to gain more revenue using economics of scale. As we have discussed the main reason of their expansion of business in China are cheap labour costs, higher productivity of Chinese labour output huge demand of Asian market. They also want to take benefit from the exchange rate investment friendly government policy. It is proved from their establishment of unit in China Ireland. Their well organized gl obalised business strategy has helped them to spread their products world wide almost in every country, which is much more appreciated from the point of view of internationalisation of a company. In every of their business strategy the concept of true globalised company can be visualised.[ Peter Dicken]

Outline and evaluate psychological explanations for OCD Essay

The cognitive approach assumes that OCD is a consequence of faulty and irrational ways of thinking taken to an extreme. Patients with OCD have different thinking patterns and more intrusive thoughts. The cognitive explanation stresses that everyone has unwanted thoughts from time to time, but OCD sufferers cannot ignore these thoughts and they are often misinterpreted, leading to self-blame and the obsessive symptoms of OCD. So that the negative thoughts and concerns associated with a particular anxiety do not come to pass, compulsions arise in an attempt to ‘neutralise’ the anxiety. The sufferer becomes more wary of having intrusive thoughts and their fear of them increases. As these ideas are constantly thought about, they become obsessive and a pattern of ritualistic, repetitive behaviour begins. A strength of this theory is that there is supporting evidence. For example, Wegner found that a group of students asked not to think of a white bear were more likely to do so than a group allowed to think about it. Salkoius found that when asking participants to suppress thoughts and on other days not to, the participants kept a diary of more intrusive thoughts when they had to be suppressed these findings support the idea that a deliberate attempt to suppress thoughts leads to an increase in these thoughts; supporting the main ideas of the approach. This is a strength because the two studies have found similar findings and are therefore externally reliable. This makes the cognitive approach reliable as a whole because it can be checked and verified and the theory has sound foundations for further research. However, a weakness of this theory is that there are problems with the evidence. For example, Salkoius used self-report methodologies in order to measure the thoughts of the participants. This means that the results may have been subjected to social desirability bias. For example, the amount of intrusive thoughts may not have all been recorded in the diaries in order to please the experimenter; they may not want them to know how bad their symptoms are due to feelings of embarrassment. This is an issue because it means the study lacks internal validity; the intrusive thoughts in the diary are not caused solely by supressing them, but there are other extraneous variables such as embarrassment. We therefore cannot prove cause and effect to show that suppressing thoughts lead to symptoms in OCD, so there are other factors the cognitive approach needs to consider in order to offer a causal explanation. However, although there are issues with self-report methodologies, they can provide a greater insight into the participant’s thoughts and a greater level of detail. They are allowing the participants to describe their own experiences rather than inferring this from observing participants. It therefore provides access to a high level of quantitative data.

Oxidation of Benzoin and Rearrangement of Benzil to Produce Benzilic Acid Essay

The objective of the lab was to produce benzilic acid from benzoin. Benzoin was successfully oxidized with nitric acid to form benzil. The percent yield of benzil was 59.26% and the melting point range was 94.1-95.5Â °C. The literature melting point of pure benzil is 95Â °C, which indicates the correct product was obtained. Benzil was then rearranged using potassium hydroxide to form benzilic acid. The percent yield of benzilic acid was 57.94% and the melting point range was 147.9-149.8Â °C. The literature melting point of pure benzilic acid is 150Â °C; this also indicates that the correct product was isolated. Crude products were formed through crystallization and then recrystallized to obtain pure products. Melting points were taken of each product to prove its identity. Introduction The purpose of the experiment was to create benzilic acid from benzoin. This reaction would occur in a two-step process of oxidation of a ÃŽ ±-hydroxyketone to form the ÃŽ ±-diketone, benzil. Then, a rearrangement would occur to form the ÃŽ ±-hydroxyacid, benzilic acid. Benzoin is an organic compound consisting of an ethylene bridge bound to phenyl groups and with hydroxyl and ketone functional groups. The nitric acid would readily oxidize benzoin to benzil, a diketone, itself would reduced to nitrous acid, which would decompose to oxides of nitrogen and water. Additional water was added after the initial reaction to act as a base and facilitate removal of the hydrogen on the carbon that initially held the hydroxyl functional group. This indicated the removal of NO2, and generated the carbonyl to complete the oxidation. The conversion of benzil, an ÃŽ ±-diketone, into the salt of ÃŽ ±-hydroxyacid by means of base treatment is generally referred to as the benzilic acid rearrangement. As potassium hydroxide was added to benzil, the stable salt, potassium benzilate, was formed. The salt was acidified by the addition of hydrochloric acid until the pH of the solution became acidic and solid benzilic acid precipitated. The ability to be able to produce benzilic acid is vital. Benzilic acid is used in organic synthesis as a base point for preparation of glycolate pharmaceuticals. After the oxidation of benzoin, the melting point characteristic of the product would prove that the benzil was produced. If the melting point range were narrow, it would indicate that few impurities existed in the benzil product. Again, after the rearrangement of benzil, a melting point would be taken to prove that benzilic acid was produced and how pure the final product was. Crystallization through ice bath is important in this process, so that the solid crystal product could be obtained as a precipitate from the reaction solution. After the crystals are obtained, it is important to recrystallize to remove impurities. This allows the most accurate and precise melting point to be taken of the product and also gives the most accurate percent yield of the product, without impurity being weighed into the final product. To avoid errors, it would be best to make sure the benzil produced in the first step had a narrow melting point range. If the benzil contained many impurities, it would most likely produce inaccuracies in the next step of the process when benzil was rearranged to benzilic acid. Procedure 0.30 grams benzoin, 1.5 mL of concentrated nitric acid, and a spin vane were placed into a 5-mL conical vial with an attached air condenser. The mixture was heated in a 70Â °C water bath for approximately 90 minutes, while being stirred, until the red nitrogen oxide gases were no longer present in the air condenser. Afterwards, the mixture was removed from heat and transferred into a beaker that contained 4 mL of ice-cold water. The mixture was cooled in an ice bath and then crystals were collected by vacuum filtration using a Hirsch funnel and rinsed with cold nitric acid. The dried crystals were then recrystallized using 95% ethanol. The pure benzil product was weighed and a melting point was taken. Then, 0.100 grams of pure benzil, 0.30 mL of 95% ethanol, and a spin vane was placed into a 3-mL conical vial with an attached air condenser. The mixture was heated with an aluminum block at 100Â °C, while being stirred, until all the benzil had dissolved. Using a pipet, 0.25 mL of an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution was added drop wise into the conical vial through the air condenser. The mixture was boiled at 110Â °C while being stirred for approximately 15 minutes and the reaction mixture changed from deep blue-black to brown in color. The vial was removed from heat and allowed to cool to room temperature. The mixture was crystallized in an ice bath and the crystals were collected over a Hirsch funnel using vacuum filtration and rinsed with ice-cold 95% ethanol. The solid crystals were transferred to a 10-mL Erlenmeyer flask that contained 3 mL of 70Â °C water. The flask was swirled while 0.50 mL of 1 M hydrochloric acid was added to the flask. With each drop added a white precipitate formed immediately. The solution was checked to have a pH of 2, if it was not, more acid was added to the flask. The mixture was cooled to room temperature and then cooled in an ice bath. The crystals were collected by vacuum filtration using a Hirsch funnel and rinsed with ice-cold water. The pure benzilic acid crystals were weighed and a melting point was obtained.

Child Suffering From An Anxiety Disorder - 882 Words

The client, Janine, is a 28 year old woman suffering from an anxiety disorder. She finds herself constantly worrying about the status of her home, being late to work despite waking up an hour before departure, any possible accidents which may lead to her death, and various scenarios which lead to unfortunate events. She states that she has been married for about 10 years to her college sweetheart. She has no children due to her worries of complications during childbearing and raising children. She explains that she worries whether her children will be considered normal, pretty, or crazy. She describes her marriage as ‘hell’ because she feels like her husband does not support her. She does not mention any other family member besides her husband when asked about her family. Janine holds a job as a tax accountant. She works from 6am to 11pm, and recently she has been bringing her work home. This is due to her thoughts constantly interfering with her concentration on tasks. Recently work has been overwhelming for her since there is no method for reliev ing stress. She states that her husband does not help her with housework, which adds to the stress from work. In fact, she does not see her husband often which prompts her to worry if her husband is having an affair. She is not on medication at the moment; however, she used to take Xanax once every morning for 2 years. As for meals, she states that she only eats quarry, animals hunted for food, and that she does not eat vegetables.Show MoreRelatedSeparation Anxiety As A Medical Condition1143 Words   |  5 Pagescould this be separation anxiety. Separation Anxiety Disorder is a medical condition were children usually ranging in ages from 8 months to 14 years of age have distress when they are away from their parents and/or caregiver. Separation Anxiety can affect a person’s life dramatically by limiting them from engaging in ordinary day-to-day activities. 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