Religion and Corruption in Nigeria Essay

In the constitution of our nation religion feature prominently at the very beginning. I the preamble to the 199 constitution, it is affirmed and solemnly resolved that we intend to live in hrity and harmony as one indivisible and in dissolvable fevereigh nation under God. Indeed the overwhelming mighty of Nigerian are religions people we believe in the supremacy of God, we believe that God is the very basis of our individual lives and our corporate existence. We believe in and relate with supernatural realities through prayers and supplications and through the offering of sacrifices find churches, musgus shrines and Sunday prayer houses everywhere in the land we take part in crusades, worship sessions and might rights, we offer sacrifices and observe fasting days and religions holidays, and we so in large numbers on religion is pilgrimages to Jerusalem and mecca, taking pride in being called Jerusalem pilgrims (JP) or Alhaji throughout our lives. While thee is noticeable decline in religion farour in may parts of the world to lay the religion inter praise seem to thrive very much in Nigeria, as more and more company ware houses private buildings, schools, and our spirit stadia are being courted to prayer arena, and the stadia hort more religion crusades than for spiriting events. It is noticeable that street within our town and villages as well as inter-state highways are often blocked these days by enthusiastic worshippers who flock to church and camp meetings. It is not and exaggeration to state that there are as many churches and Mosques as there are streets in our urban areas. According to Norimitsa Onishi in an article in new York times march 13,2002 â€Å"Christianity is growing faster in sub-Saharan Africa than in any other place on earth. Roman Catholicism and the other Major protestant denomination are gaing mine follows everyday, but new churches are leading the boom. Within this religion firmament, bishops, evangelists pastors, prophet, faith leaders and visionaries, as well as sheikhs, mams and gurus of all sorts are swelling in number and having a failed day in recent past a new dimension has been added to the throwing religions enterprise. And this is the increased patronage of high ranking public official who not openly call for and sponsm regular prayers sessions in different churches and prayer houses have themselves become born again Christians and prayer erchants, often appearing at church crusades and prayer vigils with all the paraphernalia of public office and sometimes grabbing the microphone to render sanctiononion homilies and earthshaking prayers. Also worthy of note is that these days prayer and preaulims sessions are no longer limited to churches, Mosques and homes, but they are held in government offices, in commercial buses, corporate boardrooms and in open markets. Nigerian going about their daily businesses are seen brandishi ng the Bible Wkoran, the Rosary or Islamic prayer beads. The langeil bill boards in our town and cities are those colvertising upcoming religions crusades are faith healing carnivals. The exclamations, to God be the glory, praise the Lord, the Lord is God, Bless you, â€Å" and Alaahu wa K’bar,† are often on the lips of Nigeria at worker at play from the exacted members of the National Executive council or Council of State to the young own who are about to sick common entrance examination. Succinctly put from all outward indication Nigerians are a chronically religions people. Unarguably one can perrps say about there is no nation in the modem world unit as muner religiosity as contemporary Nigerian . Now how do you place the religion piety of Nigeria with the endemic corruption in our society ? With all the show of religiosity one would have expected to see a very high degree of social morality in Nigeria, since all world religions generally promote truth, justice, honesty and probity. But this is a reverse case withy us. The is an embarrassing contradiction between the high ethical demands of the religion profess by majority of Nigerian and the phenomenon of corruption greed and graft that has earned our country one of the most corrupt nation in the world. Some observes of the phenomenon actually say that corruption is so endemic in the Nigeria society that the society economic and political system can almost not tinetion without it. Along side religiosity corruption in its many shapes and sizes is becoming in Nigeria- from the petty bribery taken in the work in the office or the policeman at the check point, to the grand corruption by which huge project contract are hurriedly awarded, not for the sake of common good, but because of the greed awarding official, who requires some money via contract â€Å"kick-baiks† The Nigeria society is prevalence with frauct, thievery and roguery even as our environment is a wash with prayers and ritual sacrifices to the God of truth, justice and holiness. Doesn’t it seen a contradictory to many highly placed Nigeria hat they embezzle and misappropriate stupendous amounts of public and company, and even church funds while at the same time trying to occupy the front seats and even struggle or pray to take religion titles in their churches corruption is so perverse that it has infiltrated every facet of the Nigeria society procure medical certificates of fitness from hospitals when they have not undergone any medicate testy obtain sick leave permits from doctors when they hale and hearty, falsify the age of their children obtain fake certificate in order to gel them to school or obtain jobs for them, routinely swear to false affidavit in order to obtain false age declarations when seeking employment etc. it is a statement or fast that many or those who today and drivers licence have never been to a drawing school. They simply pay for the license and declare themselves drivers thereby putting the lives of genuine drivers into jeopa rdy. Many of our country men who flock our churches on Sundays and fill the mosque on Fridays are constantly involve in such fraudulent activities as evading tax, issuing and obtaining of take receipts, over invoicing and under –invoicing importation of take drugs, petty and large scale bribery, take anclit report, adverse fee frond, ete. All these practices are so common place so inside spread that many Nigerian youths can not decipher between good eril or between what is right and wrong. As a result, corruption in Nigeria has been described as system, and the consequence are legion corruption has bred in efficiency and diminished productivity in both the public and private sectors of the economy. It has discourage investment, fuelled capital flight, increased unemployment and inflation, created and acute degree of poverty, brought about a severe decline in the quality of life and life expectancy in Nigeria and given Nigeria and Nigeria a terribly bad image in the cornity of Nations. Infant corruption is an affront on human dignity and an assault on the human conscience apart from being a negation of the Christian rocation to promote holiness and righteousness in the world. Are they truly Christians? This question is pertinent and fundamental because many of our people who engage in the sharp practices enumerated above would like to be seen as pious Christians. But really are they? Do they really know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of holiness and righteousness, who in Leviticus 19:2 says† be holy for the Lord am holy† Do they really know the God of Moses and Joshua who on mount Siriat presented the ten commandment as the tempt of his contract with him people insisting that fidelity to this ethical code is what will distinguish his people from others? Do Nigerian who claim to worship God, but who at the same time offer and take bribe, defraud, evade tax and circumvent justice know the God of Mosses who in Exodus 22:8 says â€Å" You will accept no bribes, for a bribe blinds the clear sighted and is the cause of the ruin of the upright. Do they know the God of the prophets who in Isaiah 33:15 says that the person who will be qualified to be in his presence is the one who â€Å"acts uprightly and speaks honestly, who scorns to be rich by extortion, who rejects bribes out of hand, who refuses to listen to plan involving bloodshed and shuts his eyes rather than countenance crime. Do Nigerian worshippers who make a daily show of their religiosity known that what the Lord truly require of us is to love terekerly, to do justice and to work humbly by me God (Micah6:8 John the Baptist while preparing for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ crudemned the kind of religion that thrives side by side with corruption as empty ritualism. In his addrer to those who gathered to listen to him, amongst whom were solders and tax collectors, he admonished â€Å"Exalt no more than the appointed rate†¦ No intimidation. No Excntinu be content with your pay† Luke 3:13-14. Jesus himself denounced the kind of religions practice that was not matched by high moral and ethical standards in realize that not all those who claim to be Christians will enter the kingdom of heaven but only those who do the will of the father Mathew 5. This Christianity make no room for crooks and fraudsters. It has no place for those who offered take bribes. Genuine Christianity does not accommodate the cnetire of â€Å" settlement† in Nigeria to day. Therefore, faced with the contradiction and the embarrassment of a booming Christianity in the most of an environment that stinks with corruption and indiscipline, one is poise to conclude that what is spreading like wildfire in contemporary Nigeria is not genuine Christianity at all, but a masc movement with elements of Christian ritualism, one that is in large measure shallow, superficial, noisy and devoid of substance and depth. Popular Christianity in Nigeria is often Materialistic and individualistic in orientation, with an in credibly high sense of devotion to the cult of material and physical prosperity, success and healing, and with little or no attention at all given to the social morality of the believing persons.

Benefits of Coffee Essay

How much coffee have you consumed already this morning? One cup? Or maybe even two? Like most college students I enjoy my cup of Joe in the morning! Coffee is one of the greatest sources of antioxidants in the global diet. Consuming large amounts is not advised, but having reasonable amounts everyday can be very beneficial to your body. Today, I would like to inform you about some of the benefits of drinking coffee. 1. Lower Chances of Death. a. Let’s face it we are all going to die b. Appears to lengthen time for people with heart disease and diabetes c. Kristen Kirkpatrick said that a study in 2012 showed that three or more cups of coffee a day lowers the risk of death regardless of whether participants drank caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee. 2. Makes your reproductive system happy d. Men would you like a drink that could lower your chances for prostate cancer? And ladies wouldn’t you like to lower your risk for endometrial cancer? e. Kirkpatrick also says that a 2011  study  found that men consuming at least six or more cups a day reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 20 percent! Another  study  published in the  Journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention  found that women who drank more than four cups of coffee a day had a 25 percent lower risk of endometrial cancer. 3. Lower risks of Type 2 diabetes. f. A 2012  study  found that a compound in coffee can actually help block a substance in the body called human islet amyloid polypeptide that may play a role in the development of diabetes. Further  studies  have  demonstrated  that caffeinated coffee consumption is linked to decreased diabetes risk as well. 4. Protects your brain. g. When you wake up to the smell of coffee in the morning do you usually smile? h. Coffee drinkers are less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s later in life according to a study done in 2009 i. The smell of coffee can help reduce stress that could be associated with loss of sleep 5.   Good for skin. j. Drinking coffee may help you to ward off basal cell carcinoma So, the next time you are wondering whether you should have that second cup of coffee to perk you up, relax. At least now you know how it could help you!

Text in Context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Text in Context - Essay Example This paper will seek to establish how this movie is fundamentally anti-romantic in its approach to love and life in general. Unlike other coming-of-age movies that offer up answers or possible ways out to this ‘quarter-life crisis’, Tiny Furniture merely brings out the humor in the situation; a situation that is necessarily devoid of meaning or significance and must, at best, be survived. The film opens with Aura (Lena Dunham) returning home from college. She enters her home with ‘Honey, I’m home!’ This going ignored, she calls out again ‘Family?’ This ironic opening sets the tone for the rest of the film which continuously makes fun of itself and its protagonists, most notably of Aura/Dunham herself. The hopelessness of Aura’s situation is ironically presented even in the film’s promotional poster which declares â€Å"Aura would like you to know that she’s having a very, very hard time.† Dunham, then, very consciously locates the film in the context of the comedic genre. The master of self-deprecatory ironic humor Woody Allen is also invoked in the film when Jed is seen, more than once, reading a copy of Without Feathers in bed. Although the movie is not replete with comic situations or dialogue, the ironic touch and the invocations of other comic legends places it quite firmly in the comic tradition. As far as generic contexts go, Tiny Furniture also belongs to that sub-genre of independent film called ‘mumblecore’ that has emerged recently. Characterized by its naturalist approach, often-improvised dialogue and low budget and production values, this new trend in independent films, has been grabbing critics’ attention over the last couple of years (‘Mumblecore’). Amy Taubin in her review of the genre declares that it is almost entirely homogenous: The directors are all male middle-class

Future of Natural Gas in the Mediterranean Basin Essay

Future of Natural Gas in the Mediterranean Basin - Essay Example Shale gas is obtained from shale, a sedimentary rock, and in the past decade has become an important source of natural gas in the United States and Canada. North Africa possesses massive oil and gas reserves, viewed as strategically vital because of their proximity to European consumers across the Mediterranean Sea. "In terms of natural gas reserves, Algeria, Libya and Egypt contain the majority of the regional resource, except that Algeria is the main site of the reserves. Algeria is the eighth largest country worldwide in terms of proven gas reserves. Algeria possesses the majority of the gas resource at around 159 trillion ft3, followed by Egypt with 58.5 trillion ft3and Libya at 54.38 trillion ft3. Proved gas reserves have grown significantly over the past decade, with the most significant new finds in Egypt. Egypt joined the ranks of LNG exporters in 2005" (Yamaguchi, 2009) These African countries have an edge over their Russian counterparts in terms of supplies of gas to these southern European countries. The Russian companies are far away from southern European countries as compared to these African countries. In future the supply from these African countries will continue to cater to the demand of the Mediterranean region. These African countries are also encouraging foreign investments in this sector. With demand in the southern European countries rising each year, more and more European companies are entering into collaborations with the North African companies in all the segments including upstream, midstream and downstream. With these investments, new gas field are being found, more pipelines are being constructed in the Mediterranean region. On combustion, natural gas produces less harmful gases as compared to the petroleum products. For this reason, the future demand for natural gas is increasing with every passing year. In the Mediterranean region as well, this demand is expected to grow in the coming years. Europe does not have reserves which can cater to its 100% demand. Hence southern European countries are dependent on North African countries for their gas requirement. In the last decade, shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States and Canada. There are speculations that shale gas may be present in other parts of the world as well. Very recently, the United States has also offered to help other nations in determining whether they have natural gas resources trapped in shale rock. This is a good move from the Government of the United States but the whole process of finding out reserves, taking out gas from shale rocks, bringing this to market; all this will take time. The countries around the world are looking at this shale gas with suspect eyes because of the technology required to extract gas from rocks. Solar energy is increasingly becoming a big source of energy supply to the ever increasing demand for energy in the European countries. North African countries have huge deserted lands where huge solar plants can be installed and energy could be supplied to Mediterranean region. But the question is, is this feasible enough It has been proved that solar power is much costlier than the power

Does God Exist Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Does God Exist - Term Paper Example Arguments Scientists have an assertion that the universe was developed through a massive explosion of energy accompanied with light, and this process was termed as the Big Bang (Adamson, 2013). In fact, they contend this incidence led to the beginning of everything that exists. This refers to the beginning of the universe, space and the beginning of time. Nevertheless, this theory does not explain the beginning of the living creatures in the Universe, given that this cannot be associated with the motion, which was caused by this cosmic explosion. Therefore, the universe did not just flash into being, and there is no chance of explaining all this things through the cosmic explosion. In this case, the best explanation that can give a credible explanation is the creation theory, which is described in the Bible. In fact, this offered a relevant explanation regarding existence of God, whereby he is regarded as the creator of all living things. Another proof that God exist relate to the ar gument derived from design, which is referred to as â€Å"the teleological argument† (Adamson, 2013). In fact, this argument is based on the ideas of design that seeks to justify existence of God on the order of the universe. Moreover, if there were no God, the universe would not have been different in the way it is now. Instead, it could have had various laws of physics that would lead to different arrangement of planets and stars. Therefore, the creation of the universe could have been more powerful or weaker compared to the narration of the Big Bang. In addition, existence of God offers a vast majority of the possible universes, which offer existence of life, thereby making people fortunate in their lives. In this case, the perception towards the world has no way of giving an explanation to the good fortunes; thus, the atheists are expected to put the notion down to chance. Another proof indicates that there is a moral argument that can be derived in justification of exist ence of God. In fact, this moral argument focuses on proving the existence of God based on the moral laws, which are in form of commands. In fact, these moral commands are able to direct people to do the things they are expected to accomplish. Nevertheless, there are no commands without a commander, who is charged with the responsibility of commanding people to live morally. Therefore, this can be based on the idea of authoritative nature of morality, whereby commands are authoritative. In this case, authority goes beyond human authority, thereby giving rise for a need of a commander, who has authority that transcends human authority.

COMPANY LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

COMPANY LAW - Essay Example And when this problem occurs, Black Books may find itself enmeshed in huge debts owing to corporate inactivity; (iii) loss of control on the company—this means that in the event of incurring huge debts due to poor performance, the lenders may request that the current management at Black Books be replaced by receivership or administration that are external and has little knowledge of how Black Books has been run (Mead and Sagar, 2006). The major problem associated with incurring huge debts or going insolvent is that it may destroy a company’s brand image that had been developed for years. And if this condition occurs or left to persist, it would be difficult for Black Books to regain the loyalty of its long- 2 time customers who may have begun to boycott the company’s books for another one (Omar, 2004). However, the main advantage of sourcing operating capital through loan or borrowing from lenders is that Black Books could claim tax relief on the interests payabl e to service the loan (Mead and Sagar, 2006). ... But using share capital appears safe for Black Books (if the company has chosen this method earlier on) because there would be no fear of going bankrupt owing to the restrictions on the utilization of Black Books’ assets placed under the lenders as collateral securities. Hence, Black Books can continue to operate and protect its brand image from being sullied due to insolvency and the take-over of the company’s administration by a new set of managers, who may lack adequate information about the true state of the company (Omar, 2004). 3 (ii) Black Books is expected to create debentures, which are the documents detailing the terms of borrowing capital loan from the lenders. Black Books has also indicated in the debentures some floating charges on some or all of its assets so as to fulfill the requirements stipulated by the lenders. However, some formalities must be strictly followed in order to draw up the appropriate debentures necessary for Black Books to get the loan. And each of the formalities has legal consequences as explained in the series of processes below: (a) Black Books approaches Lender to borrow ?500,000; the formality here is offering a legal mortgage of the company’s land as a security for the loan in favour of the Lender. This entails that the Lender has powers on the property—it could either restrict Black Books’ access to the land or sell it off when the company failed to pay the loan interests (Dakin et al., 2002). (b) Black Books wants to issue a first floating charge over the company's assets to the extent of ?100,000 in favour of the company's major trade creditor, Supplier, and include a "negative pledge" clause—the essence of a negative clause is to give the

Rebellion, The Vietnamese World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Rebellion, The Vietnamese World - Essay Example This introduction led to new production strategies and expertise while getting through more conventional cinema practices and priorities. The film industry in Vietnam was considered largely a low-level base for releasing and making films at the time The Rebel was in production. The Rebel managed to meet expenses by Hollywood criteria, which made it impressive for a Vietnamese origin. By the time of release, The Rebel recorded the most costly Vietnamese production in history because of a budget ranging between 1.5 and $3 million (Dirlik 352). The Rebel turned into the highest grossing film in Vietnam’s film industry, which shows that the immense investment had an equally large return. Irrespective of the high grossing numbers, box office figures from Vietnam remained patterned. A patterned audience from the country only supports the notion of Vietnam’s low-level film industry in contrast to other Southeast Asia countries (Narkunas 153). In spite of a low-level filming base in Vietnam, the film industry has knowledgeable and talented engineers. These engineers operate in a cost-effective base and expanding the local audience with more disposable salaries that make film production in Vietnam alluring. The Rebel is probably the first Vietnamese film involving martial arts of its nature. Production companies such as the Weinstein Company could have found it nearly impossible to pull off a martial arts theater without the help of talented technicians (Li 74). Even though The Rebel is not an A-list Hollywood production, the contribution of a low-cost film base and a knowledgeable production team led to the selection of talented actors. Vietnam’s film industry is popular for such contributions along with planning time that allow for composition and rehearsals that were necessary for the martial arts sequences present in The Rebel (Narkunas 152). Vietnam’s film industry is popular for releasing works with a comic perception of women, reproduction, and

Background on Boeing & Airbus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Background on Boeing & Airbus - Essay Example Airbus was founded in 1970 and it has in headquarters in Toulouse in France. The company took over the commercial airline business in the 90s and it has recorded tremendous growth in the past two decades. The company has majorly invested in manufacturing travel aircrafts for the global commercial market. In 1967, Airbus produced its first commercial Airplane, the A300. The Airbus A340 and A330 were later developed and Airbus along with its partner companies went into the Aircraft market with a brand that would take over the market shares globally (McGuire 1997). Airbus, just like its Boeing counterpart has always been led by the urge to maintain innovativeness throughout its period of existence, the company has always posed a challenge to itself to always improve on it previous models and to beat their rivals. This has majorly been achieved through investing in building and testing challenging ideas, perfecting them and ensuring that the final products meet the international standards in terms of quality and capacity (Thornton 1995). Boeing is the largest American Aircraft manufacturing company that was founded in 1916. Based on the time that the company has been in the business, its position in the competition in the industry is justified. It has developed some of the largest models of aircrafts in the world and it has given Airbus a run for their money with the introduction of very large airplanes. In its initial manufacturing days, the company was majorly a war aircraft producing company but it later shifted to fully developing high capacity airplanes. The 737 mode was among its first best performing commercial airplanes. The 787 Dreamliner is among its most recent aircrafts that has attracted a good reception in the global market (Boeing 2013). The competition in the aircraft business has traditionally based on the capacity

Early Intervention Essay Example for Free

Early Intervention Essay Early intervention is essential to achieve the best possible outcome for the child. However multi-agency working is important too, when all the professionals involved with a child share information and co-operate with each other lives can be improved and even saved. Baby P is an example of multi-agencies not working together properly, early intervention and working together will help prevent more unnecessary deaths. Early years practitioners can provide information for local services which may be helpful to disadvantaged or vulnerable families, we can work together with social workers, health professionals and even DHSS by helping to complete forms for additional benefits the family may be entitled to. The best interest of the child is always the priority, policies and guidance must also be followed when a referral is being made to an outside agency. Working together for the benefit of the child. Early intervention is also at the heart of the Governments national strategy on child poverty. They hope to provide support and de-stigmatise services, provide more health visitors for Sure Start Children’s Centres and are providing an Early Intervention Grant for local authorities to invest in addressing their local needs. The impact of all these measures for early intervention, will hopefully be a more stable society with less children in workless homes. Parents will be able to work and support their children, providing better homes, healthier food and a stable home life. Children will appreciate their education and strive to achieve their full potential. They will be safer, healthier and hopefully happier. They will have access to facilities to improve their health and well-being as well as their physical, social emotional development. Services will be in place to provide support to families in need, helping families stay together and become more stable. By 2020 our society will have changed for the better if the Governments strategy works.

Emotionally-Charged Subjects Essay Example for Free

Emotionally-Charged Subjects Essay Parents and teenagers need not always argue about issues that are manageable. The key to managing these issues is in understanding each other’s position and in finding a middle-way solution. If we can aim for a win-win solution, that would be best, but many times it may not be possible. So, adjusting our wants with regards to the other’s position may be necessary to solve our problems. Let us take the issues of friends, money and school for example. If we try to understand the problems facing each side, from the teenager and from the parents, we can try to negotiate our way to a solution. First, many teenagers today have friends that parents disagree with, but both sides can work on a solution. Proverbs 18:24 says, â€Å"A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother† (New American Standard Bible). The teenager has to understand that quality friends are more important than quantity. Bad company may lead to drug abuse, alcoholism, pre-marital sex, unwanted pregnancies and other consequences that are life-and-death situations. It is important then to choose our friends wisely and to refrain from others who are bad influences on us. So how do we choose our friends? Or how do we know that they are truly our real friends? Proverbs 17:17 asserts that â€Å"A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need† (New Living Translation). If our so-called â€Å"friends† are only there when we have money or if we are in good health or if we have a nice car and a beautiful house, then they are not our friends. A true friend will be there for you even in sickness, homelessness and poverty. Of course, parents also have to understand that nothing is perfect and that these ideals may not be realized all the time because of actual, instead of theoretical circumstances. So parents have to give their teenagers some room for error and imperfection. By learning from their mistakes, they will become better adults later. Second, many teenagers nowadays want more money, which their parents don’t have, so we need to find creative solutions to solve it. In 1 Timothy 6:10, it is mentioned that â€Å"the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs† (New International Version). Money is needed to satisfy many physical desires, but too many desires will lead to suffering. It is important to extinguish the flames of desire through moderation. If we don’t really need something, we don’t have to possess it. We also need to be wise with our money through investments and diligent work. By finding part-time work and learning how to invest our savings properly, a teenager will learn good financial skills that he will need later as an adult. As Matthew 25:18 mentions, we should not dig â€Å"a hole in the ground and [hide]†¦ the masters money† (New Living Translation) even if we have only a little of it. We should invest it, and we can also find some work to earn more money that we can additionally invest. We should also not have sudden cravings to splurge once we have a lot of money. In Proverbs 7: 20, a prodigal man â€Å"took lots of money with him†¦ [and] wont be home for a couple of weeks (God’s Word Translation). Instead, we should learn how to control our emotions. Being wasteful in our expenditures will empty our bank account. Lastly, we should also be generous. As Exodus 22:25 says, If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest† (New International Version). By learning how to give, we will receive payment in â€Å"kind† later on in the form of respect, the return of favors and other non-quantifiable intangible forms that we will appreciate later. Lastly, teenagers may need to confront their parents about their problems in school. Grades are one of the major problems that teenagers face in school. Low marks could be a consequential problem due to bad friends or the lack of money to buy learning resources. If our problem with friends and money are resolved, then we can solve our issues in school also. But sometimes, the cause may be something else. If our ancestors were not so bright themselves, then we shouldn’t expect too much on ourselves. Or if we take some mental aptitude tests, and we score poorly, we may be faced with a biological problem that requires specialized training. But more often than not, we can improve our brain power through proper nutrition, exercise and mental conditioning. There are many books and courses in the market that will teach us on how to increase our mental aptitude. So, it may be necessary to purchase a few for the benefit of our future. But parents should also consider that school and grades are not everything. Jesus himself was very learned, but he did not bother to prove his academic excellence by getting a respected degree from a well-known school. In John 7:15 â€Å"the Jews were surprised and said, How has this man got knowledge of books? He has never been to school† (Bible in Basic English). Indeed, school is not the only place to learn and thus, school grades are not the only proof of learning. While some people may be God-gifted, more often than not, many people learn from the â€Å"School of Hard Knocks. † Truly, there are many successful people today, such as Bill Gates, who never finished college. In the end, teenagers are not always wrong and parents are not always right. When a proper middle-ground is reached between the two, there is peace. References Hook, S. (ed. ). (1965). Bible in Basic English. Cambridge University Press. Holy Bible: New International Version. (1978). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. (1996). Wheaton: Tyndale House. The Bible: God’s Word Translation. (1995). Jacksonville: Baker Publishing Group. The Bible: New American Standard Bible. (1997). Anaheim: Foundation.

Louis XIV and Absolutism Principles

Louis XIV and Absolutism Principles The palace of Versailles is considered to be one of the greatest expressions of European Absolutism. Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, reigned for 72 years; he is credited for building this monumental palace. Starting in 1661, he transformed a small, quaint hunting lodge into a glittering palace. He drained swamps, built over a village and completely changed the landscape to build one of the most renowned palaces in the world. Thesis Louis XIVs palace of Versailles is a physical and cultural manifestation of the principles of absolutism. Louis XIVs palace embodied the essence of absolutism through its Classicist symbols of power, its sheer size and luxuriousness and through the housing of the nobles on palace grounds. Reason #1: Louis XIVs palace of Versailles is the epitome of the principles of absolutism. As an Absolutist King, Louis XIV was profoundly influenced by Classicism. The influence of Classicism can be seen throughout the palace. These various references to Classicism were meant to reinforce Louis XIVs rule as a strong and centralized authority figure. Reason #2: When Louis XIV moved his court and government to Versailles, he gained more control of the government and the nobility. By keeping potential threats near him, he rendered them powerless. Reason #3: The palace of Versailles sheer size and splendour exhibited Louis XIVs supreme wealth and boasted his power as an absolute monarch. The size and grandeur of the palace sent a message to the people of France and to other leaders that he had complete authority and that no one should dare defy him. Reason #1: As an Absolutist King, Louis XIV was greatly impacted by Classicism. There were various references to Classicism throughout the palace, these references were meant to cement Louis XIVs rule as a strong and centralized figure of authority. The exterior of the palace is considered to have a classical design with Roman columns. The Main Gateway- when people passed through it, they had to pass under a replica of Louis XIVs crown. This served as a constant reminder of his power to all who entered and left Versailles. Louis XIV had a Classicist inspired statue of himself created with the following inscription: World come and see what I see, And what the Sun admires, Rome in one palace, in Paris an Empire, And all the Caesars in one King This engraving on a statue shows Louis XIV belief that he is as strong as Roman Emperors. He also refers to himself as the Sun, which is an allusion to the Greek Sun God Apollo. The Latona Fountain- The fountain tells the story of Apollos mother. This is another indication of Classicism which is what Absolutism was influenced by. His silver throne was 8 feet high; this reinforced the notion that the King was larger than life. Hercules Drawing Room- The room was specifically built to house a Venetian painting. Hercules, who was a Roman demigod, was known for his strength and for making the world safe for mankind. Since Versailles was an embodiment of Louis rule, having a room named after Hercules shows that Louis believed he himself can stand in comparison to Hercules. The Mars Room- The room was originally used to house the guards. Mars was the Roman God of war. Having a room named after Mars depicts Louis XIVs ability to go to war and emerge triumphant Louis XIV also had a very large bronze statue of himself on horseback. He believed that the King and the state were one; this statue all with other art was created to embody that. The Hall of Mirrors- The hall became a symbolic focus of the palace. The walls of the hall housed busts of Roman Emperors. This furthered reinforced Louis XIVs connection to Classicism. Reason #2: When Louis XIV decided to make the palace the new centre for the royal court, he moved his court and the nobles to Versailles. By doing so, he was able to keep an eye out on all nobles and thus preventing them from revolting and maintaining his power. Louis XIV required that nobles of certain standings to spend time at Versailles. This prevented the nobles from developing their own provincial power at the cost of his power. He prevented them from stopping his efforts to centralize the French government and retain absolute authority. There were parts of the palace that were specifically made for housing nobles. All the power of France was centered at Versailles; there were government offices there, the palace acted as the homes of thousands of courtiers. To attract the Louis XIVs attention, the nobles visited the royal residence regularly and observed the rigid rules of conduct the King set out. In return for their constant availability, the nobles were rewarded with royal pensions, living quarters in the palace of Versailles and regular invitations to festivities and ceremonies. Louis XIV was able to draw the nobles favour and keep an eye at them all at once. By holding the nobles at a greater importance than previous Kings had, Louis XIV gave them a sense of service. This sense of service was useful to the kingdom and contributed to control over the nobility, thereby strengthening Louis XIVs absolute authority. Reason #3: The palace of Versailles size and finery exhibited Louis XIVs supreme wealth and boasted his power as an absolute monarch. The palace itself sent a message to the people of France and to other leaders that Louis XIV was in full control. The Park of Versailles has over 2037 acres with over 232 acres of gardens. The palace grounds include over 12 miles of roads, 50 fountains, 67 staircases, 200 000 trees, 6000 paintings, 2100 sculptures, and 6000 pieces of furniture. The palace had a total of 700 rooms. The palace employed nearly 600 people, while housing thousands of courtiers and friends of Louis XIV. The Battle Gallery- The gallery was 120 metres long. It was dedicated to the difference battles fought by the French. These larger than life features of the palace emphasized Louis XIVs power and intimidated any visitors. The Peace Room- It was built to depict France as the arbitrator of peace. The Queen had her own staircase. She even had a whole room in which nobles waited to meet with her. The Royal Chapel- A number of religious ceremonies took place at the chapel. The King and Queen sat at the very top of the chapel. This indicated that they (especially the King) were closer to God making them more important than the rest of the people. Conclusion The palace of Versailles is considered to be one of the greatest expressions of European Absolutism. Louis XIVs palace underwent a transformation from being a small hunting lodge to an extravagant palace the likes of which had never been seen before. The Palace embodied the essence of absolutism through its Classicist symbols of power, its size and luxuriousness and through the housing of the nobles on palace grounds. The palace of Versailles will forever remain an expression of the principles of the Absolutism that dominated the 17th century. CHY4U0- The West and the World How is Louis XIVs palace of Versailles a physical and cultural manifestation of the principles of absolutism? As an Absolute monarch, Louis XIV was significantly influenced by Classicism. There were various references to Classicism throughout the palace of Versailles. These prevalent references were meant to bolster Louis XIVs rule as a strong and centralized leader. The exterior faà §ade of the palace is considered to be inspired by Classicism. The palace includes beautifully crafted Corinthian columns complete with elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves. The Main Gateway that led to the palace had a replica of Louis XIVs crown. The crown served as a constant reminder of his power and presence to all those who entered Versailles. There are also a number of rooms such as the Apollo Room, which compared his powers to that of the Greek and Roman Gods. Louis XIV also had a number of statues of himself in the palace and around palace grounds. These statues along with other forms of artwork were created to embody the Absolutist belief that the King and the state were one. The influenc e of Classicism can be seen throughout the Palace of Versailles; this emphasizes the belief that the palace is a manifestation of Absolutism.

The First Woman President Of The United States Essay -- essays researc

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton vs. Condoleeza Rice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I believe that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has the better chance of becoming the first woman president of the United States. She is a former First Lady and has had input in the decisions of the Clinton Administration. She worked hand in hand with former President Bill Clinton. She is very smart, a firm believer in her causes such as, helping everyday people, the underprivileged and minorities, etc. Hillary is very outspoken and her voice is heard. She has always believed in advancing the cause civil rights. (Listening to the Media) Hillary Clinton became a resident of New York and ran for and won a seat in the Senate in November 2000. She is the first First Lady elected to the United States Senate and the first woman elected statewide in New York. Her strong negatives were up to 46 percent during her race for senator and she won. Now because of her performance in office, her negatives are down in the mid-30’s. Another supporting factor is that she has run for public office and the people elected her. (Article in, The Washington Times) She is very popular and liked. For the first six years of former President Bill Clinton’s eight years in office she was first on the top ten’s list of most admired women. Her active role began in 1993 when the President asked her to chair the Task Force on National Health Care Reform. She continued to be lead and be the supporter for expandi...

Graduation Speech: Show the World Your True Self :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

There was a time when I dreaded going to high school. During the weeks before I started my freshman year, all I could picture were mazes of hallways and classrooms, unfamiliar faces of students and teachers, and upperclassmen who loved to torture frightened freshmen. Fortunately, my visions were exaggerated. I soon got into the swing of things in high school. I figured out which teachers really did give you detention if you were late to class, which classmates were safe and those I didn't want as my lab partners. I began to find my place in the school, as well as everyone else's place there. By October, I knew who was who and what was what. In November, everything changed. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes. I went through chemotherapy, lost all my hair and missed 40 days of school. Most people didn't know I was sick. My teachers helped me keep up in class, my friends were as supportive as they could be and I wore a wig to hide my bald head. It was at this point that I dreaded going to school again. I didn't feel like I fit in anymore. I had lost my place, and didn't know how to find it again. Ironically, the one thing about myself that I was most ashamed of helped me to fall back into place. Towards the end of my treatment, in a small burst of bravery, I decided to stop wearing my wig. I declared I didn't care what people thought, that I didn't want to hide anymore. But inside I was very scared. How would people react to a bald girl? But despite my doubts, one Monday in April I came to school with only a baseball hat covering my baldness. I had never had so many people stare at me before. They tried to hide it. I could tell they didn't want to be rude -- they just couldn't help themselves. I didn't say anything, mostly I just looked at the floor. That's what I did until the end of the day when one girl blurted out what I'm sure everyone else was thinking, but was afraid to say, "So why did you shave your head?" You can imagine my reaction to that one. But, oddly enough, after that one question, things were easier. Over the next three years, I became a typical high school kid again.

Environmental Disasters Essay

For the purpose of this article an environmental disaster is defined as a specific event caused by human activity that results in a seriously negative effect on the environment. Sometimes a natural disaster can become an environmental disaster, but that is a topic to be discussed elsewhere. In most cases environmental disasters are caused by human error, accident, lack of foresight, corner cutting during industrial processes, greed, or by simple incompetence. In other words without some kind of human intervention they would never have happened. They are also often characterised by firm authoritative denials that anything serious has even happened. Lack of foresight is a common cause of an environmental disaster. In agriculture a classic example of is the increasing salinity of soils in hot climates. With the need to produce more food, a warm climate seems ideal for European-style agriculture, once the existing vegetation has been cleared. The one proviso is that there must be plenty of water. Irrigation projects and deep wells are usually the answer, but as has been found in Australia, if this is not properly managed, salination can result and the land becomes effectively useless. A further example of a catastrophic and misguided interference with nature resulted in the dust bowls that hit North America in the 1930s. The fertile soil seemed ideal for intensive agriculture, but a combination of deep ploughing and a lack of crop rotation weakened the soil structure. Following years of drought, high winds simply removed all the topsoil and millions of acres of once fertile farmland became a virtual desert. Another unforeseen agricultural disaster was Moa Zedong’s 1958 decree to eliminate sparrows. It was considered that because sparrows ate grain seeds they were robbing the people of the fruits of their labour. The campaign was very successful that it cleared the way for swarms of locusts to descend on the farms. Crops were decimated, leading to a famine that resulted in the deaths of 38 million people. Introducing alien species can be just as disastrous as eliminating native ones. This has been the case in Australia when in 1859 12 imported English wild rabbits were released so that a local settler could go hunting. In the course of time they multiplied and it is estimated that even after serious efforts to control them, the Australian rabbit populations is still between 200 and 300 million. As well as being responsible for the loss of vast acreages of agricultural crops and grazing land, rabbits are suspected of being the most significant known factor in species loss in Australia, killing young trees by eating the bark at the base of the trunk. They are also responsible for serious erosion as they eat native plants, leaving the topsoil exposed. It is very easy to upset the fragile balance of nature. In June 1918 a steamship ran aground on a Pacific Island and while it was stranded, Black Rats escaped and got ashore. Here they thrived, causing the extinction of several of the island’s endemic birds and other fauna. They also raided the crops of the islanders, particularly the seeds of the Kentia Palm, which was the islanders’ only export commodity. In an effort to control the rats, Masked Owls were introduced but this simply compounded the environmental disaster. By introducing yet another predator to the ecosystem, the result was that many of the remaining sea birds were simply wiped out as breeding species. Industrial pollution has been the cause of so many environmental disasters that it is impossible to list them all. One of the most serious was the Bhopal disaster of December 1984 when a leak of methyl isocyanate resulted in at least 22,000 deaths plus various genetic diseases that will continue for generations. The chief causes of this disaster were negligence, corruption and the complete disregard of safety standards. A number of environmental disasters have also been associated with the oil production industry with theDeepwater Horizon disaster of April 2010 being the most recent one that comes to mind. According to White House energy adviser Carol Browner the spill was the †worst environmental disaster the US has faced†. In this case following a sudden explosion on a drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, the safety valve that was designed to prevent an oil spill spectacularly failed. It was months before the leakage was sealed, during which time millions of gallons of oil poured into the sea. The resulting pollution was not just from the oil, but from the chemicals used to disperse it. Whole ecosystemswere destroyed along with the livelihoods of countless people. Many endangered species are not expected torecover. In West Africa the Niger Delta covers 20,000 km2 within wetlands of 70,000 km2, formed primarily by sediment deposition. It is home to some 20 million people from 40 different ethnic groups. Its floodplain makes up 7. 5% of Nigeria’s total land mass and is the third-largest drainage basin in Africa. Its ecosystem contains one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet. In addition to supporting a vast range of flora and fauna, there is arable terrain that can sustain a wide variety of crops,tropical forests and more species of freshwater fish than any other ecosystem in West Africa. Unfortunately for the Niger Delta, oil was discovered in the region. Since drilling began in 1976 there has been a complete lack of concern by the Nigerian Government or the oil operators to exert any control of the environmental problems associated with the industry. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation admits that every year as a result of around 300 individual spills, nearly 2,300 cubic metres of petroleum are jettisoned into the environment. However, this does not take account of so-called †minor† spills and one estimate put the total spillage between 1960 and 1997 as upwards of 100 million barrels (16 million cubic metres). A major reason for these spills is simply the result of poor maintenance. Pipelines are old and corroded and although they have an estimated lifespan of about 15 years, many have been in use for about 25. Leaking pipes and the use of old and corroded tankers account for 50% of all spills. Understandably there has been a major impact on the ecosystem. Enormous tracts of mangrove forest have been destroyed along with most of the flora and fauna that were once found there. The dumping of waste is obviously a serious issue and international regulations put strict controls on this. Unfortunately there will always be unscrupulous people who will try to get around the regulations. A classic example occurred in 2006 when a Panama-registered ship offloaded 500 tonnes of toxic waste at the Ivory Coast port of Abidjan. The company concerned apparently wanted to avoid paying the 1,000 euros per cubic metre disposal charge it would have to pay in Holland. The waste, that was dumped at 12 sites in and around the city was later discovered to contain a mixture of fuel, caustic soda and hydrogen sulphide. This lethal cocktail gave off toxic gas and caused burns to lungs and skin, in addition to severe headaches and vomiting and is said to have caused 17 deaths and made dozens seriously ill. The company involved originally denied all responsibility, claiming that the waste was simply dirty water. It was only after some investigative journalism by the BBC that the full facts eventually came to light. Nuclear accidents can have serious environmental effects. Prior to 2011 the 1986 Chernobyl disaster would probably have been regarded as the ost serious after an enormous explosion sent radioactive ash into the atmosphere covering most of Northern Europe, along with Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. 350,000 people had to be resettled. Then in 2011 came the Fukushima 1 accident in Japan when an earthquake followed by a tsunami hit the nuclear plant. The earthquake knocked out the public electricity supply that powered the pumping of water to cool the reactors. Shortly after the earthquake a tsuna mi destroyed the emergency back-up generators that were due to start up when the public electricity supply failed. It was then realised that the designers had failed to take this possibility into account. As a result a catastrophic situation developed and 14,000 people had to be evacuated from the immediate area. After several weeks a number of brave workers, struggling in appalling conditions, managed to bring the situation under control, but as with so many environmental disasters, once again official information was misleading, sketchy, or simply non-existent. An environmental disaster is usually caused by some form human action, or some form of human negligence. A classic example is with climate change. Vast amounts of greenhouse gas are currently being released into the Earth’s atmosphere, potentially doing untold harm to our environment by speeding up global warming. At the same time people are completely ignoring the warning signs and shutting their minds to the consequences that lie ahead. We don’t know what these consequences will be, but they are not likely to be pleasant. The world seems to be on course for what is likely to be the worst environmental disaster of all time. There is still time to slow the process down, but it will require swift and worldwide action.

Competition Energy Drinks Essay

The beverage industry, like most food service industries in these economic times, faces many challenges. Not one company is excluded from the challenges of economic conditions, demographics, social and global forces, and regulatory, political, and legal factors. The global economic conditions affect the energy drink industry in many ways. This industry depends highly on the disposable income of its customers. People are very cautious with their money these days and if additional income does not exist to purchase these items, then the companies suffer. In recent projections, however, this does not seem to be the case. The global industry factors show a projected growth of $20 trillion in sales between 2009 and 2014, and demand for these alternative beverages is expected to increase globally as customer purchasing power increases. Social factors play an important part in the industry’s strategy, as well. With customers concerned with healthy lifestyles and exercise, the alternative beverage industry has increased sales in the last decade. Customers demanding low calorie, energy & vitamin-enhancing drinks turn to these types of beverages for their needs instead of carbonated soft drinks. Alternative drinks are consumed by a slim demographic. These products are generally used by young adults, college and high school students, athletes and exercise aficionados. Another branch of these drinks are the energy â€Å"shots,† which have become very popular in the last decade. With new legislation and changing regulations, it is very important for companies to stay abreast of all changes. There has been an increase in negative reports on what affects energy drinks have on people that use them, from high blood pressure to arrhythmia, which as forced some companies to include warning labels on their packaging. There is also a concern with the consumption of these drinks contributing to the obesity issue, many of these drinks contain high fructose corn syrup, and many additives that can contribute to weight gain if consumption is not limited. Competition is fierce in this industry; not only between the two biggest competitors, Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo Inc., but also Red Bull GmbH, Hansen Natural Corporation and privately owned regional brands. The two major companies, Pepsi and Coca Cola, are strong competitors within the alternative beverage market and use both the introduction of new products as well as the introduction of existing products in new markets to increase sales. Pepsi has introduced several new products – Charge, Rebuild, and Defend – three new brands available to consumers interested in vitamin-enhanced drink alternatives. Pepsi has also recently agreed to distribute the â€Å"Rockstar† brand drinks in Canada and the United States. Coca-Cola Company’s strategy is to distribute their existing brands in the new markets of Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and other Asia/Pacific countries. In order to compete with these two major companies, Red Bull relies on sponsorships and promotion as well as celebrity endorsements. By using advertising in this manner, Red Bull is able to use its slogans and logos in a variety of ways to get their name out into the public. Hansen Natural Corporation utilizes a different approach to boost sales. This company increased their package size and still maintained a competitive price compared to Red Bull. Like Red Bull, Hansen also uses celebrity promotion and sponsorship as a marketing tool. This is not to say that PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola Company do not utilize this method of advertising, as they both spend billions on advertising promotions, celebrity, and sporting endorsements. The competitive edge in this case lies with PepsiCo Inc. , whose sales of energy and alternative beverages have surpassed its competitors in the past few years. New entrants are not a strong competitive pressure for this industry. The dominating companies are unsurpassed in their strong brand names and great distribution channels. The industry is fully saturated. These factors make it difficult for new companies to compete against them. Any new company wanting to get into this industry would face high capital start-up expenditures and would surely fail due to the high cost. Substitution of products is also an area where the competitive force is low. With brand loyalty, the market for substitution is very low. Consumers want the brands they are used and won’t accept substitution. Suppliers for the industry do not hold much competitive pressure either. Suppliers to this industry are bottling equipment manufactures and secondary packaging suppliers. The suppliers have little bargaining power, as the two major brands own their own bottling centers. As discussed earlier, changes in this industry’s long-term growth rate is a positive one. Growth is high in this market and is expected to continue to grow. One of the reasons for this is the increasing globalization. Coke is expanding its operations to be more global as are some of its competitors. The changing spectrum of the customer base is not really a factor here. Most of the demographic has not changed much since the introduction of these alternative beverages. Marketing and innovation has to continue to grow so that the company can grow. Regulatory influences and government policy changes are a huge factor in this industry. As the customers call for increased legislation and regulation of the ingredients, the companies have to make adjustments to their drink formulas, and this could prove costly if not monitored closely. Society is constantly changing and this industry needs to transition with these changes. By the introduction of new products and the re-tooling of existing products, all of the competitors can be successful. This industry has several success factors, product marketing, product differentiation, brand name, a strong distribution network and the ability to adapt to change. PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola Company have strong aspects of all of these factors which is what has made both of them so successful. PepsiCo Inc.has branched into the food market as well as remaining in the soft drink and alternative beverage markets. Coke has had a similar strategy and relies heavily on their brand name and product recognition. All of the companies have unique and successful marketing techniques such as sponsorships, promotions, and celebrity endorsements. In order to achieve a successful strategic plan, a company needs to establish a group of people to discuss the goals and objectives of their company, sometimes called a task force. The task force should then decide what the company’s goals and objectives are. By drafting Mission and Vision statements, this task force can begin to convey their goals and objectives. Strategic planning is an on-going task for every company. When a plan is established the implementation and monitoring phases begin. To be successful a company should be constantly monitoring its goals and objectives and changing them when the need arises. With competition so high in this industry, a strong strategic plan is critical. In viewing these companies one can see that their plans are very strong. In order to continue to grow and compete in this market all companies need to look forward at the changing times, attitudes and cultures. All of the companies in this market, as with any market, need to maintain their competitive advantage and find new and different ways to achieve it. A comprehensive action plan needs to be put into place and reviewed often. By doing this all companies have a better chance at keeping their competitive advantage and enjoying better profits for their shareholders.

Mms Renta a Car

M02_TURB7293_09_SE_WC02. 1. QXD 12/22/09 2:38 PM Page 1 W2 APPLICATION CASE W2. 1. 1 Part 1: The Intelligence Phase ONLINE FILE W2. 1 THE MMS RUNNING CASE MMS Rent-a-Car, based in Atlanta, Georgia, has outlets at major airports and cities throughout North America. Founded by CEO Elena Markum several years ago, it has seen fast growth over the past few years, mainly because it offers quality service, fast, at convenient locations. MMS is highly competitive, able to offer cars at slightly lower rates than its competitors because most of its airport facilities are located near but not at the airport.A keen user of information systems, MMS tracks competitors’ prices, stored in a large data warehouse, through its Web-based enterprise information system portal, CLAUDIA (Come Learn About statUs for Deals and Information on Autos). CLAUDIA also tracks sales, fleet status, other internal status information, and external information about the economy and its relevant components. CLAUDIA has been a great success in keeping MMS competitive. The First Meeting Elena calls the meeting to order: ELENA: Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I’m glad that we could schedule this meeting through our new scheduling module of CLAUDIA.I know you have all read my e-mail about our latest problem—sales are off by 10 percent. Basically, this will put us in the red for the year if it continues for another 4 months. CLAUDIA’s forecasting system that links to our RMS (revenue management system) indicates that sales will continue to decrease for the next 4 months, even after we adjust prices. Folks, what’s going on? I want to know what has caused this problem, how we can fix it, and how we can prevent it from happening again. Aside from solving the problem, I want to develop some knowledge about it and use it as an opportunity to improve our business.MARLA: Frankly, Elena, I don’t understand it! I noticed a slight dip in sales 2 months ago b ut was so busy with our new fleet acquisitions that I planned to go back and look into what happened when I finished replacing the fleet later this week. I should have passed word on to our analysts to have a look back then. Sorry. ELENA: No problem, Marla. I should have noticed it myself. I’m glad you were at least aware and ready to move on it. So, we have evidence of a problem. What else do we have? S HARON : My up-to-date reports from the travel industry indicate that over the past 6 months there has been a slight increase in businessProblems Elena has called a meeting of her vice presidents to discuss a problem that she noticed yesterday while tapping into CLAUDIA. Rentals are off about 10 percent nationally from the MMS projections for last month. Furthermore, CLAUDIA’s forecasts indicate that they will continue to decrease. Elena wants to know why. This morning, the following VPs are present: Sharon Goldman, Marketing (CMO) Michael Lee, Operations (COO) Marla Da na, Fleet Acquisitions (CFAO) Tonia van de Stam, Information Systems (CIO) Mark Lams, Knowledge Systems (CKO) Jelene Thompson, Accounting (CAO) Rose Franklin, Finance (CFO) 2-1M02_TURB7293_09_SE_WC02. 1. QXD 12/22/09 2:38 PM Page 2 2-2 Part II †¢ Computerized Decision Support overall. More people are flying for business meetings, conventions, trade shows, and pleasure. And the same proportion of them is renting cars in North America. This is true for all of our primary markets—major cities and airports—but not for our secondary markets in the smaller cities, where most rentals are for business. Overall, business should be up. Vacation business is up quite a bit from the central Florida theme parks advertising specials and major conventions. Both political party conventions were held in major cities.Data indicate that our rentals did not increase while the total market did. Our earlier forecasts indicated that business should have increased; our rental rates reflec t this, as does our increased fleet size, by 15 percent. The cars should be moving— but they’re not! ELENA: How about the advertising impacts? ROSE: Our financials indicate that we have been spending more on advertising in our primary markets. Yet those are where our sales are dropping fastest. JELENE: I agree. Though our records were about 3 weeks behind, now they are up-to-date, and they’ll stay up-to-date, thanks to our upgrade to CLAUDIA.I’m looking at the current data right now on our secure wireless network, and we’re definitely down. ELENA: Okay. Our advertising expenditures are up. That’s because we made that deal with GMC (Gold Motors Corporation). We just finished replacing our entire fleet with GMC cars and vans, right, Marla? MARLA: Absolutely! The cars are much more reliable and cheaper to maintain than the ones that had the transmissions burning out every 45,000 miles (72,000 km). These cars and vans are the national best-selle rs, have great reputations, and are of high quality. They have the highest safety records in most categories.All of the standard models came in first: subcompacts, compacts, mid-size, full-size, and minivans. About 6 weeks ago, we started getting in the hot new GMC Spider 1600 convertible. We have an exclusive deal on this hot little number. It looks like the sporty 1971 Fiat Spider but is built to new quality standards. It’s fun to drive—they let me have one for a year before we got the fleet in! They are expensive, and GMC owns the domestic market. We should be able to rent these out all the time. We have 5 at each agency across the country, and by year’s end we should have 10.SHARON: We got an exclusive with them for the next 3 years. They only give the fleet discount to us, we feature their cars in our advertising, and they feature us in theirs. And the Spider came to us right off the new assembly line in Pittsburgh. ELENA: I have one of the Spiders, too. So I suspect that they’re constantly rented out, aren’t they? MICHAEL: Well, no. Only about half of them are rented. The rental rates were supposed to be set pretty high, but our RMS recommends setting it at the same price as a compact. We hedged a little and set the price to about 10 percent higher.Some local agency offices are overriding the system and setting the prices 15 percent less, and they still can’t move them. ELENA : How about the other classes of cars? MICHAEL: Rentals are down about 8 percent nationally on all the other ones. E LENA : So sales are down 8 percent for everything but the Spider, and the Spider, which should be a hot seller, is off by 50 percent. I know from CLAUDIA that our inventory is okay. All the new cars came in on schedule, and we were able to sell the used cars through electronic auction sites and carmax. com. Folks, we definitely have a big problem.M ICHAEL : As COO, I see that this is primarily my problem, though all of you her e are involved. We’ve never had this happen before, so I really don’t know how to classify the problem. But I think we can get at most of the information we need. This situation is only a symptom of the problem. We need to identify the cause so we can correct the problem. I want some time to get my analysts and Tonia’s moving on it. I will need some major help from Sharon’s people, M02_TURB7293_09_SE_WC02. 1. QXD 12/22/09 2:38 PM Page 3 Chapter 2 †¢ Decision Making, Systems, Modeling, and Support 2-3 and probably a bit from everyone else.Sharon and I talked before the meeting. We both have a feeling that there is something wrong with how we are marketing the new cars, but we don’t have enough information just yet to identify it. I hope that once we solve this problem, we’ll have a nice piece of strategic knowledge for Mark to put into the knowledge management system (KMS). I’ll tentatively schedule a meeting through CLAUDIA next week, as close to this time as possible, depending on people’s previous commitments. I’ll e-mail the major results as we go. I’m sure we’ll know something before the next meeting. ELENA: Thanks, Michael.Okay, folks! We know we have a serious problem. We’ve seen its effects. Michael will assume ownership and move ahead. I also want our IS analysts looking at data even before anyone requests them. That includes any weird economic trends or events—and look at the underlying structure and parameters of our forecasting models, okay, Tonia? Sharon, you look into the advertising. See if there are any external events or trends or reports on the cars that could affect our rentals. The RMS has been accurate until now. It’s been able to balance price, supply, and demand, but something happened.Thank you all and have a great day. APPLICATION CASE W2. 1. 2 Part 2: The Design Phase Later on the day of the first meeting, Michael Lee has his top anal yst, Stephanie Elberson, look into what might have happened. Michael recognized that it was too early to start looking into criteria, solutions, and more (he had studied decision making in a DSS course in his MBA program). He was still trying to understand the problem and separate the problem that could be analyzed from the symptoms. He wanted to make the connection between the two, but he felt that something was fundamentally wrong, and CLAUDIA could ot identify it. A good decision maker relies on judgment and has a good feel for what makes sense and what does not. Michael is one of the best. Stephanie put together a team of analysts and started formulating areas to investigate. One member of the team, Dot Frank, worked closely with Sharon’s analyst, Phil Abrams, to establish the accuracy of the forecasting model. Amy Lazbin, on Stephanie’s team, looked into databases of operational data available internally and economic data available through subscription services. T he latter data focused on the auto rental, automobile, and general economic areas.The analysis team initially set the data mining tools on automatic to establish relationships in the data. For the most part, Amy was able to verify most of the relationships and assumptions that were already in the forecasting models and the RMS. Nothing new popped up from the artificial neural networks, clustering analysis algorithms, and statistical regression models. The pricing model and the forecasting models were all right, though there were some new fluctuations, and the errors were higher when the team looked into how well they had performed over the past 2 months as this new problem arose.The team noticed that the neural networks outperformed the regression-based systems a bit, so they set up an information system and marketing group to look into how they could improve the regression-based models with neural networks. (This was a new opportunity, which led them to return to the intelligence p hase with a new set of issues. ) Stephanie was puzzled. She met with Michael 2 days later to discuss what she was going to do next. She also invited the marketing team and the IS team to each send someone to the meeting. Phil Abrams and Marina Laksey (from IS) joined the team at this point.The meeting was held in the electronic meeting center (EMC), where they would be able to analyze data and use the group support system (GSS). Here’s how the meeting went: STEPHANIE: Thank you all for coming today. As you know, we are working hard on the problem— or rather the symptoms—to try to get to the heart of the problem. Data mining tools helped M02_TURB7293_09_SE_WC02. 1. QXD 12/22/09 2:38 PM Page 4 2-4 Part II †¢ Computerized Decision Support a bit, but there is something fundamentally wrong, and we have yet to find it. Any ideas?MARINA: Stephanie, we used the data mining tools and looked at most, if not all, of the data we normally look at. And we usually look at standard views through our spreadsheet-type interface. I know we have to look â€Å"outside the box. † First off, the four of us need to fire up our new, powerful OLAP (online analytical processing) software, DOT (Data on Time). It taps into our data warehouse and other data, but it goes beyond data mining by allowing us to poke about in the data. We just got the software in 2 weeks ago, and I have already gone through the training course.It has many of the features that CLAUDIA has, but it allows us to look into multidimensional data from any of our data sources in any â€Å"slice† we choose. It also lets us link into other databases and data marts like the one that marketing has. Let me start it up! PHIL: I agree. I learned how to use the OLAP software on my own, and I’ve developed some interesting views of our marketing data that show relationships we did not believe possible. The graphics are almost automatic. Let’s try it! The team saw the bumps in the data but had no idea what had caused them. At least they could see them.When they tapped into the advertising plans, they noticed a slight inverse relationship with sales and advertising. When they asked Phil about it, he said: PHIL: Sales dropped 2 weeks after our new jointmarketing campaign began. We heavily advertised the new cars. Every national and local TV commercial prominently displayed the Spider. We have data on that in our marketing databases. I know you don’t normally look at that. Here, let me bring them up. Hmmm! We show how much air time each commercial played where, and what was in them. Let me do a little slicing and aggregating here. Aha! I see. We are mostly advertising the cars nationally.Sales are very weak in primary markets, but they’re also a bit weak in secondary markets. Ah! Ah! Ah! One problem we have is distribution. We have over half the cars in the wrong places. We need to move all the Spiders from the secondary markets to the primary markets. But I think we have another problem: The pricing, supply, and demand data that we are using to predict rentals don’t make sense. The car officially has an â€Å"insurance† back seat, so it is a fourpassenger car. But you’d be lucky to get a carryon suitcase back there. Since we didn’t have data on it, someone in our group entered it as a four-seat compact with two doors.The system thinks it is a car ideal for a small family or a single businessperson on a budget. These rent well in the Midwest in the secondary markets but badly in the convention areas, where there are men who are going through their midlife crises and single women who like to rent sporty cars. We have a lot of analyses to do here on where we are advertising what. I’m not sure who rents what where, but I suspect that we can target our ads better once we determine our market clusters—like males in Nebraska, 45 years old, traveling to San Diego for trade conferences.We have the data; we just need to apply them better. MICHAEL: Hold on. Before I start moving cars around, we need to analyze this a bit more. We’ve never had a car like the Spider, so we need to investigate its properties and which categories of customers would ideally want it. Part of the solution jumped at us. But what are we trying to do? If I remember correctly, a few years ago we ran a â€Å"try before you buy† promotion in conjunction with our previous car supplier. People could rent our excess stock on our off-days for half the rental rate for up to 3 days.If they bought the car from a dealer in the area, they got the rental price back. If not, they had fun with the car. It worked well. We noticed that people who liked the car they rented had a tendency to rent them again, especially in our primary markets. We have a lot to look into. I want to recap what we have. We know that our goal is to maximize net profit. This is clearly our principle of choice. We need to come up with criteria that describe the impact of alternatives and determine how they affect our bottom line. Our RMS sets prices so that we can ideally do that.We have some errors in our marketing database; we must rethink how we advertise and how we distribute our stock. Okay. I’ll meet with the VP team in a couple of days. I’m going to e-mail them information about what we’ve uncovered and where to M02_TURB7293_09_SE_WC02. 1. QXD 12/22/09 2:38 PM Page 5 Chapter 2 †¢ Decision Making, Systems, Modeling, and Support 2-5 find the data. First I’ll talk to Sharon so she can get busy with some ideas on marketing. At a Meeting 2 Days Later: Same Place, Same People S TEPHANIE : Good morning. Those of us in the trenches think we’ve got it! Here’s what’s going on.We have several problems, each of which we have developed some alternatives for. We’re going to discuss what we think are the best ones for each situation. Some we can im plement right away; others will take some time. Let’s start with our objective: to maximize profit. Our principle of choice is profit maximization. This part of the problem was easy. Our RMS recognizes this and adjusts prices automatically to maximize profit on an annual basis. There are some errors in the price elasticity curve for the Spider, but, in general, the real question now is how to manage demand.Our advertising influences demand, as does our inventory. We need for the right product to appeal to the right customers. There are many criteria that we need to measure, from quality to color to size, and customer service, car availability, and so on, in terms of how they affect rentals. We are doing this, but need to do a better job of it in order to track our rentals. We have a team analyzing this right now. In a few weeks, they will have some concrete recommendations for system upgrades to the RMS. Our symptoms indicate the following real problems and alternatives, amon g hich we can choose: †¢ Data accuracy. We need to change the profile of the Spider from a compact to a sports car. We need to develop the RMS profile from what little data we’ve got. Fortunately, we can tap into market data that our faculty consultants at the University of Georgia (UGA) have gathered for us in their research. One of the faculty members drives a Spider as well. †¢ Inventory imbalance. We have done some analysis to determine what the real demand for the Spider is, how it affects the demand for other cars, and vice versa. We built an optimization model and solved it. Based on our urrent advertising, we have determined that by moving about 15 percent of our fleet around (and not too far), we can take care of most of the demand imbalance. We recommend moving all the Spiders from secondary to primary markets right away. We also want to move some of our minivans and full-size cars around. Later, we can adjust advertising to push some secondary market dema nd. †¢ Advertising imbalance. We advertise where our customers are, but they rent elsewhere, and for different reasons. We need to do a better job of identifying customer homes to determine what to advertise where.Our analysis shows rentals are off partly because we indicate that we have the Spider. Young to middle-aged men and single women want to rent it, but we stock out where they are going. For example, we discovered that middle-aged men and women from the Midwest rent compacts in the secondary Midwest markets, but those in the primary markets on the coasts want to rent the Spider. We are still analyzing effects like this and should be able to complete the work in about a week to determine how to realign our advertising efforts. †¢ â€Å"Try before you buy. † This actually is an opportunity, not a problem.When we saturate Spider demand in primary markets, we should get some additional Spiders in the secondary markets and reestablish the â€Å"try before you bu y† campaign. This car will be a real boon in this effort. Sharon’s group has already established a cooperative agreement with GMC. They’re interested, and it should boost our profitability on these cars by 18 percent. †¢ Discount substitutes. We discovered that many customers called or got on our Web site to rent the Spider. When they found out that we didn’t have one for them, rather than rent a different car, many were so annoyed that they rented a car from one f our competitors, usually a Toyota MR-2. This happened in almost all of our primary markets. In our secondary markets, people really didn’t want the Spider but instead wanted full-size cars. Because our advertising features the Spider, they â€Å"forgot† that we rent other cars as well. Actually, we forgot to remind them. Our advertising is backfiring on us. We should immediately M02_TURB7293_09_SE_WC02. 1. QXD 12/22/09 2:38 PM Page 6 2-6 Part II †¢ Computerized Decision S upport discount substitutes for the Spider until we get the Spiders in place next week. †¢ Florida theme park demand.We have a unique opportunity here. Florida theme parks have been advertising heavily in Europe because the euro is strong relative to the dollar. We must increase advertising in Europe either with the theme parks or separately. Phil is confident that we can run a joint campaign. Marketing will look into this and how we might be able to get customers to pay in advance in euros. To do this, we may need to move minivans to Florida from as far away as Tennessee. What it boils down to is that we want to be more aggressive in balancing our stock to meet demand and tie this into the RMS and advertising.We also want to refine our advertising model to handle new types of cars, like sports cars, and update demand data more frequently. Michael, this is what we want to present to the VPs on Monday. Is that okay? MICHAEL: Perfect! We have identified the real problems and have good alternatives. I really appreciate the completed staff work. If this all works out, the end-of-the-year bonuses for this team should be excellent. Let’s go have lunch! I’m buying! APPLICATION CASE W2. 1. 3 Part 3: The Choice Phase Monday’s Meeting: With All Vice Presidents, Stephanie, and Her Team ELENA : Thank you again for coming.Stephanie, Michael tells me you’re on to something. Let’s hear what you have to say. STEPHANIE: Well, we think we’ve discovered what to do. But first let me outline what the real problems are and some suggested solutions and why these are appropriate solutions. Next Stephanie essentially outlines the details from the meeting described in Part 2 of the Running Case. There is a little discussion to clarify a few points: ELENA: Amazing. I’m glad Mark recommended acquiring DOT 3 months ago. Though expensive, it’s already paid off. Can you get me specifics on the bottom line for each alternative? STE PHANIE: Not accurate ones for each just yet.Some will take up to a couple of weeks. We do have estimates on all of them. Here are the results in my PowerPoint presentation. ELENA: Hmmm. Okay. I want those data on the Spider updated immediately—and some of them moved to where they’ll rent. MARLA: It’s already done. I took steps right away once Michael told me what happened. After all, it’s my responsibility. I already gave some updated data to IS. They’ve adjusted the RMS. Preliminary data indicate that they have improved our profitability already. In a couple of markets where it was relatively inexpensive, I have moved some cars around based on the DSS model’s recommendation.It worked! I think we should make the major changes recommended by the solution to the model. My estimates, just from these few markets, are that it will work just as the model predicts. SHARON: We’re looking into how to modify our marketing and tie it into the RM S. We’re also running models on how European marketing should work. We’ll know in a week what to do. ELENA: Excellent! Here’s where we stand. We’re going to adjust the profile data of the Spider and all models frequently, move cars around, and discount substitutes until we can get the imbalance fixed.We’ll decide on what to do about the other issues after the rest of the analysis is completed. M02_TURB7293_09_SE_WC02. 1. QXD 12/22/09 2:38 PM Page 7 Chapter 2 †¢ Decision Making, Systems, Modeling, and Support 2-7 APPLICATION CASE W2. 1. 4 Part 4: The Implementation Phase The implementation of the first couple decisions was relatively easy. Transport vehicles were rented, and cars were moved. Discounts were easy to establish for substitute cars because this could be done as routinely as when there was a normal stockout.A customer would first be offered the opportunity to upgrade. If the customer turned it down, the upgrade would be offered free. This worked 95 percent of the time, even in the case of the Spider. Sales were up, and the company was projected to be profitable with these small changes. Elena got the results of the additional analyses. They all made sense. She decided, with the advice of her VPs and the analysts, to go ahead with all the recommendations, but she held back on European marketing until a presence in Europe could be established in major markets.The â€Å"try before you buy† campaign would be started once there were 15 Spiders in each of most of the major markets and 3 in each secondary market. She also approved adding new data and features to CLAUDIA. When the advertising effort was refined and tied to the RMS, profits soared. Every member of Stephanie’s team and all the VPs involved got a generous end-of-year bonus, an extra week’s vacation, and a gift of a free GMC Spider. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION MMS ran into new problems when it changed its fleet.CLAUDIA was not equipped to h andle new cars that were unlike others from past experience, and it did not track events as well as trends. Simon’s (1977) four phases of decision making, along with feedback, were followed, even though the problems were not really identified in the first phase. Successful problem solving was ultimately accomplished using Web-based DSS. Case Questions 1. What is meant by a symptom versus a problem? Relate these ideas to the case. 2. Why is problem ownership so important? 3. Even though the problem was not identified at the end of the intelligence phase, what was? . How was the design phase performed in this case? 5. The choice phase seemed like a combination of design, choice, and implementation. Is this a problem? 6. The implementation phase seemed to involve elements of all the phases. Is this a problem? 7. How were new problems or opportunities handled as they arose? 8. Why do you suppose some alternatives were either modified or postponed? Source: This fictional decision- making case is loosely based on several real situations. Thanks to Professor Elena Karahanna at the University of Georgia for inspiring it.

Frankenstein – how would a modern reader react to Frankenstein

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in the year 1818. Mary Shelley's writing was actually very relevant to the gothic literature written in those times. People back then had very strong religious beliefs and despised the idea of â€Å"playing God†. The new scary gothic-genre was exciting as well as inspiring for people. Mary Shelley uses negative adjectives and melancholy to create a gloomy and dark atmosphere. The first sentence is an example of this technique: â€Å"It was on a dreary night of November†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This sets the scene for the birth of the monster – the sinister mood already suggests that something bad will happen. In addition, â€Å"rain pattered dismally against the panes† and the candle â€Å"was nearly burnt out† with a â€Å"half extinguished light†. This is slowly building tension and the audience is on edge. The creature is always described in such a negative tone that the audience can share Frankenstein's distaste for the creature. There is a whole paragraph on just the ugly appearance, for example: The creatures eyes are described as â€Å"dull yellow† and â€Å"His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath†. The creature is also called a â€Å"wretch† and a â€Å"demoniacal corpse†. The audience first presumes the creature is evil as well as hideous. At the moment of his birth, however, the creature is in fact entirely benevolent: he affectionately reaches out to Frankenstein – who the creature calls â€Å"father† later – but is dejectedly abandoned by Frankenstein. The evil one is now seen as Frankenstein, besides he has given life to, what is really the equivalent of a newly-born child, and has now left it behind. This exposes the immoral side of his character – he takes place of God (which anyone would know is not going to be good) and then he just leaves it behind like a sort of experiment he has just finished with. This shows the moral issues about the story – mainly Frankenstein's approach of taking God's place, but also his inability to care (for creature and family), and this supports the saying â€Å"never judge a book by its cover† meaning outer appearance never exposes the true inside. For people in the 19th century, this broadened their views on religion as a whole and the story shows that no one should ever take God's place and if this is possible, there are grave consequences. However, for a modern audience to be reading this story, they will not receive half as much effect as people from the 19th Century. Mary Shelley wanted to intimidate the audience with frightening language, but for a modern reader this almost seems boring. You could say that her story set a platform for gothic writers to follow, however this language has been over-used and now seems very out-dated. Modern readers are not just less gullible than the 19th Century readers, but we're also much more educated and have a greater knowledge of science. We modern readers know that making life is scientifically impossible, even if a whole body is used (and definitely not with electric eels and whatever else Frankenstein did. And anyway what's wrong with natural reproduction? But obviously the 19th Century readers always open to new science and are excited by anything new really. But back then people were very unsure of how far man could play God. No person felt that there is no God, and everyone lived in fear for all misfortune was caused by God. On the other hand, many people from the 21st century are in fact atheist (meaning non-believer). We don't fear God as much as people from 19th Century, but we are still wise enough to understand that there are limits. If what Frankenstein did could be accomplished, should and would we do it? This is a very controversial issue that people back then would have a straight answer to. Scientists have only recently made bacteria just by DNA. This could have benefits of helping health care but could there be a danger of creating humans out of DNA? Also could cloning animals, ultimately end up in humans getting cloned and creating genetically superior humans and a genetic underclass? There is no doubt this story has sparked people's imaginations for generations but one question that still hasn't been answered is – Could man create new life?

A History Of Flexible Manufacturing Systems

A History Of Flexible Manufacturing Systems Now once you have a Flexible Manufacturing System in place, it cannot function in isolation. The department has to make its other processes and work conditions conducive enough to take full advantage of FMS. There are a lot of other design variables involved in the decision making process. It is very important for every manager in charge of FMS to address the question â€Å"What are the activities an FMS adopter has to carry out in order not only to implement an FMS but also to realize the requisite organizational conditions; and what are the possibilities for the adopter to organize this manufacturing innovation process effectively?† Stating a few examples of the extraneous factors: Maintenance Department Process planning, Production planning, and quality control processes The people carrying out these processes and production resources used to make these processes feasible The organizational arrangements used to divide and coordinate the processes Introduction A Flexible Ma nufacturing System (FMS) is a manufacturing system in which there is a certain degree of flexibility that allows the system to react in the case of changes, whether predicted or unpredicted. According to Maleki   [ 1 ]   , flexibility is the speed at which a system can react to and accommodate change. To be considered flexible, the flexibility must exist during the entire life cycle of a product, from design to manufacturing to distribution. Flexible Manufacturing System is a computer-controlled system that can produce a variety of parts or products in any order, without the time-consuming task of changing machine setups. The flexibility being talked about is generally considered to fall into two categories, which both contain numerous subcategories   [ 2 ]   . The first category, Machine Flexibility, covers the system’s ability to be changed to produce new product types, and ability to change the order of operations executed on a part. The second category is called R outing Flexibility, which consists of the ability to use multiple machines to perform the same operation on a part, as well as the system’s ability to absorb large-scale changes, such as in volume, capacity, or capability. The main advantage of an FMS is its high flexibility in managing manufacturing resources like time and effort in order to manufacture a new product. The best application of an FMS is found in the production of small sets of products like those from a mass production. FM systems are supposed to provide the manufacturer with efficient flexible machines that increase productivity and produce quality parts. However, FM systems are not the answer to all manufacturers’ problems. The level of flexibility is limited to the technological abilities of the FM systems. FM systems are being used all over the manufacturing world and though out industries. A basic knowledge of this kind of technology is very important because FM systems are involved in almost every thing that you come in contact with in today’s world. From the coffee maker to your remote control FM systems are used all over. History of Flexible Manufacturing Systems At the turn of the twentieth century, FMS did not exist. There was no pressing need for efficiency because the markets were national and there was no foreign competition. Manufacturers could tell the consumers what to buy. During that period, Henry Ford had been quoted as saying â€Å"People can order any colour of car as long as it is black.† All the power remained in the hands of the manufacturer and the consumers hardly had any choices.