The West Pacific Rim.

The West Pacific Rim Some commentators have argued that Japan's Rise to economic supremacy between the 1950's and the 1980's and its economic problems since 1990 can be attributed to Japanese cultural characteristics. Discuss the extent to which you agree with this view. In 1945 Japan was totally ruined but became the 2nd largest economy over a 50 year period. Japan's rise from the devastation of military defeat to the second-largest economy in the world has been exceptional. Under occupational forces, the Japanese Constitution was rewritten, industry was restructured, labour unions encouraged, land reform accomplished, and the nation as a whole demilitarised. Economic aid was given from the United States, this allowed Japanese industry to begin to recover from the devastation of war. By the late 1960's the Japanese economy was more than self-sustaining, and between the 1960's and the early 1990's, Japan experienced an era of unprecedented economic prosperity. All this changed in the 1990's due to an economic crisis. The purpose of this study will be to address if any of the occurrences described above can be attributed to Japanese cultural characteristics. The initial focus of this essay will be the discussion of various definitions of the term 'cultural characteristics'. Once a comprehensive understanding of what this term refers to it will be possible to discuss what is

  • Word count: 4527
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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State and federal wage

State and Federal Systems Paper The following essay will address the differences and similarities between state and federal systems of government in their application of employment laws. Several examples of employment protections that are provided by state systems but not by the federal system will be also provided. In order to understand why some federal laws differ from state laws we must first begin by defining the powers of our government. Federalism is the principle that divides the powers between governments and makes provisions for change within the various levels. The United States Constitution divides some powers between state and federal governments, designates which powers are to be shared, and also disallows some power to each level. The three types of power that are delegated to the federal government by the Constitution are defined as expressed, implied and inherent. The majority of federal laws that apply to employment and labor are inherent powers and are those which give the federal government power to carry out the U.S. Constitution. The powers which the Constitution provides to state governments are known as reserved powers. The 10th Amendment defines reserved powers as those not expressly delegated to the federal government or held by the people not prohibited to the states. (Texas Education Agency Social Studies Center

  • Word count: 1342
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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When analysing a definition of the Caribbean, some take into account the idea of All States washed by the Caribbean Sea. With this in mind it is evident that this definition covers a wider area and as such proposes a wider area for economic integration.

When analysing a definition of the Caribbean, some take into account the idea of All States washed by the Caribbean Sea. With this in mind it is evident that this definition covers a wider area and as such proposes a wider area for economic integration. If one is striving to attain a certain degree of economic integration throughout the Caribbean region, it would be wise if not practical to consider the major characteristics of the region so as to understand it better and so that the interests of all concerned could be sought. Fragmentation is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as the scattering or a certain division. Diversity is a dissimilarity or variety. Consequently, the Caribbean can be described as a system of diverse states. Therefore as by definition the Caribbean represents a wide expanse, two major characteristics with which the region is faced is that of Fragmentation and Diversity. To explain the idea of Fragmentation, one should first recognise the fact that the Caribbean is geographically fragmented. Firstly there is the chain of islands representing the Caribbean as an archipelago. Within this area there is also division as the chain of islands can be categorised into The Lesser Antilles, The Greater Antilles, The Netherlands Antilles and The French Antilles. There exists further divisiveness as these islands are sometimes categorically referred to as

  • Word count: 1138
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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Cigarette Taxes: Effects on the Economy

Cigarette Taxes: Effects on the Economy Tobacco is big business in the United States. Alone, cigarette sales in the United States in 2005 totaled $82 billion (Capehart 2007). Federal cigarette excise tax collections are estimated at $7.4 billion for 2001 (Tobacco Outlook Report, 2003). For governments, tobacco tax revenues have become an integral part of the tax structure, and important for boosting state and federal coffers. This paper will look at the effects of increased cigarette taxes on consumption, government revenues, and employment in the tobacco industries. Law makers like to argue that cigarette taxes are used to reduce consumption. This while partially true does not totally account for the reduction in smokers over the last 24 years (Sahadi 2005). This is due to the fact that the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes is somewhere between -0.3 and -0.5 (see figure 1) (Bradford, 2003; Chan and Capehart 2004). This indicates that the demand curve is inelastic. A ten percent increase in price would reflect as a 3-5% decrease in consumption. This inelasticity is supported by the fact that between November 1998 and April 2002 wholesale manufacturers prices rose eightfold (Tobacco Outlook Report, 2003). During the same time period there was not an eightfold reduction in smokers even taking into account the people that quit for health reasons. Education

  • Word count: 1388
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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Has Urbanisation developed too fast?

Urbanisation has transformed vastly throughout history. Ancient societies, such as China were the first exhibitors of the population trends. Over the last 100 years many developing and developed countries have experienced these rapid urbanisation growth trends. At the turn of the 20th century only 13% of the world's population were urban dwellers. Presently over 3 billion of the world's population, approximately 50%, now habit in urban areas.(1) In the late 19th Century and early 20th century urbanisation was most widely felt in Europe and North America, when many rural settlers migrated to urban areas to seek employment during the industrialisation era. In the past 60 years the rural-urbanisation migration has had a large impact on LDCs. Interestingly GNI per capita tends to be positively associated with urban population. Showing, as countries increase income, they tend to evolve in to urbanisation.(2) What has caused this shift in population demography? Many rural areas in the LDC world experience a significant lack of resources. Often there is little government assistance, jobs are scarce and basic needs are hard to come by. In many rural habitations in the developing world, the population doesn't look far beyond survival. Rural settlers become attracted to the prospect of urban habitation through assumptions of better standard of living, better health care, better

  • Word count: 1373
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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Discussing Linda Mcquaig's article, Lost in the Global Shopping Mall,

"When our cultural voice goes, our independent critical, political voice is silenced as well."1 There is an ongoing argument in this country that free trade is in some way changing our country's values and perspectives in terms of economic policy and social awareness. Along with this argument, there is a feeling that because of our involvement in the FTA and NAFTA, there has been too much priority put on trade and not enough attention put on the citizens needs or concerns which in the past has been the cornerstone of Canadian society. In Linda Mcquaig's article, Lost in the Global Shopping Mall, the argument is made that our involvement in these multinational organization has lead to a loss of individual government sovereignty and more importantly, a shift from social awareness to economic domination. She writes, "We see a growing acceptance of private power, and a willingness to allow the corporate sector to dominate the economic and political spheres."2 It is her belief that free trade has essentially established a new set of international laws to protect "corporate profit-making rights", far and beyond any degree of laws that have been created to protect social, labour, or even human rights. With all that being said, free trade has brought with it many improvements to our society. In assessing the effects of free trade on our economic and social values it must

  • Word count: 1233
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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Studio Based non-Fiction Television Production - The Role of the PA

Studio Based non-Fiction Television Production The Role of the PA Although the production could not happen if one member of the crew were missing, the role of the PA is pivotal. The PA's job is to ensure that the programme runs to the correct time and therefore has to be aware of the exact timing of every piece within that broadcast. The PA must know the exact time of every video feed and the point at which it has to start. This enables a ten second count to be given for the video to have enough time to get up to speed and start at the correct time. The second important aspect concerning the PA and the video feeds is to know the count to the end of the piece. This is essential information for the floor manager to pass onto the presenters and auto-cue operator, this enables the next piece to start as soon as the video feed has finished because all relevant parties know in advance exactly when that point will be. Another task of the PA is to keep track of the times of any live events such as interviews and to make sure that they fill the required time without over-running. Again this information is fed to the floor manager (or directly to the presenters if they have ear pieces.) The outcome of all this meticulous time keeping is that the PA should know exactly how much time the remaining pieces have to fill. This way the PA will know if there is going to be any 'dead'

  • Word count: 1836
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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The organisational change and development of Suffolk confectionary Ltd.

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT SUFFOLK CONFECTIONERY LTD THE ANALYSIS OF THE SYMPTOMS There appears to be a multitude of underlying problems that are consuming the HBS department The department is understood to be the worst in the factory with claims and evidence of bad attitude, poor atmosphere, low motivation and low job satisfaction. Over the past eight years a high turnover of six managers has occurred. This was accompanied with managers not meeting or being told of production targets and usually with high level of wastage. HBS have many interpersonal/intergroup problems within the department. This is not only confined to within inter and intra parts of the packing and production staff but also between the supervisors of both the teams. This is confirmed with the large amount of time consumed by the department manager resolving conflict between both the supervisors in the packing and manufacturing department. The average amount of time consumed by conflict being 25% in private sector and 50% in public (Harvey and Brown, 2001) Although in this case it looks like more than 25% of the managers time is being spent on conflict. Although as we will discuss shortly some conflict may actually be healthy as in the interactionist approach it is apparent that too much may actually provide what G.Morgan terms as "dysfunctional energy". Badly handled competition between

  • Word count: 2208
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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Economics of Development

Economics of Development Economics of Development A) Pick a country or industry in developing world and write in detail about economic history, conditions and problems My essay will be written on the economy of Zimbabwe and how the current economic crisis compares to the one which was one of Africa's strongest. The current state of its economy is best described as being in turmoil mostly due to the dictatorship of its President, Robert Mugabe. I will be discussing how Zimbabwe experienced a successful economy since their independence in 1980 and how the economy has changed to its present state. Zimbabwe is located in Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia with a population of roughly 13 million. The capital is Harare where most of the country's trading and main businesses operate. Zimbabwe was initially the British colony of Southern Rhodesia from the late 1800s until 1965, when its white settlers declared it the state of Rhodesia. Before the arrival of the settlers in the late 19th century, the country's main practice was mixed farming. Its other agriculture industries were gold mining and trade. The arrival of the British led to the growth of the commercial farming sector. By the 1930s, the main product of agriculture was tobacco. Gold mining was successful, but after 1945 the development of a large mining and industrial sector was increasing, due to Southern

  • Word count: 1598
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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The Economic Impact of Health

The Economic Impact of Health September 2007 Prepared by Rowena Buan-Yost Contents Section Page I. Introduction.........................................................................4 II. Health and Poverty.................................................................4 III. Migrant Labor on Health..........................................................6 IV. Importance of Economic Data...................................................8 V. The Economic Valuation of Health.............................................9 A. The Cost of Illness (COI) Approach....................................11 B. The Contingent Valuation (CV) Approach............................11 C. Valuation of a Statistical Life (VSL) Approach......................12 D. Benefits Transfer (BT) Approach........................................13 VI. Economic Impacts of Disease Outbreaks...................................13 VII. Cases of Outbreaks that Impacted the Global Economy A. The SARS Outbreak in East Asia........................................15 B. The Dengue Fever Epidemic.............................................16 C. The Avian Flu Pandemic...................................................17 D. The Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS....................................18 VIII.

  • Word count: 5562
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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