McDonalds Company and Jan Fields Role in It

Introduction Jan Fields is the Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of McDonald’s USA where she is in charge of the strategic decision and the overall business results of over 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants based in the United States.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on McDonald’s Company and Jan Fields Role in It specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Jan Fields, a military wife, started her career at McDonald’s in 1978 at the age of 22 flipping burgers at one of the many McDonald’s restaurants established in the US. Since then she rose through the ranks by working at the various levels and positions of the company. Before her current location, Fields worked as the president of McDonald’s Central Division where she oversaw the operations of more than 4,400 restaurants in the United States. Her elevated status now requires her to manage the daily activities of over 14,000 fast food restaurants operated by the retail giant (Success Magazine, 2009). Background of her Career With no college degree or any job qualifications and experience, Jan Fields made a fateful stop for a drink inside a McDonald’s restaurant in Dayton, Ohio as she was on her way for an interview. She spotted the hiring sign for crewmembers and decided to apply as she preferred the flexible work hours the restaurant was offering its employees. Fields applied immediately for the job and succeeded in the interview preceding her secretarial job interview. After her first day at work, she was overcome with emotion and lamented to her husband that she was not able to do the job because it was too hard.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The reason for this was that the restaurant had many rules on how to make French fries which made them dist inguishable from other French fries sold by competing companies such as KFC (Hartman et al., 2009). Fields eventually decided to endure the hard working conditions in the restaurant by returning there the next day to work at the front counter. It was while she was serving customers that Fields realized she loved her job. This enabled her to advance towards the various positions within the company as well as the various tiers of management. She was able to progress from being a crewmember to a fry chief and then to every restaurant-level position within the company. Fields were able to manage the Dayton restaurant in Ohio for more than two years before she moved up again to manage multiple restaurants in the larger area of the United States (Hartman et al., 2009). During her journey to the top, Fields held to her work ethics and philosophy where she focused all her strength and ability on the current job she held instead of concentrating all her efforts on receiving promotions. She e xplained her philosophy by stating that if an employee focuses on their existing job by placing a lot of effort on the performance of the job thereby doing it better than other employees; then their advancement to the next position within the organization would come at a much faster and easier rate. Fields noted that recognition within McDonald’s was easily rewarded for employees who performed their work duties at their best possible work effort.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on McDonald’s Company and Jan Fields Role in It specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More She, therefore, attributed her career success to performing her work duties exceptionally well and not focusing on getting another job within McDonald’s (Success Magazine, 2009). Career Advancement Since her humble beginning as a crew member at the McDonald’s restaurant in Dayton, Fields has worked for the company for over 28 years in the span of which she has become a senior vice president for the Central Division as well as a senior vice president for the Southeast Division of the company. Currently, she is one of the six executive vice presidents at McDonald’s and she attributes this success to her ability to deal with limitations and obstacles during her work. Her work ethics and philosophy of not letting situations or people get in her way has enabled to achieve career progression within McDonald’s. She was also the regional vice president of the Pittsburg region in the United States before she moved to the role of senior vice president in the Central Division (McDonald’s, 2011). As a senior vice president, her work duties involved visiting various fast-food restaurants operated by McDonald’s in almost half of the country. At some point in executing her duties, she moved around with a stopwatch in her car to time the drive-through lanes in various fast food restaurants t o determine the pace of service as well as the quality of food being served to customers.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Fields were able to advance from the position of senior vice president for the Central Division to be the chief operating officer and executive vice president of McDonald’s, a job that would require her to oversee the duties and responsibilities of over 800,000 employees working for McDonald’s. Apart from being the executive vice president and chief operating officer at McDonald’s, Fields serves as a board of member for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Chicago Urban League and the United Cerebral Palsy Organization (McDonald’s, 2011). Honorary Awards and Achievements Jan Fields has been honored with many awards throughout her entire career with the first award being the President’s Award which she received in 1988 for being an outstanding employee of the Company. She was also a recipient of the McDonald’s Golden Arch Partners Award in the same year for exemplary service and achieving considerable results in strategic initiatives with in the company. In 2001, she was honored with the McDonald’s Women Operators Network Recognition Award while the following year she was honored with the Women’s Leadership Award for her ability to serve in various managerial positions within McDonald’s (Businessweek, 2011). One of her major work achievements has been that of being a longtime advocate for people development within the company where she has actively participated in employee mentoring and diversity programs. She has also held the position of an executive sponsor for the Career Development program within McDonald’s where she mentors employees on the various career progression alternatives they have for progressing within McDonald’s. As an executive sponsor, she has been able to speak in many diversity network meetings that are meant to support diversity in the workplace. Fields is also a member of the Chicago Network which is an organization for professional women occupying high seats in the business, art, academic or government industries (McDonald’s, 2011). Her career progression and achievements have made a notable mark on the rest of the world with Forbes magazine ranking her as one of the 100 most powerful women in America during the 2008 and 2009 edition (Forbes, 2010). Fortune magazine also ranked her amongst the 50 most powerful women in the world during the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Fortune lists (Fortune, 2011). Fields were also ranked by the Wall Street Journal as one of the 50 women to watch for the 2007 list. References Businessweek (2011). McDonald’s Corp. Web. Forbes. (2010). Janice L. Fields. Web. Fortune (2011). 50 most powerful women. Web. Hartman, L., Sheehan, J., and Mead, E., (2008). Started as a crew: Jan Fields and  McDonald’s. Case Study No. UVA-E-0308. Charlottesville, US: Darden Business publishing. McDonald’s (2011). Jan Fields. Web. Success Magazine (2009). From fry to COO: McDonald’s Janice Fields says  focusing on her job, not obstacles, paved her way to success. Web. This research paper on McDonald’s Company and Jan Fields Role in It was written and submitted by user Leslie Z. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Alkenes Essays

Chemistry Alkanes/Alkenes Essays Chemistry Alkanes/Alkenes Essay Chemistry Alkanes/Alkenes Essay Experiment: Comparing reactivities of alkanes and alkenes Aim: To compare the reactivities of an alkane and an alkene with bromine water and a solution of potassium permanganate (KMnO4). Equipment: 4 test tubes Test-tube rack 4 pipettes Safety: safety glasses must be worn to prevent injury to the eyes. Ensure room is well ventilated whilst using the hydro carbons. Method: 1. Place 1 ml of sample A (cyclohexane) into a test tube containing 4 mls of the bromine water solution. Record observations of any reaction. 2. Place 1 ml of sample A (cyclohexane) into a test tube containing 4 mls of the potassium permanganate solution. Record observations of any reaction. 3. Place 1 ml of sample B (cyclohexene) into a test tube containing 4 mls of the bromine water solution. Record observations of any reaction. 4. Place 1 ml of sample B (cyclohexene) into a test tube containing 4 mls of the potassium permanganate solution. Record observations of any reaction. RESULTS SampleReaction with br2 waterReaction with acidified KMnO4Hydrocarbon (alkane/alkene) ANo reaction, both liquids immiscible, br2 water kept its yellow colourNo reaction, both liquids immiscible, KMnO4 solution kept its purple colourAlkane BBoth liquids reacted, causing 2 immiscible transparent liquidsBoth liquids reacted, causing the KMnO4 solution to change to a brownie red colourAlkene Analysis: The positive reaction in the experiment was the reaction between the alkene (cyclohexene) and both the bromine water and the potassium permanganate solution. Below is a balanced structural formula for the reaction between cyclohexene and the bromine water:

Promote Your Writing On Facebook

Promote Your Writing On Facebook Promote Your Writing On Facebook Promote Your Writing On Facebook By Guest Author This is a guest post by Lela Davidson. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. Love it, hate it, or tolerate it, Facebook is here, maybe not to stay- because nothing is changing faster than media- but it’s here now. Facebook is an important way to reach readers and network with clients, fellow writers, and editors. I use Facebook every day to engage readers (and potential readers), and to network with those who can help me reach more readers. Through significant daily interactions, ‘branded’ messages, and posting links to my work, I hope to build that all important ‘platform’ we someday-to-be-bestsellers need. A Short History of a Reluctant Facebook Junkie I opened my Facebook account under duress. A client required links from a Facebook profile to the blog posts I’d written. I’d already tried (and given up on) social bookmarking sites like Digg and Stumble and I resented the extra time it took to pimp my posts. I wanted to be a writer, not waste time working the system of you-click-my-link-I’ll-click-yours. However, in the short time the assignment lasted, I got hooked on Facebook. Interacting With Readers and Others Chatting up old friends on Facebook was training for how I use it now, which is more strategic, but not too different. I’ve branched out from my ‘real’ friends, embracing the concept of â€Å"Facebook Friends,† who may or may not be people I actually know IRL (in real life- do the kids still say that?). The decision about what to share and with whom is the biggest challenge for writers wanting to use Facebook for professional networking. For me it has been a seamless transition from my friends, to their friends, and beyond because most of what I write is personal. If I’m writing about the hair balls in my bathroom for a magazine essay, I don’t mind telling you about them in my status bar. Facebook allows me to engage readers and convert would-be readers, by giving them a preview of my longer writing. Keeping Your Distance If you don’t want to get too personal with readers you set up a Page, which is different from a Profile. Readers can become fans of your page and this fan status shows up in the information section of their profiles. Interaction from a page is limited, but it’s better than nothing. In addition to frequent status updates, it’s also extremely important to comment on your Facebook Friends’ status and links. This is interactive media. If all you do is talk about yourself, eventually no one will listen. Developing a Platform Both established and aspiring writers need a platform in order to sell their work. In Get Known Before the Book Deal, author Christina Katz defines platform as: . . . all the ways you are visible and appealing to your future, potential, or actual readership. Katz emphasizes that platform development is important not only for authors, but also for aspiring and soon-to-be authors. Interaction with your Facebook Friends builds the foundation of your relationship so that when you post a link, they may read it or pass it along via the Share function of Facebook. This lets every one of their Facebook Friends know that 1) it exists, and 2) they think it’s cool enough to be associated with. And Finally, Posting Those Links Wherever you are in your writing career, you have a core fan base of people who like what you write because they like you- family, friends, neighbors. Even my ‘real’ friends who aren’t interested in my writing are still interested in me. Maybe their friends and family might like what I’m writing. Facebook is the easiest way for them to share my stuff. The more I interact with them the more they are likely to find something they like. When that happens, the spread can be viral. I hope. It’s important to note that links are different from status updates. They don’t show up in your status bar, and unless they get a lot of Likes (thumbs up) or comments, they may not show up in your Facebook Friends’ news feeds either. I don’t feel like I’m pestering people with my links if I occasionally post more than one in a day. Also, when I’m commenting on someone else’s status, sometimes it’s natural to include a link. For example, I write a lot on family topics so whenever someone posts a status about their kid losing a tooth, I’ll comment with a link to an essay I wrote about the inflation of Tooth Fairy payouts. Friending Editors and Fanning Magazines As my essays have started to get picked up in more print magazines, I try to Friend the editors and become a Fan of the magazine’s website. (Sorry, fellow DWT guest author, but Friending and Fanning are verbs.) A lot of print magazines publish online versions. When the piece runs, I post a link, as well as thanking and tagging the editor in my status update. Before an editor has bought something of mine, we can connect as Facebook Friends. Though we may never meet in person, Facebook savvy gives me an edge over the hundreds of other writers hitting the inbox. Many of those editors use the same email on Facebook as they do for submissions, so I use Facebook’s automated ‘Find Friends’ utility to identify them. When it comes to social media there are no experts. So jump in- from wherever you are- and play. That’s what I did. Facebook has expanded my reach, helped build my ‘platform’, and put me in direct contact with readers, clients, and editors. It can do the same for you. Lela Davidson’s award-winning column, After the Bubbly, appears regularly in Peekaboo magazine, and periodically in other magazines throughout the country. She is the parenting columnist on HubPages and a regular contributor to ParentingSquad. Find out more on her wildly entertaining blog. Or just Google her. She loves to be Googled.    Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Using "a" and "an" Before WordsHow Long Should a Paragraph Be?Mankind vs. Humankind

Strategic Marketing Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategic Marketing Management - Essay Example The research could be casual, descriptive or exploratory in nature according to the needs of the organization. After the analysis is done the organization can move on to developing a viable, long term strategy for the organizations’ marketing efforts. The main focus of the strategy is to allow for segmentation and targeting of the desired customer base and deciding on the value proposition that they would be offered in return for becoming their customers. The basic challenge of strategic marketing is, therefore, to manage marketing intricacy, customer and stakeholder expectations and to reconcile with the effects of a varying atmosphere in the context of certain resource availabilities. Strategic Marketing enthusiasts often adopt management concepts to their unique needs. As the basic purpose of both management and marketing is to explore the relationships an industry or organization has with its environment, some of the widely used management tools and frameworks have been ad opted for the marketing process. These would include the industry analysis techniques of Porter and the portfolio matrices (Fahy, Smithee, 1999, p1). Strategic Marketing Management is a field of study in which due consideration is given to understanding the different parts of the marketing strategy and their integration framework for defining and evolving the market which ultimately helps the marketing manager into transforming concepts and theories into practical strategies and action plans for any organization. In Strategic Marketing Management the focus is on the ‘3 Cs’ of the external environment. The competitors, customers and the channel form the three pronged focus of the firms efforts. By searching and providing better solutions to their customers needs and to cater to their demands is the first step for any the organization in designing a product and related marketing strategy. The competitors are important because ultimately they will impact the consumers buyi ng decision and the overall industry profitability, the strategy has to be such as to differentiate and better the position of the company in the eyes of the consumer from the competitor. Finally, the channel or the supplier side of the equation deals with the processes of manufacturing or producing a good for the market and the people that will have to be dealt with during it all. An organization has to be on the lookout for any opportunities or threats which exist because of changes in the 3 Cs environments, and their marketing strategy has to be strong and flexible enough to adept to these changes in a beneficial way. Like any other process, marketing is also subject to the changes in the technological, lifestyle, social and economical trends. Even more so because marketing, ultimately, is designed to and catered for the needs and wants of the people and these depend largely on the time frame and environmental and psychological factors. In the 21st century there are some trends w hich have slowly become a stronghold in of the modern markets and for the prudent organizations, their strategy has to be managed to accommodate these trends. There is a cynicism prevalent in today’s consumer which makes them check and double check the claims that a company is making about their product or service. They are self conscious about the decisions they make, ethically motivated, passionate about eco friendly practices and generally more

Space Age Furniture Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Space Age Furniture - Term Paper Example 3079) which needs machining on a particular lathe equipment applied for the making of that special part only. Ed Szewczak, an able and experienced machinist is in charge of this special lathe machine. Once the lathe gets started it can run on its won without being attended by someone. However it is necessary for the machinist to be present during the operations of any machine, including the lathe. Recently it has become essential for Ed to opt for overtime in order to finish producing the part 3079 on time. Due to the increased overload, Ed has become unhappy and this news has been communicated to the operations manager, Coral Snodgrass. Coral has been finding solutions to solve the overtime issue. Recently the company started using an MRP system which has helped it in reducing the inventories and improving the timing of the deliveries. There are two different sub-assemblies where the part 3079 is used and the lathe machines are used for producing both the sub-assemblies of Saturn an d Gemini. Ed Szewczak is supposed to get a 50% additional payment for the overtime work. Thus the whole scenario has got certain advantages and certain disadvantages which when studied carefully provide a framework for the better functioning of the organization. Questions & Answers 1. ... Overtime is expensive and the variation between a profitable week and a losing week is represented by overtime. If the demand is constantly surpassing the facility, then Coral can consider either adding more employees or adding more facilities. While taking this step, he should attempt to improve the efficiency of the plant by eliminating waste and dropping bottlenecks. Whenever measures are taken to remove overtime, either by increasing capacity or improving efficiency, it is necessary to understand the consequence of such a step on the employees. As in this case the overtime is not consistent, therefore extreme measures are not required; however Coral should be conscious of when the overtime is taking place which will help him to recognize the grounds for overtime. There is an alternative way-out that can be applied instead of adding more people to the organization which is outsourcing the jobs and getting things done away from the workplace. This would of course incur more expense s but it would reduce the costs of material consumption, overhead costs, labor costs, electricity consumption and other related expenditures. Therefore in simple terms it can be concluded that Coral can either add more people to the company or add more machinery to the organization or a third option is there where he can include an additional shift between the regular shifts. These steps would be helpful in reducing the workload on Ed. 2. How would reducing the minimum quantity of subassemblies help? The Saturn and Gemini tables are made up of part 3079 which is exclusively manufactured by the lathe machine and the lathe machine is not used for any other purpose. Also the part

BTEC Business Essay Example for Free

BTEC Business Essay Shell is a multinational oil and gas company with around 87.000 employees in more than 70 countries. It is one of the world’s most valuable companies. Shell was started by Marcus Samuel back in 1833, he was a shopkeeper in London. In 1907 they merged with The Royal Dutch Petroleum Company. 1.1.11.1.2 Having a lot of offices/petrol stations all around the world makes them a global business and it’s a private business because it’s not owned by the government. Their goal is to make more money than they spend, so Shell is a profit business. Shell is in all three sectors because they dig oil (Primary Sector, they produce the oil (Secondary Sector, and lastly they sell it as well at their petrol stations. Their products are mostly oil and gas but they also have services for example, you can fill your tires with air, you can use their hoover or make use of their carwash. 1.1.3 Shell is a PLC so the liability for debts is on the company. To be considered a PLC you’re business is probably formed and owned by shareholders. Other shareholders can buy their stock quite easily. They have a lot of shareholders. As a shareholder of Shell you aren’t responsible for the debts, may the company go bankrupt. Unicef Unicef which stands for United Nations International Children’s Emergency is a massive organisation that tries to help children all over the world, not only to have an education but to protect child’s right in overall. 1.2.11.2.2 Unicef has offices all over the world, it’s a global organisation. Almost every country has an office from Unicef. The Government helps for two third of the organisation’s funds and the other part is from the millions of people that supports Unicef which makes it for the bigger part a public organisation. It’s a non-profit organisation, because they don’t want to make a lot of money for themselves but to raise money to help the children  who for example can’t go to school because they don’t have the money for it or even because they don’t have schools at that place. Unicef is subjected in the tertiary sector because they serve services to help the children. 1.2.3 It’s a Charity Partnership, as a charity you have to register and must produce annual accounts that are available to be viewed. P2 Stakeholders of Shell 2.12.2 A stakeholder is anyone that has an interest or is affected by a corporation. 1.Customers: The customers are the one who buy or uses the products and services of Shell. They want shell to have the best oil, gas and services so that what they pay for those things are worth their money. -Shell wants the customer to keep coming back to them, because without the customers Shell wouldn’t earn any money. 2.Employees: The employees are the one who works for Shell. They want to have the security of being employed, getting paid and also the opportunity for promotions. Shell wants the Employees to do their best because they are kind of representing Shell. For example, if they are rude to customers then the customers may not come back to Shell because of that. 3.The shareholders: The shareholders are the one who owns a part of Shell. The shareholders want to see their share of profit to increase. Shell wants them to increase the money. 4.Trade Unions: Trade Unions represent the interest of groups of employees. With the trade unions employees want to accomplish their interest like get higher wages. Shell wants to find out the interest of groups of the employees so they can improve it and keep their employees happy. 5.Local And National Communities: Local and National Communities are the ones who represent Shell. Shell has pipelines in Nigeria which can be very dangerous and cause local pollution, therefore community leaders represent important interest groups. Shell wants them to represent Shell positively. 6.Suppliers: Suppliers are people who provides Shell’s products. (For example the things they sell at they’re petrol stations, not the oil/gas as they produce that themselves.) They want to feel valued by Shell and they want steady orders and to be paid at their worth. Shell wants the suppliers to deliver the right orders and that the products are in best condition. 2.32.4 Stakeholders of Unicef 1.Staff members: Staff members ensures that everything is going smoothly, both in offices and on field. They want to see the results while being in field, for example, to see the kids go to the school they have built. Unicef wants the staff members to do their best and see the best results. 2.Goodwill Ambassadors and Advocates: Goodwill Ambassadors and Advocates are celebrities that funds Unicef. They want to use their fame positively and help as many kids as they can with their money. Unicef gets more known because of those celebrities. With their help people acknowledge their campaign. Plus, they are good volunteers with enough money. 3.Young Leaders: Young Leaders are young adults or teens that are helping out with the campaign as well. Young leaders wants to help out children or teens that are maybe just a few years older than them, sometimes because they feel bad for those children. They have it better so they want to help out. Having young leaders in the team is a positive outcome because this motivates others from the same age to do something to help children out, too. 4.Teachers: Volunteers that want to teach children in for example Africa. -Teachers wants to volunteer so they feel good about themselves helping the children to get better education or just an education at all. They want to be send off in a secure place, though. And not in, for example, a war zone. Unicef needs Teachers because otherwise building schools are no help at all if there’s no one to teach those children something. 5.Suppliers: Those are the ones who supplies the school books etc. They want to feel valued by Unicef and wants clear orders from them. Unicef wants the suppliers to deliver the orders to be in good quality and to be delivered on time. 6.People who gives their contribution to the collectors:  They give money to the collectors to help out. For example, they want to think they helped out building that school in Africa. Unicef need those people to help out to get more money so they can help out more. P3 Organisational Chart of Shell 5.1 Shell is organized by function, geographical areas, product groups and type of customers. Shell’s functions are divided in three groupings: Upstream, Downstream and Projects Technology. Upstream manages the manufacturing and search crude oil and natural gas. Downstream also manages the manufacturing and are responsible for the marketing department. Projects Technology does the research and projects for new products. Shell is, as mentioned before, a global company, having offices all over the world. The Upstream only is already divided in Upstream Americas (for Americas), Upstream International (for Europe, Asia/Middle East/Russia, Oceania and Africa. This is because it can function better and they can focus within that country/continent. They can focus on the culture and interest within that country/continent. They are also organized by products as you can see above. They are divided by gas, fuels and lubricants and chemical products. This way each group can specialize in their own product and make it better. Shell has a lot of customers, like the one who drives daily to and from their work or a big airplane company or the F1 team. They use different products or amount of products, so Shell organized it this way that the airplane company gets a different price than a normal man who drives daily to and from their work. 5.2 My Royal Dutch Shell would look at the amount of profit they made the year before. How much oil and gas they posses and there is on earth. We’ll look at how much we sell our products and how much our variable costs are and if we can make our variable costs less and our prices higher. Would we lose customers if we do that or not? We will do an internal researches for how much oil there still is on earth. With this information we can go further with our strategic plan. If the oil is decreasing for example, we will look  for alternative solution. Shell will look for what’s going on in each country. For example, everyone is really busy with being environmentally conscious, so we’ll think of a way other than greenpeace to show that we are not too bad for the environment. We will look at how the economy is growing or deflating. If it’s growing we can make the price higher, and if it’s deflating we don’t necessarily need to put the prices lower as Shell’s product is something that everyone constantly need. (Oil) Looking at what the concurrent position, at how they are doing is also something to consider. Organisational Chart of Unicef 5.3 Unicef is divided by directors. They have the executive Director who is in charge of the whole organisation. And other directors that are in charge of for example the Human Resources or the supplies. So Unicef is organized by function. Unicef has different regional directors. For example, there’s the Dutch Unicef Director, or the UK Unicef Director. . Working a lot on field (different countries) it’s easier to have regional offices. This makes Unicef function better as Unicef represent itself in 190 countries, each country with different values. So each country director/manager can focus on how to reach the people Unicef is also organized by geographical areas. Unicef focuses on different type of ‘products’ which are actually the different services. Although all is about children, the subjects are different. They have child survival and development, Basic education and gender equality, Children and HIV/AIDS and Child protection. They divided those subjects so they can specialise more and give the help that the child needs better. They also sell small things, kind of reminds me of souvenirs, the profit they make from these goes to the campaign funds. 5.4 Unicef will look at how they’ve succeeded at their projects so far, how many donations they get each year, how many members/volunteer they’ve got and what their next step needs to be depends on what is going on with the people around the countries they help or even which country they’ll need to help next. Once they have all those information, they’ll look at how they can  get more projects. To get more projects done, they’ll do more research so that they can give people more and more information and can attract more people to help them out. Unicef should show on the media what they’ve achieve so far and that the money people donate are really helping out. This way we’ll get more donation, so more profit to finish projects. P4 Fulfilling The Purpose of Shell 6.1 Shell’s purpose is to make as much profit as they can. Being organized by function they can put people who are specialised by those functions and make their product even better. The geographical structure helps to get to know what they need to do to get the attention of each country. Because each country has different laws, values and culture they can do their research way better if each group specialised in one specific country. Shell can make their advertisement focused on each country. Focusing on the different customers they can make special offers for different customers. Making these offers they can make sure that the customer will come back to them and can cause word to word advertisement. Splitting up different products types helps customers to know where to find what when they come to buy products from shell. Having different products means they need to make sure everything is from the same quality, the best quality. So by dividing their products and putting people who specialised on those product they know they have the best quality. Which will make customer come back to them. To be structured good, Shell uses the chain of command. It helps shell to make sure that they get the tasks that you need to do and that it doesn’t go to a different department. Fulfilling The Purpose of Unicef 6.2 Unicef’s purpose is to help as much children in need as they can. Being geographical organized helps them to fulfil their purpose because this way they can focus on what each country needs. For example, one country needs more school instead of help with HIV/AIDS. Focusing on different product type helps as well. This way, people knows exactly for what they are donating. Same as Shell, Unicef uses the chain of command so that people get the right tasks. Using Goodwill Ambassador helps them achieve their purposes, too. For example, having Selena Gomez as an ambassador is great help for them in the media. She’s really big in the entertainment industries and is a role model for a lot of teens and young adults all over the world. She indirectly advertises Unicef when she tweets or talks about how she’s an ambassador. Having different directors for each function helps as well as they can specialise on what they are doing in that sector. They can give the people ‘underneath’ them better instructions.

History as the Key to Unlock the Future in Omeros:Philoctete’s Healing, Achille’s Completion, and the Narrator’s Inspiration :: Omeros

History as the Key to Unlock the Future in Omeros:Philoctete’s Healing, Achille’s Completion, and the Narrator’s Inspiration â€Å"Time is the metre, memory the only plot† (129) Derek Walcott forced the literary world to disagree with him when he denied that Omeros was an epic. Some critics suggest that, like his narrator, Walcott is not sure where his work belongs. Others suggest that Walcott denies its obvious genre in order to avoid being categorized. Regardless, Derek Walcott repeatedly says that the purpose of his writing is to wrestle with the duality within himself and that of the Caribbean islands, specifically St. Lucia. Despite occasionally downplaying the significance of any existence, Walcott utilizes a history/ time motif to explore history’s importance in forging an identity and the future (Bloom 135). Set in St. Lucia, Walcott’s Omeros reveals an island possessing a rich past. St. Lucia, a former colony, has a history of ‘pagan’ religion and tradition, a different language, and an economic background based namely on fishing. Locals must try to reconcile their heritage prior to colonization, the influences of colonization, and how to create a new culture from the ashes of the others (Hogan 17). Through most of, if not the entire epic, the island is related to a woman. At times the references are general and at times they refer specifically to Helen. These references take many forms including a nurturing nature and physical attributes. The significance of relating the island to a woman lies in a somewhat matriarchal past where women would hold the secrets to healing and have a close link to the intrinsic nature of the island. This is in contrast to the men, who are all in search of something, and while closely linked with the island, they shy away from tradition – cutting down trees, turning from the old gods, focusing on tourism and money. Characters like Philoctete and Achille try to reconcile their knowledge of the old traditions with the new island, where tourism becomes a staple, as does the Christian religion. Others, including the Narrator, search for a place to belong. In the opening of the epic poem, Philoctete recounts to tourists the chopping down of a sacred grove of trees for canoes, replacing the old gods and values with a new God and varying values. This replacement, or at least shift, of the old with/ to the new runs throughout the epic following most, if not all, characters, each possessing a wound, which only heals upon some sort of reconciliation.

Public Communication Essay

Unlike many of the other writing assignments done thus far, this paper will be providing brief synopses for several essays on issues involved with the study of public management. Although it might be possible to state that the ideas and theories presented in these texts are either true or false, it will be the goal of this writing to take the simple approach and focus on the thoughts that are presented are still relevant in modern practice of public management. However, it is first important to point out that even today there is no aggregated view for weighing or measuring the success of public managers. This is because in part due to the various ways in which the agencies manage themselves, for example whether or not they chose to follow national performance review (NRP) response or a total quality management (TQM) method. Another problem is that often times today a management policy that has been set up and successfully tested for the private sector is either grafted to the, or imposed over the management policies of a public enterprise. The issue that this brings up is that, depending on the agency, that there is no clear idea on who the ‘customers’ are, nor what ‘product’ is that the public agency is trying to appease. Meanwhile, the management theories that are being imposed on to them, are based on a quantifiable examination as to rather they are successful or not. Simply put, there is no easy or standard way for researchers of the field of public administration to be able to clearly differentiate between the successful management styles of one public administrator to another. In fact, researching this problem is the very thing that our first author is calling for in his essay. Graham T. Allison attempts with his article, â€Å"Public and Private Management: Are They Fundamentally Alike in All Unimportant Respects? † to both collective and summarize the prevailing ideas on public management at the time (1979). In addition, he highlights several areas in which the academic thinkers were struggling with and arguing over. Allison point out everything from the similarities of â€Å"How are Public and Private Management Alike? ,† to charting out the functions of general management, and to the ‘current’ research being done to answer several questions that these topics have been brought up since Woodrow Wilson now canonized first article on the subject (1979,p 397) (1887). Allison’s call for research in this field is still greatly needed and sought after today as we shift from one management style to another, seemingly distinctive, in today’s public agencies. One example of the reason that this research is needed can be found in comparing the resent style swing to the NPR, from the more ‘traditional’ management style outlines in Louis Brownlow, Charles E. Merriam, and Luther Gulick essay, â€Å"Report of the President’s Committee on Administrative Management† (1937). In their essay, they were working under the assumption that the management side of public administration could be, and was, separate from the political decisions and policies that directs the public service sector. Under this assumption, they crusaded for more power and control over the public management process, on the behave of the executive branch. Some of their ideas included allowing the president to hire powerless, sector concentrated, secretaries that would assist the president with gather necessary information from the public bureaus under their area of concern and to pass back the decisions that the president makes back to the effected agencies. These authors go on further to state that all major decisions on the functions of personnel, fiscal, organizational, and planning management should be given directly to the sole control of the president (1937, p 94). The first problem is that fiscal management falls under the authority of the congressional branch of government. In addition, with the shifting towards NPR, and other acts of congress, we see congress taking a greater role in the personnel management of public administration. The biggest fallacy in this article is the assumption, that the management of public departments is separated from the politics and decisions that are made in Washington. In fact, everything about the various departments falls under the control of the very people who the authors are trying to separate them from. Now with a slight deviation from the previous topics on public management, let us take a look at the trend in public administration that involves the movement of bringing traditionally public sector jobs into the private sector. The Privatization Movement, once simply a group of scholarly outsiders, has come of age† (1987, p 469). Our look into privatization will be through the work done by, Ronald C. Moe and his essay, â€Å"Exploring the Limits of Privatization† (1987). Moe’s essay explores several cases like McCulloch v. Maryland, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the entities like ‘Freddie Mac’ that fall under the Federal Home Bank Board, to point out the various issues that are involved with the privatization of public offices. While the issues range rom the organizational and budgeting management, to the legal and authority problems that these privatized companies face, Ronald Moe hones in on the latter two issues as to the reasons why privatization will not work with the public sector. The government of the United States has the right, as a sovereign power, to impose taxes, fines, and laws on its citizens. The issue that Moe in concern with is does this, and should this sovereignty be passed along to a governmental contracted company that does not necessarily fall directly under the direct control of the government? Moe listed several attributes that are inherent to a sovereign government to help his claim; these, summarized attributes are, sovereign possesses the legitimate right to use coercion to enforce its will, â€Å"only a sovereign may legitimately go to war with another sovereign,† â€Å"sovereigns can do no wrong,† â€Å"a sovereign is indivisible. A sovereign cannot assign its attributes to a private party and remain a sovereign,† a sovereign has the right to set forth rules for the protection and transfer of property, and finally a sovereign can disavow but not go bankrupt with its debts. (1987, pp 473 – 474). The turn of the century fall of ‘Freddie Mac’ and other banks and the subsequent ‘bail-out† of these privatized firms would be an example of a major problem with the concept of privatization of a public sector firm. Are these banks private property and therefore fall under the state and federal rules for bankruptcy? or are do they belong to the public sector and fall under the attribute that protects the government from going bankrupt? Moe correctly claims that by not specifying where this very fine line fells leads to the kinds of corruption and miss-appropriation of public funds that we saw with the resent collapse of the housing market. Finally, he calls for a review to be done on identifying the differences between the private sector and the public sector firms before contracting our government duties to a private interest. However, this involves assigning some sort of value to the how the public service works, which is the topic of the next article. In his essay, â€Å"Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government† Mark H. Moore discusses the problems in nailing down a single method of measuring the output of public managers and their agencies (1995). One of these problems is as simple as the fact that public agencies are involved in not one public program, but instead they are usually involved in several different programs that may or may not intersect with one another. This being the case, than why not just take the average? Because these programs, like the money that is used to fund them, are designed and supplied by not the managers themselves, like you would see in a private venture, but rather, these things are handed to them by the political process and the managers are there simply to see that the job gets done. In the private sector, one can use the financial success of a firm to determine if the manager for that firm is successful or not. For example, if their product has value to it than the customer will buy it and the company will show a profit (1995, p 549). However, since the ‘customers’ of many of the public agency are either compelled to use, and/or they do not pay for the service at the time of use, than this type of assessment is not a valid way to judge the value of the public management styles, nor are they very useful for analyzing the programs themselves. According to Moore, often what is done is that some type of cost-benefit analyses is done either before and/or after the program is started and this information is then compared to a similar service in the private sector to determine the effectiveness of the management style. The two problems with this approach is that, first it only show the effect that the program that the political leadership has implemented and not that of the management itself, and second that comparing an often vague value system to a very finite one is not easy task. An analogy of this problem would be in using data from a 30 meter image and then merging the information with the visual effect of a 1 meter image. One might be able to get the information into the smaller image, but so much of the data is skewed and lost that it becomes worthless for any kind of analyses. The same thing happens with the data from this type of public sector analyses. You do not just get the effect of just the manager on the project; you also get the public officials that draft the project, the reaction by the public to the project, and the result of the project into one aggregated value set. This set of values is simply too diluted to be useful as a measurement against the values from the private sector. Instead, Moore suggests that research in a cost-effectiveness approach may be a solution to this problem (1995, p 553). All of these essays end up with the same major issue concerning measuring the successful public management style, from one that is not successful. In one form or another both Moore and Moe have called for research in finding some standard in analyzing the public sector. In any analysis standard, the effects that politics has in its creation cannot be ignored. If as Woodrow Wilson claim is true, and the goal of these public administrators is to find the most cost-effective and the most efficient method to implement the political oriented policies; then why not come up with a measurement on the efficiency and cost-effectiveness to be used for passing judgment on them?

What is the Vatican II?

Vatican II is the last ecumenical council that the Roman Catholic Church had. It is the only council that the Church organized for the past century up to now. Ecumenical councils are held every time the Church feels there are things to be settled within its institution. It is attended by Bishops around the world. Not to be mislead by its name, Vatican II is not a continuation of Vatican I; rather, it is a new council dedicated to resolving new issues. Since this council is held almost half a century ago, maybe it is about time for the Church to finally hold another one, not necessarily to settle new issues, but just to check the overall status of the Christian world, especially with the advent of stem cell research and the continuing issues of birth control. Besides, things today are definitely different from what they were forty or fifty years ago. The council of Vatican II focused on issues on liturgy, the Church, scripture and divine revelation, and the role of the Bishops. The council produced documents regarding these topics, plus twelve more topics that they discussed in the council. Contrary to the previous councils which were held primarily because of the rise of false teachings, the Vatican II did not focus on persecuting heretic teachings. Thus, this council is probably the first of its kind.

English as a Global Language

English as a Global Language In Shakespeares time, the number of English speakers in the world is thought to have been between five and seven million. According to linguist David Crystal, Between the end of the reign of Elizabeth I (1603) and the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth II (1952), this figure increased almost fiftyfold, to around 250 million (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2003). Its a common language used in international business, which makes it a popular second language for many. How Many Languages Are There? There are roughly 6,500 languages spoken in the world today. About 2,000 of them have fewer than 1,000 speakers. While the British empire did help spread the language globally its only the third most commonly spoken language in the world. Mandarin and Spanish are the two most commonly spoken languages on Earth.   From How Many Other Languages Has English Borrowed Words? English is jokingly referred to as a language thief because of it has incorporated words from over 350 other languages into it. The majority of these borrowed words are latin or from one of the Romance languages. How Many People in the World Today Speak English? Roughly 500 million people in the world are native English speakers. Another 510 million people speak English as a second language, which means that there are more people who speak English along with their native language than there are native English speakers. In How Many Countries Is English Taught as a Foreign Language? English is taught as a foreign language in over 100 countries. Its considered the language of business which makes it a popular choice for a second language. English language teachers are often paid very well in countries like China and Dubai. What Is the Most Widely Used English Word? The form OK or okay is probably the most intensively and widely used (and borrowed) word in the history of the language. Its many would-be etymologists have traced it variously to Cockney, French, Finnish, German, Greek, Norwegian, Scots, several African languages, and the Native American language Choctaw, as well as a number of personal names. All are imaginative feats without documentary support. (Tom McArthur, The Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford University Press, 2002) How Many Countries in the World Have English as Their First Language? This is a complicated question, as the definition of first language differs from place to place, according to each country’s history and local circumstances. The following facts illustrate the complexities: Australia, Botswana, the Commonwealth Caribbean nations, Gambia, Ghana, Guyana, Ireland, Namibia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States have English as either a de facto or statutory official language. In Cameroon and Canada, English shares this status with French; and in the Nigerian states, English and the main local language are official. In Fiji, English is the official language with Fijian; in Lesotho with Sesotho; in Pakistan with Urdu; in the Philippines with Filipino; and in Swaziland with Siswati. In India, English is an associate official language (after Hindi), and in Singapore English is one of four statutory official languages. In South Africa, English [is] the main national language- but just one of eleven official languages. In all, English has official or special status in at least 75 countries (with a combined population of two billion people). It is estimated that one out of four people worldwide speak English with some degree of competence. (Penny Silva, Global English. AskOxford.com, 2009)

Breast Cancer Essay Example for Free (#3)

Breast Cancer Essay Is it true that wearing ‘underwired’ brassieres bring about cancer? Can breast cancer be treated? Are there signs and symptoms that individuals can check to know if breast cancer really occurs in them? These are just some of the essential questions that this paper will attempt to answer. It will also attain to reintroduce breast cancer’s definition, history of recovery, signs and causes, statistical information, diagnosis, breast cancer myths, risk factors, as well as, treatment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A 34-year-old woman, named Susan has been told by the family doctor that she has a breast cancer. When she asked about it, the doctor initially explained it as â€Å" a type of cancer that forms in tissues of the breasts, typically in the ducts or the areas where milk goes through till it reaches the nipple, as well as, the lobules or the glands which produces milk † (National.. n.p.). The doctor also told Susan that the aforementioned disease has been observed in Egypt way back in approximately 1600 BC (Wikipedia n.p.). Back then he stated that, â€Å" tumors of the breasts were addressed or treated by cauterization through an instrument they technically refer to as the fire drill though they openly admitted that there is no cure for such † (Wikipedia n.p.). The doctor also added that, centuries later experts found â€Å" a relationship between the lymph nodes found in the armpits and cancer of the breast, in fact, Jean Louis Petit and Benjamin Bell were the first ones to get rid of the lymph nodes, breast tissue, as well as, a primary muscle in the chest † (Wikipedia n.p.). The doctor, to make Susan stay calm, mentioned that such surgery has been very successful thus it was also done by William Halsted during the next century or 1882 to be exact, in fact, until the 1970’s, this procedure remained to be the most successful surgical procedure to address the aforementioned condition (Wikipedia n.p.).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since Susan was complaining about the physical changes in her body that she observed prior to be being diagnosed as having breast cancer, the doctor also told her that the signs and symptoms of breast cancer include the following: First of all, if there is a lump in the breast then there is a possibility that a person has breast cancer (Mayo.. n.p.). Second, there is also a probability that breast cancer may occur if the nipple/s of an individual discharges blood and has a lump that goes along with it (Mayo.. n.p.). Third, there may be an occurrence of breast cancer if there exist a â€Å" retraction, flattening, or indentation of the nipple † (Mayo.. n.p.). Fourth, if the size of the breast and its contours changes, then it is possible that breast cancer is in existence (Mayo.. n.p.). Last but not least, redness of the skin on the breast area may signify breast cancer as well (Mayo.. n.p.). Upon hearing the aforementioned, Susan remembers that she mainly complained about sign & symptoms number one in the right breast, something she has been complaining about for about 16 months.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Susan has been feeling weird and a little scared and so she decided to look into medical and health magazines, internet sites, as well as, books to check if she is going to make it or not, if she’s going to die etcetera and here’s a statistical information that she stumbled upon: 1) â€Å" Deaths brought about by breast cancer already reached forty thousand four hundred sixty (40,460) for females and four hundred fifty for the males (450 )† (National.. n.p.); 2) â€Å" Unfortunately, there are new cases reported as well, there are one hundred seventy eight thousand four hundred eighty (178, 480) females and two thousand and thirty (2,030) males now who currently have breast cancer † (National.. n.p.). And the aforementioned is in the United States only (National.. n.p.); 3) â€Å"In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, twelve thousand four hundred (12,400) individuals or more die each year because of breast cancer† (National.. n.p.). In fact, in 2003 alone, there were forty three thousand and seven hundred fifty six women and there were three hundred thirty five (335) men who were diagnosed and reported to have breast cancer (National.. n.p.).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During that time, Susan was also in denial that is why she researched on her own. She found out that: Breast cancer may be diagnosed through the following: 1) breast self-examination; 2) clinical breast exam; 3) mammogram including screening mammograms, diagnostic mammograms; 4) computer-aided detection; 5) digital mammography; 6) magnetic resonance imaging; 7) â€Å"ultrasonography†; 8) ductal lavage; 9) molecular breast imaging; 10) diagnostic procedures like ultrasound; 11) biopsy including fine-needle aspiration biopsy, core-needle biopsy, stereotactic biopsy, wire localization, surgical biopsy; 12) estrogen and progesterone receptor tests; 13) staging tests; and 14) genetic tests (Mayo.. n.p.).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During this time, she was already prepared to believe that she really does not have breast cancer because she had a mammogram performed in March 1989 and again in February 1999, wherein, the results both showed that it is normal. Although, she had to try to accept it or at least entertain that it might be true when an ultrasound was also carried out where it was detected that a fibrocystic lump exists and that it was benign. After the detection of the fibrocystic lump, Susan began to reflect on her way of life, what could have caused the lump to exist inside of her body†¦she actually thought that it may be because of her use of deodorants, ‘underwired’ brassieres, stress from work, as well as, injury to the breasts which she got from playing basketball when she was in college and still a part of a varsity team. It is not very surprising that Susan thought of those as the primary reasons for the lump since there are so many myths that are related to breast cancer and some of the most popular ones are the following: First of all, some individuals claim that deodorants bring about breast cancer, however, currently, no studies have been carried out yet that may confirm or deny such belief of some people (Breast.. n.p.).   Second, some people think that wearing ‘underwired’ brassieres bring about cancer (Breast.. n.p.). Just like the first myth though, no evidence have been found to conclude such a statement (Breast.. n.p.). Third, there are individuals who think that stress can bring about breast cancer, however, research studies have not yet been able to establish an extremely clear link to conclude that such is really possible (Breast.. n.p.). Fourth, there are people who claim that â€Å" living near electricity pylons cause breast cancer † but no evidences have been presented ever since that breast cancer may be associated to electricity pylons (Breast.. n.p.).    Fifth, some individuals say that an injury to the breast augments the probability that breast cancer may occur (Breast.. n.p.). However, no evidences have been presented to back up such claim (Breast.. n.p.). Sixth, people claim that females who are young are more likely to be detected with breast cancer (Breast.. n.p.). Well, statistical information denies this, in fact, eighty percent of all the cases in the UK occur in females who are already fifty years old and above (Breast.. n.p.). Seventh, there are individuals who believe that if a person feels pain or discomfort in his or her breasts, then it is already safe to say that an individual is suffering from breast cancer (Breast.. n.p.). However, experts explain that there are so many reasons why breasts may be painful, for instance, this may be related to the menstrual cycle (Breast.. n.p.). Eighth, some people say that getting pregnant increases the probability of suffering from breast cancer later (Breast.. n.p.). On the contrary, experts have found evidence linking early pregnancy to breast cancer risk being reduced (Breast.. n.p.). They also reiterated that the more babies a woman gives birth to then the lower the risk of getting such cancer (Breast.. n.p.). In light of the detection of the lump, instead of getting more focused with the myths, Susan should have gotten a second opinion. If in case she did that, and the biopsy results will show that an â€Å" infiltrating lobular carcinoma † already exists and that it is already in stage IIa then a more extensive treatment would be provided to her. The aforementioned are really just myths, they were never provided with evidences to establish that those are really linked with breast cancer. Susan was told by her doctor that the main risk factors for breast cancer, actually, include the following: 1) age; 2) age of menarche; 3) age at birth of first-born child; 4) biopsies of the breast; 5) family history; 6) occupation; 7) race; 8) hormone replacement therapy, as well as, 9) alcohol (Hales 105). Susan is only thirty four years old, never had any children, used to engage herself in binge drinking during college, and an aunt of hers had breast cancer years ago. As we can see, most of the risk factors are present in Susan’s case. According to the experts Susan spoke to, â€Å" Breast cancer may be annihilated and for that to occur: 1) either lumpectomy or mastectomy should be carried out; 2) radiation may also be helpful; 3) drugs like taxol, taxotere, and herceptin may be taken; 4) chemotherapy; as well as, 5) hormonal therapy may be undergone by the patient † (Hales 105). Because her treatment options have been clearly explained to her, she decided to have a â€Å" right modified radical mastectomy † following a reconstruction immediately (Hales 105). During the surgery â€Å" eight lymph nodes were annihilated and the biopsy gave out a negative result † (Hales 105). After which Susan underwent chemotherapy as part of her post-surgical treatment which made her experience side effects including loss of hair and anorexia (Hales 105). Last but not least, she was also made to take in drugs named Cytoxan and prednisone (Hales 105). Breast Cancer Care. Statistics and Facts About Breast Cancer. 2004. Cancer Research, UK. Hales, D. An Invitation to Health, Eleventh Edition. Boston: Thomson Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Breast Cancer.   29 December 2006. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-cancer/DS00328/DSECTION=2 National Cancer Institute. Breast Cancer. n.d. n.a. 15 June 2007   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast Wikipedia. Breast Cancer. 14 June 2007. Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 15 June 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer#History Breast Cancer. (2017, Mar 14).

FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCE Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCE - Assignment Example From the Table in 4(a), it is evident that the higher the portfolio’s expected returns, the higher the standard deviation. This also means that the higher the returns the higher the risk, hence the above discussed risk-return relationship holds for shares property and bonds. This relationship is also observed in the chart in 4(b), since, for example, the shares are moving more radically and their returns are the highest; and this trend holds even for property and bonds. The radical plunge in prices in the last quarter of 2008 is majorly attributable to the effect of the global financial crisis that occurred during that time. This decline in prices was a major indicator of the crisis, which was accompanied by a significant reduction in demand in the financial markets, as many people observed their retirement accounts water down (Bartram and Gordon, 2009; Dwyer and Paula, 2009 ). It is important that the investments are spread over a variety of assets like the fixed income, equities and cash. This is because each asset class perfoms differently from the others as a result of its unique balance of risks and rewards. Diversification calls for the need to know the security an investor needs. Therefore, diversification is where there is a need to spread each asset investment over different types of securities. Most importantly, an investors needs to know their risk profile so they decide how to allocate their assets, on the basis of risk-return relationship. From example, from 4(a), one can combine growth fund which is very risky, with conservative fund which is less risky – so that one can continue enjoying substantial returns and even in the event of a crisis one does not lose significantly (Kapur and Orszag, 1999). b. If your group had $50,000 to invest in a managed fund, which specific portfolio would you choose from those offered in Question 4? Justify your choice by including a reference to the characteristics of financial