Barometer Rising

The role of disaster In Barometer Rising symbolizes Canada as a rising nation monopolizing together through the resurfacing of concealed Identity, while In â€Å"The Marine Excursions of the Knights of Pathway† undermines collective Identity through the use of repetition and ironic humor. In Barometer Rising, Neil suffers a catastrophe that robs him of identity which pushes him to re-possession of self and struggle for legality in relation to place. His identity and alienation is related to the crisis of identity and psychological isolation of his community.He stands for growth f love, self-respect and community partly because of his desire expressed in ship designing, his daughter, Jean, and his feelings for his country, â€Å"halls throat became constricted and he had a furious desire for expression: this anomalous land, this sprawling waste of timber and rock and water where the only living sounds were the footfalls of animals or the fantastic laughter of a loon, this empt y tract of primordial silences and winds and erosion and shifting colors, this beadlike string of crude towns and cities tied by nothing but railway tracks, this nation undiscovered by, the rest of the world and unknown to Itself†¦ Ironically, he is blown up Like Halifax Is blown up; and he has to carry the Identity of an Englishman for two years, In order to survive. Both Neil and Halifax are blown up as part of a war for which they are not responsible. In the aftermath, Roadie Wan, Penelope twelve year old brother, discovers that what has happened is â€Å"not an adventure but a catastrophe. It is real, not â€Å"a vision transported from France or Serbia†¦ † However, the explosion in Halifax is not tragic, as Neil thinks, â€Å"no matter what the Canadians did over there, they were not living out the sociological results of their own lives when they crawled through the ranches of France. The war might be Canada's catastrophe, but It was not her tragedy; just as this explosion in Halifax was catastrophic but not tragic. † Contrastingly, Penelope is also a representation of love, self-respect and community. She bears the natural child and ensures it is well placed and accessible. She translates some of Nil's ideas about ship design Into substantial form.She declares the legitimacy of woman as expert and professional and fully realizable human being. Together they are, according to Angus Murray, â€Å"two people who could seem at home almost anywhere, who had inherited as a matter of course and in their own neutron the urbane and technical heritage of both Europe and the eastern united States. † Before the beginning of the novel, Neil, Penelope and Jean represent Canada. The war is a catastrophe to it and happens to it. It is not a sociological result of their lives nor Is It their tragedy. After the explosion Colonel Wan and Alex MacKenzie are dead. Angus Murray, the philosophical doctor has risen to the needs of his people.Fir stly, the narrator tells in his own way speaks about the town's social organization in his own way, for instance, † .. Everybody is in everything. On SST. Andrews Day every man in town wears a thistle on SST. George's Day why shouldn't a man feel glad that he's an Englishman? † and so n. Everybody in Marinara seems to be in perfect connection with everyone else, regardless of any differences in between various age and social groups, a society that is seemingly composed of a single unit, â€Å"So you will easily understand that of course everybody belongs to the Knights of Pathway and the Masons and Deflowers, Just as they all belong to the Snow Shoe Club and the Girls' Friendly Society†.Such a type of collective community is far from being beneficent to the town, as it creates an essentially inwards-oriented social organization that cares only for its immediate monuments, and is concerned with preserving its apparent uniformity, no matter now assure It gets Hereto fore, It also creates Ana encourages ten squalliest AT provincial ignorance and inwards-oriented isolation generating a small-town atmosphere, where everything is small and extremely insignificant in scope. For example, the residents of Marinara want to appear intellectual when they are really not People living in Marinara like to pretend to be scholarly, possessing greater knowledge than what they actually have. ,. The author has the narrator talking about the steamer Marinara Belle, using repetition to show his frustration, â€Å"Whether hey are built by Harlan and Wolff of Belfast, or whether, on the other hand, they are not built by Harlan and Wolff of Belfast, is more than one would like to say offhand†.People living in Marinara like to pretend to be scholarly, possessing greater knowledge than what they actually have. The story foreshadows the steamer having an accident; the narration turns to forewarning â€Å"for various reasons, several people did not end up on Mari nara Belle. † If the disaster had not taken place, people would have forgotten this fact but it did took place occur, and the uneventful and routine lives of the residents of the town got excited by this. Thus, anything related to the accident becomes a topic of interest immediately, and exaggerating every event causes accidental decisions and insignificant choices to transform into supernatural events.Meanwhile, on the steamer, the group of the people begins to separate into smaller groups, women go to on one deck of the ship, boys and young men to another, Dry. Gallagher and Dean Drone form one group, Mr.. Smith and his associates form another group, and so on. If the society as a whole is not present to impose the overall sameness on its members, the separate inhabitants of Marinara do have efferent natures, interests, and groups, each composed of specific members from the original society. This fact counters the story's earlier statement that everyone in Marinara essential ly acts and possibly dresses in a manner almost identical to each other.Furthermore, the society composed from people on Marinara Belle has no sense of organization, due to their lack of interaction between people in the town. Everybody in Marinara Just goes with the flow without feeling the need to properly co-operate with the others and form any sort of a plan other than whatever the custom will dictate. Everybody will be doing the same thing as the majority of the residents of Marinara will opt to do. As a result, this creates complete, and utter deterioration of plans. Such as, the steamer was supposed set to depart at six-thirty but the time for the departure moves forward is postponed to seven o'clock but eventually departs ; later Marinara Belle departs at seven-thirty, an hour later than the original schedule.This absence of responsibility and organization of the people from the town foreshadows later in the story the actions of the townspeople when he steamer sinks, and cha nges the routine of their lives disrupts order in their lives. Contrastingly, the story hardly mentions at all the supposedly the actual goal of the excursion, the picnic itself. The people of the overall community of Marinara split themselves into various smaller subgroups such as â€Å"boys under thirteen and girls over nineteen†. Back in the mainland town the residents of Marinara may act as if they all are a unified society regarding age or gender, but here the author makes it obvious that is not so.People of Marinara physically do split themselves into smaller vigorous within the original residents of Marinara group, and but subconsciously they stick to their subgroups regardless of what they consciously believe. However, once ten passengers Trot Marlboro get Deck on tenet steamer Ana Deign to nana back to the mainland, they begin to blend back from â€Å"little clusters† into a single unified group, â€Å"blended into unison by the distance. † The actual e vent is not very that big or problematic; as the narrator hurries to explain the steamer is in reality stuck on a sandbank in shallow waters, a very commonplace event for Marinara and the neighboring towns.While most people would be more irritated than afraid, an unrecognized crowd of people on Marinara Belle begins to slowly panic because they were never mentally prepared or equipped for situations like this. Soon there is a widespread panic all over the steamer due to lack of organization and character traits such as common sense and personal bravery, twitch explains their absences of unique personalities. It is here that the lack of order in the peoples' life becomes crucial in the story's development; the passengers of the steamer do not know what to do, because they never expected to do something about it in the first lace solve the problem.Firstly Initially, they pretend to act as if nothing was wrong at all, â€Å"they were all running round looking for sandwiches and cracki ng Jokes and talking of making coffee over the remains of the engine fires. † As the realization that things are wrong Upon realization, they go for the lifeboat and they succeed in getting several boatloads of people back to the shore, even though the lifeboat appears to be â€Å"a frail, clumsy thing. † When the survivors re-unite with their foils in Marinara, their initial panic crowd the rest, and they get involved with the disaster going to rescue people in a leaking boat. As the routine of their lives seems to break down because of the boating accident, the society of Marinara begins to transform at last.This transformation changes the residents of the town into a panicked and unrecognized crowd which makes it worsens the situation. The narrator begins to weaken under the pressure and lack of social order into nothingness, because of the absence of a real inter town society; there is nothing to hold the people together. To make matters worse, as the people on Mari nara Belle encounter their fellow-citizens ashore, the panic spreads from the boat back to the town and they practically lose heir heads. They start rowing all over the lake, seeking safety on Marinara Belle, forgetting that they were initially safe and but came to rescue the people on the steamer bringing even more absurdity into the situation.

K-12 Curriculum Essay

Poverty * One of the biggest problems we Filipinos suffer. In reality, PHILIPPINES IS NOT A POOR COUNTRY. The problem is that wrong people mismanage and misgovern the budget of our country. Because of this mismanagement, citizens suffer and pay the price. And now, they’re implementing this curriculum that would be another burden to us Filipinos. If 10 years is already a big thing for parents, then what more is 12 years of sending their children to schools? Yes, there are public schools all around our country, but think about it. Many parents are minimum-wage-earners and aside from the education of their children, there are still other important things included in their monthly budget. So why add 2 more years in the basic education of an average Filipino? Lack of Excellent teachers * In our present time, we see that teachers are indemand and in the curriculum they implemented, teachers are needed. MORE EXCELLENT teachers are needed to be able to produce globally competitive students. There are many taking Education as their course but where are they? Most of them are working overseas. A proof that Philippines doesn’t need to adopt the education system of other countries for Filipinos to be successful and productive citizens. Now that K-12 program is already in use, the government should figure out how and where can they get the people to produce competitive, bright students. Lack of facilities, classrooms and equipments * We all have to accept the fact that in terms of facilities, classrooms and equipments in the schools in the Philippines, our country is underprivileged. For a good quality of education, a comfortable place to study is a big factor affecting this. Even before, classrooms are already inadequate, just think about adding more years in high school. Before the government have decided about a new education system, it could have been better if they solved the problems in the education in the Philippines first. We already have a good quality of education in our country, there are just some points we need to improve. Better education is needed not MORE education. If the government just used the allotted budget for this project to solve other economic issues, it could have helped more Filipinos. To cut everything short, there is just one thing I’d like you to comprehend. The answer to the question is simply NO.

Examine the functionalist view of the family Essay

Broadly speaking, the functionalist perspective has focused on the functions of the family in society and for its members. In other words, it looks at how the family, as an institution, helps in maintaining order and stability in society, and the significance of the family for its individual members. There are two main functionalist views on the family – Murdock’s view and Parsons’ view. Murdock’s view on the family is that the family performs four basic functions for its individual members and society at large. These are the ‘sexual’, ‘reproductive’, ‘economic’ and ‘educational’ functions. The ‘sexual’ function refers to the regulation of sexual activity. Evidence for this being a functionalist view on the family is that the idea of the four basic functions was created by George Murdock. Husbands and wives have sexual access to each other, and in all societies, there are norms concerning sexual activity outside marriage. Therefore, Murdock has argued that the family caters to the sexual needs of its adult members and also limits sexual access of other members of the society thereby maintaining stability. The ‘reproductive’ function relates to bearing and raising children. Again, this was part of the idea created by Murdock. The family provides the society with new members and assumes responsibility for raising them. The family is also an ‘economic’ unit, with a division of labour along gender lines. Evidence for this is Murdock’s consideration of this division of labour and his seeing it as rewarding for the spouses and as strengthening the bond between them, as they are perceived as doing distinct but complementary work. The ‘educational’ function can also be termed ‘socialisation’. Although initially an idea thought up by Murdock, Parsons also agreed with this view believing that this was one of the main functions of the family. The family has the responsibility of transmitting a society’s way of life, norms and values to the younger members. This function is an important one as, without culture, the society could not survive, and too much deviation from the norm would disrupt the stability of the society. Another view on the family is the view of Talcott Parsons. He has also written about the functions of the family. He has identified two functions that he perceives as being ‘basic and irreducible’. These functions are: the primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities of the population of the society. Primary socialisation occurs in early childhood and the family plays an important role at this stage. Evidence for this would be Parsons’ view and writings on the family. Later on, other institutions like the school or the peer group, will exercise much influence on the individual – this is called secondary socialisation. During primary socialisation, two important tasks are achieved by the family. Firstly, the family must transmit the culture of the society to the children. The child must not only be able to learn about the norms and values of the society he or she lives in, but should also be able to ‘internalise’ these norms and values, making them a part of himself or herself. Another functionalist view on the family is that it has the function of ‘stabilising the personality’ of its adult members. Evidence of this is Parsons’ view on the family. This means that family life provides adults with the emotional security that they need. The role of parents that they are asked to assume also provides them with opportunities for expressing their childish whims through their children.

Conoco phillips Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Conoco phillips - Essay Example Furthermore the company is vertically integrated and is actively engaged in operations from upstream (oil exploration and production) to downstream (oil refining and marketing). From its vast operations base ConocoPhillips has seen its revenues steadily increase over the past few years as shown in Figure 1 below: The energy industry – in particular oil – has been experiencing slow growth which has led to intense competition among the existing companies. Also, due to its capital intensive nature and the limited options of converting existing equipment to other use implies that even where a company is facing difficult times, there are high exit barriers to overcome. Probably the only viable alternative for companies in this industry is to merge or acquire others so as to derive economies of scale. Nevertheless, in spite of the intense competitive rivalry, ConocoPhillips and its competitors are in an industry with minimal threat of new entrants to either its upstream business – which requires huge investment in equipment, research and technology, and strategic sites – or its downstream business – that requires huge investment in distribution, logistics and marketing. The fact that the major players (ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and BP) are vertically integrated increases the barriers to entry further. Another great advantage of the vertical integration to these three major players is that it gives them great bargaining power over both their suppliers and buyers. However, the latter may be significantly better placed than the former in the sense that oil is now considered a commodity. This means that oil products from BP or ConocoPhillips of ExxonMobil do not significantly differ thus the buyer has some leverage to seek lower prices and better contract terms (â€Å"The Industry Handbook: The Oil Services Industry†). Finally, although renewable energy sources have

Discussion Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion Response - Essay Example A comparison of sub cohorts by involvement in physical activity however identified lowest relative risk, in odds ratio, at 0.74 among women who involved in active physical activity and relatively high risk factor of 1.02 among women who engaged in less or no physical activity at all. This led to a conclusion that involvement in physical activity by women reduces their relative risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, though this relationship is not significant. A comparison of the relationship among cohorts by body weigh however identifies a significant difference with lean or normal weights associated with relatively lower risks. The post accurately reviews the article, though the figure 32269 was before the exclusion criteria and the actual participants were 1506. The post’s definition of relative risk is also accurate but restricted to the scope of disease susceptibility (Dishman, Heath and Lee, 2012). Its report on the likely relationship between the type of cancer and women’s weight is also consistent with the research findings (Leitmann, 2008) and is supported by published literature that identifies an indirect proportionality between body weight and a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer after her menopause (Courneya and Friedenrich, 2010; Irwin, 2012). The class of women has also reported an inverse relationship between postmenopausal breast cancer and involvement in exercise (Fritz and Speroff, 2010). Leitzmann, M., Moore, S., Peters, T., Lacey, J., Schatzkin, A., Schairer, C., . . . Albanes, D. (2008). Prospective study of physical activity and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research, 10(5),

CASE 4 Electronic and Mobile Commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CASE 4 Electronic and Mobile Commerce - Essay Example The free access to information across multiple global markets is severely disrupting the market dynamics as consumers are getting more aware and demanding in nature. Today’s global consumers are focusing highly on buying the right products, which provides them with a greater value as well as consumer satisfaction. This tendency of consumers is creating cross geographical demands for products and services. In order to capitalize on the business opportunity, associated with cross cultural demand for products and services, businesses need to make their presence in the online arena, which is managed by electronic and mobile commerce. This assignment intends to focus on the steps that businesses needs to follow to create online presence and the related skills that are needed to manage it. It will also take into account the opportunities and challenges associated with electronic and mobile commerce. The first step is the analysis of potential e-business initiatives. In order to do so, the online businesses need to focus on either value creation for stakeholders or improving cost efficiencies. In order to create value for the stakeholders through e-business, a firm should concentrate on customers as well as the related components of a value chain which comprises of suppliers, distributors and partners. For improving cost efficiency through e-business initiatives, the firm should concentrate on the internal business process and functions as it will benefit them in the long run. The next step is to analyze the functional scope of e-business initiatives. It is important to mention that the proper categorization of the e-business initiatives on the basis of functional scope enhances the ability of the firm to qualitatively identify the estimated business value along with cost savings. The third step is to analyze the scalability of benefits associated with the e-business initiatives. For the purpose of this

My Friend Hassan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

My Friend Hassan - Essay Example The experience made me appreciate and respect him even more and since then whenever I am faced with the moral dilemma, I ask myself what Hassan do, and I have found him to be a very useful inspiration and role model in my life. Hassan and I make an unusual pair since we are so different, I have been described as loud vibrant outspoken and I tend to believe I have my fair share of rough edges, to some, I appear unrefined and even possibly rude. For that reason, when I first met Hassan I would never have imagined that we could ever get close to unlike me, he is quiet, polite and very refined in his manners and actions. In addition, he is something of a perfectionist with an artist's eye for details and an architect's sense of proportion and balance. Nevertheless, despite the radical personality differences, we have remained close since he does not overtly try to influence or judge me and that, ironically, is what makes him most influential to me. Any refinement or solemnity in my chara cter can be directly attributed to him since he sets an example anyone would love to emulate and I often find myself trying to be like him in more ways than one. At the end of the day, Hassan is an all-around wonderful person, doctor, boyfriend, and friend with the sensitivity of a hallowed saint and the indomitable spirit of the unicorn. I consider myself tremendously lucky to have such a dependable and kind friend whom I know I can fall back on in times of trouble and he will be there for me irrespective of the circumstances.

Proposing a Solution on Gas Prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Proposing a Solution on Gas Prices - Essay Example We are currently in the middle of a similar crisis as the national price of gasoline is currently at $3.86 a gallon (Gasbuddy). Due to the problem Americans must find solutions to save money on gasoline. Issues The use of an automobile has become a social norm that many Americans are finding very hard to give up. An automobile gives a person a sense of freedom and it allows the user to be able to transport long distances in relative short periods of time. The normal driving speed in a highway is about 60 miles per hour. Due to the culture of driving is going to be hard to change the culture of America to give up driving. The cost of gasoline is on the rise. We have already reached very uncomfortable levels and the predictions are the prices are going to continue to rise. By the summer of 2012 the price of crude oil might reach $200 a barrel. The price of gasoline is going to continue to go up in the near future. Problem Statement The rise in the price of gasoline is an imminent threa t and the most likely scenario is that gasoline will continue to steadily increase every month through 2011. A problem statement that summarizes the problem is: Americans need to find long term solutions to reduce their dependency on gasoline. Alternative solutions An alternative solution to the problem could be finding a way to reduce the miles per gallon consumption of your current automobile. When cars are not well tuned their mpg rating can be reduced by 15% to 20%. Giving your car proper maintenance can help improve the efficiency of an automobile. A good tuned-up can do wonders to the mpg rating of a car. A second alternative solution is to lower the consumption of gasoline by changing your consumption patterns. Reducing the driving around and staying home more can help a family reduce their monthly gasoline expenses. Changing patters implies making life changes. A good way to lower the usage of gas is by car pooling to work with other colleagues. If five people get together a nd create a car pool system the five individuals could save about 75% in gasoline expenses related to their daily commute to work. A third alternative solution is to purchase a new energy efficient vehicle commonly referred to as a green car. There are two primary options which are to purchase a hybrid vehicle or to purchase a fully electric vehicle. A hybrid vehicle can give upwards of 40 miles per gallon. A unique model that is capable of greater mpg efficiency is the Chevy Volt. The Chevy volt has different driving modes one of them is capable of giving 230 miles per gallon. Nissan Corporation recently released an electric vehicle called the Nissan Leaf. The Nissan Leaf has a battery capable of driving a 100 miles range at speeds of up to 90 miles per gallon. Optimum solution The optimum solution selected to reduce the dependency Americans have on gasoline is to purchase a green vehicle. The alternative that truly enables a person to eliminate gasoline from their lives is to purc hase an electric vehicle such as the Nissan Leaf. The Nissan Leaf cost $32,780, but after tax savings the car has a net value of $25,280 (Nissanusa). The Leaf is an electric car which implies that if a person only used the Leaf to drive they would spend cero money on gas. Based on the average yearly driving of Americans of 15,000 miles per year at a price of $4 gallon a person could save upwards of $2,500 a year. The best way to implement this solution is to have a secondary car such as an old Nissan Sentra that gives a

Listening Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Listening - Essay Example In my opinion, this goes hand in hand with listening. Listening to what the client is saying shows that you are interested and hence elevates the chances of success. Sales people are required to possess effective communication skills such that they are able to communicate audibly to a customer and subsequently listen attentively. This paper describes the ‘why’ and ‘how’ listening is one of the most important components of successful salesmanship in the context of the residential renovation industry. There are various ways that a good salesman can adopt the skills of becoming a good listener. To become a better listener, a salesman is advised to first pay attention and listen to the other person before talking, exercise tolerance, persistence, and shun complains. In the modern world, the residential renovation industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. In general, listening has its importance in business communication. It is a key factor of prod uctivity and success in an institution. Listening is important in the establishment of effective and successful associations and relations within the workplace. This is also applicable in the residential renovation industry. Through listening, a salesman is able to establish a relationship or association with the customer. Listening makes it easier for the salesman to converse with the client as s/he is able to comprehend issues effectively. Salesmen are advised to ensure that they develop their listening abilities through offering their complete concentration to their clients and retain eye contact with the client (Green 98). Consequently, a salesman is advised to seek clarification of the statement or arguments brought forward by the client to ensure effective comprehension. A salesperson in the residential renovation industry is ought to listen to the client genuinely and openly. S/he is ought to consider the fact that the whole process is client based, so every attention should be focused towards the client. Listening to the need s of the clients ensures that all renovation work or sale conducted on behalf of the client meets his/her requirements. To elucidate the ‘how’ to listen, Green posits that: Active listeners have a good perspective of, and a strong handle on, paraphrasing, restating, summarizing, responding to nonverbal messages, and responding to feelings. These active listening techniques enable salespeople to hold three important things in their grasp. Listening results in a better understanding of what prospects are saying, listening causes a greater flow of information from prospects, and is the basis for tailoring a sales approach that matches the prospect (97). Listening makes it possible for a salesperson to grasp information and details presented by the client that are beneficial in establishing and putting forward resolutions geared towards benefiting the organization dealing with residential renovation services. This is attr ibuted to the fact that through listening, a salesman has a chance to identify and ascertain the feelings and thought of a particular customer on a particular issue of activity. The information gathered by the salesperson can subsequently be incorporated in chatting the way forward to meet the requirements of the client. Listening helps both the client and the salesperson to build conviction and confidence towards each other. Subsequently, listening helps the salesperson to

Sault Ste. Marie sand and gravel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sault Ste. Marie sand and gravel - Essay Example These exposed rocks pose a challenge to the government in terms of using road as a means of transport. Preference is made on alternatives, which are viewed to be cheaper in transportation of other products. It is believed that the whole of Ontario was once covered by glacial. Glaciation resulted to the emergence of several lakes known as glacial lakes in the region. The lakes are found in the north of Ontario as well as the southern and western boundaries. Sand was left in the middle region with rivers such as the Grand River flowing to the formed lakes. Glaciation leads to the exposure of rocks in the southern region of Ontario which are scattered. Oak ridge moraine is an example of conspicuous events in glaciated areas exposed by the height of land that lies between the Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario. Horse shoe moraines are evident in the Bruce peninsula to the southeast where escarpments extend towards Lake Erie. Deposits and drumlins are also found in the Petersburg region. Further, there is a glacial lake and rain forest region to the south, which is located to the south west of Lake Superior. The forest region is reasonably fertile due to the deposition of the glacial masses. The geographical landscape of the southern region does not favor the construction of roads due to the rugged terrain together with extended water bodies. For this reason, the use of tracks to transport sand to the southern region may not be possible as it would be uneconomical considering the cost of transport and construction of roads. Political issues also play part in the impossibility of transporting sand and gravel to the south. Issues of land ownership and establishment of parks in appreciation of wilderness has caused laxity in constructing roads to the south. Local conservation has been the point of focus thereby taking preference at the expense of road construction in the region for commercial purposes. Much emphasis is made on agriculture as a basis of planning

Organizing a trip to Edingburgh Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Organizing a trip to Edingburgh - Essay Example Art and other portraits are among the major contributions of Edinburgh. Scottish art council, National gallery of Scotland, Scottish National Portrait Gallery and other art centers are the major attractions. Edinburgh has witnessed lots of International twin programs from various universities and colleges across the world. The trip involves a large number of students and members of the faculty who will guide the students in different aspects during the trip. Some other university staff will also be part of the trip and their assistance is expected to make the trip more fruitful. The date selected for the trip is the month of May when the University classes are suspended due to summer holiday (5TH May, 2009 to 9th May, 2009). Flight tickets are being obtained for all the persons going for the trip. As per the rate given by the travel agents, the air fare is 200' per person (100' for Wales to Edinburgh and 100' for Edinburgh to Wales). The trip will be in business class. Hotels will be booked in Edinburgh for the trip. The rooms will be of double or triple occupancy. Rooms will be allotted to students and staff as per their preference. As per the rates provided by the hotel manager in Edinburgh, each person has to pay 200 ' daily for lodging. This price includes all the hotel facilities except food. ll the people goi Cab Fare ll the people going for trip are to assemble at the University campus. Cabs will carry them from the University campus to Wales airport on day 0. Cabs will also be hired to transport people from Hotel in Edinburgh to the airport of Edinburgh. As per the rates provided by the Cab association, they are going to charge 10 ' per person. All the cabs will be fully air conditioned. Food All the participants will be provided with breakfast, lunch, evening snacks and dinner. Breakfast will be provided by the hotel in Edinburgh. For lunch, restaurants have been selected in Edinburgh with flexible food items. Three different restaurants have been selected for three days of trip in Edinburgh. The restaurants have

Reasons I Choose Belmont University Essay Example for Free

Reasons I Choose Belmont University Essay One of the universities that have caught my attention was the Belmont University. Coming from a Christian Community, I felt that the university can help me develop into a more mature Christian. The schools mission is to provide an to its education that is academically challenging, that promotes the empowerment of both men and women. Their diverse backgrounds help hone the students to become engaged with current issues, and in the improvement of the society, through their compassion, courage, discipline, and faith in God. Since the university is centered on the needs of its students, the university provided an environment that helped its students grow spiritually and intellectually. With the help of their peers and professors, the students are able to help themselves become the best in their chosen field. In addition to this, the university offers a wide variety of courses that cater to each individuals interest and needs. Admission to the university definitely allows an individual to grow and mature to become a better person, both intellectually and spiritually. Other factors are also taken into great consideration, such as their social and physical needs. The diversity and artistic favor that this university has can help in the building of strong foundations for the future of its students. Belmont does not only offer a conducive environment suitable for learning, but also caters to an environment contributory to spiritual growth. In addition to this, the universitys location is beyond par. Since Nashville is known to be a â€Å"Music City†, the university can help hone its students to become excellent in their field by providing world class performances. After acquiring a degree form Belmont, anyone can easily find jobs just outside of the university, with the wide array of job offerings in Nashville. Church-related activities may still be practiced, through the number of churches near the vicinity. The Belmont University is definitely the answer to all our prayers.

Which Theoretical Perspective Of Politics Is Most Persuasive?

Which Theoretical Perspective Of Politics Is Most Persuasive? This essay will highlight that pluralism is the most persuasive political state theory as it reflects democracy and equality within the state. I will indicate why I am persuaded most by pluralism by highlighting its ontological and epistemological position, pluralistic beliefs on the diffusion of power, plurality of groups and the presence of pluralist issues, such as multiculturalism, in our current society. This essay will go on to explain that despite being persuaded most by pluralism, like all theories, it has downfalls, for example its limited belief in faces of power. In order to highlight weaknesses in pluralist state theory I will draw on Marxism and elitism, which are becoming increasingly persuasive as their presence in society escalates. Pluralists argue that there are essential differences of being that provide the foundations upon which social life is built (Marsh Furlong, 2002, p.18). This statement reflects pluralists as ontologically foundational as they recognise the importance of social interaction in order for a state to function efficiently. Elitists and Marxists, on the other hand, are anti-foundational by believing nothing is definitive as everything can be altered. Ontologically, pluralisms foundational belief is more persuasive as they identify that social differences in norms and belief shape our society; they recognise that change occurs at a local level but in order to maintain stability diversity must remain at the base of society. In order to explain behaviour pluralists establish causal relationships between social phenomena emphasising their positivist epistemological positioning (Marsh Furlong: 2002:20). Positivists promote unity within a society to maximise equality and prevent power being unfairly dispersed. Realism, which includes Marxism and elitism, is the opposite to positivism in terms of epistemological positioning. Realists concentrate on government and power rather than society in order to focus on their own national interests instead of the interests of society (Ferraro: mytholyke.edu). They disregard society from political processes in order to act in the interest of the state rather than the people; for example Marxism focuses on individuals who want to maximise capital for their own benefits. This highlights that pluralists foundational position is more persuasive as, unlike realism, it focuses on the interests of the people, as society and politics are interrelated. Pluralism is perceived as instrumentalist as it sees the state as an instrument rather than a set of structures (Hay: 2002: 174) meaning pluralists do not regard the state as a uniform and primary body in itself, but rather as a society of societies (McLennan: 1995: 33). Pluralists believe the states responsibility is to allow society to voice its beliefs by placing citizens at the heart of the institution; rather than a centralized state based purely on politics and governments (Stears cited in Smith: 2006: 24). The pluralist view of the state is more socially inclusive than Marxist and elitist state theory as they believe groups and the diffusion of power within society provides the foundations of the state and politics (Smith: 2006: 23). This is juxtaposed by elitist state theory which believes power is concentrated in the state and citizens have little or no impact on policy decision (Kavanagh, Richards, Smith Geddes: 2006: 25). Elitism and Marxism, like pluralism, see the state as instrumentalist, however, whilst pluralists believe the state to be an instrument used by society to maintain equality and democracy, Marxism and elitism see the state as an instrument in the hands of the ruling class for enforcing and guaranteeing the stability of the class structure itself (Sweezy cited in Hay: 2006: 61). Here the state is observed as a vital nodal point in societal functioning as elites hold onto power and use it to influence and imprint their wants on society. Pluralisms view of the state is the most persuasive as it grants society with the ability to bring about change instead of elites dominating society, politics and the economy. Over the years Pluralism has adapted to social changes and academic critiques in order to advance in the political arena by offering a more realistic view of society and politics (Smith: 2006: 37). All three pluralist models classical, reformed (elite) and neo-pluralism acknowledge the dispersion of power between a variety of institutions and interest groups, Mouffe states that a pluralist society is the articulation of a multiplicity of identities (cited in Buckler: 2002: 190). By allowing group plurality it encourages the dispersion of power, preventing a single group or interest to dominate society which is common in elitism and Marxism (McAnulla: 2002: 278). Pluralists believe the dispersion of power between a variety of groups is key to a democratic state as it is the building block of politics and the state (Smith: 2006: 23). It allows non-governmental organisations, media and political parties to voice their beliefs in a society which appreciates the importance of an eclecti c range of attitudes and beliefs. Group plurality and the interests of the citizens are key in maintaining a diverse socio-culture and preventing elitists dominating society. Reformed and neo-pluralists have identified that in certain areas, such as the business sector, power may become more concentrated as the influence businesses hold over the government increases and state policies are created in consideration of key business sectors (McLenna: 1995: 36). Lindblom, a neo-pluralist, saw business as not just having power through its lobbying ability but having structural power (cited in Smith: 2006: 28). In todays society, globalisation has led to a rise in the power and influence of businesses as governments recognise that trade and business relations assist their state as they reap the social, political and economic benefits. The acknowledgement of the concentration of power in certain areas augments pluralisms persuasive power as reformed and neo-pluralists highlight adaptations made to the classical model in order to make it more precise. This belief sways me to believe pluralism is the most persuasive theory by offering a true representation of socie tys attitudes and beliefs. Pluralists believe that power is located within society, however, elitists believe it originates in the political arena and Marxists in the economic arena. Pluralism provides the most appropriate and democratic arena for power as it relies on the people in society to voice their beliefs and influence politics; representing national interests rather than self-interest (McAnulla: 2002: 278). Marxism, however, believes politics and economics are interlinked, whilst pluralists are careful to separate politics and economic power as they identify that all economically powerful actors do not automatically have political power (Kavanagh, Richards, Smith Geddes: 2006: 24). Marxists think that economic power equals political power but this is not the case in a democratic world. This places pluralism in a more persuasive position as it recognises that capital is not necessary in order to gain power. Pluralism is visible in society by the presence of multi-level governance, meaning there is not a single centre of government but many, which link together as a whole variety of actors, be they at the local, national or supranational level (Smith: 2006: 31). Multi-level governance allows greater, more influential social involvement with the government and politics. This reiterates pluralists belief in the dispersion of power as it prevents the concentration of political power and decision-making in one political arena, instead disperses it between local government constituencies (Widdicombe report cited in Wilson: 2003: 270). Local government is important to pluralists as they believe it is the most comprehensive method of social involvement in politics by reflecting the political beliefs of citizens in peripheral areas. Multi-level governance is present in order to represent the people, however, this is contrary to the views of elitists and Marxists who are self-interested actors an d do not share similar beliefs about the dispersion of political power. In elitist theory there is a clear dichotomy between classes, Evans states: In all societiestwo classes of people appear a class that rules and a class that is ruled. The first class, always the less numerous, performs all political functions, monopolizes power and enjoys the advantages that power brings, whereas the second, the more numerous class, is directed and controlled by the first. (2006: 39) Elitists believe politics is characterised by elite domination; individuals who do not communicate and form relationships with society, instead create legislation favourable only to elites. They see the state as consisting of us elites and them citizens without social or political standing instead of recognising that to achieve an efficient and democratic state the two classes must be inter-related. This lack of communication between politics and society is detrimental to the existence of elitism as citizens want their voice heard in the political arena and without multi-level governance this is difficult to achieve. Self-interested Marxists also fail to recognise the importance of multi-level governance as their concern is not the public good, but increasing budgets because this increases their power, status and job security (Kavanagh, Richards, Smith Geddes: 2006: 28). Marxists are concerned with legislation which maximises economic returns for the government, for example income tax, rather than focusing on social or political issues. The elitist and Marxist conceptions of a governing elite and ruling class are very similar as both concepts highlight socio-economic and political inequalities between rulers and the masses (Evans: 2006: 39). However, both are undermined by their lack of attention to the presence of politics in the social arena, they disregard citizens as both theories see them as underdogs to political and capital elites. Pluralism, on the other hand, recognises the importance of societys voice in political proceedings, justifying the existence of multi-level governance. The pre sence of multi-level governance, therefore, is evidence why I believe pluralism to be a persuasive theory the people come first. Pluralists encourage group plurality not only in politics but also in everyday society. Multiculturalism is based on the idea that no single set of norms or values should dominate a society, therefore, reinforcing the pluralist belief of equality and power dispersion (Smith: 2006: 35). In a multicultural society, a range of cultures, attitudes and beliefs from a variety of ethnic backgrounds become integrated within the community, producing an impartial framework without elite domination (Modood: 2005: 109). Over the years, Britain has been witness to a growing number of cultures in our country, welcoming and incorporated them into our own, such numbers have arrived that we can no longer state that whites are Britains elite. For example, London is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world as it is home to 300 languages, 50 non-indigenous communities with populations of 10,000 or morealmost a third of the citys residents were born outside England (2.2m) (guardian.co.uk: 2005). Pluralism believes multiculturalism within Britain highlights the importance of social diversity and the acceptance of a different cultures and norms in order to maintain equality, thus offering concrete evidence for pluralism being the most persuasive state theory. Like all theories there are weaknesses in pluralist state theory, to highlight these I will now critique pluralism with elitism and Marxism. The most controversial issue surrounding pluralism is their view of power. Classical pluralists believe in the first face of power which states that power is witnessed by an individual, so can therefore be measured. It was the Classical pluralist, Robert Dahl who defined the first face as A had power over B to the extent that s/he can get B to do something B would not do otherwise' (cited in Hay: 1997: 46). The first face of power is known as the decision-making process as the decision made by A consequently influences the actions of B. Pluralists believe that powerful actors are those whose opinion holds sway in the decision-making arena, whether a parliament, cabinet or diplomatic negotiation (Hay: 2002: 172). Elitists believe that there are two faces and that decision-making is not the only means of attaining power. The pluralist first face provides the foundations of elitisms second face of power. This face was created by Bachrach and Baratz who recognised that power could be gained through the process of agenda-setting, not only decision-making (Hay: 1997: 46). Agenda-setting occurs when A sets an agenda leaving B with a restricted number of options in the decision-making process. Bachrach and Baratz believed that the process of agenda-setting would broaden the concept of power, and with it the political as pluralisms first face restricted these (Hay: 2002: 175). Pluralists describe power as explicit as it can be easily observed, the elitist second face, however, is more implicit and unobservable as it depicts how power can be handled by A in an attempt to alter Bs decision. In 1971, a third face of power was created by Steven Lukes, a Marxist. His third face recognises a persons ability to manipulate a persons wants through the mechanisms of institutionalised persuasion via a process known as preference shaping (Lukes cited in Hay: 2002: 179). Marxists accept that it is not always possible to observe power, so focus their ideas around the second and third faces of power. This highlights weaknesses in the pluralist view of power as they fail to consider the possibility of power being manipulated or concealed within society. This means the pluralist view of power is not the most persuasive, instead the Marxist view can be seen as most persuasive as it identifies unobservable power and acknowledges the ability to manipulate power (Hay: 1997: 47). Pluralism can be seen as an idealised view of the state where everyone is equal, a view which is not wholly realistic in todays world. Many believe that Marxism and elitism provide more accurate representations of the world today due to globalisation. Whilst pluralism is preferred by citizens as they feel it gives them hope for political and social equality, in reality Marxist and elitist beliefs control our society due to a select number of institutions and actors dominating decision-making arenas. Globalisation is vastly important for global trade and development, however, it is run by elites purely to maximise capital; the wants of the people are not considered. In recent years elitism has paved the way for globalisation as we have seen the emergence of new elites at the transnational (e.g. multinational corporations), supranational (e.g. the European Union bureaucratic elite) and international (e.g. international policy-making elites associated with global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) levels (Evans: 2006: 40). These institutions are supervised by elites who have the power to dictate our lives from afar. A key example of elitist domination is the Lisbon Treaty recently ratified by the European Union (EU) which many believe to be undemocratic as it limits member states sovereignty. Due to the Treaty, the European Parliament, Council, Commission and the Court have the power to make decisions which member states have to abide to by EU law (Maurer: 1999: 3). The decision-making process here is centred around EU institutions and left in the hands of elites who dictate laws to member states; the citizens lack the power or influence to instigate change. One could say that elitist globalisation requires aspects of pluralism, as in order for these institutions to operate a network must exist allowing co-operation between parties. These institutions recognise the need for a support network in order to maximise efficiency, a global elite network is thus created in order to maintain its power base in society (Evans: 2006: 40). It is clear to see how elites, whether political or business, can dominate global decision-making via globalisation, globalisation has aided elite domination by restricting societys hold on politics. Globalisation can be interpreted, not only through elitist beliefs, but also Marxist beliefs as globalisation is the internationalisation of capital (Jessop cited in Hay: 2006: 77). Globalisation centres around trade as trade generates capital accumulation which is of primary importance to capitalists. Engels stated the modern stateis essentially a capitalist machine as maximising profit was the only aspect of the state deemed important (Cited in Hay: 2006: 62). Marxists highlight the influence self-interested capitalists have had on the globalisation process by centralizing economic greed, rather than considering the political or social needs of the state. Marxist theory can therefore, offer an accurate analysis of globalisation as capitalists, like the elites, are working against the people in an attempt to fulfil their own needs. This highlights that Marxism and elitism, despite disadvantaging society, are more persuasive theories in reality due to the impact and influence globali sation is having on the world. Elitists believe rulers of society are engaged in an ongoing process of competitive elitism (Evans: 2006: 40). Competitive elitism allows elites to compete against each other in order to achieve something they other party may also want, for example politicians see the electoral arena like a market and have to attract the greatest possible number of votes (Kavanagh, Richards, Smith Geddes: 2006: 27). At face value, politicians want to appear to consider the wants of society in order to win votes, however, in reality they do not care as much about the people as they appear to; winning the election and beating their opponent is more important. A prime example of competitive elitism occurring in society is the upcoming elections as each party is focussing on the oppositions negatives rather than what they will offer the country if they win the election. This is an attempt to smear their rivals campaign by highlighting negatives within their agendas, for example, the Conservative Partys campaign posters for the 2010 elections mar Gordon Browns actions whilst Prime Minister with headlines such as I doubled the tax rate for the poor. Vote for me. And I took billions from pensions. Vote for me. (conservatives.com: 2010). Actions such as these undertaken by political actors emphasise competitive elitism within politics; the national interest takes second place to the wants of the political elites. Competitive elitism highlights the occurrence of elitism within society as elites are self-interested and want to maximise power, despite degrading politics and society in the process. I conclude that pluralism is the most persuasive political state theory due to its belief in the dispersion of power and group plurality enhancing equality, both socially and politically, making the state more democratic as the voices of the people are heard. However, emancipation of the people has not yet succeeded as pluralism is seen as too idealistic, instead elitism and Marxism remain in control and restrict society. Globalisation is fuelling these state theories as institutions and actors are too concerned with their own interests to consider others. This essay concludes, therefore, that despite pluralism comprising of idealistic qualities there are aspects of it in todays society, which gives society hope for the future. An equal and democratic pluralist state is within reach providing globalisation and the actions of elites are monitored.

The Lies Told By People Everyday

The Lies Told By People Everyday Tad William once said We tell lies when we are afraid afraid of what we dont know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. In relationships and marriages, dishonesty is a love buster. But sometimes honesty is worse, like the article dishonesty it says: When a wife first learns that her husband has been unfaithful, the pain is often so great that she wishes she had been left ignorant. When a husband discovers his wifes affair, its like a knife in his heart and he wonders if it would have better not known. In fact, many marriage counselors advise clients to avoid telling spouses about past infidelity, saying that its too painful for people to handle. Besides, if its over and done with, why dredge up the sewage of the past? (Harley, 1976) They look at it as just a mistake and want to be forgiven. People are dishonest because they believe that the others cant handle the truth, which for most cases its true because the truth most of the time is bitter. But i think that no matter how hard the truth is you should just be straight up and honest. Mark Twain once said If you tell the truth you dont have to remember anything. Just like Dishonesty article says: Its this sort of confusion that leads some of the most well-intentioned husbands and wives to lie to each other, or at least give each other false impressions. They feel that dishonesty will help them protect each others feelings. But what kind of a relationship is that? The lie is a wall that comes between the two partners, something hidden, a secret that cannot be mentioned, yet is right under the surface of every conversation. (Harley, 1976) If you think about it youre going to have to take a lie and keep adding on to it more and more and you cant even remember what you said in the beginning so even though telling the truth is difficult its the easiest. With a lie youre always going to get caught up. Just like karma- what goes around comes around. And depending on the lie you can be holding all this unnecessary weight on your shoulders and be stressing about it. A Russian proverb states With lies you may get ahead in the world but you can never go back. Just like the article Dishonesty states: Dishonesty strangles compatibility. To create and sustain compatibility, you must lay your cards on the table. You must be honest about your thoughts, feelings, habits, likes, dislikes, personal history, daily activities and plans for the future. When misinformation is part of the mix, you have little hope of making successful adjustments to each other. Dishonesty not only makes solutions hard to find, but it often leaves couples ignorant of the problems themselves. (Harley, 1976) So along with lying not only would you be feeling guilty and stress, you may even regret what you have lied about which makes it even more difficult to confess what you have lied about. A lie can take care of the present and solve what you are going through momentarily, but it does not have a good future. Bill Copeland once said: When you stretch the truth, watch out for the snapback. Once you have become a liar, people cannot believe you no matter how hard you try. They will immediately develop an instinct to question the words that are coming out of your mouth. For instance, we have all heard of the tale The boy who cried wolf. The little boy would entertain himself by tricking villagers that a wolf is attacking his flock of sheep. When they came to help him, they found out that it was a false alarm and he just wasted their time. They thought he was just a little boy that was playing around. However, when the boy was actually confronted by the wolf and cried wolf, none of the villagers believed him. In other words, the moral of the story was even when liars tell the truth, they are never believed. Some people even lie because they feel desperate, like they steal because they are desperate and in need of money. They do not know where to turn to so they see this as their only way of getting away. Also another example is academic dishonesty. Some students feel really desperate to cheat or plagiarize because they want to pass or earn a decent grade. Other People basically lie sometimes just so they can get straight to what they want, like in the movie sisters keeper, the girl who had Leukemia told her 11 year old sister to lie to her mom saying that she didnt want to donate her kidney to her, but really it was because the girl with the Leukemia didnt want everyone to suffer with her. So it was a lie because the daughter didnt want to hurt her mother. Kids start learning to lie from their parents, especially when the kid is afraid of the parent. On Feb 10 2008, Po Bronson wrote an article in the New York Magazine it was a study that A doctor in a University made, this is what the article said: For a study to assess the extent of teenage dissembling, Dr. Nancy Darling, then at Penn State University, recruited a special research team of a dozen undergraduate students, all under the age of 21. Using gift certificates for free CDs as bait, Darlings Mod Squad persuaded high-school students to spend a few hours with them in the local pizzeria. Each student was handed a deck of 36 cards, and each card in this deck listed a topic teens sometimes lie about to their parents. Over a slice and a Coke, the teen and two researchers worked through the deck, learning what things the kid was lying to his parents about, and why. They began the interviews saying that parents give you everything and yes, you should tell them everything, Darling observes. By the end of the interview, the kids saw for the first time how much they were lying and how many of the familys rules they had broken. Darling says 98 percent of the teens reported lying to their parents. Out of the 36 topics, the average teen was lying to his parents about twelve of them. The teens lied about what they spent their allowances on, and whether theyd started dating, and what clothes they put on away from the house. They lied about what movie they went to, and whom they went with. They lied about alcohol and drug use, and they lied about whether they were hanging out with friends their parents disapproved of. They lied about how they spent their afternoons while their parents were at work. They lied about whether chaperones were in attendance at a party or whether they rode in cars driven by drunken teens. Most parents hear their child lie and assume hes too young to understand what lies are or that lyings wrong. They presume their child will stop when he gets older and learns those distinctions. Talwar has found the opposite to be true-kids who grasp early the nuances between lies and truth use this knowledge to their advantage, making them more prone to lie when given the chance. Although we think of truthfulness as a young childs paramount virtue, it turns out that lying is the more advanced skill. A child who is going to lie must recognize the truth, intellectually conceive of an alternate reality, and be able to convincingly sell that new reality to someone else. Therefore, lying demands both advanced cognitive development and social skills that honesty simply doesnt require. Its a developmental milestone, Talwar has concluded. (Bronson, 2008) Basically kids learn how to lie from fear. One lie that we will never stop having is, lying to ourselves. Lying to yourself maybe to build some confidence, or even maybe to understand something. The article The Human Thing to Do: Lying to Yourself by Vanessa Gilbert says: As humans, we perform a lot of acts we wish we had never done, and we spend a lot of our time on earth regretting what has already been done, something we cant change. Whether it was that bad breakup, or smoking for twenty years, or even wishing we would have gone out and exercised on those Sunday mornings, we all worry about them and we all lie to ourselves to pretend that it wasnt our fault, and that we couldnt have prevented it anymore than what we did. In fact, it seems we lie to ourselves so much we cant piece the truth apart from the false things we have told ourselves for months on end. If there is one fact I have learned in my thirteen years of life, it is that everything in this world is corrupt in one way or another. That certain aspect, religion, club, organization, or mindset didnt even start out pure because it was most likely made by humans, who are dirty, selfish, and continually seeking the solace they find in having a solution for everything. I guess you could say that lying to yourself has always been something we have done. You cant blame this one on popular culture, teenagers, or the failing economy. Humans have lived this way for thousands and thousands of years, and weve made it this far thinking the same exact way. Is it okay to be delusional and far from the truth? Is it worth knowing the truth just because it is the truth? Furthermore, would we be better off if we were up front with each other and ourselves? It may hurt to face the truth in the beginning, but in the long run, you are guaranteed to be happy. You will be happy with yourself, with the people you love, and with the cold, hard truth, and nothing else. In the process of opening your eyes, you see a lot more than just whats around you. You see what you missed, what is real, and what is to look forward to. Not everything that is true is harsh. If we do not come to realize what is real, we will continue to be let down, and we will always make the same mistakes. All our energy will all be put into something that is not helping us any. We will neither advance nor go backward. Instead of staying stagnate, why not move forward? (Gilbert, 2009) In conclusion, dishonesty isnt the best thing, and also sometimes it isnt the worse thing. Society is filled with liars and dishonest people. But there are also people that had only told a few lies. Baltasar Gracian once said A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity. A single lie might just ruin ones whole life. So one must watch out and think before talking or doing, so no one can get into lies. Resources: Harley, Dr. Dishonesty. Marriage Builders  ® Successful Marriage Advice. 1 Jan. 1976. Web. 30 July 2010. . Bronson, Po. Are Kids Copying Their Parents When They Lie? New York Magazine. New York Magazine NYC Guide to Restaurants, Fashion, Nightlife, Shopping, Politics, Movies. 10 Feb. 2008. Web. 31 July 2010. . Gilbert, Vanessa. The Human Thing to Do: Lying to Yourself DivineCaroline. DivineCaroline: Relationships, Health, Home, Style, Parenting, and Community for Women DivineCaroline. 07 June 2009. Web. 30 July 2010. .

The Concept of Information :: Exploratory Research

The Concept of Information There is such a point of view that information is an abstract unit as an invariant of informational processes. Information consists of object, procedural and morphological components.We have an opportunity to consider that information consists of object and procedural components. So we have the relation-functional concept of information.Information has such attributes as syntactics, semantics and pragmatics. These attributes are relational definitions. Semantics and pragmatics are considered to be external features (characteristics) of the definite syntactics. Information may be considered as an universal property of matter (attributive concept) or as a property of self-managing (cybernetic) system (functional concept). Then we can not get a full understanding of information, universal and flexible enough. So it is necessary to widen and develop the definition of information. There are two basic ways of unification of any concept: a) abstracting, b) integration. The classical theory of information and cybernetics used the first - abstracting. It means the volume ("demanded place") expressed by the quantity of bites. It is a quantity of information. The semiotics used the second way. It means the sign system (sign), the unity of three attributes - syntactic, semantics and pragmatics. In this work integration (abstracting) concept of information is offered. For the final description, we said that information is consist of 1) object (attributive), 2) procedural (functional) and 3) morphological (structural) components. We must offer two definitions for further developing the concept of information. These are a message and a language. Language is a sign system with alphabet, vocabulary and grammar. Message is a definite construction in a definite language. Any language is an interface (means of interaction) between users (communication function) or between users and environment. Exchange of information is possible by plunge into definite surroundings - own language of this message. Any message is a set of signs without such a plunge. So information can not exist in "a pure state", without physical bearer. We also point out that information can exist as messages. Information may be extracted from messages. Thus we say object component is realized by messages, procedural component is realized by grammar, morphological is realized by material bearers. We may examine information as a unit with two components: object and procedural. Then we have a relation concept of information. It means a ratio between properties of the object, which consist of tables and charts. The second concept is a set of specific procedures. We may use a philosophical concept of information.

She Walks In Beauty by Lord Byron and Douglas Dunns Reincarnation :: English Literature

Both She Walks In Beauty by Lord Byron and Douglas Dunn's Reincarnation are about romance. "She Walks In Beauty"/ "Reincarnation" Both "She Walks In Beauty" by Lord Byron and Douglas Dunn's "Reincarnation" are about romance. Although this is true they have much to be contrasted. "She Walks In Beauty" is about a man who is truly besotted with a woman who, from my observations, he doesn't even know. I think this from the fact that he doesn't talk about anything except for her looks and he says that he doesn't know her name: Had half impair'd the nameless grace ==================================== The poet takes pleasures from the woman's beauty and, unlike "Reincarnation" by Dunn, the poem mainly focuses on the woman's sexual attraction. She is often compared to perfection: Of cloudless climes and starry skies This also shows just how infatuated he is with her. This is an immense scale to put her on as it compares her not only to a section of a country but to the enormity and perfection of the galaxy. This metaphor also refers to her mysterious nature because -the poem was written almost two hundred years ago, in the early nineteenth century- not much was known about the night skies as it is so far away nobody has ever been there. This also shows how little he knows about her. A sense of adulation also occurs throughout Lord Byron's poem and it seems as though he cannot criticise her at all. This is completely contrasted with the bond between himself and the woman in Dunn's "Reincarnation". We can say, almost certainly, that "Reincarnation" is autobiographical, as we know that Dunn's wife died in 1984 from cancer. I think the sudden and premature death of his wife has been the inspiration for this poem that is so full of naked emotion and so full of true love, unlike the lust for the woman in the poem by Lord Byron, that you can almost feel his pain. For now I know the shame of being late, Too late. This shows the sorrow he is feeling. It also hints at remorse, giving us the sense that he feels slightly guilty about the death, which was obviously not his fault. It could also be showing us that he feels he has unfinished business with her or maybe he feels that he didn't have chance to say goodbye because he was so unprepared for it. The diction chosen by Lord Byron is very sophisticated. The words he chooses to use, such as eloquent make his poem flow with a smooth and graceful rhythm. The rhymes in "She Walks In Beauty" are monosyllabic

A Stakeholder View of Strategic Management in Chinese Firms

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STUDIES VOL 15, NO1, JUNE 2007: pages 1 of 13 A STAKEHOLDER VIEW OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN CHINESE FIRMS Dr Xueli Huang1 Dr Scott Gardner2 Despite the fact that China has emerged as a driving force of the world economy over the last decade, little research has been undertaken into how Chinese firms strategically manage their businesses. This paper develops a theoretical framework of strategic management in the Chinese firms through reviewing and synthesising five strategic perspectives that are relevant to the Chinese context: the Industry Structure View (ISV), Resources-Based View (RBV), Institutional View (IV), Relational View (RV), and Stakeholder View (SHV). We elaborate the relevance of the SHV in the Chinese context and its relationships with other strategic perspectives. Finally, we offer several managerial and research implications based on the theoretical framework developed. Key Words: strategic management, Chinese firms, stakeholder perspective I. INTRODUCTION One of the most significant developments in the global economy is the re-emergence of China as a major driving force of the world economy. Since the implementation of the open-door, market-oriented policies in 1979, China has quadrupled its GDP and sustained a significant average growth rate of over 9 per cent. The foreign direct investment (FDI) in China in 2004 amounted to US$ 60 billions, making China the biggest FDI destination country over three consecutive years from 2002. Chinese organisations now compete fiercely in domestic markets, and the international trade arena, with the value of China’s international trade accounting for over 70 percent of its GDP in 2004. The Chinese have also expanded their business operations to other countries as illustrated by the recent examples such as the Levono, China’s largest Personal Computer (PC) manufacturing company, acquiring IBM’s PC division, and the unsuccessful bid of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), China’s third largest oil company, for Unocal, the ninth largest oil company in the USA. Despite the important role played by the Chinese economy in general, and Chinese firms in particular, in the global economy, China has been considered as one of the most underresearched regions in the world (Tsui, Schoonhoven, Meyer, Lau, & Milkovich, 2004). Although interest from executives, academics and media on Chinese business matters has 1 Dr Xueli Huang is Senior Lecturer at the School of Management, Edith Cowan University. Email: x. [email  protected] edu. au 2 Dr Scott Gardner is Associate Professor at Murdoch University. Email: s. [email  protected] edu. au 1 A stakeholder view of strategic management in Chinese firms increased dramatically over the past several years, little research effort has been devoted to studying the strategic management of Chinese organisations. This paper investigates strategic management in Chinese organisations. In doing so, an attempt is made to integrate the current literature on strategic management, focusing on the two dominant perspectives of the past twenty years: the Industry Structure View (ISV) (Porter, 1979) and the Resource Based View (RBV) (Barney, 1997; Prahalad & Hamel, 1990; Wernerfelt, 1984). It also examines Post, Preston and Sachs’ (2002) conceptual schema of complementary perspectives for strategic analysis of 21st century corporate environments – the Stakeholder View (SHV). In attempting to make sense of increased strategic complexity and the central role of networks of human relationships in shaping economic activity in Eastern (notably Chinese) and Western markets, our analysis will call upon the ISV, RBV and SHV with additional reference to other contemporary strategic perspectives including the Relational View (RV)(Dyer & Singh, 1998), and the Institution-Based View (IBV) (Peng, 2002). By focusing these lenses on how business is conducted in the cultural context and commercial environment of China, this paper aims to: 1) enhance understanding of why and how the strategic behaviours of Chinese managers differ from those of Western managers? 2) explain why the SHV is relevant to Chinese management practice; and 3) develop an integrated theoretical framework that can be used for guiding future research into the unique characteristics of strategic management in Chinese organizations. II. LITERATURE REVIEW The Industry-Structure and Resource Based Views How firms behave and what determines a firm’s performance in international competition are two of four fundamental issues in strategic management (Rumelt, Schendel, & Teece, 1994). Searching for sources of competitive advantage has been a key theme for strategy researchers and business managers over the past five decades. Consequently, a number of strategic management views or thoughts have emerged that explain either sources of competitive advantage or how firms form strategy (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, & Lampel, 1998). The ISV and RBV are two prominent views that have endured in the literature and in practice despite significant reconfiguration of global market boundaries and technologies over the decade to 2006. The fundamental assumption of ISV proposed by Porter (1979) is that a firm’s performance is primarily determined by the environment, including both macro environment and industry environment within which it operates. These two broad sets of environmental factors heavily influence the attractiveness of a position for a firm to occupy. As such, a firm uses its market power, or in Williamson’s (1991) terms, ‘ strategizing’, as a primary means to generating supernormal returns or achieving competitive advantage. The second prominent perspective of strategic management is the RBV proposed by Wernerfelt (1984) and subsequently developed by strategic scholars, most notably by Barney (1986; 1997), Rumelt (1984) and Teece and his colleagues (1997). The RBV 2 International Journal of Business Studies argues that a firm’s competitive advantage is primarily based on the heterogeneity of the key resources and capabilities it owns or controls, particularly those that are difficult to mobilise. It is the heterogeneity and immobility of these unique resources and core competence that earn a firm’s supernormal rents. In Williamston’s term, firms adopting this approach are ‘economizing’ (Williamson, 1991). Although the RBV has been widely used in strategic literature, its contribution to the theoretical development has been recently challenged (Priem & Butler, 2001). The Relational and Institution-Based Views Although these two schools of strategic management mentioned above have contributed significantly to understanding of the firms’ strategic management practices and behaviours, the quest continues. Recent effort devoted to this area has resulted in several promising and interesting developments over the past decade which are relevant to the study of strategic management in Chinese organisations, including the Complex Response Process View (CRPV), (Stacey, 2003), Relational View (RV) (Dyer & Singh, 1998), Institution-Based View (IBV) (Peng, 2002) and, more recently, the Stakeholder View (SHV) by Post, Preston and Sachs (2002b). There are considerable overlaps across these views that attempt to balance the long standing use of high level and rational industry analysis to explain firms’ strategic behaviours, within a defined marketplace, with a more dynamic, processual, and ultimately political view of strategy. This is focused on human motives and interactions within inter-connected, local, national and global networks or constituencies. The Relational View (RV) (Dyer & Singh, 1998) proposes that firms can achieve abovenormal returns through profiling and actively managing their network of relationships with other business organisations, particularly with suppliers and users. Dyer and Singh (1998) also outline four mechanisms through which these inter-organizational relationships can generate competitive advantage. They are: 1) investing in relationspecific assets to gain productivity in the value chain; 2) substantial knowledge exchange, or sharing between participating organisations to enhance inter–firm organisational learning; 3) leveraging the complementary resources and capability of alliance partners to develop new products and services; and 4) using effective governance to reduce transaction costs. As Dyer and Singh (1998) argue, one of the major benefits of this view is that it extends the unit of analysis for sustainable competitive advantage from a single firm (RBV) or single industry (ISV) to a network of inter-organizational relationships. The RV can be regarded as a middle range theory as it only focuses on a limited number of concepts (Neuman, 2003). Another recently developed view that is relevant to the studies of strategic management in Chinese organizations is the institution-based view (IBV) (North 1990; Peng, 2002). This view attempts to explain why the strategic decisions of apparently similar firms in different countries vary, and considers institutions as a new set of independent factors, besides a firm’s resources and its industry structure, that influence its strategic choices. According to North (1990), institutions are â€Å"the rules of the game in the society†. More specifically, Scott (1995) refers to institutions as â€Å"cognitive, normative, and regulative 3 A stakeholder view of strategic management in Chinese firms structures and activities that provide stability and meaning to social behaviour†. Thus, institutions help identify what strategic choices are acceptable and supportable, reduce uncertainty, and provide consistency to firms. Based on this view, therefore, institutional factors constrain the choices a firm can make, and are often considered in the strategy literature as part of the environment under which organisations operate. Organisations in different countries behave differently because the political and legal systems, social norms and values vary from one country to another, and these are important elements which influence strategic decisions. In other words, the institutional framework, as defined by Davis and North (1970) as â€Å"the set of fundamental political, social and legal ground rules†, in different countries influences firms’ strategy and consequently their performance. The IBV has shed much light on our understanding of strategic behaviour of firms in different countries, and could be good platform for developing new theoretical perspectives that are pertinent to the emerging business culture of China. (Peng, 2005). The Stakeholder View A more recent development in strategic thinking is the stakeholder-based view (SHV) (Post, Preston, & Sachs, 2002b). In line with the institution-based view, the SHV recognizes the important role played by political and social arenas shaping organisational decision making and performance. Post, Preston and Sachs (2002) build on this broad position, arguing that organisations, and particularly powerful multinational corporations, need to actively develop, maintain and manage relationships with their key stakeholders, including governments and communities. This proactive cultivation and long term management of strategic relationships contrast to the IBV, which suggests passive conformance to the rules. It is however quite consistent with management as understood and practiced in Chinese business networks. It therefore deserves more detailed discussion and elaboration in this paper. According to Post, Preston and Sachs (2002) the stakeholder view holds that â€Å"the capability of a business enterprise to generate sustainable wealth, and hence long-term value, is determined by its relationships with critical stakeholders† (p. 1). There are two primary, but implicit, assumptions on which the SHV is based. First, a firms’ sustainable and long-term value is determined by three broad types of factors: industry structure, resource base, and social and political setting. It combines the external and internal environments of the firm, and human relationships within its immediate sphere of operations and broader constituency as lo ci for analysis. Second, within this broad constituency there are critical stakeholders whose relationships with the focal firm influence its performance either positively or negatively, (See Figure 1). Thus, the authors (Post, Preston, & Sachs, 2002a) argue that the SHV both integrates the industrystructure view and RBV into a broader analytical framework for understanding strategic decisions and actions, and complements them through a broader understanding of how the industry position, resources and firm performance are affected by social and political factors. International Journal of Business Studies Figure 1 The stakeholder view of the corporation (Post, Preston, & Sachs, 2002, p. 55) The theoretical foundation of the SHV can be traced back to the stakeholder theory popularised by Freeman’s seminal work on stakeholder management and its ethical implications (Freeman, 1984). Since then, the stakeholder concept as a significant element in strategic management theory and practice has been widely used in varied settings, including the public sector and not-for-profit organizations in the USA and various European contexts. Following Freeman’s discussion of the purpose and ethical considerations of stakeholder management, Donaldson and Preston (1995) proposed three types of stakeholder theory: descriptive, instrumental and normative. Descriptive stakeholder theory attempts to describe and explain specific characteristics and behaviours of business organisations, instrumental theory is used to identify the connections between stakeholder management and organizational performance often where profit motive or advantage over rivals are dominant considerations, whilst normative theory focuses on the interpretation of corporate functioning, including moral and philosophical guidelines for operations and management (Donaldson & Preston, 1995). Based on this typology of stakeholder theory, instrumental motives and the quest for competitive advantage through stakeholder management appear to have dominated in the literature over the past fifteen years. However this has been offset to a certain extent in recent years by an increased focus in the literature on the role of stakeholders and stakeholder management in the practice and adoption of corporate social responsibility by US and European multinationals (Laszlo, 2003; Sirgy, 2002; Vogel, 2005). In common with other major US based stakeholder theorists, Post, Preston and Sachs (2002) widely disseminated notion of the SHV has been developed primarily from observations of the characteristic management behaviours within a small number of large US and European based multinational corporations, which they refer to as â€Å"large, complex enterprises† (p. 9), citing examples such as Motorola, Shell, and Cummins Engine Co. The reasons for adopting this particular case-based research method is that it 5 A stakeholder view of strategic management in Chinese firms equires an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the organisations under study, and that the development of the relationships with its critical stakeholders is often evolutionary and path-dependent. Summarising the strategy perspectives discussed above, an integrative framework can be proposed as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. An integrative model of strategic management in the Chinese organisation Is the SHV pers pective appropriate for understanding and explaining strategic management in Chinese organisations? Whilst the SHV ocuses on the relationships with key stakeholders and its impact on the long-term organisational wealth, many have observed that unique business relationships, or Guanxi, have been based on characteristic behaviour of Chinese managers. Thus, there is a coincidence between the SHV theory and Guanxi practice in China. Using the distinction provided by Argyris and Schon (1978) between theory and practice, one could wonder if the SHV is a theory espoused and consciously enacted by Western managers in recent years, but imbued in Chinese business practices for many centuries. As stated by Donaldson and Preston (1995), how stakeholder theory is understood varies from country to country, even in the highly developed market capitalist economies, of the USA, Europe, and Japan. The current Chinese context, in an economic, and more so, social and political sense, is vastly different from those of Western countries. Therefore, it is helpful at both a conceptual and practical level to examine how and why stakeholder management is practiced by Chinese firms. In the following section, we attempt to explain strategic behaviours of Chinese business practitioners, particularly the relationships between stakeholder management and other 6 International Journal of Business Studies dominant strategic views through examining the Chinese business settings and making use of the theoretical insights offered by the SHV. III. THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT AND OTHER STRATEGIC VIEWS IN THE CHINESE CONTEXT Although the five strategic views mentioned above have been largely developed independently, a close examination of these views reveals that overlaps exist between some of them. In the following subsections, we focus our discussion primarily on the relationship between the SHV and other views. Stakeholder management and resource-based view in the Chinese business setting Based on the RBV, an organisation can generate supernormal rents through the identification, acquisition, and use of its resources that are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate and non-substitutable (Barney, 1991). Although human resources have been considered as one of the four major categories of resources within the firm, RBV has not looked beyond the properties of these resources. The focus of this view is primarily internal with little attention who, outside the firm, can influence the processes of resource access, acquisition and use. The relationship between organisational performance and external resources has been convincingly elaborated by the resource-dependence theory developed by Pfeffer (1978). According to the resource-dependence theory, the organisation relies heavily on its external stakeholders for key resource inputs to survive and prosper. For Chinese organizations, there is considerable dependence on external stakeholders for resource acquisition and use. Typically these external bodies or parties would be partly those with authority for either allocating resources, such as governments and banks, or influencing resource acquisition and use, such as taxation departments, or Bureau’s of Industrial and Commercial Administration, which can exercise considerable discretion within the broader legal and regulatory framework impacting Chinese business contexts. One particular point in case is the role of the Chinese government. Historically Chinese governments have controlled much of the national wealth and resources, and been heavily involved in making economic decisions. For example, most of major investment decisions in the state-owned enterprises have been directly influenced by the Chinese governments. Moreover, anecdotal evidence, either from public media or the word of mouth conventional wisdom in China, suggests that cultivation of relationships with Chinese banks, other business entities and their employees, are important to support financing, timely information sharing and sourcing critical materials for business enterprises. Stakeholder management and the market-based view Establishing a strong market position in China is very difficult because Chinese markets, even market segments, are usually big due to its large regional population bases. The well-established, and usually large, state-owned enterprises also make it harder to operate competitively for new comers in the Chinese markets. Although many new business 7 A stakeholder view of strategic management in Chinese firms opportunities are continuously emerging, most of them are still heavily regulated by the Chinese governments. The governments can help and/or deter market position building through licensing (e. g. , taxi industry, iron ore importing), investment approvals (e. g. , steel mills), and issuing permits for key capital intensive activities such a commercial building and large scale infrastructure projects, whilst similar practices of these can also be observed in Western countries, the licensing and approval processes in China are often opaque and leave much room for discretion by government officials. Stakeholder management and institutional view As discussed above, the legal and political settings in China have profound influence on the strategies pursued by Chinese organisation. The legal systems in China have traditionally been loosely configured and left much room for interpretation. Chinese laws are usually not well codified and difficult to reinforce (Ahlstrorm & Bruton, 2001). Moreover jurisdictional boundaries between the governmental departments at the same level or governments at different levels often overlap. Therefore, favourable relationships with Chinese regulatory authorities can have a positive impact on the organisation’s performance. With regards to the political setting in China, the long history of feudalism in China from 221BC to 1912 has consistently shown a close link between political power and economic wealth. With the prevailing feudal system, political power was centrally controlled by the emperor and his royal family with business enterprises in China relying heavily on their government (emperor and royal families) for survival or prosperity. Coupled with the loose legal systems, favourable relationships with the Chinese government or royal family have traditionally been considered extremely important for business organisations to maintain their survival and growth. Modern Chinese history shows similar patterns of a close link between the government and business entities. Even after the Chinese communist party took over the power in 1949, the Chinese government controlled most of the country’s wealth. Many Chinese large enterprises are still state-owned. Therefore Chinese governments have been heavily involved in economic activities at both industry and firm levels over the past five decades. Developing a favourable relationship with various government departments and doing business under their authority or with their help, is still considered one of the most profitable courses for Chinese businesses to adopt in today’s global economy. It is good relationships with the government that help business organisations to grow and occupy a strong position in specific industries with provincial, national and international market penetration. This relational perspective on business and strategy has many historical and cultural precedents in China. Stakeholder management and relational view in the Chinese cultural setting Since the time of the Qin Dynasties Chinese culture has been dominated by Confucianism that stresses the importance of human relationships and harmony within a society. This requires that interpersonal relationships be appropriately arranged. The friendship (yi), which emphasized the mutually beneficial relationships between one and other, has been 8 International Journal of Business Studies egarded as one of the four characteristics of the fundamental tenet of Confucianism is humanity (ren). The central significance of these principles of friendship or egalitarianism has not waned in the Chinese recent history. In contrast, the Chinese Communist Party reinforced these ideas during the 1950s to 1960s, and more recently from the mid 1990’s to the present day, as a desirable social norm or virtue. At the business level, the Chinese governments have facilitated cooperation and collaboration among the state-owned enterprises in many business areas, such as new product development (Huang, Schroder, & Steffens, 1999). Frequent gatherings amongst businesses either through political meetings or economic activity among managers in China has also served to facilitate this collaboration and cooperation processes. Such institutional and cultural settings in China manifest in different behaviours including information sharing and informal governance, two of the four mechanisms suggested by Dyer and Singh (1998) which can be used by organisations to enhance their competitive advantage. It suggests that the strong cultural and institutional foundation that exists in Chinese business for developing reciprocal relationships. This can help improve organisation’s performance – a central principle for the Relational View. IV. THE STAKEHOLDER VIEW AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR CHINESE MANAGERS AND RESEARCHERS This paper explored the relational basis on which the Chinese organisations compete in their domestic markets drawing comparisons with recent Western views of strategic behaviour. These were framed in a broader historical context of doing business in China. It is contended that the recent stakeholder view proposed by Post, Preston and Sachs (2002) provides much promise in terms of both theoretical and practical insights into how and why strategic management is practiced in Chinese organisations. However, clear differences in Chinese and Western social and political systems, and the stage of capitalist evolution need to be considered in applying the SHV to the Chinese settings. As stated by Donaldson and Preston (2005), how stakeholder theory is understood varies even in the market capitalist economies. This is more evident in the contemporary Chinese context, where social and political settings are vastly different from those of Western countries. A number of managerial and research implications are proposed from this paper. First, we have presented an integrated framework of strategic management that indicates the mechanisms linking relationships with key stakeholders and organisational performance. It is proposed that whilst developing and maintaining these relationships has been traditionally valued by Chinese as part of their culture, contemporary Western strategic management thinking would seek to equate effort spent on this area with measurable performance outcomes and long term competitive advantage. With this in view, the integrated framework presented could be used to provide Chinese managers with a more holistic and formalised view of strategic management to support the development clearly articulated objectives and productive long term interactions with key stakeholders. A stakeholder view of strategic management in Chinese firms Secondly, it is clear from the framework presented that the stakeholder view is only one of the approaches for creating organisational wealth. Several types of organisations are competing in the Chinese markets and each could be competing on different basis. Multinational corporations compete on their market position and resources, whilst stat eowned enterprises compete on the basis of being institutionalised within political and cultural settings, providing strong market influence and ready access to resources. Most local private firms may compete on the cultural settings, flexibility and speed of decisionmaking. As the Chinese governments gradually level the playing field for all business players, the political settings in China will be changed. Therefore, managers of Chinese organisations, particularly state-owned enterprises, need to develop relationships with other types of new era capitalist stakeholders who can help build strong market position and/or gain access to key resources. Thirdly, relationships with the stakeholders need to be considered as strategic (intangible) assets for business organisations in Western markets and as a powerful means to compete in China. As in the West, these relationships are located within a broader social and transactional knowledge networks (Kaplan & Norton, 2004; Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998), containing untapped strategic value for Chinese companies operating locally, regionally, and globally. Currently many Chinese managers spend much effort practicing a stakeholder theory in a fragmented way at a one – on – one, individual level. Whilst the compounding effect of the aggregation of these individual relationships is not clear, there is an argument with respect to the SHV to support a more strategically aligned, and systematic integration of these routinised interactions at the organisational level. This is one of the most challenging issues in implementing stakeholder theory in the Chinese organisations, as most of the relationships with key stakeholders are based on the trust between individuals, rather than between organizations. Looking to the future merging of Chinese and Western business practices organisational structure also needs to be redesigned to manage the relationships with key stakeholders. This is crucial. Although stakeholder orientation can be built into organisational culture, people need to be assigned to facilitate the ongoing integration and implementation of stakeholder management. There is no doubt that stakeholder management is both a science and an art. It requires intuition and human skills – more art than a science. However, it also requires systematic, rational, and analytical techniques. A number of stakeholder management techniques have been developed over the past decade, which may support the integration of stakeholder management into mainstream in to the strategy processes of Chinese businesses- most notably stakeholder mapping (Johnson, Scholes, & Whittington, 2005), and cognitive mapping (Eden & Ackermann, 1998) which help to tap into the social capital and relationships embedded in broader business networks. Finally, from a methodological point of view, the SHV points out the importance of a more holistic and integrated approach in understanding strategic management in Chinese organisations. So far, most of studies on Chinese management have used existing Western management theories to explain the Chinese business phenomena. 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