Tobacco Companies in Our Society Essay -- Smoking Cigarettes Tobacco E

Tobacco Companies in Our Society The tobacco industry seems like a beneficial addition to our economy. It has basically been a socially acceptable business in the past because it brings jobs to our people and tax money to the government to redistribute; but consider the cost of tobacco related treatment, mortality and disability- it exceeds the benefit to the producer by two hundred billion dollars US. (4) Tobacco is a very profitable industry determined to grow despite government loss or public health. Its history has demonstrated how money can blind morals like an addiction that is never satisfied. Past lawsuits were mostly unsuccessful because the juries blamed the smoker even though the definition of criminal negligence fits the industry’s acts perfectly. Some may argue for the industry in the name of free enterprise but since they have had such a clear understanding of the dangers of their product it changes the understanding of their business tactics and motives. The success of the industry has merely b een a reflection of its immoral practices. These practices have been observed through its use of the media in regards to children, the tests that used underage smokers, the use of revenue to avoid the law, the use of nicotine manipulation and the suppression of research. Tobacco companies have relied on the media to lure children. They quickly realized that ‘the company that dominates is that which most effectively targets young†(Imperial Tobacco document.) To counteract the idea of disease and other negative aspects of tobacco, the industry used imagery in the media such as natural settings and healthy actors doing active things. This helps them to insinuate that smoking leads to success, romance, sophistication and other advancements in their lifestyle, which was easily imprinted in the minds of children. A document found among Imperial tobacco files described their priority: â€Å"†¦having our imagery reach those non-reading young people who frequent malls should be our chief goal.†(1.170) Unaware of how important the under 18 market was to the industry, the government could only attempt to lengthen the distance between schools and billboards because they’re ineffective attempts were ignored by the large corporations . With many billboards concentrated in small areas it put the idea in children’s minds that smoking was socially acceptable and that t... ...ut throughout the past two decades, the realization of folly has called for a step in a new direction. For our society to finally rid ourselves of this parasite the change would have to be very slow; it would have to start with putting the entire industry in the hands of the government. In this way the corporation owners would truly be penalized while the product would be safer and the country would benefit from the profits. Marketing to children, testing underage smokers, using money to avoid the law, manipulating nicotine and suppressing research are among many of the immoral practices of the industry. Although they are very numerous and diverse they all share the same motive: to get rich. Money has become more important than compassion in the minds of the industry’s players. The success of the industry is merely a reflection of its immoral practices. Bibliography: 1.) Smoke and Mirrors: The Canadian Tobacco War 1996 Rob Cunningham 2.) Galen.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A)/mangina/report/exhibits.html   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B)/bw.html 3.) www.courts.gov.bc.ca/Jdb%2txt.html 4.) Smoking, The Artificial Passion; 1989 David Krogh 5.) http://www.tobaccopapers.org/DocofWeek-apr28.htm

Is Google Evil? Essay -- Legal Case Monopoly

Google has proposed an agreement with representatives of authors and publishers to host a massive digital library. This library will consist of mostly books published in the United States. Google will make digitally available new and old books. This catalog will include books that are no longer in print and â€Å"orphan† texts (books where the copyright owner is unknown or contact information is unavailable).5 The texts will be available through search engines, for individual sale as electronic-books, and with database subscriptions. If the Google agreement is approved by the Justice Department, ethical issues would come into question. The issues addressed in this paper include whether the agreement creates a â€Å"legally sanctioned cartel for digital book rights†4 and if the public benefits outweigh the monopoly consequences. Google has the network, storage, man power and funding to make this digital library a possibility, yet is this justification enough to give one company so much concentrated power over information access? Using the utilitarian approach, arguments both for and against the Google library agreement can be supported. First the audience should be established. Authors and publishers could be financially affected by this agreement. They are represented as a whole by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. Both groups are working together to ensure that writers are not under compensated by Google and that publishing prices do not become too high. The Google company and its competitors are directly affected by the outcome of the agreement. Google will take on a huge expense in hopes to gain a reasonable profit. Competitors with equivalent capabilities, such as Microsoft and Amazon, have not expressed ... ...t there is no immediate need to settle for the current agreement. The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers should take time to incorporate preventative measures in the agreement. Given the substantial impact the digital library would make time should be taken to re-discuss terms of usage, include amendments and restrictions. References 1. E. HARRIS and R. JAMES, ENGR 482 Class Notes, Texas A&M University (Fall 2009). 2. HARRIS,PRITCHARD, RABINS, â€Å"Engineering Ethics†, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, Belmont (2009) 3. J. E. VASCELLARO and J. A. TRACHTENBERG, â€Å"Digital-Rights Signatories Revisit Google’s deal† , Wall Street Journal; wsj.com (October 29,2009) 4. S. SHANKLAND, â€Å"Google’s Digital-book Future Hangs in the Balance†, News.cnet.com (October 2009) 5. P. SCHRANK, â€Å"Google’s Big Book Case†, The Economist print edition (September 3rd 2009)

Move N Store Inc.:”Pack and exhale”

Mission Statement: â€Å"Pack and exhale† – Offer peace of mind to customers by providing most efficient and reliable moving and storage services available. We strive to exceed customer’s expectations by building relationships between you and our team to consistently meet your needs. By utilizing the highest standards of design, development and management, we will provide facilities that consistently deliver satisfaction, value and peace of mind for our customers. Company Description: Establish a self-storage business in the US and India that offers portable moving solutions, packing services and off-site storage solutions for residential and commercial customers. Move N Store Inc. offers long and short term storage in a warehouse type of facility with climate controlled and non –climate controlled floors. Some of the key features at each facility are: * On-site managers who reside at the facility and operate from the office from 9AM – 5PM. * Automated / Controlled gate access to the facility so the facility is accessible 24/7. Loading bay with large garage doors accessing the loading dock, so that vehicles can be parked directly outside the elevator lobby for ease of loading and unloading. * Surveillance cameras on each floor in several areas for customer safety. * Individual door alarm for each unit. * Well lit aisles and lobby areas. * Completely fenced facility. * Boat, RV or Car parking in some facilities based on geographic al location and customer. A good marketing plan should focus on three objectives: increasing occupancy, increasing tenant value to the facility, and improving marketing efficiency. It should also be based on results and flexible. It will clearly outline specific activities to accomplish those three objectives, with deadlines. The marketing plan will provide strict guidelines for logo usage, copy creation and offers so that the plan has a consistent and recognizable look and feel. The plan will also discuss how the marketing is going to be tracked for effectiveness and what constitutes â€Å"effective† so that quick, smart decisions can be made throughout the year. The marketing plan will be comprehensive and focused on the target markets that produce the best results. It will be a combination of building relationships in the community, customer referral, key influencer referrals, search-engine marketing, social networking, Yellow Pages ads, and niche marketing specific to the local community. The marketing plan will be implemented on a consistent basis with tracking and measuring to make ongoing improvements. Online marketing will become an important part of the marketing plan as it attracts new customers and allows existing customers to maintain their accounts. As stated in an article by Carr, June 8, 2010: When was the last time you opened a phone book? Do you remember what ad was on the last billboard you saw? You have probably thrown away or recycled all of the bulk mail unopened that you’ve received in at least the last year. I think there’s an important reason for all of this. All of these forms of advertising are relatively invasive and, at the moment the potential customer is receiving the message, they’re not actively in need of or searching out your product or service. On the other hand, internet marketing – more specifically, search engine marketing – is a different story. The potential customer is actively seeking out a solution to their problem. They’re hoping that they will find your product or service to solve one of their problems. This means, as a business owner, it is critically important to the sustained growth of your business that you pay close attention to your online presence and aggressively try to improve it. Start a social media campaign, set up an email auto-responder, and, most importantly, discover which keywords you should be targeting and go after them with whatever resources you have. The top three tactics that will be used are: Internet marketing, database marketing, and community-network creation and maintenance. The plan will include having an effective search-engine marketing program. Second, there will be a comprehensive program to target key influencers in the area surrounding the facility; these key influencers can be real estate agents, chambers of commerce, business-networking organizations, apartment communities, housing communities, etc. Lastly, will be a program to reach out to the community and become a credible organization that helps others. Through helping others the business will become known throughout the community which can help improve business. A brief outline of the marketing plan is as follows – On a Daily basis, do the following: * Track all incoming calls to determine their sources. Keep track of the total number of calls, sources of the calls and the percentage of calls that turned into visits. * Speak with the store manager once a day to see if he needs any help. Supporting the manager keeps him/her motivated. Make at least five to 10 outbound calls each day to drum up business from commercial accounts. All managers should have a quota of outbound calls to make. * Send out postcards to those people who called during off hours. Use a caller ID device to record the phone numbers of people who call when the office is closed. Use an online reverse directory to get their addresses. Then mail them a postcard with a time-sensitive offer. On a weekly basis, the marketing plan is: * Call all the â€Å"centers of influence† in town to remind them of the facility’s presence (i. e. call the real estate offices, truck-rental places and all of the other businesses who have the potential to send you business. * Play ’Mystery Shopper† by getting the District Manager’s to call the facility and disguise their voice to hear how your employees really handle themselves when they talk with customers. * Look for opportunities to get coverage by the local media. There are countless opportunities to piggy-back storage onto a current-events news story. Find one angle each week and send out a press release. * Consider running specials to rent slow-moving units. Look at the units that aren't moving and make weekly adjustments if necessary. Waiting until the end of the month may not give the management enough time to properly react to competition or the changing market in the local area. On a monthly basis the facility shall perform the following activities: * Call and/or visit competition to see what they're up to. This is an activity that needs to be done at least once a month. * Conduct regular training sessions with managers to keep them up-to-date. Conducting monthly meetings for managers and other employees makes a lot of sense. Read industry trade magazines to keep abreast of current issues. Owners and managers must be committed to staying up-to-date with the latest industry information. * Schedule a monthly coaching session by phone with an outside self-storage expert, employees and managers like to listen to experts above owners. Using an outside expert to give basic feedback is a great idea. * Go to monthly networking events, such as at the chamber of commerce. Managers and owners should make an effort to get out into the community to network. Review occupancy rates by unit size to make necessary price adjustments. * Hold a contest for store managers, and vary them from month to month. Give them some realistic goals to shoot for and then reward them for meeting those goals. This strategy is inexpensive and effective. On a quarterly basis, marketing plan for the store shall include: * Hold unannounced, random events for customers to thank them for their business. For example, wash the car of each one of your tenants who comes into the facility on a given day. * Create seasonal fliers. Fliers are inexpensive and effective and can be created for any or all services at the facility. In addition to handing those out off-site, fliers can be designed to be placed under people's unit doors to announce various promotions. * Direct mail can be tested on a targeted group within five miles of the facility. Direct mail and Value-Pak mailers can be effective. * Find an additional item to sell at the office based on customer feedback. * Play â€Å"Undercover Boss† by working at the facility one day each quarter to find out how things really work. Owners sometimes never even see their storage facilities. Working at the facility is the single most-effective means for owners to understand what really goes on in their businesses. On a yearly basis, marketing plan for the store shall include * Attending the annual self-storage conference and expo in Las Vegas and taking store managers along. * Having a qualified consultant do an external marketing audit of the facility. * Review financial numbers with a qualified expert to see what areas of business can be improved. Some ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising are : Using website stats – using a website counter to figure out how many visitors have viewed the website. As stated in an article by Kathleen, â€Å"At the very least you should be aware of what keywords are bringing traffic to your site, how many are coming directly by typing in your domain name, and other referring pages. More detailed info such as bounce rates, visitor paths, landing and exit pages will all give you additional information to assess what marketing value your website is providing. Use Direct Mailed Surveys – Mail surveys to current customers and customers who have made enquiries to figure out which areas need to be improved and work on those areas. Ask people how they found about the business – If a cold call is placed and if it is not known where the person came from, it is good to figure to where the person came from. Was it the sign in the yard? An ad that was placed in the paper? Crai gslist? Check the response on ads – When ads are run continuously, stop the ads to figure out if it has made a change in revenue. If there are no changes, then there is no point in spending dollars on the ad campaign and it would be better to divert the funds to other options. Call reporting – this is a methodology to ensure if incoming calls were being handled appropriately and in the most effective manner to hook more tenants. This system tracks how many calls were received from print and internet advertising, a report usually provides details such as time of day you receive the most calls, where the calls originate and the length of the call. It can also be helpful in measuring how many after-hours calls are being missed. Call-tracking and recording programs – These programs help management play back calls whenever they choose to without the employees’ knowledge. If all call recordings are reviewed for the exact nature of conversations and how they are being handled, the management can begin working on refining the sales process. Other strategies that can be used in addition to advertising are: * Participating with the local community in hosting events such as food drives, charity auctions, provide storage for boy/girl scouts, provide assistance during natural epidemics such as storage for people who have lost homes during a storm or flood. Sponsor cookouts for a local fire or police station. * Partner with local baseball or football teams and provide tickets to customers based on a raffle each month. * Advertise on Valpak, Craigslist, GroupOn (for coupon discounts) and other local magazines. * Use social media network such as Facebook or Twitter for promotion. * Build LEED or environmen t friendly facilities to show responsibility towards the community and world as a whole. * Provide an online payment system for customers to pay their monthly rental fees. Some ways to measure customer satisfaction are as follows: 1. Survey Customers This is probably the only way to get customer feedback, surveys can be provided in several ways (through mail, email, or over the phone). In order to get the best information, customers should be allowed to answer questions on a weighted scale (as in â€Å"Rate your experience on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 indicating complete dissatisfaction and 5 indicating complete satisfaction†). Repeat customers may have to survey again to see how their experience changes over time. . Understand Expectations The business must make an effort to discover the expectations of customers in terms of both service and products in order to ensure that their needs are met. 3. Find Out Where You’re Failing If customer requirements are not being met, the management needs to find out where the failure is occurring. Are the products less than what is advertised? Are employees making promises that cannot be met? Are custo mer service representatives dropping the ball on dispelling customer concerns and managing their complaints? Whatever the case, it is important to know where the lines of communication are breaking down so that relationships with customers can be mended. 4. Pinpoint Specifics Whether a customer is satisfied or not, the data collected will need to accurately assess what is working and what isn’t. So inquiries into level of satisfaction should include more than just the overall experience. The business needs to determine the products or services they purchased, what they liked or disliked about their sales interaction, how the actual purchase compared to their expectations, and any suggestions they have for mprovement. 5. Assess the Competition As part of the survey process, the business may want to consider inviting customers to compare and contrast similar products or companies to find out what they are offering. This helps in understanding what is lacking in the business. As stated in an article by Kevin Cacioppo, â€Å"Customer satisfaction is the state of mind that customers have about a company when their expectations have been met or exceeded over the lifetime of the product or service. The achievement of customer satisfaction leads to company loyalty and product repurchase. † He also states that: In addition to a clear statement defining customer satisfaction, any successful surveying program must have a clear set of objectives that, once met, will lead to improved performance. The most basic objectives that should be met by any surveying program include the following: * Understanding the expectations and requirements of all your customers. Determining how well your company and its competitors are satisfying these expectations and requirements. * Developing service and/or product standards based on your findings. * Examining trends over time in order to take action on a timely basis. * Establishing priorities and standards to judge how well you've met these goals. Gap Analysis is a popular assessment tool to find out the ‘gap' between what exists verses what is needed or desired. The steps involved in this are – * Identification of customer expectations, Identification of customer experiences, * Identification of management perceptions, * Evaluation of service standards, * Evaluation of customers’ communications. Gap analysis generally refers to the activity of studying the differences between standards and the delivery of those standards. For example, it would be useful for a firm to document differences between customer expectation and actual customer experiences in the delivery of medical care. The differences could be used to explain satisfaction and to document areas in need of improvement. Other tools to bridge gap in customer expectations and experiences could be by sending mail-in surveys to customer to get feedback on the service received, going out of the way to make sure a customer’s needs are addressed, providing top notch customer service are also ways to bridge gaps. Bottom line for any small business such as Self Storage is getting to know customers, listening to their concerns, making customers feel appreciated and personal touches such a learning their names might be important in retaining business and building relationships.

Foreign Aid and the Development of African Nations

The African Nations, particularly those lying in the Sub-Saharan region have been subject to poverty, inadequate financial resources of their respective governments, lack of proper infrastructure and essential services like health, sanitation and water supply. These countries have also long been plagued by corrupt leaders, who have no concern about the sufferings of their citizens, despite growing their personal wealth based on the countries’ natural resources and foreign aid.Despite billions of dollars of foreign aid pouring in the region by countries like the United States, U.  K. , Germany and Japan there is no tangible change in the development of these countries. This paper will discuss the role of foreign aid in the development of the African Countries. Though, the common perception among the people is that the sub-Saharan Africa receives fairly large amount of foreign aid, but there is no proper outcome of it. They often complain that most of aid given to the African governments is consumed in non-development expenditures, or either is directly deposited in the overseas accounts of the rulers.But the fact is that the amount of aid given to these countries is never enough, particularly when considered the amount of development work done. Another problem is the method of distribution of the foreign aid, as there is very little amount, which is directly handed over to the African governments for their projects. Most of the aid is either in the form of technical support in which most of the aid is used in paying the officials of the aid giving country in exchange of their services. For e. g.the United States, which is considered as a major ODA, provider in the region does not spend, as she should have and as much resources she has. Most of the foreign aid provided by the United States is either in response to catastrophes like famine, earthquakes and tsunamis etc. , or in the form of emergency relief, like the U. S. wheat supply in cases of shortage of food supplies due to draught in many African countries. (Sachs, 82) On the other hand the actual amount of Official Development Assistance is far below as it is thought by many Americans.It is simply because large portion of ODA is disbursed primarily to the strategic nations like Iraq and Afghanistan. The remaining amount left for the non-strategic countries is then distributed either via NGOs or in the form of technical expertise and services. In both cases none of the amount is directly handed over to the recipient government. Thus the leftover of the ODA, which is directly handed over to the aid recipient nations, is significantly low. The same is the case of most donor nations like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Italy etc.The amount of aid actually handed over to these governments, which may help them to practically implement the public development projects like hospitals, schools, water supply and sanitation etc. (Sachs, 82) According to the 2003 U. S. gove rnment statistics regarding the ODA given by the United States to the sub-Saharan Africa, the total amount given was $4. 7 billion only. The sad story is that out of this huge amount only $118 million were directly handed over to African governments in order to support public development programs run by the government and communities.  (Sachs, 83)Therefore the given statistics regarding the U. S. aid depicts the inadequate amount of direct aid given to the African nations. Now speaking about the output and consequences of the foreign aid in the development of sub-Saharan African nations, the results are not encouraging. Partly because of inadequate amount of aid, ineffective method of aid distribution and disbursement, corrupt governments and leaders the outcome is not overall satisfactory regarding virtually the entire sub-Saharan region.The United States and other donor countries can shed their burden by using the United Nations as a platform of foreign assistance to the sub-Sah aran regions. (Tharoor) Kenya is a good example to analyze the role of foreign aid in the economic and public development of the country. Kenya had been among those countries, which have received huge external aid flows from the donor nations and institutions in order to foster economic growth and reduce poverty.But unfortunately the outcome has never been satisfactory as there is no major improvement in the economic growth of the country, neither there is any significant reduction in poverty or any tangible public development as an outcome of foreign aid. The country like other sub-Saharan African nations faces high indebtedness, unemployment and absolute poverty. The poor economic performance of the country has led to high dependency of Kenya on foreign aid. (Njeru, 1) The Kenyan development expenditures were slightly above 10% of the total government expenditures during the late 90s.This shows a development expenditure decline of about 50% from the 70s, which was just below 20% a t that time. Due to poor economic performance the government development budget has increasingly become dependent on donors. For e. g. in the 80s only 40% of the development expenditure depended on foreign aid, while in the next debate the dependence had raised to 70%. (Njeru, 6) This increasing dependence was the result of poor performance and using the local government resources on non-development expenditures.Most of funds disbursed by the donors is either in the form of appropriations-in-aid or revenue, the most common of which is appropriations-in-aid method. Using this method the donors have direct contact with the project coordinator, but there is a drawback of this method as the government loses control of these projects there is a big chance that they may become white elephants. (Njeru, 9) On the other hand, under the revenue system the funds are disbursed directly to the Treasury via special accounts in the central bank, but here are some other risks, like misuse of the fu nds because of weak accounting system at the Treasury.  (Njeru, 9)During the post-independence period Kenya receive heavy inflow of foreign aid particularly from the British. In the 70s and 80s there were high development activities in telecommunication networks, land settlement schemes, health and education sectors. During the 80s Kenya had enjoyed the highest level of foreign aid flow and there were about 600 active development projects in the above-mentioned sectors. (The Role of Foreign Aid in Development, 37)The major setback in the initial development progress was brought by former president Kenyatta and his successor Daniel arap Moi, as they not only backtracked the on going progress by making some unsound decisions like price control, marketing boards which soon adversely affected the prices and production incentive. Import substitution was also an important drawback, which resulted in poor economic condition and forced the government to stall many public development proje cts. (Erixon, 14) Corruption is also an important factor, which has led to the wastage of large amount of foreign aid.According to the Transparency International’s index of corruption Kenya was among the 10 most corrupted countries. According to TI the incidence of corruption is about 50% in most ministries, city councils, parastatals, SOEs and other governing bodies. (Erixon, 14) President Kenyatta’s regime was plagued by his so-called land reforms in the name of which he received large amount of foreign aid and subsequently became the largest landowner in the country. His alleged favor to his tribesmen and kinsmen, the Kikuyu, also resulted in mass corruption and loss of large amount of donor’s money.Using foreign aid to support their own kindred has become a norm in the Kenyan politics. (Cohen, 7) Presidents Moi’s regime is also marked by misuse of foreign aid in favor of the relative and political supporters. For e. g. the Kenyan government received $ 873 million in official development assistance in the fiscal year of 1991/92. All this aid was either on grant basis or loan basis and supported some 654 public development projects. These projects have about 2,000 sub-components, in order to give every ethnic group a fair price of the fund.Not surprisingly a large amount of the fund and project resources were not used accordingly. (Cohen, 13) Moreover the public developments on district level were also done on ethnic and political basis, as those areas where the residents are either the tribesmen of the president or loyal to him will receive a large sum of budget and public development programs, while those who oppose him like the Kikuyu, the people of the former president Kenyatta receive marginal amount of budget and public development funds. (Cohen, 16-17)President Moi’s government and leadership have been marked with more corruption and use of foreign aid on their own behalf. According to a Guardian report, President Moi , his associates and relatives have allegedly moved more than 1 billion pounds of government money to nearly 30 countries including Britain. Other relatives who have been involved in corruption of millions of dollars government money include Moi’s sons, which have moved 384m and 550m pounds respectively. (Rice) This report clearly depicts how ruthlessly these corrupt leaders have looted their country and fellow countrymen.The same is the character of NGOs in this regard, as most of the NGOs working in Kenya have their loyalties with one of the political parties or ethnic groups and they only work in their interest. Moreover those NGOs which are honest to their mission and objective face constraints and suppression from the government and they are only allowed to work according to the interest of the government officials, and their interest is always to do a favor to their kinsmen or political allies.In this way the people in real and dire need are often neglected, only becaus e they do not have enough political power or ethnic relation with the people in the office. Botswana is another case and a different story. The country has been the best example of good governance and leadership in the continent by far. It is the only country, which has been democratic in spiritually and practically throughout the entire post-independence period. The country has actively promoted the its’ citizens social and economic development throughout its post-colonial history.The country led by its founder Sir Seretse Khama and his successors were dedicated to deliberate democracy and market economy. Khama played an important role in developing a law-respecting political culture, which was wholeheartedly endured by his successors. (Rotberg) Though Botswana has received a heavy amount of foreign aid inflow the public development of the country in not based on that primarily. The main factor, which contributed in the country’s success, is its good governance and la ck of corruption.According to Transparency International Botswana is the least corrupted country in the African continent far better than many European and Asian countries. (Williams) Botswana has shown its capability of utilizing the amount of donors’ funds. Botswana has the strongest state institutions, professional civil services, strong planning systems and centralized aid management systems. All these have helped the country to utilize the funds wisely and accordingly with the minimum loss and misuse possible. The effective use of aid effectively contributes to the project plans, but also gave the country more control over the aid.This is in contrast to Kenya where the foreign aid froze twice due to poor compliance of the Kenyan government to the conditions of the donors. (Renzio, Whitfield & Bergamaschi, 1-4) After the independence Botswana was among the poorest countries of the world and there was lack of proper infrastructure and social and economic institutions. In t he initial post-independence period the country has used large amount of foreign aid, but the leadership was wise enough to use the foreign assistance in proper way.The government also preferred grants to loans and used diversified donors and also made a habit of refusing to accept aid when not necessary. (Togo, 3) The government wisely used foreign aid in not only developing the public sector like health, transportation, sanitation and water supply, but also used the chance to invest the aid heavily in the diamond mining industry which later boosted the country’s economy and help Botswana to overcome her dependence on foreign aid. (Togo, 4) But in the 90s the situation has changed and the new generation of leaders have emerged which are not willing to follow the path of Khama.They have allegedly used the government funds as their personal possessions acting double as the directors of private funds thus reserving these funds for the projects run by their firms. Furthermore in 1992 the credibility and respect of the Botswana government was further tarnished by the notorious Housing Corporation scandal in which the Vice president and other high-ranking officials were allegedly involved. (Togo, 5) Despite all these downfalls and shortcomings emerging in the new general of politicians, the country is still the least corrupt as compared to other African nations.According to recent studies Botswana has received the highest level of foreign aid up to 1980s, which has played a significant role in the development of the country. The foreign assistance had been as high as $200 per capita in 1980s. But the studies show that aid has only played siginificant role in public development in the early years of independence, when the country relied completely on the British aid for its expenditures. But in the next decade the ratio of aid had declined sharply, and the revenue from diamond mining far exceeded the aid. In the late 80s the share of aid fell to 3% of GDP fro m 29% in 1967.Therefore foreign assistance played significant role in the first two decades of the country history. (Togo, 6) The founder president of Botswana made his priority to secondary education in order to increase the proportion of the natives in the countries civil service and other comprehensive development projects, like mine development, construction of dams and irrigation. The government wanted to provide the natives jobs and reduce poverty. Thus they used the foreign aid initially to promote education and then focused on the infrastructure like roads, electric power and water supply, which will become the basis of the mining industry.(Togo, 8) The government than acquired $2. 5 million loan from the World Bank to finance the Shashe complex diamond-mining project. The government also won technical assistance from several developed countries. The foreign assistance acquired was largely used in the development of the infrastructure of the Shashe Complex project. Then the aid was used for the development of the human and physical capital. (Togo, 8)Thus Botswana used foreign assistance for the development of the human capital by promoting education and physical capital by developing the infrastructure.In this way one can easily conclude that foreign assistance played an important role in the development of the country in the first two decades. But when the case of Botswana is compared with that of Kenya, it becomes clear that foreign aid is not the sole factor in the success of a country. In the last four decades Kenya has received more foreign assistance than Botswana, but the country never became economical strong as Botswana did. The primary reason was the different in the vision and approach of the rulers of the two countries.The Kenyan first two rulers have been among the most corrupted and autocratic type of rulers and they have no interest in the welfare of their fellow citizens. They ruthlessly used the countries resources as personal possessi ons. On the other hand the Botswana founder president Khama and his successors have been honest to their country and fellow citizens and wisely used their country’s resources as well as the foreign assistance they had received to develop their country’s economy, public sector institutions and infrastructure. Therefore foreign aid has never been the primary factor in any country’s development.

Natural Beauty of Pakistan Essay

Natural beauty is un matched. Pakistan have world most beautiful places for visit, specially at its best in northern areas of Pakistan and Kashmir region. This part of the country is famous all around the world because of sky high mountains, lush green valleys, mighty rivers, beautiful lakes, and amazing wildlife. The Pradise on Earth ‘Neelum Valley’ Mini Switzerland ‘Swat Valley’ and Mountain Kingdom ‘Hunza valley’ are the major tourist attractions in Pakistan. All these places are real natural beauty of the world. Here, below is a list of top 10 Best Natural Places to Visit in Pakistan. The naturally beautiful places of Pakistan, you will not found these beautiful places all over the world. Top 10 Best Natural Places to Visit in Pakistan 1. Neelum Valley Neelam Valley is a 144 km long bow-shaped valley in Azad Kashmir Region. The Valley is situated at the North & North-East of Muzaffarabad (The Capital of Azad Kashmir). Running through the Lesser Himalaya, the Neelam River valley has excellent scenic beauty, panoramic views, towering hills on both sides of the noisy Neelum river, lush green forests, enchanting streams and attractive surroundings make the valley a dream come true. Neelum valley is one of most attractive place for tourists due to its famous lush greenery, springs, streams,lakes and hilly and sloppy mountains. Some of its famous places like Athmuqam, Kutton Jagran, Karen, Neelum, Ratti Galli, Baboon, Noori top, Sharda, Sharda Fort, Sharda University (The Oldest University of Sub-Continent) Kel, Surgon, Halmet, Taobut and many more. 2. Hunza Valley The Hunza Valley is a mountainous valley in the Gilgit–Baltistan region , It was formerly a princely state. The Hunza valley is situated north/west of the Hunza River, at an elevation of around 2,500 metres. The Valley has three Regions – Upper Hunza (Gojal); Center Hunza and Lower Hunza. Hunza valley is the most beautiful place to visit and have many places to see. Some of these beautiful places are. Rakaposhi Base Camp; Diran Base Camp; Hoper Glacier; Passue and Gulmit; Khunjrab Pass; Atta Abad lake and Nagar valley. 3. Swat Valley Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. It is the upper valley of the Swat River, which rises in the Hindu Kush range. Swat Valley, Mini Switzerland of Pakistan has many attraction for visiting such as Mahodand Valley & Lake, Natural Ushu Valley & Ushu Forest, Malam Jabba (Famous ski resort in Swat Valley), Madyan, Swat & Kalam Vallies, Bonir, Der and many other naturaly beautiful sites. 4. Kalash Valley Kalash Valley is one of the major tourist attractions in Pakistan. This is situated in the Chitral district of Pakistan. This valley has a historic background but its history has controversies. Kelash is actually a very old Greek civilization. The people belonging to this civilization are called ‘The Kelash’. Belongs to old tribes and have their own religion and culture. This valley has a unique and amazing culture. The People here live in small villages which they built on the hill sides. These villages are at the banks of the streams and rivers. People construct their homes with rough shaped logs. People of Kalash are cheerful, they celebrates many festivals like Uchal Festival, Phoo Festival and Chomos Festival. There are many attractive sites for visiting. 5. Kaghan Valley The Kaghan Valley is a beautiful valley in the north-east of Mansehra District . It attracts many tourists from not only Pakistan but also from the whole world. Laying in lower Himalayan mountains range, the Kaghan  valley, famous for its bewitching splendor and natural beauty, is one of the most charming tourist resorts in scenic Hazara division. There are many beautiful and attractive spots like Shogran, Jared, Naran,Lake Saiful Muluk, Lake Dudipat Sar, Lake Lulu Sar, Babusar Pass and much more to do. 6. Murree Hills This is a summer hill station, summer resort and is sitated in Murree, the subdivision of Rawalpindi District. Murree was the summer capital of the British Raj in the Punjab Province. People from all over the Pakistan wish to go there in summer to enjoy its beauty and in winter season for astonishing experience of snowfall. Bhurban and New Murree (Patriata) are a main tourist center. One of the most favorite tourist point of Murree is Galliat, it has fascinating greenery and scenic beauty that attracts tourist belonging different regions of Asia. Most Popular Picnic Points of Murree Hills are Dunga Gali , Muskpuri Hill , Nathia Gali, Bara Gali and Mall Road. 7. Shandur Pas Shandur – The Highest Polo Ground on Earth, is about 3738 meter an above sea level and lies midway between Chitral and Gilgit. Each summer a hug event called the Shandur polo festival is organized here, which is a big source of attraction for the tourists. Different come against each other in this freestyle contest. The pass is generally unpopulated and passing through its snow covered slopes in winters is an exceptionally difficult adventure. The polo ground is about 168 Km from the main town Chitral and accessible by jeep. The road is closed during winter due to heavy snow. 8. Rawalakot Rawalakot is a town in Azad Kashmir, and is the district headquarter of Poonch Division. It is in a beautiful valley surrounded by hills, which is located 80 km away from Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Rawalakot is a summer visiting point The winters in Rawalakot are cold and chilly. There are many attraction for visitors like Banjosa; Toli Pir; Poonch River; Tatta Pani;  Banjosoa Lake; Sudhngalli and many more. 9. Ziarat Ziarat is the capital of Ziarat District, Balochistan, Pakistan. Ziarat is a famous holiday resort of Balochistan and nearly every trip from Karachi to Quetta stops at Ziarat. Ziarat was the summer residence of the chief commissioner of Baluchistan, and sanatorium for the European troops at Quetta. There is a good water supply, and the hills around are well-wooded and picturesque. A visit to Quetta is incomplete without a trip to Ziarat. Ziarat is a hill station in the Sibi district of the province of Baluchistan. It remains quite cool during summer and receives enough snowfall during the winter. 10. Jehlum Valley This is an ideal valley of Azad Kshmir region for both the domestic and international tourists. The curling river Jhelum passes through from East to West between the high green mountains of this valley. This valley has a most beautiful valley â€Å"Leepa Valley† . This is the most fascinating & loveliest valley in Azad Kashmir. Its lush green rice fields in summer and typical wooden Kashmiri houses present a wonderful view to the people visiting the area. Walnut, Apple, Cherry and honey of Leepa are very popular and in great demand. There are many visiting sites like Peerchanasi, Chikar, Chinary, Leepa, Chakothi, Ghari Dopatta, Chokothi Cham-fall and Zilzaal Lake.

Develop a list of sources of financing for a small business Essay

Develop a list of sources of financing for a small business - Essay Example In this source, a proprietor uses own savings or borrows or sells a personal item such as bonds, mutual funds, stocks, or real estate to fund his/her business. In addition, one may use home-equity line of credit to finance own business. Furthermore, one could give loans or merely contribute money to own business. The other sources of contribution include family and friends with access to more cash than the proprietor does. The second sources of finance for small businesses are banks. In fact, in current times, banks have become quite instrumental not only in supporting already established small businesses but also in giving start-up loans for new small businesses (Burk & Lehmann, 2006). Unfortunately, banks have quite cumbersome conditions to be met before small business loans are approved. For instance, banks have to establish the credit worthiness of the borrowing business of person, more so with regards to a business’ money-making history. That is, commercial banks would wa nt to be assured that the loaned will be able to repay the lent sum plus the interests therein. It is thus imperative that the person seeking a loan from a bank draws up a good business plan in addition to the collateral against which the loan is to be given. If not, the borrower must have a guarantor or a cosigner who must satisfy the bank that he/she will repay the loan if the borrower fails to pay. Venture Capital Firms is the other common source of financing for small business. These firms give funds to small businesses considered and believed to have outstanding growth potential. On a rather negative note, quite a few small businesses are financed by venture capital firms. Being financed by venture capital firms is significantly unlike getting financed by bank loans. In fact, venture capital lenders have a right not only to the repayment of the capital but also on the interest earned by the loan, notwithstanding the profits or losses/failure

Business law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business law - Coursework Example This should follow the condition of voluntary entering into a contract. However, one can withdraw an offer if acceptance has not been agreed upon. This should be done through proper communication to the other party that you want to withdraw from the contract with clear reasons. Acceptance occurs when the party you are entering into the contract with agrees to abide by the offer (Cheshire 2007). The second element is the consideration. It is the price of the promise and doesn’t necessarily involve money value. They can take the case of interest and the rights, for this case now this fulfillment will be satisfaction leading to contractual obligation. Thirdly, there must be intentions to create a legal relationship. The agreement must be legally abiding. Constitution is the principal legal document of a country. Therefore, each every agreement has to abide by it so as to suit the country’s law. Lack of fulfillment of this will render the contract null and void. Consent is the act of informing the other party of your intentions in a contract a particular thing (Gordon Stephenson 2007). It can either be expressed or implied. In this case, there must be proper communication between the two parties. If an offer has been brought forward, then the acceptor has communicated clearly his or her intentions. This implies that a contract has be formed or entered into in case he/she accepts to abide. Pre-existing duty rule is a common law rule of a contract. It states that the performance of an act in which a party is already bound to undertake does not constitute legal consideration for a new promise (Nigel Beckmann). Party offer of a performance already required under an existing contract is an inadequate consideration for adjustment of the contract. MR Martin has an outstanding balance meaning that he is liable to explain that the said payments. There is a need for extra caution so as to avoid the possibility of making unnecessary