An Introduction to Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

An Introduction to Law - Case Study Example However in this scenario, the court only considers the legal rules and principles decided in the earlier case. The court is not bound by the complete decision of the previous case. It is the holding of the principle of the law on which the case gets decided. It is the Ratio-Decidendi that sets the precedent and it's binding on the courts in future and it should be considered in combination to their facts of the case1. Obiter dicta actually mean "outside words". While in law, it is measured as the extra comments made by the judges during the proceedings. These are usually some examples which are related and judge discusses them. It should not be misunderstood as a part of precedent like Ratio Decidendi. The obiter dictum is the language in a decision that is not necessary to the decision. The guiding principles on which the judge and the court give the decision are the Ration of the case and other than this all the other statements made by the single judge or the bench is called the Obiter Dicta. Obiter Dictis is also known as the passing statements. A bench comprises of three judges, if one of the judge dissents against the judgment of the other two judges than the majority view would be called the Ratio Decidend.i Whereas, the dissenting judgment would be part of the obiter dicta of the whole judgment. Ratio Decidendi is binding on the lower courts as they act in the form of examples for them. Obiter Dicta can be just influential but not compulsory. It is also true that the part of the judgment that forms the part of Obiter Dicta are not wholly irrelevant and in some cases under the English legal system have espoused some important legal principles that have acted as a guiding fo rce in a number of later decisions. Obiter Dicta act as a persuasive statement under the English legal system which is not binding. Although, some cases have elaborated on this part of the judgment and have come up with extensive and thorough analysis that though part of the obiter dicta of the judgment have later on acted as persuasive statements and as a guiding light in a number of subsequent cases in the English legal system2. Like in the case of 'Mama v. Flora Sasoon 55 IA360', the Privy Council's full judgment on the case of specific performance was obiter dicta as the Privy Council held 'there was no concluded contract at all'. However, the decision is binding on all courts as it settled the law on particular performance. Similarly, in 'Lawson v. Commissioner of Patents (1970), 62 C.P.R. 101 (Ex. Ct.)' The ratio decidendi or the decision was claiming straight to the "subdivided parcel of land" also does not fall within the description of "invention" in section 2. Especially, a sub-divided parcel of land is not represented as either an "art" or "manufacture" in section 2. The Court gave this narrow ratio, but also discussed in an elaborated manner if a method of subdividing land might constitute an "art" under section 2 (concluding that it would not), even though no such method claim was put before the Court to be decided. An ideal instance of both ratio decidendi and obiter dictum can be found in the judgment in the most famous of all insurance law cases, Castellain v. Preston (1883) in which the principle of indemnity in

The Tragedy of the Holocaust Essay Example for Free

The Tragedy of the Holocaust Essay Most individuals in society think of literature as just a simple story that the author creates. What most individuals don’t know is that authors have a meaning for writing literature, not just simply for pleasure. Most authors write literature to show a message to the audience whether it’s a personal story or a historical event. The author does this by providing the audience with visual image and emotion that is created throughout the story. In the short story â€Å"The Shawl†, author Cynthia Ozick shows the audience the horrible events that took place during the Holocaust and how much individuals suffered during this time. While reading â€Å"The Shawl†, the reader can feel and imagine throughout the book all the suffering and pain that the Holocaust caused the Jewish people. This short story is great for individuals to know what really took place during this time in life and why it’s so important to make sure that our society never turns to this again. After an Individual reads the short story â€Å"The Shawl†, one will see the tragic events that happened during the holocaust. Author Cynthia Ozick starts of her short story by introducing the three sisters that are the main characters in the story, which are Magdna, Rosa and Bella. Rosa was the oldest sister, Bella was fourteen years old and Madna was just a fifteen-month-old baby. Age difference during the Holocaust did not matter. If you were a baby, child, teenager or adult, German soldiers were determine to kill any Jewish individual during this time. Another thing during the Holocaust was how horrible the living conditions were in the concentration camps. While reading, the audience can imagine the living scene at the concentration camp. As Rosa describes the scene of the concentration camp, the audience can picture seeing dirt, bugs and diseases that surrounded them. Rosa also informs the audience of how beauty can be so close to evil. While Rosa is looking inside the concentration camp she sees an electric fence holding her sisters and herself in the darkness. Rosa states about the electric fence that, â€Å"The farther she was from the fence, the more clearly the voices crowded her. The lamenting voices strummed so convincingly, so passionately, it was impossible to suspect them of being phantoms†(Ozick, pg.2655). On the other side of the fence, Rosa explains seeing the beauty of nature that most individuals today take for granted. While Rosa is rushing trying to give Magda back her shawl, she notices outside the beauty of nature standing outside the iron electric fence. Rosa states, â€Å"On the other side of the steel fence, far away, there were green meadows speckled with dandelions and deep-colored violets; beyond them, even farther, innocent tiger lilies, tall, lifting their orange bonnets (Ozick, pg2655). As Rosa shares this vision with the audience, it’s sad to see how you can see something beautiful but yet it’s far away and individuals like Rosa are stuck behind the iron electric fence that is guarding them from this beauty. Rosa shows a point that in our society, we take the nature of beauty for granted. We go by life way to fast to actually stop and look at the beauty that nature provides. Rosa needed something to have hope and have something to look for and the beauty of nature brought her peace while suffering during the Holocaust. It’s the little things in life that helped the Jewish individuals make it threw the Holocaust. Rosa states that, â€Å"In the barracks they spoke of flowers of rain: excrement, thick turd-braids, and the slow stinking maroon waterfall that slunk down from the upper bunks, the stink mixed with a bitter fatty floating smoke that greased Rosa’s skin† (Ozick, pg2655). It’s frightening to know that in our society wherever we are, true evil can be so close to pure beauty. The Holocaust is a great example of how the beauty of nature is yet so close to the horrifying concentration camps. Another issue that Ozick shows in her short story, â€Å"The Shawl† is jealousy. Since many people were suffering during the Holocaust, many Jewish individuals living in the concentration camps were jealous of one another due to the condition of other Jewish individuals clothes or others having more food. Like any other story, Ozick show’s the good guy and bad guy throughout her short story. Ruth, the older sister, puts her life at risk to make sure that her fifteen-month-old sister Magda is safe while Stella, the other sister, was jealous of her little sister Magda. During the Holocaust, many Jewish individuals had to work all day and walk everywhere that they went; there was hardly any rest. When all three sisters would walk, Magda would be carried and wrapped in the shawl. As Stella saw this, her Jealousy and hatred grew more to her little sister Magda. The narrator states that,â€Å" Sometimes Stella carried Magda, But she was jealous of Magda†(Ozick, pg2653). Another thing that Stella was Jealous of Magda was the shawl that she had. Rosa always had Magda wrapped around her. The shawl was Magda safety net. Everywhere that Magda went, she was always wrapped around in the shawl and every time Rosa would leave the barracks, she would always hide Magda with the shawl. One cold day, Stella went up to Magda and simply took her shawl away from her. When Rosa asked why Stella did this she simply stated, â€Å"She was cold† (Ozick, pg2654). By how jealous and selfish Stella was to her sister, this action of taking away Magda shawl resulted in Magda death. Ozick shows throughout her short story how many Jewish individuals suffered from hunger during the concentration camps. Magda was just a baby and needed all the food she could get in order to survive. There would be times that Rosa would not be able to provide food for Magda, which would result in Rosa taking the corner of the shawl and milking it. Rosa states, â€Å"She sucked and sucked, flooding threads with wetness. The shawl’s good flavor, milk of linen† (Ozick, pg2653). Starvation during the Holocaust also made some Jewish individuals violent and selfish. Stella would not give any food to her sister Magda and would keep everything for herself. Rosa would state that during the Holocaust, â€Å"Stella was ravenous, a growing child herself, but not growing much â€Å"(Ozick, pg2653). Rosa was also frightened of others eating Magda by how tiny she was. Some Jewish individuals during the Holocaust started to turn evil just to get something to eat and a way for them to survive. If it was the result of killing a baby for food, then some Jewish individuals would. Even Magda own sister Stella thought about eating her. That is how horrible hunger had gotten to some Jewish individuals. One day, Ruth states that it sounded that Stella said, â€Å"Lets us devour her†(Ozick, pg2654) to another individual in the concentration camp. Each day when Rosa would leave Magda in the barrack, she would always worry that someone would kill her for food. The description that Ozick gives throughout her short story of how skinny the Jews were in the concentration camps shows the audience how much the Jews suffered from starvation. The author states, â€Å"The weight of Rosa was becoming less and less; Rosa and Stella were slowly turning into air â€Å"(Ozick, pg2654). At the end of the short story â€Å"The Shawl†, Ozick shows the audience how heartless the German solder’s, also known as the â€Å"Nazi Party†, were during the Holocaust. When Stella takes away Magda shawl, Magda steps outside her confront zone. In panic, Magda searches everywhere in the concentration camp to find her shawl. As Rosa waives the shawl to her, she sees a German solider carrying her out of the distance; it’s to late to save her. Rosa states as Magda was being carried of in the distance â€Å" She was no bigger than a moth†(Ozick, pg2655). Even though Magda was just an innocent baby searching for her shawl, the German soldiers did not care, their hearts were cold. While Rosa tells the audience about seeing Magda being taking away farther and farther, the reader can feel how heartbroken Rosa is watching her little baby sister being carried to her death. Rosa states, â€Å"All at once Magda was swimming through the air. The whole of Magna travel though loftiness. She looked like a butterfly touching a silver vine†(Ozick, pg1981). The Holocaust is one of the most tragic events in our history. It’s important that individuals know and understand what happened during this tragic time. Author Cynthia Ozick short story, â€Å"The shawl† is a great way for individuals to read, see and feel the pain and suffering that went on during the Holocaust. The author also does a great job explaining the Jewish life while living in concentration camps and seeing the struggles that Jewish individuals had to face. This time period was one of the darkest times in our society. It is important that we never forgot the Holocaust so that way nothing wicked like this will ever happen again in our society. The Holocaust and all the Jewish people that suffered and lost their lives during this time period will never be forgotten.

Women Coping with Breast Cancer Essay -- Health, Diseases, Cancer Diag

Women Coping with Breast Cancer Coping has been closely connected to stress; it involves a process by which a person attempts to restore balance in response to a stressful life event (Henderson, Gore, Davis, and Condon, 2003). The most common cancer among Canadian women in 2010 is breast cancer. An average of 445 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and an average of 100 Canadian women will die of breast cancer every week (Canadian Cancer Society, 2010). Coping with breast cancer has been defined as being emotionally and physically challenging for women and their families (Henderson et Al., 2003). Women that are newly diagnosed with breast cancer and those in the period between diagnosis and treatment are seen as being most stressful due to the uncertainty and ambiguity about the disease, lack of information and the need to make treatment decisions as soon as possible (Balneaves and Long, 1999). Understanding women’s experience in coping with breast cancer will aid nurses and other health car e professionals to recognize maladaptive coping strategies and ensure that women receive the support that they need in order to promote physical and psychological recovery (Luker, Beaver, Leinster and Owens, 1996). Description of Literature The purpose of this limited descriptive review is to develop an understanding of how women cope when diagnosed with breast cancer. The review includes 13 single studies in total, represented by seven quantitative studies and six qualitative studies from 1996-2008. In addition, one mixed-method study will be reviewed. The chosen articles will be defined according to paradigm, method, samples, and key findings. Also, it will be described in a synthesized manner according to qualitative and... ... 2006; Gonzalez and Lengacher, 2007). Another limitation that was noted among the literature was the potential bias in selecting samples and the generalization of the studies findings was limited. The data needs to be considered because of the complex nature of the disease and treatments (Wengstrom et al., 2001; Ebright and Lyon, 2002; Henderson et al., 2003; Carlsson, 2005; Li and Lambert, 2007; Gonzalez and Lengacher, 2007). Lastly, in a number of studies, the data was only measure at one point in time. Feelings and emotions change from time to time. Also, a single time measurement does not allow dynamic changes in the study to be investigated accordingly. Measuring multiple times will aid in providing more credible data for the studies (Luker, et al., 1996; Henderson et al, 2003; Gelinas and Fillion, 2004; Drageset and Lindstrom, 2005; Carlsson et al., 2005).

Cry Freedom

Donald Woods is an editor of the Daily Dispatch, a Journal in East London, South Africa. One morning he gets news of a police raid in the black township Crossroads which lies in Cape Town. He also gets photos of the raid and he decides to print them although the government doesn ‘t allow to print such photos. Woods doesn t believe the demand of the black people but he is trained as a lawyer and doesn ‘t like police brutality against black people. So he also writes an editorial about a Biko, the leadership of ?The SC†. The next day Dr.Mamphela who works for Biko in is clinic, comes to Woods office to speak to him, about this article. She is very angry, because she thinks, that Woods has printed rubbish about Biko and that he is uninformed about the ideas that Biko has. So she invents him to meet Biko in his banning area. chapter 2 and 3: Some days later Woods meets Steven Biko in an old church were he wants to make a centre for black people. First he is critical agai nst Biko, but then he listens to Biko's opinion and they mentally changed the roles. Biko also goes with Woods to the clinic, which Biko has built.The clinic is only for black people, with black workers and a black doctor. But Woods already think that black and whits should work together, but he also understands, that the blacks wants something that they put up themselves. At the end Biko invites Woods to come and see how black people in South Africa really live. chapter 4 and 5: In the black township, they eat with a black family. Biko, the family and are discussing about the system, the history how the white came to South Africa and how the black people got their bad situation which they have now.After this visit Woods change his mind, because he sees for the first time how worse the black has to live, how big their espair is but also how strong their togetherness stay. At the end of this day Biko and Woods become friends. chapter 6: Six weeks later Woods gives TenJy and Mapetla, two friends of Biko, a Job in his newspaper. Mapetla takes Woods and Ken to a footballmatch of the black. Instead of the match Biko helds a speech. Ken and Woods were convinced by this speech and the ideas Biko represent. hapter 7: After the match Biko is caught by the police because an informer of the government had told the police about the speech. In the police office Biko gets hit by Captain De Wet. After he fght between Biko and De Wet two policemen throw Biko out of the office. Two weeks later Biko is a main witness for the defence of two student organizations who arranged two years before a large meeting in support of the new government in Mozambique. Woods prints the words of Biko although it is against the law. chapter 8: In this night Captain De Wet and two other policemen smash all things of value in the church.Donald Woods cannot print this in his newspaper because the witness is a black man called Dilima and if Woods prints his name, Dilima would kill by the police. So Woods approach to Kruger, the Minister of Police, and speaks with him about the incident. The minister declares him that he will pursues that matter because he doesn ‘t want that such sort of things happen. Woods thinks that the police men aren't as worse as many blacks think, Woods unfortuantely trust him. chapter 9: But on sunday afternoon two policemen come and want to know the name of the witness from Woods.Woods explains them that he was by Kruger and he gets angry because Kruger had betrayed him. Because the two havent a warrant Woods could send them away without saying the name. It does not happen anything for weeks and Woods thinks that it is alright. But it is not. chapter 10: One night the two policemen check the passport of Woods black housekeeper Evalina. Woods throws them out of his property. The next day, the police take revenge: Three men jump out of a car and take Mapetla in it. Donald Woods thinks that Mapetla gets beaten by them and that they make an example so that no other black person will dare him.Two days later TenJy gets arrested without any charges. After a week Mapetla is dead. The official explanation of the death from Mapetla is, that he anged himself. But Biko and Woods cannot believe that, so Biko demands a inquest. TenJy is the main witness at the inquest but the Judge closes the inquest without fix the death of Mapetla on anybody. chapter 1 1: Biko drives to Cape Town to speak in an important meeting of black students although he knows that it's forbidden for him. On the way back form Cape Town the car was stopped by the police and they want to see the papers from Biko.As they recognize the person in the car, they arrest him promptly to the prison in Port Elizabeth. Six days later the police call a doctor to look at Biko. The body is covered with bruises, the forehead and eyes seriously injured. On the chest and lips are cuts. The doctor orders to bring Biko in a hospital. Although the doctor tells them that Biko possible has a brain damage they want to bring him to the police hospital in Pretoria a 1000 kilometres away and not to Port Elizabeth Wich is only 4 kilometres away because they would have the control about him.The doctor cannot do anything against the police and so they put Biko on a blanket at the floor in the back of a Land Rover. Then they drive with Biko on thousand km rough country roads and during the Journey Biko's head is bumping on he floor. chaper 12: Biko dies and Woods prints a article about him with the headline â€Å"BIKO DIES IN CUSTODY†. The Minister of Police denies police responsibility and he says that Biko has been arrested outside his banning area and died because he starved himself to dead.One day after Bikos dead Ntsiki, who is the wife of Biko, Woods and Ken go to the mortuary to find out how Biko actually died. They were all shocked by the appearance of Biko's body, the lips are swollen, a huge lump on the forehead and many bruises around his eyes. Ken sudde nly puts out a small camera and makes photos of Biko's body. Woods and his wife arrive at the funeral and they see thousands of black people with pictures of Biko. There would come more black people but there are road-blocks of the police. The mood of the crowd is angry but also sorrowful.After a speech the crowd begin to sing the African Song which Steven Biko loved. chapter 13: Woods wants that other newspapers write about Biko's death, because if he does, the government would shut the Daily Dispatch. But all the other newspapers are also afraid and wouldn't fight the system this way. So Woods decides to fly to New York under a false name. The day he leave he sends the photos to England an America printed the pictures of Biko's body and demands on an inquest. But on the airport two securitys stopp Woods and bring him in an office.There Lieutnant Beukes reads from a warrent to Woods that he becomes a banning person for five years. chapter 14: Although the police forbid Woods to wri te he starts to write a book about Biko ‘s life, because he thinks that Bikos ideas have to live on. family has to escape from South Africa if they don ‘t want to get killed. Wendy first doesn't agree with this idea and the two have a big conflict. A few days later, the hildren of Woods reached a anonym parcel with poissoned Shirts. After this awful experience Wendy also wants to publish the book. hapter 15: So Woody quickly begins to plan the escape with Father Kani and Bruce McCullough. The 31st December in the night Woods escape begins: He disguise himself in father Curren and Wendy drives Woods to King Williams town, from where he hitch-hike to a place beyond Queenstown. There he meet Father Kant, who drives him to the edge of the river Telle. In the early morning of the 1st January Woods should crossover the river but it doesnt work because the river was too wide and deep. So he went back to the edge of the river. chapter 16: Woods knows that Tami, a friend of Biko lives near, so he walks to him.Tami brings him by car to the Telle Bridge, when Woods wants to open the gate, a Land Rover stopp in front of him. Fortunately the man, called Moses, was from the postal service and he even take Woods to Maseru. At the passport station he has no problems, so he gets to Lesotho without more problems. There he quickly phones to his family, they also follow. chaper 17: Moses brings Woods to the point where he meets Bruce, who brings him to Maseru, where he talks to the Brithis cting high Cmmisioner to ask him to enter their country. chapter 18: The next morning Woods family also arrives in Lesotho.The whole family gets passports from the United Nations and flyes with a private pilot, who wills to fly over South Africa without landing. Woods felt a little sad when he sees his homeland because he might never see it again. But he was also happy, because he will publish his book and show Biko's ideas to the whole world. He hopes that men's minds could be chan ge, before the price become too high. In his mind he hears the crowd of thousands singing at Biko's funeral. Donald Woods is one of the important persons in the story. He is married with Wendy and has five children.Woods is 42 and the editor of the Daily Dispatch. In the beginnig of the book he doesn t believe that black people should be allowed to vote and he also accepts the laws that forced blacks and whites to live in separate areas. He only disagree the police brutality against the black. The meeting with Biko in the curch, when they change the roles mentals, the speech of Biko at the stadium and his first view of the township, when he feels the strong sense of togetherness Woods change his mind about his political ideas. He becomes a good friend of Biko and he helps him to fght for more rights for the black.So he gets troubles with the government and in the end he has to escape of the country where he has born, because he wants to publish the book about Biko. Stephan Biko is a serious, intelligent and handsome young black man. He is a warm and gently person. Stevenn is married with Ntsiki and has two children. He is a banned person which means that he can only be in his banning area and he is able to speak only with one person except his family. Biko gets in this situation because he fghts for more rights for the black. He is one of the most important leader of the Black Consciousness.Steven often goes out of his banning area and so once he gets caught and finally kill by the is dedicated to the struggle for black rights. For him South Africa was for black and white, they only had to find a way to live together without violence. Biko is banned because of his leadership of a movement called â€Å"The Black Consciousness† (equal rights for blacks and whites, live together without violence, black should be proud of being black, blacks should know their history, not anymore accept the handship imposed by the system, confrontation without violence)

Police explorer programs Essay

In Fair Haven, New Jersey the explorer program is meant for young adults that are interested in pursuing a future in law enforcement. The program will introduce the young adults to traits that police officers should have such as: hard work ethic, integrity, honesty, courage, respect, and most of all discipline. The police explorers assist with crowd control events and traffic direction. They are also able to ride along with police officers and see what a usual day is for a police officer. The Washington police explorers help youth to gain insight into a variety of programs that include classroom instruction as well as hands-on law enforcement activities. The explorers are also eligible for many college scholarships to assist in continuing education. The explorers also compete in the national explorer competition every two years. The national explorer is when thousands of law enforcement explorers and adult leaders come together for a week of team and individual competitions, seminars, demonstrations, exhibits, recreation and fun. The Knoxville police department explorer post is a volunteer organization that was formed to provide a law enforcement background and training to senior members of the boy scouts of America. The main goal of the police explorer post is to prepare young adults to become police officers through education, training, and work experience. Some of the basic training includes: traffic control, officer survival, patrol procedures, radio procedures, firearms, basic criminal law, defensive driving, and an overview of the police department. Some activities they assist in are DUI sobriety checkpoints, crime prevention events, downtown events and patrols, and search and recovery operations. In Cary, Illinois the police officer advisors train and give guidance to the explorers program in all non-hazardous functions of the Cary Police Department. The advisors generously donate their time, attending meetings at the police station every other Thursday from 7:30 to 9 pm. experienced police officers provide training in a variety of police related skills, such as traffic crash investigation, criminal investigations, domestic disputes, processing crime scenes, building searches and arrest techniques. The relationship between the Cary police department and the explorers program directly benefits both the community and the individual explorer. Thecommunity benefits through the hard work and volunteer activities of the Explorers Program, as they provide a variety of public services. Explorers assist Police Officers during the Village’s annual â€Å"Merry Cary Holiday Festival†, â€Å"National Night Out† and other community events. The explorer’s participation and training benefits them by proving an excellent foundation for careers in law enforcement and enables them to become more responsible citizens.

Candace Pert essays

Candace Pert essays Candace B. Pert is a leading researcher in the field of chemical receptors. Chemical receptors are places in the body where molecules of a drug or natural chemical, fit together and stimulate different physiological or emotional effects. As a graduate student, Candace Pert co-discovered the brains opiate receptors, areas that link painkilling substances. She later discovered endorphins which are the naturally occurring substances produced in the brain that relieve pain and produce sensations of pleasure. Candace Pert was born in New York City on June 26, 1946. She went to General Douglas MacArthur High School in Levittown, New York. Later, she attended Hofstra University but dropped out in 1966. She married Agu Pert in 1966 and the couple moved to Philadelphia. In 1966, Candace Pert gave birth to the first of the couples three children. In 1970, She earned her BA in biology and entered the doctoral pharmacology program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her first research assignment, working with Dr. Solomon Snyder, was to explore the mechanisms that regulate the bodys most important neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that react with other neurons in the body, which regulate the heart and other organs. In the summer of 1972, she found her next project, the search for opiate receptors. Opiate receptors were believed to exist, but trying to find them was another task. Using technology borrowed from identifying insulin receptors, Pert used radioactive drugs to identify receptor molecules that bonded with morphine and other opiate drugs in animal brain cells. She went on to investigate whether opiate receptors developed before birth. She used pregnant rats to evaluate the brains of the fetuses and found out that the opiate receptors were present during the fetal development. Pert and her coworkers wondered why opiate receptors existed. The scientist thought that there mig...

Should I Waive My Right to Review Recommendation Letters

Should I Waive My Right to Review Recommendation Letters SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Short answer: yes. Long answer: there's no need to worry about checking "yes" and waiving your right to see your letters of recommendation on the FERPA waiver section of your college applications. This article will explain exactly what FERPA is, why you're being asked to waive it, and how it impacts your letters of recommendations. To be honest, the FERPA waiver willprobably be the easiest part of filling out your college applications! What is FERPA? The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), otherwise known as the Buckley Amendment, was passed to protect the privacy of students' educational records. It gives parents and students who are 18 years and older the right to access their records. It also requires that parents or eligible students give permission before their information is released to a third party, except in special circumstances like transferring schools or a health emergency. Since most students who enroll in college are 18 or older, FERPA gives them the right to request access to their letters of recommendation, wherever they might be stored along with the rest of theirapplication materials. I like to picture all the applications of years past stored somewhere like the Hall of Prophecies in Harry Potter, except the endless shelves are filled with files instead of shiny glass orbs. There'sonecaveat to your FERPA-given right of access: youcan only access yourrecommendation letters after you've gotten your admission letter of acceptance and chosen to enrollin a college. If youwere rejected from or chose not to go to a certain school, then youwon't be able to get yourhands on those letters. Note how I said that FERPA gives youthe right to access your letters of recommendation AFTER youenroll at a college. It really doesn't have anything to do with getting to read your letters before your recommenders send them. Some recommenders will let you see them, while others will keep them confidential. The general assumption around reference letters is that they are confidential - this seems more honest in the eyes of admissions officers. Whether or not you see the letters before they're sent is not really what FERPA's about, when you get down to the specifics of it. On the Common Application (or whatever application you're using), you'll be asked whether or not you want to waive your right to access your rec letters. Read on for a preview of what you'll see. Harry Potter and the Chamber of College Applications Waiver of Access (FERPA) on the Common Application Once you add a college to your Common Application, you'll see a tab show up to invite your recommender(s). Before you send those invites, you'll be prompted to read about your waiver of access and select a response.This is what you'll see: "Waiver of Access (FERPA) Under the terms of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), you can review letters of recommendation and accompanying forms after you enroll at a postsecondary institution and only if that institution saves the documents post-enrollment. Why should you consider waiving your right of access? Waiving your right lets colleges know that you will never try to read your recommendations. That in turn reassures colleges that your recommenders have provided support that is candid and truthful. While you are free to respond as you wish, if you choose not to waive your right, some recommenders may decline your request, and some colleges may disregard letters submitted on your behalf. Remember, even if you retain your right of access, you still won't be able to view any recommendations until after you have been admitted to and enrolled in a college. In other words, FERPA does not give you the right to inspect recommendations before they are sent to your colleges. After you make your selection, you will be able to invite your counselor and recommenders. Once you make the first invitation, you will not be able to change your response to the waiver question. To ensure that you fully understand the implications of your selection, we urge you not to answer the waiver question until you have consulted with your guidance counselor or another school official. For more information on FERPA follow this link: ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html" Source: The Common Application Sounds like serious stuff. In reality, it's pretty straightforward. FERPA lets you request access to your recommendation letters after getting in and enrolling in a school. By that point, months after you've applied, done the requisite period ofnervous waiting, received the thick envelope and decided on a school, you probably aren't thinking about cracking into your admissions file to read exactly what Mr. Smith said about you back in December of senior year. You got in, so the rec letters had to have been pretty complimentary. Again, note that FERPA does not give you the right to see your letters of recommendations before they are sent. In the academic world, recommendation letters tend to be kept confidential. Your teacher or counselor may show you the letter and ask for your feedback or revisions, but this depends on the person. Even if you're burning with curiosity, you shouldn't pressure your recommenders to show you the letter. It could indicate that you don't trust them to provide you with a strong letter - and, if that's the case, you shouldn't choose them in the first place! Since you can only respond to the waiver question on the Common App once, let's go over exactly why it's a good idea to waive access. "Waive" goodbye to FERPA - you don't need it this time. Why It's a Good Idea to Waive Your FERPA Right As I mentioned above, the typical expectation for letters of recommendation in college admissions is that they are keptconfidential. Admissions officers give most weight to letters that provide an honest and qualified assessment of the applicant. If you don't waive your FERPA right, you could accidentally signal to admissions officers that you don't trust your recommender or that the recommendation is less candid or genuine. Your recommender might also get the subtle message that you don't trust him or her. The knowledge that you'll see the letter at some point in the future might cause your recommender to write a more generic letter, and thus be less powerful and effective in support of your candidacy. You won't be penalized for your response, but it's risky to check "no" since you don't know how admissions officers or your recommenders will interpret it. If you still feel uneasy about waiving your FERPA right, keep reading. In the next section, I'll explain why there's no need to worry about your recommendation letters, even if you never get the chance to read them. Keep your recommenders inside the circle of trust. No Need to Worry About Recommendation Letters... Perhaps easier said than done, but you really shouldn't stress about your letters of recommendation. Your teachers and counselor are there to help you - in fact, it's literally their job. They want to advocate for you and help you further your education. When you ask for a recommendation, you should ask your teachers if they can provide you with astrong letter of support. If they seem hesitant at all, then thank them for their time and ask somebody else. As long as you're thoughtful about choosing people with whom you have good relationships and who can write an insightful letter about you, then you don't have to worry about leaving the rest up to them. Apart from choosing recommenders who know you well, you can also have some say into shaping what goes into the letter. Most schools will give you a "brag sheet" where you can remind your recommenders of your interests, motivations, and goals. You and your parents can describe some significant experiences you've had or challenges you've overcome to help your recommenders make the strongest letter they can. So even if the letter stays confidential, you'll still have some sense of what likely went into it. At this point, hopefully you have a better sense of what the FERPA waiver is all about and why it's in your best interest to go ahead and agree to the waiver. Or maybe you've scrolled down to this point, thinking "too long; didn't read." Either way, you're in luck! Below are the key points I wanted to make, distilled into bullet points for your reading pleasure. Key Points About the FERPA Waiver The FERPA waiver only waives your right to access your recommendation letters after you've been accepted to and enrolled in a college. It's common practice for recommendation letters to be kept confidential in admissions procedures. Your recommenders may still let you see their letters before they send them - that's totally up to them. As long as you're thoughtful about choosing recommenders who are supportive and know you well (and help them out with a detailed brag sheet), you can rest easy knowing your recommenders want to support you and help you get into college. The FERPA waiver is probably the easiest part of your application. Just go ahead and click yes! What's Next? While the FERPA waiver's easy, the rest of your application can get a bit more complicated. Read all about how to build a versatile college application that showcases your strengths and makes you stand out among the competition. Is it that time of year when you're thinking about requesting letters of recommendation? This article breaks down how to request a letter of recommendation, step by step (coming soon). Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Each vs. Both

Each vs. Both Each vs. Both Each vs. Both By Maeve Maddox A reader asks, What is the correct usage for each and both? Example: You and I both know what its like. or You and I each know what its like. Each is singular. In relation to a group, it means â€Å"all of any number, considered individually.† Examples of usage: Each child in the school has been vaccinated against smallpox. When groups of individuals join together in business partnerships,  each  member of the partnership becomes bound by basic legal  duties.   Both is plural. It refers to two of something. Examples of usage: Both men are Nobel Prize winners. Walthers lectures were  both informative and entertaining. When speaking of two people, both is usually the more appropriate choice. The only reason to use each when speaking of two people/things would be to emphasize the individuality of separate acts or to avoid ambiguity. Consider the following sentences: 1. Jack and Bill share a room. Both are responsible for cleaning half. 2. Mr. Jones gave both his daughters a dog. 3. Both of us received a letter this morning. Most listeners would understand the first sentence to mean that each boy is responsible for one half of the room. Sentence three might be understood to mean that each of the two received separate letters. Sentence two is definitely ambiguous: Did each daughter receive a dog of her own, or did both daughters receive one dog to share? The following revisions would prevent misunderstanding: 1. Jack and Bill share a room. Each is responsible for cleaning half. 2. Mr. Jones gave each of his daughters a dog. 3. Each of us received a letter this morning. In the reader’s question, the first example is correct: â€Å"You and I both know what its like.† The second example presents an impossibility of agreement: â€Å"You and I each know what its like.† The subject â€Å"You and I† is plural and requires the plural verb know. The word each, however, is singular and would require the singular verb knows. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Possessive of Proper Names Ending in S30 Baseball Idioms10 Varieties of Syntax to Improve Your Writing

Decisions Business Scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Decisions Business Scenario - Essay Example e saying goes â€Å"A problem is a chance for someone to do his/her best.† Hence effective decision making, is often required and the first step in the decision making process is to define the problem so that the available information may be collected, analysed, summarised and studied to find out suitable solutions to the problem on hand. This paper attempts to formulate problems relating to the expansion of the business of the company Nestle Waters in the country Dega, which appears to be a potential market but surrounded by a multiplicity of problems that need to be addressed if the company wants to successfully launch and maintain its business. The First part of the paper deals with the problem formulation using appropriate tools and techniques. Before we step in to the analysis of the problems in the business scenario of the company ‘Nestle Waters,’ a brief background of the company and the country, where the company is contemplating to expand, is produced below for a better understanding of the problem environment by the readers: Dega is a South Pacific Island comprising of multi religious ethnic people, some with European origin and sizeable American settlers having half of indigenous religion and remainder belonging to Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. Major languages include English, Spanish and French in addition to the local indigenous language. The natural resources include agricultural commodities like coffee, cocoa spices and banana, petroleum and natural gas. Main industrial orientation is towards fishing and tourism. The island is vulnerably exposed to all natural calamities like Tsunami; earthquake and so on and also is fighting HIV/AIDs and Terrorism. With 103 factories working in 36 countries Nestle Waters accounted for a turnover of 5.7 billion in 2005. The company employs 30,000 people and is currently enjoying a market share of eighteen percent. The company bottles seventy-five brands of mineral water and market them all over the world.

Analysis of Nonobjective Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of Nonobjective Art - Essay Example I. Introduction It is possible to use literal, design, and expressive qualities to guide one’s analysis of works such as Wassily Kandinsky’s painting Several Circles. Afterwards, a reflection on the analysis of nonobjective works will be provided, describing how this process differs from analyzing figurative or representational artwork. II. Literal Qualities Kandinsky used the circle because he thought it represented various concepts, including peace, wholeness, and perfection. He epitomized the form of the circle in this sense, his work being like a form of visual poetry. â€Å"The use of the circle occurs†¦in [several] variations†¦in Kandinsky's work†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 1 In effect, the use of circles is effective, especially because of the pleasing aesthetic placement of circles of various colors. For example, primary colors red and yellow are used with the secondary color orange in the same general perimeter. In addition, the primary color blue is used effective ly because it is close to the secondary colors green and purple. The literal qualities of the work include strong usages of primary and secondary colors to convey various effects. III. Design Qualities The circle as design was considered to be an epic and most complete shape out of all of the shapes available one could work with, in turn.

CONSUMER PROTECTION (SUPERVISED COURSEWORK) Case Study

CONSUMER PROTECTION (SUPERVISED COURSEWORK) - Case Study Example A repair of the taps, replacement of the discolored bath and delivery of the shower cabinet may be accepted as a remedy. However, if this remedy is not satisfactory, consequent to faulty repair or the failure to deliver the shower cabinet, as per the contractually described one, Mr. Green may still claim a refund. Furthermore, considering that the fault was detected immediately upon delivery and installation, another remedy available to Mr. Green is the request for a reduction in price to compensate for the fault and the non delivery of the shower cabinet. In other words, the available remedies are refund, repair, reduction in price or rescission. Assuming that it is not clear in the question you are given whether it is a Hire Purchase Agreement governed by Debtor-Creditor-Supplier terms, you need to be able to identify it. Use the following as a guide: Mr. Greene purchased the Carlton Suite and this should factor into his decision whether or not to pursue the remedy of terminating the contract. In order to clarify how this particular remedy will be financially costly to the debtor, it is first necessary to point out a number of facts associated with this type of credit agreement. In the first place, as per the credit agreement, Mr. Brown does not legally own the goods and shall not be in ownership of them until he has paid the full sum owed. His contract here is with the finance company and not with Breakspears Bathrooms. In other words, and as per Consumer Credit Act, S.11(1)(a), the bathroom was sold to the financial company by Breakspears and not to Mr. Green. In this instance, Mr. Green took delivery of the suite from the financial company. As such, the bathroom suite is bailed to Mr. Green in return for periodic payments and ownership rights shall only pass to him upon his completion of all payments. Should Mr. Green determine termination to be the remedy that he will pursue, the financial burden of doing so may fall upon him. His termination order will be governed by Consumer Credit Act 1974, Section 99 and Section 100. This is further established by Yeoman Credit v Waragowski. In this matter, even though the court recognised the debtor's right

Managing Communications, Knowledge and Information Essay - 2

Managing Communications, Knowledge and Information - Essay Example With regard to operational decisions, the businesses have to consider the effective utilisation of the tactical decisions such as delivering the products to the customers (McGowan, n.d.). Along with the above discussed decisions, the businesses also have to consider certain important decisions that include short-term operational plans along with long-term strategic decisions. From the perspective of short-term operational plans, the businesses have to focus upon certain decisions regarding the production of goods and services and market planning, which covers both financial and production plans. Additionally, in relation to short-term operational plans, the businesses also have to consider the decisions that include gathering necessary business related information, evaluating the alternatives, and selecting the most effective action courses (Kansal and Rao, 2006). From the perspective of long-term strategic decisions, the businesses need to think about certain significant decisions t hat include strategic as well as corporate planning. ... Q. B2 Right flow of knowledge and information are indispensable for every business organisation. The possessing of effective and superior knowledge and information can ultimately enhance the aspect of decision-making, improve the level of competence, and assist the business organisations to attain noteworthy competitive position. The business sectors also need to acquire knowledge and manage valuable information for the purpose of evaluating their probable weaknesses and strengths. In recent times, the aspect of information and knowledge management has become a chief contributory part towards making the business operations of the different organisations quite successful by a considerable level (Rad, et al., 2009). The diverse information and knowledge that are required to take effective decisions fundamentally include ensuring the collection, analysis, and execution of evidences that greatly support and complement the overall functioning of the business and facilitate in organising t he relevant information in such a way that it can provide benefits for successful planning. Additionally, the other crucial knowledge and information aspects include the procedure of reviewing along with considering evidences in order to make effective strategic decisions regarding the execution of the business plans and managing the differing desires and requirements of the users along with the suppliers (National Occupational Standards, 2011). In order to ensure successful decision taking, the business organisations should possess certain significant knowledge and information that generally include the analysis of internal data or reports, understanding the characteristics of the customers and other chief stakeholders, business trends, analysis of the available products along

Sociology summarizing paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sociology summarizing paper - Essay Example The socio-economic aspects of the family and the path of the eldest son are interesting because they directly reflect the traditional root causes of fascism in society. For example, the film compares the emasculating effects of the father figure defeated and fallen, as in the Kaiser’s Germany in post-World War One Germany or in Derek Vinyard’s father. The poverty and helplessness of the family is contrasted with a violent outburst Derek has when his mother dates a Jewish man and invites him home to dinner. The psychological aspects of humiliation are related to the familial issues as a symbolic way to discuss the socio-economic and psychological roots of fascism, racism, and anti-semitism through the characters, making it an excellent example for the deconstruction of the racist mentality. In â€Å"American History X,† a new brand of neo-Nazi culture is depicted to be thriving, accessing the tools and vehicles of modern culture such as information technology, pop culture, music, and fashion. The neo-Nazis are composed of skinhead, racist punks and led by an old KKK headmaster.

Customer Service Satisfaction at the University of London Library Essay - 1

Customer Service Satisfaction at the University of London Library - Essay Example According to Quinn (2007) in recent times the educational community, generally and the library profession in particular have placed increasing emphasis on the service quality model. This model has customer satisfaction as its primary objective as traditional measures of academic library quality such as collection size becomes secondary. In assessing service quality the customer compares expectations about the service offered to actual experience with the service. Gap analysis is a tool that is used to identify the differences (gap) between what is expected and what is experienced. According to Berkowitz et al (1997, p.353) this type of analysis requires consumers to assess their expectations and experiences on dimensions of service quality as described in the table that follows. In the context of service quality and customer satisfaction, of importance, is the need to look at the service that the library provides in order to see how it can fulfil expectations. The role of the library is to provide resource materials for its customers. But, who exactly are these customers? They are students, administrators, faculty members and the general public. In terms of reliability the library must be able to provide the student with a book, journal or other resource material which will enable the completion of a required task. While the librarian is expected to provide the service in a timely manner, there is the need for the student to exercise some skills in how to access required materials to carry out his or her role. The librarian however, is available to provide some guidance but the student independence is of extreme importance in the development of worthwhile skills which will be required in the future.

Sociology summarizing paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sociology summarizing paper - Essay Example The socio-economic aspects of the family and the path of the eldest son are interesting because they directly reflect the traditional root causes of fascism in society. For example, the film compares the emasculating effects of the father figure defeated and fallen, as in the Kaiser’s Germany in post-World War One Germany or in Derek Vinyard’s father. The poverty and helplessness of the family is contrasted with a violent outburst Derek has when his mother dates a Jewish man and invites him home to dinner. The psychological aspects of humiliation are related to the familial issues as a symbolic way to discuss the socio-economic and psychological roots of fascism, racism, and anti-semitism through the characters, making it an excellent example for the deconstruction of the racist mentality. In â€Å"American History X,† a new brand of neo-Nazi culture is depicted to be thriving, accessing the tools and vehicles of modern culture such as information technology, pop culture, music, and fashion. The neo-Nazis are composed of skinhead, racist punks and led by an old KKK headmaster.

Breast Feeding Versus Bottle Feeding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Breast Feeding Versus Bottle Feeding - Essay Example Theories about Breast Feeding Often linked inextricably with the phrase ‘the most natural thing in the world’, breast feeding remains the most recommended and professionally supported method of feeding your newborn. Medical professionals recommend feeding your baby breast milk exclusively for the first 6 months (LICH Pediatrics, 2011). Other foods or formula should only be introduced gradually after this. The NHS website (2012) outlines the numerous advantages of breastfeeding for both you and your baby. The main benefits are; it is a source of optimal and natural nutrition which cannot be replicated, it builds babies immune system, it promotes a bond between mother and baby and it lowers the risk of infections, other common baby ailments and developing certain chronic diseases. Breast milk is also more easily absorbed and digested by babies compared to formula. Of course the practicality of breastfeeding is also a plus; it’s available anytime, it’s always a suitable temperature and it’s free. It also has health benefits for mum as it speeds up metabolism and helps in losing excess weight after childbirth. Studies have also shown that breast feeding yields a protective effect in mums against developing premenopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis (Kumar, 2012). Theories about Bottle Feeding Bottle feeding is an option many mothers choose. Very often, mothers simply are not comfortable breast feeding and turn to bottle feeding as an alternative. Nowadays, commercially prepared infant formulas are of a very high nutritional quality and are designed to mimic breast milk as much as possible (LICH Paediatrics, 2011). Though most feeding theories recommend the breast over the bottle, they do still acknowledge the many advantages bottle feeding offers. It is convenient and flexible, and makes public feeding an easier and less worrisome event for some mothers compared to breast feeding. It can also be pre-prepared when needed and the fact that anyone can bottle feed the baby means that mum does not need to be present at all feeding sessions, which is especially relevant to busy or working mothers.. However, it is important to remember that is has been proven that formula cannot match the nutritional composition of breast milk. Studies have even found an association between artificial formula feeding and an increased risk of childhood cancer (Kumar, 2012). Other studies have suggested that artificial feeding increases the risk of some medical conditions such as celiac disease, compared to breast fed babies. More practical disadvantages are that it is also the more expensive feeding method, costing new mums anywhere up to ?80 per week. What Do Most Mothers Go For And Why? It seems that the majority of new mothers in the UK choose to breast feed. The NHS (2011) reported that initial breastfeeding rates in 2010 were 83% in England, 74% in Scotland, 71% in Wales, and 64% in Northern Ireland. It also re ported a significant increase in breastfeeding since 2005. The fact that more and more research supports breast feeding over formula, and society is slowly becoming more comfortable with the naturalness of breast feeding, means that an increasing number of women see breast feeding as the best choice for them and for their baby. It is also interesting to note that the Milupa Aptamil

Game Development Essay Example for Free

Game Development Essay Once upon a time, the peaceful Kingdom of Greenland was invaded by the unexplained monster ruled by a tyrannous Garviod who was famous for his black magic. The beautiful Kingdom fell into ruin and despair. The inhabitants become an unexplainable creature. Some are became plants, trees, animals and those who are unkind to the nature became stones, garbage and monsters. Unfortunately, one of the inhabitants that have been transformed by a black magic was the old Prophet living in a cage and he became an old Tree. According to his prophecy, there will be a simple gardener who will have the power to fight the monsters in the Kingdom. The old prophet Tree traveled to find the man on his prophecy. As he traveled, he found Seedy. Humble and loving nature gardener who was transform to a seed. The old Tree gives him a map to find the treasure of X-lost. Then he said, â€Å"That the only way to break the evil spell and return the inhabitants of Greenland into normal was the magical light hidden in the treasure of X-lost.† But the ruling monsters Garviod heard about the magical treasure of X-lost and he keeps the treasure in one if his castle. Seedy humbly vowed to rescue the Kingdom and he started his journey to find the treasure of X-lost in the Castle of Garviod. Could Seedy overcome the many obstacles facing him and became a true hero? Let’s find it in the â€Å"Adventure of Seedy†. 1.2 Statement of the Problem The following problems were identified: 1. In many computer games, others kids are rewarded for being more violent. The child practicing violence in his own like killing, stabbing and shooting. 2. Some computer games are teaching kids a wrong values. 3. Some of games are simply for entertainment. 1.3Objectives The aims of the study are: 1. To development a game that would not portray violence. Rather than using a objects that represents violence, the proponent will design an object that are simple yet related to the environment. 2. To design a game that will teach the kids/user the value of environment. 3. To develop a game that makes learning fun not only to entertain. The items, weapons and object in the game are design next to the concept of environment.

Free Essays - Animal Farm As A Social Criticism :: Animal Farm

Animal Farm As A Social Criticism Writers often use social criticism in their books to show corruptness or weak points of a group in society. One way of doing this is allegory which is a story in which figures and actions are symbols of general truths. George Orwell is an example of an author who uses allegory to show a social criticism effectively. As in his novel Animal Farm, Orwell makes a parody of Soviet Communism as demonstrated by Animal Farm's brutal totalitarian rule, manipulated and exploited working class, and the pigs' evolution into the capitalists they initially opposed. Totalitarianism is a political regime based on subordination of the individual to the state and strict control of all aspects of life. It was used by Stalin and the Bolsheviks in Russia during the 1920's and 30's and is parodied in Animal Farm by Napoleon, the "almighty" leader, and his fellow pigs and their ridiculous propaganda and rigorous rule. In the book, Napoleon is deified and made superior to all other animals on the farm, for example he is called emperor or leader while everyone else was referred to as a "comrade", and all the pigs were given higher authority then the rest of the animals. An inequality between the pigs and rest of the farm was that the pigs lived in the farm house while the other majority had to sleep in pastures. A certain pig Squealer who could "turn black into white" was in charge of propaganda, and he would often change the commandments of the farm so that they would fit the actions of Napoleon or the "upper class" of the farm which was supposedly c lassless. For example, at one time a commandment read "No animal shall drink alcohol"(P. 75), but soon after Napoleon drank an abundance and almost died the commandment was changed to "No animal shall drink to excess." which made it seem as though Napoleon was within the rules. Another instance where Napoleon showed severe rule was when everyone on the farm who had either pledged for or showed support at one time for Snowball, the exiled former leader, was executed on the spot. This act was a humorous resemblance of The Great Purge in Russia where all opposition was killed off. The governing system of the Animal Farm was truly corrupt, but it did not stop with the propaganda and executions. At first on the Animal Farm, it was promised to the majority of the animals who were neither Napoleon or a pig, or the so-called "working class", that "from each according to his ability to each according to his needs", no more, no less.

Graduation Speech: Are We There Yet? -- Graduation Speech, Commencemen

Are we there yet? I have asked this question many times on road trips, only to hear the answer, "It's only one more mile, I promise." Of course, our destination was never just one more mile. It seemed as though we would never reach our destination. The one idea I neglected by asking the question, "Are we there yet?" is the notion that it's not the destination that is important, but the journey itself. We are part of a journey that has been progressing since the beginning of time. However, we as a society always seem to be looking past the present to some climactic end -- the finish line, the future, when in reality, there is no finish line. Society always looks to the future for the answers to today's problems, believing that the future holds something exciting that the present lacks. This is not the way we should be thinking! We should be asking ourselves, "What finish line are we hoping to arrive to?" Or better yet, "Do we want to arrive at a finish line at all?" Seriously, did we ever hope for Cameron McLaughlin to reach the end of his experimentation with his clothes? I mys...

Is the Successful Reform of the United Nations Security

Reform of the United Nations Security Council has the support of the majority of the member states; theoretically, there is consensus on the issue. Ideas for reform include expansion of the number of permanent members of the Security Council and extending the veto powers currently held by the permanent members. However, this consensus has so far proved illusory, because agreement only exists in a vague form. When the debate is teased out it emerges that there is a lot of differing views on what reforms should take place and which states they should include. This essay aims to argue that UNSC reform is not possible because no consensus exists on who enlargement should include and whether the P-5 should remain the only veto holders. It is the intention of this essay to tiptoe through this political minefield and ultimately to argue that the Security Council must become more representative – that more members should be admitted to better reflect the world and the diverse opinions therein. The purpose of the United Nations is to bring the states of the world together in one place to resolve international issues and there can be no greater issue than that of security; it is imperative that the UNSC reflects world opinion not a minority of states. The proposed ideas for reform are mainly concerning expansion of the UNSC’s membership. It is argued by many that the power wielded by the P-5 is disproportionate and that this does not fairly reflect the world. As Kofi Annan stated: â€Å"in the eyes of much of the world, the size and composition of the Security Council appear insufficiently representative. (Annan 2002, quoted by Fassbender 2004, p. 341). Latin America, Africa and large parts of Asia and the Caribbean all lack a permanent member and that leaves these regions underrepresented in terms of UNSC security policy. It is felt that permanent membership and crucially the veto should be extended to states from these regions of the world. That no longer should the P-5 have such a crucial say in the security of the world, that these powers should be opened up to other states in other parts of the world. The other criticisms of the UNSC P-5 are that although they were the preminent powers in 1945 this is no longer the case. This criticism largely falls upon the UK and France and Russia who in 1945 were global empires but now longer are nowhere near as powerful and influential as they used to be. That there are now many states in the world that can equal the economic and military powers of the UK, France and Russia. It is argued that the UNSC should better represent the great powers of today rather than those of over sixty years ago. There is some consensus and support for the idea of expansion. However, many states put forward provisos with their messages of support. The United States is concerned that new members should be economically powerful with a large population and has a solid history in terms of democracy and human rights. The joint British-French statement argued the need for representation for Africa and quizzically did not put forward an African candidate and instead named their choices; Germany, Brazil, India and Japan (Joint UK- France Declaration, 2008). India expressed the need for the UNSC to also include developing states and that increase of permanent and non-permanent members was necessary. (India and the United Nations; UN Reform. ) Brazil argued that the UNSC does not represent today’s world and the limited number of states in its current composition was not a multilateral approach. The debate about veto reform is a non event as none of the P-5 will accept any reform to their veto rights (Rath, 2006, p. 59). There does not seem any way the P-5 could be stripped off the veto without their compliance and without a fundamental change in attitude, veto reform is impossible. The question of who should become new members of an enlarged Security Council is a very divisive issue. For every likely candidate there are several detractors as well as supporters. The most prominent candidates for becoming permanent members are the G-4 consisting of Japan, Germany, India and Brazil. These four are all seen as contributing generously to the UN and all have either large populations or economies. However, the most fundamental criticism of the G-4 is that it although it does expand the Council it still neglects a permanent seat for an African state. It also further weighs the Security Council with more industrialised rich countries (Bourantonis, 2005, p. 69). The group Uniting for Consensus actively argues against the accession of the G-4 to the UNSC and instead argues for an increase of non-permanent members. Uniting for Consensus is often seen as being driven by member states regional rivalries; Italy’s opposition to Germany’s bid is one example. Indeed, all of the G-4 have opponents, in South American it is argued primarily by Argentina that Portuguese speaking Brazil can not represent the rest of the Spanish speaking continent. Not all the criticisms of these candidates are to do with regional rivalries; the US was publicly supportive of Germany’s bid but the souring of relations over Iraq prompted Washington to change policy (Fassbender, 2004, p. 342). The issue of who supports who and why is a complicated issue but these examples stand to show that there is very little consensus amongst states about who might join a reformed UNSC and is the reason reform debate is so deadlocked. Reform of the Security Council is possible but will be very difficult; selecting members for expansion will prove divisive in international politics. The desirability of reform has been covered to some extent above with the need to better represent the world in the Security Council but the main issue for debate in this regard is the effect expansion could have on the workings of the UNSC. The argument against expansion conceptually posits that a Security Council with too many members loses its executive function. That the whole idea of this tier of the UN system is to have a few powerful and influential states to act together decisively. Thus enlargement -particularly of the veto- would cause more division among UNSC members and render the Council prone to deadlock, based on the simple logic that it is easier to get a smaller group to agree collectively than it is a larger group. The oft cited example is the failings of the League of Nations which was constantly paralysed by the need for unanimity among members to act (Weiss, 2003, p. 148). Although conceptually it is easy to argue this case, it does require some qualification with examples and there is an argument to be made that the UNSC is not at the moment a decisive body which has little to do with its size (Lund, 2010). Whether enlargement would make the UNSC more or less efficient depends upon whether we consider the current incarnation to be so. A better argument for enlargement not making the Council a committee was made by the German diplomat Dr. Gunter Pleuger, stating that enlargement of NATO had not made that body less effective which now include one more state, 26 than the proposed UNSC increase to 25 (Pleuger, 2005). This is a good example of an international body being able to act in concert whilst having a large membership, but NATO and the UN are very different. NATO members all share sympathetic policy goals and to some extent would consider themselves allies. However, the present P-5 alone or with the G-4 are not allies in great sense and although they might all support the idea of international peace and security they would have a much larger difference of viewpoint on conflicts than NATO. In conclusion, reform of the Security Council would require substantial work to be achieved and does risk souring of relations around the world. The prospect that the veto will be abolished seems very remote, whether new permanent members might have the veto extended to them is tied up with the question of the possibility of enlargement. So many factors remain to be agreed over reform, expansion is not possible without widespread consensus over the shape and size of a new Security Council. If those debates were resolved then the world could look to deciding candidates, another set of hard choices. To definitively state that reform is possible or is not possible is in itself impossible. There are arguments to be made for and against reform, we will have to wait and see what happens. Perhaps the more important part of the question is the desirability of reform, this in its vague sense does have some consensus in international politics. There does need to be a widening of the members of the Security Council; it does need to better represent the world. How this can be effectively implemented is where the debate really starts. The prospect of a deadlocked Security Council, paralysed by a lack of consensus among members is not desirable. Certainly, the simple solution to this would be to abolish the veto and rely upon a majority vote to pass resolutions, however this is not even vaguely a possibility. It is quite possible that an enlarged Security Council could be able to act decisively but it would certainly be a risky experiment and is therefore too much of a risk to take seriously. Desirable reform of the Security Council would require an overhaul and rethink of the whole system. Bibliography http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/228-topics/48674-pros-and-cons-of-security-council-reform.html

Haverwood Furniture Essay

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A Juggling Act Essay

Anna feels dissatisfied with her level of contribution COMPARED to other managers. * Has a tendency to compare herself to those people around her. 3. Anna has 18 month old daughter. 4. Anna feels constant conflict between desire to surpass client expectations and her commitment to being a good mother. 5. Unsure what she wants in life. Anna is performing at a 100% within her 60% capacity, while she views others at 120% at 100% capacity, yet still feels like she isn’t measuring up. 7. Not being able to meet desired family life even with reduced work life. 8. Anna wants to be successful in every area of life— not just her career. 9. Church meeting made her realize she needs to look at her health gauges and set GOALS as to what she really wants in life. Symptoms The following symptoms (evidence) show that Anna is facing a serious problem 1. Feeling like a â€Å"star† again lead to her feeling guilty for not providing Kristin with enough dedicated time at home 2. Felt impatient during social interactions, when she used to be very social in the work place. 3. No longer taking lunch breaks. 4. Still feels pressure, even though only being paid 60% and working a lot of extra hours 5. Comparing herself to full-time workers, even though she is part-time 6. Felt like she had no one close to her who could really relate to her situation and provide her with the support she needed. 7. Reluctant to contact someone she didn’t know to obtain the support she needed. 8. Feels like she can’t keep all the balls (work life, social life, and mother life) in the air right now and anticipates a burn out if something does not change in the immediate future. 9. Chris (Anna’s husband) noticed her high stress level may be what was affecting her sleep, eating, patience level and emotional stability Underlying Problems 1. Anna is constantly comparing herself with individuals that are not operating under the same conditions (full-time vs. part-time, family vs. single). 2. A lack of clear, defined goals in her job. Management needs to provide Anna with specific, relevant and challenging goals, so that she stays motivated and has a feeling of accomplishment (meeting all goals/expectations). 3. Overload with work. From the key conversations I noticed that they were always asking her to do extra projects in addition to her current duties that required 100% work in a 60% capacity. 4. Anna is unsure exactly what she wants more out of life. Advance her career or advance her motherly duties. Is in a constant conflict in choosing between the two and feels she is failing at one when she succeeds in the other.

Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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Theory and Analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Research study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Miss.Independent Essay Example for Free

Miss.Independent Essay Abstract We survey the phenomenon of the growth of ? rms drawing on literature from economics, management, and sociology. We begin with a review of empirical ‘stylised facts’ before discussing theoretical contributions. Firm growth is characterized by a predominant stochastic element, making it di? cult to predict. Indeed, previous empirical research into the determinants of ? rm growth has had a limited success. We also observe that theoretical propositions concerning the growth of ? rms are often amiss. We conclude that progress in this area requires solid empirical work, perhaps making use of novel statistical techniques. JEL codes: L25, L11 Keywords: Firm Growth, Size Distribution, Growth Rates Distribution, Gibrat’s Law, Theory of the Firm, Diversi? cation, ‘Stages of Growth’ models. ? I thank Giulio Bottazzi, Giovanni Dosi, Ha? da El-Younsi, Jacques Mairesse, Bernard Paulr? , Rekha Rao, e Angelo Secchi and Ulrich Witt for helpful comments. Nevertheless, I am solely responsible for any errors or confusion that may remain. This version: May 2007 †  Corresponding Author : Alex Coad, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany. Phone: +49 3641 686822. Fax : +49 3641 686868. E-mail : [emailprotected] mpg. de 1 #0703 Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Empirical evidence on ? rm growth 2. 1 Size and growth rates distributions . . . . 2. 1. 1 Size distributions . . . . . . . . . . 2. 1. 2 Growth rates distributions . . . . . 2. 2 Gibrat’s Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 1 Gibrat’s model . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 2 Firm size and average growth . . . 2. 2. 3 Firm size and growth rate variance 2. 2. 4 Autocorrelation of growth rates . . 2. 3 Other determinants of ? rm growth . . . . 2. 3. 1 Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 2 Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 3 Financial performance . . . . . . . 2. 3. 4 Relative productivity . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 5 Other ? rm-speci? c factors . . . . . 2. 3. 6 Industry-speci? c factors . . . . . . 2. 3. 7 Macroeconomic factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 4 5 9 9 11 14 15 18 18 19 23 25 26 28 29 3 Theoretical contributions 3. 1 Neoclassical foundations – growth towards an ‘optimal size’ . . . . 3. 2 Penrose’s ‘Theory of the Growth of the Firm’ . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 3 Marris and ‘managerialism’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 4 Evolutionary Economics and the principle of ‘growth of the ? tter’ 3. 5 Population ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 31 32 34 35 38 . . . . . . . 39 39 40 43 44 45 46 49 5 Growth of small and large ? rms 5. 1 Di? erences in growth patterns for small and large ? rms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 2 Modelling the ‘stages of growth’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 51 53 6 Conclusion 56 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Growth strategies 4. 1 Attitudes to growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 1. 1 The desirability of growth . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 1. 2 Is growth intentional or does it ‘just happen’ ? 4. 2 Growth strategies – replication or diversi? cation . . . 4. 2. 1 Growth by replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. 2 Growth by diversi? cation . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3 Internal growth vs growth by acquisition . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #0703 1 Introduction The aim of this survey is to provide an overview of research into the growth of ? rms, while also highlighting areas in need of further research. It is a multidisciplinary survey, drawing on contributions made in economics, management and also sociology. There are many di? erent measures of ? rm size, some of the more usual indicators being employment, total sales, value-added, total assets, or total pro? ts; and some of the less conventional ones such as ‘acres of land’ or ‘head of cattle’ (Weiss, 1998). In this survey we consider growth in terms of a range of indicators, although we devote little attention to the growth of pro? ts (this latter being more of a ? nancial than an economic variable). There are also di? erent ways of measuring growth rates. Some authors (such as Delmar et al. , 2003) make the distinction between relative growth (i. e. the growth rate in percentage terms) and absolute growth (usually measured in the absolute increase in numbers of employees). In this vein, we can mention the ‘Birch index’ which is a weighted average of both relative and absolute growth rates (this latter being taken into account to emphasize that large ? rms, due to their large size, have the potential to create many jobs). This survey focuses on relative growth rates only. Furthermore, in our discussion of the processes of expansion we emphasize positive growth and not so much negative growth. 1 In true Simonian style,2 we begin with some empirical insights in Section 2, considering ? rst the distributions of size and growth rates, and moving on to look for determinants of growth rates. We then present some theories of ? rm growth and evaluate their performance in explaining the stylised facts that emerge from empirical work (Section 3). In Section 4 we consider the demand and supply sides of growth by discussing the attitudes of ? rms towards growth opportunities as well as investigating the processes by which ? rms actually grow (growth by ‘more of the same’, growth by diversi? cation, growth by acquisition). In Section 5 we examine the di? erences between the growth of small and large ? rms in greater depth. We also review the ‘stages of growth’ models. Section 6 concludes. 2 Empirical evidence on ? rm growth To begin with, we take a non-parametric look at the distributions of ? rm size and growth rates, before moving on to results from regressions that investigate the determinants of growth rates. 1 2 For an introduction to organizational decline, see Whetten (1987). See in particular Simon (1968). 3 #0703 2. 1 Size and growth rates distributions A suitable starting point for studies into industrial structure and dynamics is the ?rm size distribution. In fact, it was by contemplating the empirical size distribution that Robert Gibrat (1931) proposed the well-known ‘Law of Proportionate E? ect’ (also known as ‘Gibrat’s law’). We also discuss the results of research into the growth rates distribution. The regularity that ? rm growth rates are approximately exponentially distributed was discovered only recently, but o? ers unique insights into the growth patterns of ? rms. 2. 1. 1 Size distributions The observation that the ? rm-size distribution is positively skewed proved to be a useful point of entry for research into the structure of industries. (See Figures 1 and 2 for some examples of aggregate ? rm size distributions. ) Robert Gibrat (1931) considered the size of French ? rms in terms of employees and concluded that the lognormal distribution was a valid heuristic. Hart and Prais (1956) presented further evidence on the size distribution, using data on quoted UK ? rms, and also concluded in favour of a lognormal model. The lognormal distribution, however, can be viewed as just one of several candidate skew distributions. Although Simon and Bonini (1958) maintained that the â€Å"lognormal generally ? ts quite well† (1958: p611), they preferred to consider the lognormal distribution as a special case in the wider family of ‘Yule’ distributions. The advantage of the Yule family of distributions was that the phenomenon of arrival of new ? rms could be incorporated into the model. Steindl (1965) applied Austrian data to his analysis of the ? rm size distribution, and preferred the Pareto distribution to the lognormal on account of its superior performance in describing the upper tail of the distribution. Similarly, Ijiri and Simon (1964, 1971, 1974) apply the Pareto distribution to analyse the size distribution oflarge US ? rms. E? orts have been made to discriminate between the various candidate skew distributions. One problem with the Pareto distribution is that the empirical density has many more middlesized ? rms and fewer very large ? rms than would be theoretically predicted (Vining, 1976). Other research on the lognormal distribution has shown that the upper tail of the empirical size distribution of ? rms is too thin relative to the lognormal (Stanley et al. , 1995). Quandt (1966) compares the performance of the lognormal and three versions of the Pareto distribution, using data disaggregated according to industry. He reports the superiority of the lognormal over the three types of Pareto distribution, although each of the distributions produces a best-? t for at least one sample. Furthermore, it may be that some industries (e. g. the footwear industry) are not ? tted well by any distribution. More generally, Quandt’s results on disaggregated data lead us to suspect that the regu4 #0703 larities of the ? rm-size distribution observed at the aggregate level do not hold with sectoral disaggregation. Silberman (1967) also ? nds signi? cant departures from lognormality in his analysis of 90 four-digit SIC sectors. It has been suggested that, while the ? rm size distribution has a smooth regular shape at the aggregate level, this may merely be due to a statistical aggregation e? ect rather than a phenomenon bearing any deeper economic meaning (Dosi et al, 1995; Dosi, 2007). Empirical results lend support to these conjectures by showing that the regular unimodal ? rm size distributions observed at the aggregate level can be decomposed into much ‘messier’ distributions at the industry level, some of which are visibly multimodal (Bottazzi and Secchi, 2003; Bottazzi et al. , 2005). For example, Bottazzi and Secchi (2005) present evidence of signi? cant bimodality in the ? rm size distribution of the worldwide pharmaceutical industry, and relate this to a cleavage between the industry leaders and fringe competitors. Other work on the ? rm-size distribution has focused on the evolution of the shape of the distribution over time. It would appear that the initial size distribution for new ? rms is particularly right-skewed, although the log-size distribution tends to become more symmetric as time goes by. This is consistent with observations that small young ? rms grow faster than their larger counterparts. As a result, it has been suggested that the log-normal can be seen as a kind of ‘limit distribution’ to which a given cohort of ? rms will eventually converge. Lotti and Santarelli (2001) present support for this hypothesis by tracking cohorts of new ? rms in several sectors of Italian manufacturing. Cabral and Mata (2003) ? nd similar results in their analysis of cohorts of new Portuguese ? rms. However, Cabral and Mata interpret their results by referring to ? nancial constraints that restrict the scale of operations for new ? rms, but become less binding over time, thus allowing these small ?rms to grow relatively rapidly and reach their preferred size. They also argue that selection does not have a strong e? ect on the evolution of market structure. Although the skewed nature of the ? rm size distribution is a robust ? nding, there may be some other features of this distribution that are speci? c to countries. Table 1, taken from Bartelsman et al. (2005), highlights some di? erences in the structure of industries across countries. Among other things, one observes that large ? rms account for a considerable share of French industry, whereas in Italy ? rms tend to be much smaller on average. (These international di? erences cannot simply be attributed to di? erences in sectoral specialization across countries. ) 2. 1. 2 Growth rates distributions It has long been known that the distribution of ? rm growth rates is fat-tailed. In an early contribution, Ashton (1926) considers the growth patterns of British textile ? rms and observes 5 US 86. 7 69. 9 87. 9 16. 6 5. 8 Western Germany 87. 9 77. 9 90. 2 23. 6 11. 3 78. 6 73. 6 78. 8 13. 9 17. 0 France Italy 93. 1 87. 5 96. 5 34. 4 30. 3 74. 9 8. 3 UK Canada Denmark 90. 0 74. 0 90. 8 30. 2 16. 1 92. 6 84. 8 94. 5 25. 8 13. 0 Finland Netherlands 95. 8 86. 7 96. 8 31. 2 16. 9 86. 3 70. 5 92. 8 27. 7 15. 7 Portugal Source: Bartelsman et al. (2005: Tables 2 and 3). Notes: the columns labelled ‘share of employment’ refer to the employment share 6 26. 4 17. 0 33. 5 10. 5 12. 7 13. 3 13. 0 6. 5 16. 8 Total economy 80. 3 39. 1 32. 1 15. 3 40. 7 40. 5 30. 4 27. 8 18. 3 31. 0 Manufacturing 21. 4 11. 5 35. 7 6. 8 12. 0 12. 7 9. 9 5. 3 11. 4 Business services Ave. No. Employees per ? rm of ? rms with fewer than 20 employees. 20. 6 33. 8 12. 1 46. 3 33. 4 33. 0 41. 9 39. 8 Business services Total economy Manufacturing Share of employment (%) Business services Total economy. Manufacturing Absolute number (%) Table 1: The importance of small ? rms (i. e. ?rms with fewer than 20 employees) across broad sectors and countries, 1989-94 #0703 #0703 1 Pr 1998 2000 2002 0. 1 0. 01 0. 001 1e-04 -4 -2 0 s 2 4 6 Figure 1: Kernel estimates of the density of ?rm size (total sales) in 1998, 2000 and 2002, for French manufacturing ? rms with more than 20 employees. Source: Bottazzi et al. , 2005. Figure 2: Probability density function of the sizes of US manufacturing ? rms in 1997. Source: Axtell, 2001. that â€Å"In their growth they obey no one law. A few apparently undergo a steady expansion.. . With others, increase in size takes place by a sudden leap† (Ashton 1926: 572-573). Little (1962) investigates the distribution of growth rates, and also ? nds that the distribution is fat-tailed. Similarly, Geroski and Gugler (2004) compare the distribution of growth rates to the normal case and comment on the fat-tailed nature of the empirical density. Recent empirical research, from an ‘econophysics’ background, has discovered that the distribution of ? rm growth rates closely follows the parametric form of the Laplace density. Using the Compustat database of US manufacturing ? rms, Stanley et al. (1996) observe a ‘tent-shaped’ distribution on log-log plots that corresponds to the symmetric exponential, or Laplace distribution (see also Amaral et al. (1997) and Lee et al. (1998)). The quality of the ? t of the empirical distribution to the Laplace density is quite remarkable. The Laplace distribution is also found to be a rather useful representation when considering growth rates of ? rms in the worldwide pharmaceutical industry (Bottazzi et al. , 2001). Giulio Bottazzi and coauthors extend these ? ndings by considering the Laplace density in the wider context of the family of Subbotin distributions (beginning with Bottazzi et al., 2002). They ? nd that, for the Compustat database, the Laplace is indeed a suitable distribution for modelling ? rm growth rates, at both aggregate and disaggregated levels of analysis (Bottazzi and Secchi 2003a). The exponential nature of the distribution of growth rates also holds for other databases, such as Italian manufacturing (Bottazzi et al. (2007)). In addition, the exponential distribution appears to hold across a variety of ? rm growth indicators, such as Sales growth, employment growth or Value Added growth (Bottazzi et al. , 2007). The growth rates of French manufacturing ? rms have also been studied, and roughly speaking a similar shape was observed, although it must be said that the empirical density was noticeably fatter-tailed than the Laplace (see Bottazzi et al. , 2005). 3 3 The observed subbotin b parameter (the ‘shape’ parameter) is signi? cantly lower than the Laplace value of 1. This highlights the importance of following Bottazzi et al. (2002) and considering the Laplace as a special 7 #0703 1998 2000 2002 1998 2000 2002 1 prob. prob. 1 0. 1 0. 01 0. 1 0. 01 0. 001 0. 001 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 -2 -1. 5 -1 conditional growth rate -0. 5 0 0. 5 1 1. 5 2 conditional growth rate. Figure 3: Distribution of sales growth rates of French manufacturing ? rms. Source: Bottazzi et al. , 2005. Figure 4: Distribution of employment growth rates of French manufacturing ? rms. Source: Coad, 2006b. Research into Danish manufacturing ? rms presents further evidence that the growth rate distribution is heavy-tailed, although it is suggested that the distribution for individual sectors may not be symmetric but right-skewed (Reichstein and Jensen (2005)). Generally speaking, however, it would appear that the shape of the growth rate distribution is more robust to disaggregation than the shape of the ?rm size distribution. In other words, whilst the smooth shape of the aggregate ? rm size distribution may be little more than a statistical aggregation e? ect, the ‘tent-shapes’ observed for the aggregate growth rate distribution are usually still visible even at disaggregated levels (Bottazzi and Secchi, 2003a; Bottazzi et al. , 2005). This means that extreme growth events can be expected to occur relatively frequently, and make a disproportionately large contribution to the evolution of industries. Figures 3 and 4 show plots of the distribution of sales and employment growth rates for French manufacturing ?rms with over 20 employees. Although research suggests that both the size distribution and the growth rate distribution are relatively stable over time, it should be noted that there is great persistence in ? rm size but much less persistence in growth rates on average (more on growth rate persistence is presented in Section 2. 2. 4). As a result, it is of interest to investigate how the moments of the growth rates distribution change over the business cycle. Indeed, several studies have focused on these issues and some preliminary results can be mentioned here. It has been suggested that the variance of growth rates changes over time for the employment growth of large US ? rms (Hall, 1987) and that this variance is procyclical in the case of growth of assets (Geroski et al. , 2003). This is consistent with the hypothesis that ? rms have a lot of discretion in their growth rates of assets during booms but face stricter discipline during recessions. Higson et al. (2002, 2004) consider the evolution of the ? rst four moments of distributions of the growth of sales, for large US and UK ?rms over periods of 30 years or more. They observe that higher moments of the distribution of sales growth rates have signi? cant cyclical patterns. In case in the Subbotin family of distributions. 8 #0703 particular, evidence from both US and UK ? rms suggests that the variance and skewness are countercyclical, whereas the kurtosis is pro-cyclical. Higson et al. (2002: 1551) explain the counter-cyclical movements in skewness in these words: â€Å"The central mass of the growth rate distribution responds more strongly to the aggregate shock than the tails. So a negative shock moves the central mass closer to the left of the distribution leaving the right tail behind and generates positive skewness. A positive shock shifts the central mass to the right, closer to the group of rapidly growing ? rms and away from the group of declining ? rms. So negative skewness results. † The procyclical nature of kurtosis (despite their puzzling ? nding of countercyclical variance) emphasizes that economic downturns change the shape of the growth rate distribution by reducing a key parameter of the ‘spread’ or ‘variation’ between ? rms. 2. 2 Gibrat’s Law. Gibrat’s law continues to receive a huge amount of attention in the empirical industrial organization literature, more than 75 years after Gibrat’s (1931) seminal publication. We begin by presenting the ‘Law’, and then review some of the related empirical literature. We do not attempt to provide an exhaustive survey of the literature on Gibrat’s law, because the number of relevant studies is indeed very large. (For other reviews of empirical tests of Gibrat’s Law, the reader is referred to the survey by Lotti et al (2003); for a survey of how Gibrat’s law holds for the services sector see Audretsch et al. (2004). ) Instead, we try to provide an overview of the essential results. We investigate how expected growth rates and growth rate variance are in? uenced by ? rm size, and also investigate the possible existence of patterns of serial correlation in ? rm growth. 2. 2. 1 Gibrat’s model Robert Gibrat’s (1931) theory of a ‘law of proportionate e? ect’ was hatched when he observed that the distribution of French manufacturing establishments followed a skew distribution that resembled the lognormal. Gibrat considered the emergence of the ?rm-size distribution as an outcome or explanandum and wanted to see which underlying growth process could be responsible for generating it. In its simplest form, Gibrat’s law maintains that the expected growth rate of a given ? rm is independent of its size at the beginning of the period examined. Alternatively, as Mans? eld (1962: 1030) puts it, â€Å"the probability of a given proportionate change in size during a speci? ed 9 #0703 period is the same for all ? rms in a given industry – regardless of their size at the beginning of the period. † More formally, we can explain the growth of ? rms in the following framework. Let xt be the size of a ? rm at time t, and let ? t be random variable representing an idiosyncratic, multiplicative growth shock over the period t ? 1 to t. We have xt ? xt? 1 = ? t xt? 1 (1) xt = (1 + ? t )xt? 1 = x0 (1 + ? 1 )(1 + ? 2 ) . . . (1 + ? t ) (2) which can be developed to obtain It is then possible to take logarithms in order to approximate log(1 + ? t ) by ? t to obtain4 t log(xt ) ? log(x0 ) + ? 1 + ? 2 + . . . + ? t = log(x0 ) + ?s (3) s=1 In the limit, as t becomes large, the log(x0 ) term will become insigni? cant, and we obtain t log(xt ) ? ?s (4) s=1 In this way, a ? rm’s size at time t can be explained purely in terms of its idiosyncratic history of multiplicative shocks. If we further assume that all ? rms in an industry are independent realizations of i. i. d. normally distributed growth shocks, then this stochastic process leads to the emergence of a lognormal ? rm size distribution. There are of course several serious limitations to such a simple vision of industrial dynamics. We have already seen that the distribution of growth rates is not normally distributed, but instead resembles the Laplace or ‘symmetric exponential’. Furthermore, contrary to results implied by Gibrat’s model, it is not reasonable to suppose that the variance of ? rm size tends to in? nity (Kalecki, 1945). In addition, we do not observe the secular and unlimited increase in industrial concentration that would be predicted by Gibrat’s law (Caves, 1998). Whilst a ‘weak’ version of Gibrat’s law merely supposes that expected growth rate is independent of ?rm size, stronger versions of Gibrat’s law imply a range of other issues. For example, Chesher (1979) rejects Gibrat’s law due to the existence of an autocorrelation structure in the growth shocks. Bottazzi and Secchi (2006a) reject Gibrat’s law on the basis of a negative relationship between growth rate variance and ? rm size. Reichstein and Jensen (2005) reject Gibrat’s law 4 This logarithmic approximation is only justi? ed if ? t is ‘small’ enough (i. e. close to zero), which can be reasonably assumed by taking a short time period (Sutton, 1997). 10 #0703after observing that the annual growth rate distribution is not normally distributed. 2. 2. 2 Firm size and average growth Although Gibrat’s (1931) seminal book did not provoke much of an immediate reaction, in recent decades it has spawned a ? ood of empirical work. Nowadays, Gibrat’s ‘Law of Proportionate E? ect’ constitutes a benchmark model for a broad range of investigations into industrial dynamics. Another possible reason for the popularity of research into Gibrat’s law, one could suggest quite cynically, is that it is a relatively easy paper to write. First of all, it has been argued that there is a minimalistic theoretical background behind the process (because growth is assumed to be purely random). Then, all that needs to be done is to take the IO economist’s ‘favourite’ variable (i. e. ?rm size, a variable which is easily observable and readily available) and regress the di? erence on the lagged level. In addition, few control variables are required beyond industry dummies and year dummies, because growth rates are characteristically random. Empirical investigations of Gibrat’s law rely on estimation of equations of the type: log(xt ) = ?+ ? log(xt? 1 ) + (5) where a ? rm’s ‘size’ is represented by xt , ? is a constant term (industry-wide growth trend) and is a residual error. Research into Gibrat’s law focuses on the coe? cient ?. If ? rm growth is independent of size, then ? takes the value of unity. If ? is smaller than one, then smaller ? rms grow faster than their larger counterparts, and we can speak of ‘regression to the mean’. Conversely, if ? is larger than one, then larger ? rms grow relatively rapidly and there is a tendency to concentration and monopoly. A signi?cant early contribution was made by Edwin Mans? eld’s (1962) study of the US steel, petroleum, and rubber tire industries. In particular interest here is what Mans? eld identi? ed as three di? erent renditions of Gibrat’s law. According to the ? rst, Gibrat-type regressions consist of both surviving and exiting ? rms and attribute a growth rate of -100% to exiting ? rms. However, one caveat of this approach is that smaller ? rms have a higher exit hazard which may obfuscate the relationship between size and growth. The second version, on the other hand, considers only those ?rms that survive. Research along these lines has typically shown that smaller ? rms have higher expected growth rates than larger ? rms. The third version considers only those large surviving ? rms that are already larger than the industry Minimum E? cient Scale of production (with exiting ? rms often being excluded from the analysis). Generally speaking, empirical analysis corresponding to this third approach suggests that growth rates are more or less independent from ? rm size, which lends support to Gibrat’s law. 11 #0703 The early studies focused on large ? rms only, presumably partly due to reasons of data availability. A series of papers analyzing UK manufacturing ? rms found a value of ? greater than unity, which would indicate a tendency for larger ? rms to have higher percentage growth rates (Hart (1962), Samuels (1965), Prais (1974), Singh and Whittington (1975)). However, the majority of subsequent studies using more recent datasets have found values of ? slightly lower than unity, which implies that, on average, small ? rms seem to grow faster than larger ? rms. This result is frequently labelled ‘reversion to the mean size’ or ‘mean-reversion’. 5 Among a large and growing body of research that reports a negative relationship between size and growth, we can mention here the work by Kumar (1985) and Dunne and Hughes (1994) for quoted UK manufacturing ? rms, Hall (1987), Amirkhalkhali and Mukhopadhyay (1993) and Bottazzi and Secchi (2003) for quoted US manufacturing ? rms (see also Evans (1987a, 1987b) for US manufacturing ? rms of a somewhat smaller size), Gabe and Kraybill (2002) for establishments in Ohio, and Goddard et al. (2002) for quoted Japanese manufacturing ? rms. Studies focusing on small businesses have also found a negative relationship between ? rm size and expected growth – see for example Yasuda (2005) for Japanese manufacturing ? rms, Calvo (2006) for Spanish manufacturing, McPherson (1996) for Southern African micro businesses, and Wagner (1992) and Almus and Nerlinger (2000) for German manufacturing. Dunne et al. (1989) analyse plant-level data (as opposed to ? rm-level data) and also observe that growth rates decline along size classes. Research into Gibrat’s law using data for speci? c sectors also ? nds that small ? rms grow relatively faster (see e. g. Barron et al. (1994) for New York credit unions, Weiss (1998) for Austrian farms, Liu et al. (1999) for Taiwanese electronics plants, and Bottazzi and Secchi (2005) for an analysis of the worldwide pharmaceutical sector). Indeed, there is a lot of evidence that a slight negative dependence of growth rate on size is present at various levels of industrial aggregation. Although most empirical investigations into Gibrat’s law consider only the manufacturing sector, some have focused on the services sector. The results, however, are often qualitatively similar – there appears to be a negative relationship between size and expected growth rate for services too (see Variyam and Kraybill (1992), Johnson et al. (1999)) Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that in some cases a weak version of Gibrat’s law cannot be convincingly rejected, since there appears to be no signi? cant relationship between expected growth rate and size (see the analyses provided by Bottazzi et al. (2005) for French manufacturing ? rms, Droucopoulos (1983) for the world’s largest ? rms, Hardwick and Adams (2002) for UK Life Insurance companies, and Audretsch et al. (2004) for small-scale Dutch services). Notwithstanding these latter studies, however, we acknowledge that in most cases a negative relationship between ? rm size and growth is observed. Indeed, 5 We should be aware, however, that ‘mean-reversion’ does not imply that ? rms are converging to anything resembling a common steady-state size, even within narrowly-de? ned industries (see in particular the empirical work by Geroski et al. (2003) and Ce? s et al. (2006)). 12 #0703 it is quite common for theoretically-minded authors to consider this to be a ‘stylised fact’ for the purposes of constructing and validating economic models (see for example Cooley and Quadrini (2001), Gomes (2001) and Clementi and Hopenhayn (2006)). Furthermore, John Sutton refers to this negative dependence of growth on size as a ‘statistical regularity’ in his revered survey of Gibrat’s law (Sutton, 1997: 46). A number of researchers maintain that Gibrat’s law does hold for ? rms above a certain size threshold. This corresponds to acceptance of Gibrat’s law according to Mans? eld’s third rendition, although ‘mean reversion’ leads us to reject Gibrat’s Law as described in Mans? eld’s second rendition. Mowery (1983), for example, analyzes two samples of ? rms, one of which contains small ? rms while the other contains large ? rms. Gibrat’s law is seen to hold in the latter sample, whereas mean reversion is observed in the former. Hart and Oulton (1996) consider a large sample of UK ? rms and ? nd that, whilst mean reversion is observed in the pooled data, a decomposition of the sample according to size classes reveals essentially no relation between size and growth for the larger ? rms. Lotti et al. (2003) follow a cohort of new Italian startups and ? nd that, although smaller ? rms initially grow faster, it becomes more di? cult to reject the independence of size and growth as time passes. Similarly, results reported by Becchetti and Trovato (2002) for Italian manufacturing ? rms, Geroski and Gugler (2004) for large European ? rms and Ce? s et al. (2006) for the worldwide pharmaceutical industry also ? nd that the growth of large ? rms is independent of their size, although including smaller ? rms in the analysis introduces a dependence of growth on size. It is of interest to remark that Caves (1998) concludes his survey of industrial dynamics with the ‘substantive conclusion’ that Gibrat’s law holds for ? rms above a certain size threshold, whilst for smaller ? rms growth rates decrease with size. Concern about econometric issues has often been raised. Sample selection bias, or ‘sample attrition’, is one of the main problems, because smaller ? rms have a higher probability of exit. Failure to account for the fact that exit hazards decrease with size may lead to underestimation of the regression coe? cient (i. e. ?). Hall (1987) was among the ? rst to tackle the problem of sample selection, using a Tobit model.