Social issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Social issues - Essay Example If the figure of 200 000 backstreet abortions is used (assuming that it is accurate which highly questionable) and these backstreet abortions are now performed legally, then this will cost the state R200 million a year! Consider also that the abortion increased 16 fold in the USA when it was legalised - from 100 000 to 1,6 million a year.1 Can the Health Department cope with this In terms of the economy, abortion undermines future growth. It is still too early for us to see the effects now, but the disastrous consequences are going to be visable very soon. A recent study shows that abortion is going to be an economic disaster. The report calculates that for every European and American who is aborted, it costs their economy $1 5000 000. In terms of today's (1994) money adjusted to present value, the average American or European spends over $1 177 000 in his lifetime in terms of housing, medicine, clothes, transport and so on. He also pays over $440 000 in taxes in his lifetime. This makes $1 617 000 in total. So this means that the doctor may get $300 for murdering that baby which immediately helps the abortion industry. However, there are other industries that will be adversely affected. The cost to America alone of their aborted babies is well over $41 trillion! These figures are too large for any of us to grasp, but understand that America's entire deficit is $4 trillion, while their abortions will cost 10 times more than even the total debt of America. What will the cost for South Africa be2 2. Backstreet Abortions Increase Will those who perform these abortions have either the equipment or the knowledge to deal with complications that may occur Count the cost in terms of money and human lives that will result from botched legal abortions. Speaking before the 93rd Congress of the US, Senator James Buckley stated: "Data from foreign countries having far longer experience with legalised abortion than we have had in the US, suggest that legalisation has no effect on the criminal abortion rate. In at least three countries, the criminal abortion rate has actually risen since legalisation. Legalised abortion moves the back alley abortionists into the front office where their trade can be practised without fear of criminal prosecution."3 Dr Christopher Tietze, an abortion advocate, concedes: "Although one of the major goals of the liberalisation of abortion laws in Scandinavia was to reduce the incidence of illegal abortion, this was not accomplished. Rather as we know from a variety of sources, both criminal and total abortions increased." [original emphasis]4 Regardless of whether abortions are legal or not, some women will have abortions and some women will die from complications. Certainly all the babies will die. However, legalising abortion greatly increases the number of abortions. In various surveys 40-85% of the women said they would not have aborted their babies if it had been illegal. 5 We must not legalise procedures that kill the innocent just to make the killing process less dangerous. 3. Parallels between Abortion & Slavery Slavery in centuries past and abortions in this century were defended and promoted by the same arguments. Consider the case in the USA: In 1857, in the Dred Scott case, the US Supreme Court decided, by a 7 to 2 majority, that according to the US Constitution, black

Internal Development and Strategic Alliance

Internal Development and Strategic Alliance Should firms go it alone or pursue a strategic alliance? This essay will compare internal development (organic development) with strategic alliances and look at whether it is better for the organisation to go it alone or partner with other organisations.   Internal development is where strategies are developed by building up the organisation’s own resource base and competences, Johnson and Scholes, (1999). Strategic alliances are when two more parties form a collaborative agreement to exchange or combine resources to pursue a development strategy, but remain separate legal entities, Bennett (1996). Joint ventures, licensing, networks are examples of types of alliances. There are many benefits that can be achieved from going it alone that may not be available through an alliance.   First of all, when an organisation develops a highly technical product the organisation through the process of development, may begin to understand its organisation better, and thus learn ways of building up or acquiring competences.   This type of learning and development may not be as extensive if alliance partners are involved in the development process.    Similarly when an organisation enters new markets through direct investment (going it alone) it can gain advantages (e.g. local market knowledge, competences in selling to new markets) that it may not have gained through working through distribution alliance partners. By going it alone – the organisation receives the full benefits of undertaking a development venture – including all the profits, patents, technical know-how and resulting competitive advantages. With alliances, depending on the agreement, any success (profits, patents, know-how) has to be shared between partners.    By undertaking internal development the organisations can exercise greater co-ordination and control over the investment and the objectives of development. With an alliance (e.g. JV), however, organisations may lose that autonomy and find it harder to control the development because decisions have to be taken on a joint basis.   Many alliances have failed due to differing objectives or motives by alliance partners.   For example, one partner may go into an alliance for short term learning gain, whereas the other partner may see the alliance as more strategic, long term and replacing one area of its value chain, Wit and Meyer (1998). With internal dev elopment there can be a greater degree of control and co-ordination, and perhaps a greater chance of the development objectives being met, without disputes. Going it alone may be a preferential route for those firms who are particularly sensitive about exposing or giving away core competences or skills that provide the organisation with a competitive advantage in the market place.   If an organisation believes that the risks of exposure of its core competences are too great through an alliance, it is more likely to use internal development – because core competences can be internalised.   Going it alone may make sense to an organisation which is pursuing development which is characterised as â€Å"fit led innovation†.   When the organisation is able to use or realistically grow its resources and competences to meet the market opportunity.   However, if the level of innovation required is more â€Å"stretch led† the organisation may have to carefully consider whether it should pursue internal development or other methods of development in order to meet its market opportunity.   For some organisations going it alone may be the only option available to them – especially if they are working in a field which is breaking new ground or where there are no other suitable partners available, (Johnson and Scholes, 1999). Therefore going it alone can offer organisations many benefits over other methods of development. However, the method is often criticised for being a slower form of development (Johnson and Scholes, 1999), requiring a higher overall capital outlay (Wit and Meyer, 1998) and has the downside that the organisation bears the full costs and risks if the development (e.g. product development or market development) fails.   By going it alone an organisation can miss out on all the benefits available to them from alliances.   The benefits of alliances will now be discussed in relation to the Xerox-Fuji 50:50 joint venture alliance case study, (Hill, 2000). The alliance between Xerox and Fuji gave each company significant benefits over and above, them going it alone.   Firstly, both companies benefited from sharing the costs of their market and technology development.    Fuji and Xerox, were able to bring the â€Å"best of the best† from both companies.   They were able to pool their resources, competences, skills, technology know-how together to create a new, fresh entity, with defined objectives for both parties Wit and Meyer (1998).   Fuji, had the local knowledge of markets, distribution channels and Xerox, excellent skills and know-how in manufacturing and sales, thus the alliance enabled both companies to benefit from each other’s competences.   Through an alliance mutual l earning can take place which can complement each other’s companies strengths or weaknesses.   By going it alone you can limit yourself to the organisation’s own skills and competences and only what you can realistically develop internally. The Xerox and Fuji alliance meant that both organisations were able to limit their risks of development. Xerox was able to test the market for its products before committing itself to a new market (Hill, 2000).   It could remove its investment without too much difficulty.   If it had gone it alone, market entry may have been harder and more risky for Xerox.   Certainly alliances can be preferable if an organisation is undertaking a risky development – as failure can shared between partners. Alliances due to their nature, can also provide faster methods of development than which can be created through internal development. However, alliances have been criticised for: i) their high failure rates – 60% after 2 years fail, (Dawes, 1994) ii) Risk of exposing competences and technical know-how to partners iii) Disputes, relationship issues that result from working with other partners iv) Profits and advantages having to be shared between partners iv) the less autonomy and control available to partners compared with going it alone. In answer to the question should firms go it alone or pursue a strategic alliance – I   believe it really depends on the current situation of the organisation (internal and external).   There may be circumstances where an organisation would be better to go it alone – especially if the organisation was concerned about exposing its core competences, felt that its existing resources and competences would be sufficient to meet the market opportunity, and it needed high levels of control over its development decisions.   In other circumstances – the organisation may find it cost prohibitive to develop in-house, be experiencing strong competitive pressures and thus need to seek partners to support them on high research and development costs, or obtain specific skills, technical know-how to take advantage of a market opportunity.   As outlined above internal development (going it alone) and alliances have different advantages and disadvantages for different orga nisations.   Therefore the choice over which development method would need to be taken on a case by case basis. BIBLIOGRAPHY In the preparation of this assignment I have consulted the following research sources: Bennett, R. (1996) International Business: Pitman Publishing Oxford University: (1990) A Concise Directory of Business: Oxford University Press Hill, C. (2000) International Business: Competing in a Global Marketplace: McGraw Hill Needle, D. (1995) Business in Context, An introduction to Business and its environment, Second Edition: International Thompson Business Press Bleeke J. and Earnst D. (1992) Collaborating to Compete: Wiley and Sons Dussauge, P. Garrette B., (1999) Co-operative Strategy: Competing Successfully through Strategic Alliances: Wiley Lorange P. and Roos J., (1993) Strategic Alliances: Blackwell Lynch R. (1993) Business Alliance Guide: The Hidden Competitive Weapon: Wiley Sandaram and Black (1995) The International Business Environment: text and cases:  Prentice Hall Rugman and Hodgetts (1995) International Business: A Strategic Management Approach: McGrawhill Matsura, N. (1991) International Business, A New Era: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ) Dawes, B. (1994) International Business: A European Perspective: Stanley Thorne Johnson and Scholes (1999), Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice Hall

king lear Essay -- essays research papers

Shakespeare's King Lear   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  William Shakespeare's King Lear had downfalls in character which later on caused him to suffer extreme consequences. if anyone knows the true meaning of suffering it is King Lear.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  King Lear's downfalls are his pride, selfishness, and blindness to truth. Pride as one of Lear's first downfalls, in the beginning Lear disowns his lovely daughter Cordelia, because Lear is to blind to realize that cordelia loves her father for who he is and NOT what he has in his possession. Lear sees his daughters for what they have as far as quantity not quality. This is his downfall of selfishness. Lear offers his two greedy and selfish daughters, Coneril, and Regan his entire kingdom, simply because he is so damn conceded and thinks he is so great that he can not possibly see anyone not loving him, and what he owns as far as land and power. His greedy daughters realize this and then decide to kiss a little of their father's butt. Cordelia, and Regan go and kiss their father's butt hoping to get all his power, and his kingdom. On the other hand, his one daughter who loves him for what he is, not what he is or has, realizes that she must play on her fathers side just to receive a little respect from the king.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lear, by toying with loved one's emotions endues consequences upon himself. Even at his age ,he was still perfectly capable of living up to his duties ...

Light vs. dark

In the myth of the cave Plato and Socrates discuss the theory of having prisoners trapped in a cave chained, in where they are shown figures of the world being cast by shadows. Until one of the prisoners is dragged out into the real world and he experiences a change in perspectives. After realizing how wrong his perspective of the world was, he decides to share this information with the rest of the prisoners that are still trapped in the darkness of the cave.The other prisoners were so full of their own perspective, disbelieving that there was a world different than what they believed in, that they threatened to kill him if he spoke another word of nonsense. The prisoner returned to the outside world and left the other prisoners in the darkness of their ignorant ways. In â€Å"A Very old Man With Enormous Wing†, one day as Pelayo is disposing of crabs in the ocean, he notices an angel lying in the sand ill, he decides to take him home and keeps the old man caged in his chicken coop. fter a ew days Pelayo and his wife Elisanda start to noticed that their ill son is cured and healthy. They seek help from the priest who believes he is the devil since he dint speak God's language. People came from far and close to see the old man with their own eyes. Elisanda saw a great opportunity and started to charge people admission to see the angel, making her and Pelayo wealthy that they build a new home for themselves. When the old man regained his health and strength he disappears never to be seen or heard from again. The characters in â€Å"A Very Old Man with EnormousWings†, by Gabriel Marquez relate to the characters in Plato's â€Å"Myth of the Cave† because they are blinded by their perspective and there are similarities in the surroundings from both of the stories. Perspective; a particular evaluation of a situation or facts, especially from one person's point of view, is both a positive and negative thing in both of the stories. In the beginning the prisoner had this perspective that he strongly believed that the shadows that he was being shown all his life were what the world consisted off. When he did get the chance to go into the real world, he was hesitant and had to be dragged out of the cave.Once he stepped out of the darkness of the cave, he saw the light and came to the conclusion that all this time he was wrong for thinking that way. He tried to share his knowledge with the others that believed that the prisoners they were in was the world of sight. It is then, when he steps back into the darkness once more that he realizes how ignorant people could be, Socrates himself once said â€Å"That the unexamined life is not worth living†. Not bothering to question the chance or possibility of their being another world than the one they believe to be real.In the case of Pelayo and Elisanda in the beginning their perspective about the old man was that he was gruesome looking and that he was dangerous. They planned o n letting him regain his strength and send him of to sea with enough food and water to last him for three days. After seeing that there ill son became healthy since the old man had arrive, the thought of him not being such a negative thing crossed their mind. They ended up becoming egan to spread that the old man had powers that could cure others illness, that it led a leper, a blind man, and a paralytic to come visit the old man hoping for a miracle for the price of a nickel.Leaving with a miracle they didn't have in mind; the blind man didn't recover his eye sight but he did grow three new teeth, the paralytic who didn't get to walk but almost won the lottery, and finally the leper whose sores sprouted sunflowers. In the end Pelayo and Elisanda changed their perspective on the old man being dangerous and having powers that made miracles happened, but lso changed their financial status they went from being poor to becoming so wealthy they were able to build a big house that keep th e crabs out.The surroundings in both of the stories can relate to each other. In Platos story the prisoners are trapped and chained inside a cave, while the old man was kept locked away inside a chicken coop. in both stories the prisoner and the angel are surrounded by people that are too arrogant to accept the fact that there might Just be a world that's different than what they believe in. If they were able to change their perspective and step outside of the darkness and into the light there whole life would have changed completely.As it did for the prisoner who got his freedom into a whole new world he was amazed and curious about, while Pelayo and Elisanda not only became used to the old man towards the end, but also became very wealthy because of him. Both Plato's and Marquez story's share similarities from the characters to even the surroundings, from being trapped in a cave to a chicken coop. The way the prisoner saw how completely rong his perspective of the world was, that it was more than Just shadows being cast on a wall.How Pelayo and Elisenda were once scared of the old man with enormous wings until they changed the way the saw the old man. That they even allowed their son to play inside the chicken coop with the angel, leading to both the old man and child to catch chicken pox together. Most importantly how Plato uses the darkness of the cave to represent the ignorance we could have if we don't bother to question the world we live in, and Marquez uses the money to symbolize the root of all evil.

Development of syllabuses in schools Essay

How did the changing role of women and our view of children affect the development of syllabuses in schools? As history progressed peoples attitude towards women and children changed for the better. As a result of the two world wars, women and children were able to prove their importance, enabling them to increase their value within the community. As these changes in our perception of women and children occurred, syllabuses in schools were altered. The 1902 model course was developed, as people believed that it was up to children to do physical training at school to prepare them for war. Although it was grown men that had previously been defeated in the Boer war, the loss was blamed on the lack of physical training provided in schools. This is an example of children being considered important for the future of Britain. The model course, however, soon came under attack as it had children doing exercises designed for adults. As a result of this a new syllabus was introduced in 1904 and was more child-friendly. The 1909 syllabus was developed as more concern was being taken over the welfare of children of working-class families and this syllabus ensured a slightly more therapeutic angle. Organised games were introduced in this syllabus; this shows the first tentative move away from military-style Physical Training teaching. The years 1914-1918 saw the tragedy of the First World War. A generation of young men was almost totally wiped out. Consequently this had an effect on the education system, as it was recognised that a more child centred approach was needed. The First World War also improved the social status of women. This was because they had worked in munitions factories and on the land whilst the men were busy fighting. Women proved that they could cope with demanding physical work and this afforded them more equality. Despite this development in the way in which they were viewed, women generally continued to have only limited access to sport. In 1919, after the war a new syllabus was introduced. This syllabus was more child orientated than the previous ones It allowed more freedom and individual interpretation. For the older pupils therapeutic exercises were still the main emphasis. The 1933 syllabus is perhaps one of the most significant syllabuses developed as a result of the way in which children were viewed. It was developed after the economic depression, which started in the late 1920s. During this time there were very poor living conditions for the less well off as they suffered even more than they had done previously. In this syllabus we see a move from a teacher-centred approach to one where more choice is available and decisions can be made by pupils. This is signif8icant as it shows that adults were beginning to view children as being independent and therefore able to make there own decisions. Everyone was touched by the Second World War. Due to the development of aircraft bombers and long-range missiles, the lives of everyone in Britain, including children were affected. People now looked to their children for hope and we now see a further step towards child-centred learning. The training that had been used to create ‘thinking’ soldiers during the war was now adapted to suit schools. Assault course type equipment was put up in schools. Pupils were required to use their initiative and take responsibility for each other.