Consumer Behaviour on Social Networking Website

content 1 Background1 2 Motivation and Value2 2. 1 Attributes2 2. 2 Outcomes2 2. 3 Values3 3 Reference group3 3. 1 Aspiration reference group3 3. 2 Informal group4 4 Culture and consumption5 4. 1 Supranational culture5 4. 2 National culture5 4. 3 Subculture5 4. 3. 1 Family6 4. 3. 2 Language6 5 Conclusion6 1 Background Social networking has brought a great change in to the way people build relations with others. These sites are online platforms where users can create profiles to provide personal information, exchange individual ideas and share their interests with the others.Through social networking sites, people can keep in touch with friends despite the long distance and daily bustle. In this way, networking sites change the old communication pattern that people used to communicate face to face. In addition, more internet users accept this new way to build their social ties. According to the Pew Internet's report on social networking(2011), the number of people using social network ing sites raised from 34 of internet users in 2008 to 59% in 2010. Weibo, the second-largest social networking site in China, can be used as a good example to clearly demonstrate this huge success.It operated by SINA corporation and launched in August 2009. As a microblogging platform, Weibo enables customers publishing, broadcasting and achieving instant information based on their relationship. It does not take too much time for Weibo to get a large number of users. On the second quarter financial report released by SINA Weibo 2012 (cited in LU, 2012), there are 368 millions registered users and 36. 5m daily active users on Weibo by the end of June this year. The first driving force of Weibo to attract massive users is its ideally integrating the functions of Twitter and Facebook.Weibo require people to publish posts within 140 Chinese characters and enables people to view embedded pictures and media without leaving the original page. The second appealing feature of Weibo is its Mi cro topics page that groups up all tweets on a certain topic. Similarly, the hottest trends categorization page and the famous people collection page, named Board of Fame and Hall of Celebrity respectively, are third attributor to the success of this site. In following, the means-end chain theory, perceptual model and the self will be applied to explain the achievement of Weibo: Motivation and Value Gutman (1982) presents the Means-end chain that consumer buying behavior determines by fulfilling desired values which could be obtained from the consequence of enjoying the product or service attributes. Desire values could be obtained due to satisfaction of customers in product or services attributes. More specifically, the reason why people consume a certain product/ service is that the nature of the product/ service can generate some outcomes that can achieve individuals' values. This theory can be used to illustrate the success of Weibo. 2. 1 AttributesEach product has its own attri butes. However, as a microblogging service, the attributes of Weibo is different from that of physical products. What has been provided by the service, rather that what it looks like, is the features for Weibo. According to Sohn and kim (2012), seven features can be used to identify social networking sites: information, share, communication, interaction, entertainment, intimacy and connection. However, in this case, interaction with other users can be regarded as a two way communication and connection to their friends can be described as the result of communication.Therefore, main attributes for Weibo are information, communication and entertainment. Regards to information, each profile contains personal information like hometown, interests and schools, etc. And individuals can publish feeds about what they think and what they have seen. Users can possibly follow everyone who they are interested in, like super star, corporation CEO, organization. Then, all the new feeds will be show n once customers log on their account. Meanwhile, people can Retweet the message they like, providing such information to their friends who may not know it. By this way, Weibo provides much information for its users.The second function is communication: users can send immediate message to have chat with friends. Besides this, the opinions of customers are clearly expressed via commenting and replying upon a specific feed. With providing a two way communication among users, people can also enhance their offline social network. Lastly, Weibo provides entertainment functions for users. For instance, there is a medal reward system, where medals can be earned by some simple actions like tweet containing a certain word. Similarly, a gaming portal consisting of various mini web games is provided by this site. 2. 2 OutcomesAfter experiencing all functions of Weibo, customers can enjoy serval results. Firstly, people can widen their horizon of knowledge and expand their social network throug h information attribute. As numerous consumers from all fields of life have opened accounts in Weibo, people can get huge amount of information like business news, social issues and fashion trends. And through sharing personal information and emotions in profiles, Weibo makes it easy to find friends with the same interest. Secondly, with various ways to communicate with others, it is convenient for customers to sustain offline relationships and strength online friendships.Finally, with a variety of entertainment activities, hanging around Weibo have become a good way for recreation among netizens. 2. 3 Values As above-mentioned attributes and outcomes offer a clue, people consume this microblogging service with the hope to achieve these values: belonging, fun and entertainment, warm relations with others, being well respected, self-respect and security, based on the nine consumer values by Kahle(1989). Firstly, Maslow (1943) defines belonging as a feeling of accepted by other member s in a community. As in Weibo, individual can be recognized as a unique person by other users through personal page.Then, all new friends and old friends form a special community for that user. What the user post will receive friends' comments, serving as a indicator of acceptance. Next, people can obtain pleasure and recreation in their lives on Weibo. Having a chat with friends, sharing and viewing opinions on current affairs, playing mini online games, and seeing what their friends are doing can make consumers have a rest from their works or studies. Thirdly, people can enhance friendships by using Weibo. Viewing others' feeds can provide users information about friends' interests, happiness and sorrows.People can know clearly what to talk about with each friend. Furthermore, customers can feel respectable from friends. In Weibo, people show their concerns about what you post by viewing and commenting, even retweeting when they like it. 3 Reference group Reference group means gro ups that have influence on an individual's attitudes, behavior, beliefs, opinions and values (Thompson & Hickey, 2005). If people in reference group have a positive attitude towards a certain brand, they can use their power to attract more users for that brand.Therefore, it is essential for one brand to figure out reference groups that exert effects on its target customers and to give a good impression on those groups. In the case of Weibo, the company has successfully used two reference groups, which are aspiration group and informal group, to increase user number. 3. 1 Aspiration reference group Those people who are admired by the public, like actors, athletes, business people, make up the aspiration group (Solomon et. Al 2010). Many companies have used these celebrities in their advertisements or endorsements to promote its brand.Not surprisingly, Weibo have adopted this tactic along its development to appeal more users. At the initial testing stage, Weibo enhanced its brand awar eness by sending out exclusive registration codes to celebrities. The SINA company firstly invited notables, opinion leaders and industry leaders, who are existing customers of SINA blog, to open account in Weibo. Then, each invited celebrity would be asked to send out 20 special invitation codes to his/her friends, encouraging them to log in Weibo. Then, Weibo used those available notable accounts to attract massive fans to open accounts on Weibo.Consumers hope to get up-to-date information about their idols from following idols' Weibo profile. â€Å"I was a early adopter of Weibo. † said Iris, a Chinese girl from Management major in Leeds University, â€Å"I opened my Weibo account in November 2009. Wanting to know more about my idol–Ashin, a Taiwanese singer, is the main stimulation for me to register in Weibo. With just two or three sentences in a feed, Weibo keep me informed about the daily routines of my idol and let me feel more closer to his life. † As a nother attraction to customers, Weibo guarantees authenticity of idol accounts to customers.All those celebrity accounts would be verified through real-name system before opening, and be added â€Å"V† after their user names to distinguish with ordinary users. Furthermore, owing to facilitate users to find their idols easily, Weibo gathered all these approved accounts into one page, named Hall of Celebrity. Until March 2012, there are 165,000 celebrity accounts in Weibo. On 2nd December 2012, the number of fans for the top one celebrity is over 27 million. As can been seen from these features and data, Weibo has paid huge attention on reference groups and gained plenty of users from these groups. . 2 Informal group Besides using aspiration group, Weibo took advantage of informal group to acquire more users. Thanks to more involvement in others' everyday lives, informal group poses tremendous effects on their consumer behavior, such as whether or not using social networking si tes, which specific site to be used. Weibo, just as other social networking sites, want to enable consumers to get connected with their offline friends and meet new friends with same interests. So as to be successful, large customer database should be provided for new users to find friends.Most of Weibo users firstly know this networking sites from their friends. Another three users' experiences are used to support this statement. Juliet, a Chinese girl in Advertising and Marketing in Leeds University, said, â€Å"I knew Weibo from several friends' recommendations. They had already opened accounts. With sharing feelings and interesting news no more than 140 characters, my friends found it user-friendly and amusing. So they hoped I could join with them. After one trial, I fell in love with this site. And I have recommended this site to my friends who have not had Weibo account yet. The same with Juliet, other two users opened their accounts because of their friends' influence. They said, â€Å"It is just a habit to keep logging into Weibo to see new feeds from friends. And, if I have not used Weibo while others have, I would feel very outdated. And I also persuaded some of my friends to use Weibo. † As stated above, individual can be influenced by his/her reference group to register in Weibo, and then become one member of reference group to alter other's attitude. With this process goes on, Weibo gets an increasing number of users, which leads to its success. Culture and consumption Culture is the learned and shared beliefs and values that influence the formation of attitudes and behaviors among members of a society(). There are three different level of culture: supranational culture, national culture and subculture. The success of Weibo can be explained by these levels. (Baldwin, 2006) 4. 1 Supranational culture Supranational culture aspect can indicate that the success of Weibo is not a exception. Before the launch of Weibo, Twitter, an American micro blogging service, has be prevalent in a global scale, with over 18 million users in 009 (Wolfe, 2011). With global growth of internet usage, people have shared a cosmopolitan culture with same beliefs: time-conscious(Hongladarom, 2005). Caring more about time has a strong impact on the habit of writing and reading. People are more willing to write and read posts of daily lives within few sentences. That is a big driving force to the invention of microblogging sites, which provide people to publish feeds in just 140 characters. 4. 2 National culture In this level, because of its Chinese interface, Weibo is exclusively popular in China.The alteration of national values has led to the success of Weibo. With the affection by western culture, Chinese are becoming increasingly emphasis on liberalism. Freedom has been highly valued in every aspects of life, especially freedom of speech. In the past, only the people with strong power can make their voices heard and it is unable for the publ ic to talk about the government. But Weibo changed this situation by giving the discourse power to common people. In this site, everyone can speak out his/her opinions on trending news and more people can read those ideas with the function of forward.Also, people can become ‘we media' to spread out the news around them, which is known by few people but of importance on the society. 4. 3 Subculture Subculture is the same culture shared barely by a small group in a nation/society. It is largely influenced by the personalities of members in that group. In this level, the characteristics of new netizen generation could explain the widespread usage of Weibo. Weibo has designed its website tailoring to characteristics in this subculture. According to the Enfodesk report, customers aged from 20~34 accounted for 76. 52 percent for the Weibo users.It means that major customers of Weibo are born in 1980s and 1990s, which is a new generation in China after the â€Å"only one child† policy. There are there typical elements affecting this culture group. 4. 3. 1 Family In oriental culture, like in China, people put more emphasis on relationships with other. And family is the most important relation that plays a vital role in the formation of personalities. And Child tend to be more self conscious in small families than large families. In China, the structure of family experienced huge changes after the ‘one child' policy.The ‘China Population Statistics Yearbook 2000'stated that the family size gradually reduced in scale since the policy and the average number of each family dropped from 4. 51 in 1982 to 3. 58 in 1999. Having only child in their family among the generation of 80s and 90s, parents putted all attention and family resources on their child, which lead to a certain degree of doting on that child. As a result, the new generation is more self-centered, revealing a era of self. And, people in this group wanted to be different from their par ents' generation and tend to more emphasis on the self expression.The customization feature of Weibo satisfies this value by provide a stage for people to show themselves. Individual can differentiate with others by showing own ideas towards fashion and current affairs, display his/her interests and create personalize profile. 4. 3. 2 Language Special language is other component to form the subculture. In culture among the generation of 80s and 90s, people usually use the internet catchword in their daily conversation. This words can be defined as a peculiar way of saying something which has become established after long use in netizens.Because of their simplification and humorous, many youth use these special phrases in their feeds in social networking sites. As a result, more users know these catchphrases and spread them out to create even larger influence. Moreover, people need to frequently surf the internet to keep up with the newest famous words because of its time-sensitive. For Weibo, it provide a free place to enhance the popularity of pop words online and vice verse the pop words would attract more users for Weibo. According to Baidao website, Weibo fueled the prevalence of Internet catchwords in 2011. 5 ConclusionIn brief, this essay has discussed three consumer behavior theories, that are the means-end chain, the power of reference group and the three levels of subjective cultures, to explain the success of Weibo. Firstly, Weibo clearly created its major features catering to the desired values of its target customers. With functions of information, communication and entertainment,this site enables people to build self image, get friends' up-to-date information, enhance social network and have a recreation. Consequently, consumers can fulfill their values of self expression, sense of belonging, entertainment life and self-esteem.Then, this site have used the reference power of celebrities and friends to attract more users along its development. By f irstly encouraging important people to open accounts, Weibo induced thousands of their fans. Similarly, these early users influence their friends to use this service. Finally, supranational culture, national culture and subculture lays a foundation to the achievement of Weibo. The widespread presence of social networking sites could be used to indicate the success of Weibo. And the Chinese national culture and youth culture have speeded up the popularity of Weibo.Though Weibo is successful in certain degree, there are still some measures which could be taken to enhance its publicity. On one hand, Weibo should provide a internal version for foreigners. Only using Chinese as the instructional language is big problem that leads to the limitation of global users. The fact is that there are increasing number of foreign users who access the website in recent time, such as Boris Johnson–the mayor of London, David Mitchell–the author of Cloud Atlas. However, they can not use t he website efficiently because they are not familiar with Chinese language.So it would be beneficial for Weibo to have another vision using global language. On the other hand, Weibo should try to create some culture based features to allure and keep customers. As can be seen from many famous products, people ReferenceBOYD, D. M. , N. B. ELLISON. 2007. 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Competitive Advantage And Enhancing Business Performance Accounting Essay

Throughout the 1990s, efficaciously deriving competitory advantage and heightening concern public presentation have been the major challenges that the CEOs had to get the better of under the context of intensified planetary competition ( Porter 1996 ) . Harmonizing to Pike & A ; Neale ( 1993 ) , the three traditional functions of finance map in most administrations are fiscal accounting, corporate finance and direction accounting. Despite the fact that these functions seem to cover the full scope of the concerns activities, the internally-focused and past-oriented nature of them is crictised as non-strategic, which impede the ability of finance map to assist concern accomplish competitory advantage or derive farther market portion ( Hunger & A ; Wheelen, 1996 ; Mintzberg, 1987a ; Porter, 1996 ) . Therefore, traditional finance sections are progressively expected to prosecute in more value-added activities and be more proactive in back uping the organisation ‘s overall concern s chemes. As a figure of researches have proved that alterations in the external environment of an organisation trigger the alteration in the direction accounting patterns ( Atkinson et al. , 1997 ; Nanni, Dixon, & A ; Vollman, 1992 ) , it can be said that he major alteration in the function of finance map is that direction comptrollers are going more actively involved in the determinations that run the concern. This consequence is supported with the impression that the directors demand more direction accounting information that assist them in the procedure of doing determinations every bit good as step and proctor public presentation advancement against schemes. Therefore, a combination of clearly articulated schemes, flexible organisational designs and sophisticated accounting systems has been adopted as a manner to accomplish this end. By reacting to the demands of directors who need make to do timely and sound determinations, direction comptrollers ( MAs ) are more and more expected to back up directors in their decision-making procedure or act as ‘business spouses ‘ ( Siegel and Sorenson, 1999 ) . Therefore, MAs are expected to demo a high degree of ‘commercial consciousness ‘ ( Burns, Scapens & A ; Turley, 1996 ) , a close engagement in and understand of the organisation ‘s concern procedures, and ‘an ability to pass on in other directors ‘ footings ‘ ( Burns & A ; Yazdifar, 2001 ) . Granlund and Lukka ( 1998 ) see the highest degree of this development in ‘a state of affairs in which direction comptrollers operate as true members of direction squads and are able to move as alteration agents in organisations ‘ . Over the last two decennaries or so, academic literature has been flush with legion surveies of direction accounting alteration, which have been conducted across a assortment of concern sectors and national context. Certain surveies have investigated whether such alteration execution is successful or non ( e.g. Shields, 1995 ) while others ( e.g. Malmi, 1997 ) raise an issue of whether such differentiation between success and failure is possible. Models of alteration execution have besides been developed, based on empirical survey ( Vaivio. , J. , 1999b ) . Some other writers even have drawn theoretical penetration from outside subjects to gestate direction accounting alteration ( Burns and Scapens, 2000 ) . Geographic and country-specific cultural facets have been studied in respects of their consequence on the way dependence of direction accounting alteration ( Granlund and Lukka, 1998a ) . However, no empirical survey has been conducted to research the effectivity of transforming the traditional finance maps on the overall organisational public presentation. Neither does the literature chalk out out what high quality concern partnering theoretical account of taking organisations really looks like. This survey, hence, contributes to the direction accounting literature to analyze if there is a nexus between the concern partnering theoretical account and the public presentation of an organisation. From that we can hold a clearer image of which the features of finance maps that set the high performing artists apart. This is of import because it will supply a survival kit for the successful reorientation of the full finance organisation with important public presentation betterments in both finance and the full company. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The following subdivision summarizes the relevant anterior literature from which the research hypotheses are developed. The research methodological analysis is explained in Section 3. Section 4 contains the in-depth analysis of the informations, which is followed by a treatment of the consequences and some concluding comments.Section 2: Literature reappraisal and hypotheses preparationIn this subdivision, in visible radiation of the relevant literature, an effectual concern partnering theoretical account is presented to do manner for the development of a figure of hypotheses. The new multi-faced functions of finance have been suggested by literature to positively impact the effectivity of finance maps and in bend the organisational public presentation, which consequences to a nexus between the acceptance of these patterns and the high public presentation of organisation. To understand the background of the transmutation and the manner the paper is structured, a short travel into the history of direction accounting is now presented. Since the 1980s, houses in all sectors of the economic system were seen to undergo dramatic alterations in the planetary economic system including intensive competition, of all time more demanding clients with diversified client demands and shorter merchandise life rhythms, and the handiness of advanced fabrication engineerings ( Johnson, H. and Kaplan, R. , 1987 ; Innes & A ; Mitchell, 1990 ) . Therefore, merely an appropriate matching of scheme in response to the alteration in external factors can heighten organisational public presentation A study conducted by CIMA ( twelvemonth? ) argues that in such a universe where international markets give every house much the same entree to resources and where procedures of each concern areA meeting on alike criterions, the one existent staying distinction tool remainders on the d ecision-making map. As the clients are choosier and rivals react to clients ‘ diversified demands in more and more sophisticated ways, houses may follow distinction scheme that underscores more customer-oriented and commercially oriented position. Fiscal information is merely portion of the image because it fails to demo long-run profitableness doing the outgrowth of non-financial steps as a reaction to economic force per unit areas ( Granlund, M. and K, Lukka. , 1998 ) . Burns, J. et Al. ( 1999 ) suggested that the partial nature of fiscal information still be accepted if MAs can construe it in a broader context or stated in another manner, they have to associate the fiscal information to the non-financial steps. Following the customer-oriented focal point, MAs are presuming the duty of functioning their internal clients because great client service depends on outstanding internal client service. In this sense, they are said to move as ‘business spouses ‘ ( Burns, J. and Yazdifar, H. , 2001 ) or ‘business advisers ‘ ( Burns, J. and Vaivo, J. , 2001 ) . To break the determination devising procedure, MAs need to understand the demands of the internal clients. This is a two-stage procedure in which the first measure is deploying fiscal systems, constructions and procedures through which the the platform for the concern partnering phase is formed, which is referred to as ‘commercial finance ‘ by Gould, S. and Fahy, M. ( 2006 ) . Because MAs understand the whole fiscal impacts of functional determinations, they work with other concern units ( BU ) directors in implementing the schemes made by the CEO instead than work in the finance silo separated from the remainder of the concern ( Robinson, L. , 1999 ) . In this sense, thanks to the apprehension of the whole value concatenation, MAs are encouraged to work on-the-field, increase accent toward concern instead than passing the majority of the clip with clerical and everyday accounting undertakings. They are besides referred to as ‘hybrid comptrollers ‘ who combine fiscal acumen and commercial consciousness ( Burns, J. et al. , 1999 ) . As a consequence, MAs build a close relationship between finance map and the remainder of organisation so they are moving as a alteration agent by increasing determination devising procedure and further they can move as alteration leaders. In short, the direction accounting map is expected to finish its transmutation from a dealing processing focal point to a ‘business spouse ‘ with a high determination support capableness Gould, S. and Fahy, M. ( 2006 ) commented: â€Å" Business partnering theoretical account requires a clear apprehension of clients, and it needs the right people to place and utilize the appropriate techniques. † This transmutation will be looked into inside informations from the two positions: From internally-focused to outward-looking and past-focused to send on looking or from cost orientation to business/customer orientation where the new functions and activities which MAs undertake will be considered. From structures-focused to process-focused re-organization which is shown in the proviso of nucleus merchandises and support servicesA transmutation from internal orientation to environmental ( outward-looking ) and from past-focused to long-run ( advanced )Changing functions and activitiesThere is small uncertainty that finance professionals play a polar value-adding function in pull offing and maneuvering organisations through the ups and downs of the commercial universe. Nonetheless, the engineering progresss may shortly dispute the understanding about dealing processing. Thankss to those progresss, dealing processing could be done in centralized shared service Centres or decentralised practical Centres. Whether it is centralised or decentralised, it is likely that finance maps will incorporate the three functions: concern leading and partnering ; dealing processing and proficient and conformity. ( ICCA, 2001 ) Traditionally, MAs were viewed to be concerned with figure crunching and responsible for the overall operation of the accounting or they were called ‘bean counter ‘ or a ‘corporate bull ‘ . While traditional functions and activities remain to take up the majority of their clip ( Granlund and Lukka, 1998b ) , the tendency is clear that less clip is now devoted to hit maintaining and corporate policing. Technological developments have freed them up from the mechanical facets of accounting therefore they allocate less clip set abouting everyday fiscal analysis, dealing processing or statutory coverage. Alternatively, they assume the undertakings of analyzing and construing information and are welcomed into the halls of direction as ‘business spouse ‘ , sought after owing to their concern acumen and the strategic facets that they bring to the tabular array ( Burns, J. and Baldvinsdottir, G. , 2005 ; Granlund, M. and Lukka, K. , 1998a ) . MAs besides sp end clip in advanced activities and engage in other non-traditional accounting activities such as strategic planning, internal consulting, procedure betterment, and public presentation rating ( Siegel, G. and Sorenson, J. , 1999 ) . That is more clip is now spent on business-integrated functions, integrating undertakings of scheme preparation, organizational redesign, alteration direction ( IMA, 1999 ) . Among the most critical activities to the company ‘s success that MAs are expected to execute in the hereafter are long-run strategic planning, fiscal and economic analyses, client and merchandise profitableness, computing machine systems and operations and procedure betterment ( Siegel, G. and Sorenson, J. , 1999 ) . There is widespread literature that advocates the position that MAs should acquire involved in the determination support and providing advice throughout the concern. This is because MAs are said to be the well-equipped organizational members to supply information that is of import to the strategic determination devising, and that they would be desirable participants in this procedure ( Kaplan, 1995 ) . Indeed, MAs have entree to fiscal and cost information that is ensuing from intimate apprehension of the implicit in engineerings, markets, and the organisation ‘ scheme ( Kaplan, 1995 ) . BA‘er ( 1996 ) anticipated that MAs would take portion in the scheme preparation procedure so he suggested that MAs would play a focal function in pointing their administration towards the hereafter. However, there is small consensus about the relationship between MAs ‘ engaging in these new functions and the organisational public presentation. Indeed, literature merely suggests that comptrollers ‘ engagement in a wide set of decision-making procedures might lend to the strategic effectivity. Byrne & A ; Pierce ( 2007 ) showed that MAs ‘ engagement in concern procedures has reinforced the effectivity of direction control and might hold influence on public presentation through the improved determination devising and sweetening in planning and control. The strategic determination doing procedure contains both the scheme development and scheme execution phase and the battle of MAs in those phases has the possible to heighten strategic effectivity by provide of import strategic information ( Langfield-Smith, 2005 ) . Byrne and Pierce ( 2007 ) studied the association between a broad scope of ancestors, features and effects of the functions of MAs and discovered that MAs have the possible to act upon public presentation and information quality and that the greater the engagement of the MA, the more likely they are to hold a positive impact on these results. Granlund and Lukka ( 1998b ) studied the altering function of MAs in the Finland and suggested that they contribute to the strategic effectivity by concentrating their attending every bit good as actions towards the hereafter and acted on real-time information. Kaplan ( 1995 ) expected that at the micro-level, the strategic effectivity would be enhanced because MA would acquire engagement in strategic procedures – such as the scheme development and execution. In contrast, Granlund and Lukka ( 1998a ) argued that direction accounting systems still chiefly bring forth heightening operational instead than strategic effectivity, at the mirco-level. Harmonizing to Otley ( 2001 ) , effectivity is concerned with the proviso of coveted results whereas strategic effectivity relates to the organ isational public presentation towards the accomplishment of their ain strategic aims. The undermentioned hypothesis is hence formed: Hypothesis 1: In high-performing organisations, finance maps assume more activities that associated with the determination devising procedure. As argued above, in order to move as concern spouses, MAs need to deploy fiscal systems, constructions and processes that provide the platform for the concern partnering procedure. Business partnering functions chiefly consists of back uping in concern direction and public presentation direction which provides information and model for the strategic determinations can be made ( ICCA, 2001 ) . Information engineering progresss such as endeavor resource be aftering systems ( ERP ) , e-commerce and the cyberspace have significantly changed the manner information is collected, measured, analyzed and communicated non merely within but besides between organisations ( Atkinson et al. , 1997 ) . Such wide alteration suggests a necessity for direction accounting to alter, excessively. Although to day of the month, a figure of academic grounds have demonstrated the staying popularity of traditional direction accounting patterns such as budgeting ( Ezzamel et al. , 1995 ) , it seems besides tha t those techniques are presently being used together with the new and alleged ‘advanced ‘ techniques for illustration uninterrupted planning and prediction, activity-based direction, balanced scorecard, value-based direction and direction coverage and analysis ( Scapens et al. , 1996 ; ICCA, 2001 ) . Advanced direction accounting techniques can help finance forces to more easy concentrate on distinction precedences, such as quality, bringing and client service, compared to the traditional financially-based accounting techniques, as they emphasize the customer-oriented focal point or the demand to fulfill client demands. For illustration, activity-based direction, which is non merely an improved version of merchandise costing for traditional criterion costing, but can besides be used for strategic cost direction, or to keep and better client value. Balanced scorecard – ‘a set of steps that gives top directors a fast but comprehensive position of the concern à ¢â‚¬Ëœ ( Kaplan and Norton, 1992 ) non merely consists of fiscal steps that convey the consequences of actions already done but integrated operational steps which are the drivers of future fiscal public presentation such as client satisfaction, internal procedure, and the organisation ‘s invention and betterment activities. Continuous planning and prediction are replacing traditional one-year planning and budgeting as cardinal basicss in monitoring and pull offing an organisation. Traditional one-year planning and budgeting are deemed usually backbreaking, clip devouring undertaking bring forthing doubtful informations, instead than something that is of any peculiar usage that directors can deploy in a fast changing environment. Furthermore, traditional planning and budgeting techniques are excessively inflexible for the present concern environment. Consequently, prima organisations are suggested to use a more uninterrupted, flexible, business-planning tool by replacing the st iff budgeting with uninterrupted be aftering and calculating. This ensures that a controlled mechanism is ready to reexamine and modify scheme as fortunes change, and because concern schemes are considered on a regular footing it guarantees that all determination shapers have entree to any information they need ; how, where and when they need it. The terminal consequence is a far more advanced and nimble organisation which is able to accommodate to invariably altering market conditions ( ICCA, 2001 ) . Hypothesis 2: Top acting organisations have finance maps that deploy more advanced direction accounting patterns. Information is one of the most of import competitory advantages that houses can utilize in today ‘s invariably altering market conditions ( Mangaliso, 1995 ) . From the ‘Relevance lost ‘ , Johnson and Kaplan ( 1987 ) crictised that direction accounting had lost its relevancy because of inappropriate information proviso, which caused negative influence on company ‘ profitableness. As argued above, consumers presents can obtain information about the merchandises and services without national boundaries limitations thereby they value merchandise and services by non-financial operating public presentation indexs. With the customer-orientation doctrine, non-financial steps can be seen as an effectual tool organisation can utilize to react to economic force per unit areas ( Granlund, M. and K, Lukka. , 1998 ) . It has been discussed that the exclusive dependance on fiscal public presentation information will non needfully make better fiscal consequences, because suc h steps merely show the consequences of past activities. Non-financial steps, in contrast, can state the drivers that show the future fiscal public presentation. These steps are connected to subjects such as client satisfaction, the quality of overall productions, merchandise quality, quality of procedures and the steadfast public presentation in respects of clip and productiveness ( Banker et al. , 1993 ; Perera et al. , 1997 ) . Traditionally non-financial steps have been acquired in the operating maps of the house such as productiveness and assorted rhythm times in fabrication logistics, market portion and client ailments in selling ; and late by the quality map people with different types of quality steps. The increased usage of non-financial information places a important impact on MAs ‘ functions. This demonstrates a displacement of MAs ‘ focal point from feed-backward to existent clip, feed-forward orientation which stresses the importance of prognosis over existe nt against budgets comparings ( Granlund and Lukka, 1997 ) . MAs are hence expected to roll up, analyse and describe non-financial information in a signifier that satisfied the information needs of concern directors. During the last few old ages this issue has moved to the thought as to what would be the equal function of direction comptrollers in this regard. Burns and Baldvinsdottir ( 2007 ) stressed the function of MAs in associating monthly direction histories to the wider information spectrum. That is to state they had to associate the wider position of a concern, which is expressed in public presentation steps, with the narrower fiscal informations in direction histories. Although most anterior researches have been in favor of a positive association between the increased dependance on non-financial steps and organisational public presentation, the relationship is of obscure nature. Mia and Clarke ( 1999 ) claimed an indirect connexion between the competition strength in the ma rket and concern unit ‘s public presentation with the greater usage of direction accounting information. Davila ( 2000 ) and Chong and Chong ( 1997 ) found that the increased usage of non-financial information for concern units and public presentation were positively linked. However, Perera et Al. ( 1997 ) established that the usage of non-financial step had nil to make with the public presentation of an organisation under a customer-oriented fabrication scheme. Improved public presentation has resulted in houses that use flexible fabrication, and which besides place greater trust on non-financial fabrication steps ( Abernethy & A ; Lillis, 1995 ; Sim & A ; Killough, 1998 ) . Because information is now acknowledged as one of the most dominant tools that can significantly impact the corporations ‘ wealth, the direction accounting system is expected to present up-to-date information that can help directors to do reasoned and informed determinations, and to actuate end-user s of that information to endeavor for organisational alteration ( Horngren, 1995 ) . Failure to depend on on proper accounting information may do resource direction to be uneffective and a gradual diminution in corporate public presentation. The 3rd hypothesis is as follows: Hypothesis 3: In top performing artists, MAs are seen to more engage in the activity of collect, analyse and describe non-financial informationA transmutation from functional-/structure-focused to process-/product-focusedThrough commissariats of nucleus merchandisesIn the late eightiess, many houses adopted a client orientation in which MAs were meant to serve their internal clients. Siegel and Sorenson ( 1999 ) emphasised this function by giving an illustration that if a concern director asked for a fiscal information, MA would supply it even if they know more proper information would be demanded for an ideal concern solution. The MAs ‘ function has transformed from being a concern adviser to a ‘business spouse ‘ where MA is an equal participant of the decision-making squad. They have the right and besides the duty to inform a line director the ground why specific types of information might or might non be desired for a determination, and is expected to do recommen dations on how to break the quality of that determination. In order to execute this concern partnering function MAs have moved from working in the finance silo which is isolated from the remainder of the concern to be physically situated in the operating concern units with which they work. This inclination is a response to the uninterrupted arguments of client orientation and of the demand to replace the functional or departmental attacks of direction with the process-oriented 1. Working across the concern and flexible communicating over functional and departmental boundary lines is today regarded as one of the cardinal success factors ( Majchrzak and Wang, 1996 ) . Indeed, MAs now work on cross-departmental squads and have extended face-to-face interactions with non-accounting people across the organisation. Cross-functional squads are formed for a peculiar intent, such as to develop a new merchandise, or enhance work procedures and they are said to better the communicating, coordination and coherence ( Narver and Slater, 1990 ) . It is the integrating and coaction of a figure of functional parts in an organisation, with members of the squad come from different countries of the concern which allows a broad scope of different expertness, accomplishments and point of views to be brought to the undertaking. This vision can be maintained by a commercial partnering theoretical account that incorporates the cardinal internal clients of finance such as human resources, research and development and IT and selling. The execution of such squads is related with level organisational design and the greater liberty of lower-level directors and forces ( Chenhall & A ; Langfield-Smith, 1998b ; Otley, 1994 ) . This displacement from centralised determination devising and hierarchal controls towards the a llotment of more authorization to lower degrees of concern is guarantee advanced and speedy responses in complex and dynamic environment. It has been said that the acceptance of team-based constructions helps organisations non merely to increase the flexibleness and velocity of a response, but besides to heighten the quality of that response ( Cohen, 1993 ) . A squad construction that allows finance – concern unit partnerships enables finance professionals to derive a deep apprehension of value drivers which help them trust their determinations on latent value and closely pull off the results of their determinations. Finance managers who master first-class proficient and operational accomplishments – are deployed to each concern unit to assist place value-generating chances. And thanks to their apprehension of the commercial positions of runing the concern, their finance activities can be more successfully linked to the organisational jussive moods. By being active in measuring concern issues, pass oning across functional hierarchies and direction degrees, the more accurate, relevant and timely information is brought about ( Brouthers & A ; Roozen, 1999 ; Coad, 1996 ) . By promoting a spouse relationship with all the maps in the concern and playing as a critical portion of the organisational decision-making procedures, MAs are expected to supply a alone facet and bring forth more value-added activities, which thereby easing improved public presentation ( Scott & A ; Tiessen, 1999 ; Wooldridge & A ; Floyd, 1990 ) . The nexus between cross-functional engagement and public presentation has been the chief subject of extant direction accounting empirical literature ; although budgetary engagement and occupation public presentation received attending of the bulk of work ( Chong & A ; Johnson, 2007 ; Lau & A ; Lim, 2002 ; Nouri & A ; Parker, 1998 ; Parker & A ; Kyj, 2006 ) . Anterior surveies sing engagement in strategic decision-making and organisational public presentation are scarce and slightly conflicting. In progressively competitory and unsure market contexts, the acceptance of inter-departmental squads help to guarantee a speedy and appropriate organisation ‘s response to environmental developments, thereby heightening public presentation ( Baines & A ; Langfield-Smith, 2003 ; Scott & A ; Tiessen, 1999 ) . Scott & A ; Tiessen ( 1999 ) found that inter-functional engagement has an indirect positive influence the public presentation of squads through the use of more sophisticated public p resentation steps. In contrast, Chenhall and Langfield-Smith ( 2003 ) conducted a case-study work and concluded that team-based enterprises did non look to better organisational public presentation. In fact, despite the importance of cross-departmental work, merely 20 % of the MAs in the study conducted by ICCA ( 2001 ) work entirely in concern units or split their clip between runing sections and finance section. In contrast, 80 % of the respondents surveyed said that they still work in their traditional location. As the anterior empirical work sing the consequence of cross-functional engagement on organisational public presentation is slightly scarce, the undermentioned Forth hypothesis has been chiefly drawn from what seems to be the conventional position: Hypothesis 4: In top performing artists, MAs are decentralized and being parts of operating sections In order to play concern partnering function and work in cross-functional squad across the concern, modern concern oriented direction comptrollers are required to hold a good apprehension of how a concern maps every bit good as the ability to pass on finance ‘s vision and scheme to the remainder of the organisation. MA ‘s ability to construct effectual concern and societal relationships with directors is of import to derive trust from direction, which so increases their likeliness of deriving entree to back uping resources, of going involved in the rating of assorted options for the strategic way at concern unit and corporate degrees, and in taking portion in the pick of strategic methods. Nathan birnbaums and Baldvinsdottir ( 2007 ) agreed with this thought by observing that although the proficient accounting accomplishments such as stewardship and control remain basically of import ; there is a turning accent on the new sets of accomplishments particularly a wide concer n apprehension. Hypothesis 5: In top performing artists, MAs have concrete apprehension of the concern and how it operatesThrough commissariats of support servicesTraditionally, MAs were non members in the determination devising procedure. Alternatively, they functioned as support staff to supply support services for the determination shapers and were frequently communicated about the determinations after-the-fact. They spend the majority of their clip in the mechanical parts of accounting. They use manual procedure to sum and equilibrate pages of multi-column paper spread sheets. By presuming the undertaking of fixing budgets, look intoing disbursal studies, bring forthing stock list studies, and bring forthing standardised fiscal statements, they were the bean counters, the scorers, the corporate bulls of organisation. By carry throughing such traditional accounting function, they were referred as the fiscal records keeper or the historiographers of the organisation. The alteration of direction ac counting now placed a minimal focal point on twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours accounting undertakings although these activities remain basically of import ( Burns and Baldvinsdottir, 2007 ) . There is a turning concern that more clip should be released so that MAs can concentrate on strategic analysis, determination support and other value-added activities. One manner of making this is through restructuring of finance map by centralising dealing treating into shared services centres or concern procedure outsource. This demonstrates the centralisation of traditional accounting activities in the organisations. Although the usage of sourcing activities are seen more of an efficiency engine, it should be viewed, within the range of this survey, as a tool to let go of the clip of MAs so that they can concentrate more on analyzing, construing information and playing as concern spouses A shared service Centre is defined as ‘The concentration of company resources executing like activities, typically dispersed across the organisation, in order to service multiple internal parties at lower cost and with higher service degrees, with the common end of pleasing external clients and heightening corporate value ‘ ( Schulman, Dunleavy, Harmer and Lusk 1999 ) . Another statement is that ‘Shared services is a collaborative scheme in which a subset of bing concern maps are concentrated in a new, semi-autonomous concern unit that has a direction construction designed to advance efficiency, value coevals, cost nest eggs and improved service for internal clients of the parent corporation, like a concern viing in the unfastened market ‘ ( Bergeron 2003 ) . When portion services delivers are executed right, the cost is reduced and the service to the concerns is improved owing to the usage of procedures standardisation and bring forthing a service civilizatio n in the Centre. The procedures that are insistent and transaction-based such as paysheet, histories collectible, fixed assets, general legers, histories receivable, general leger and hard currency are the 1s that are ideally appropriate to be conducted in shared services Centres. Such procedures could be standardised in an administration because they are fundamentally the same no affair what the sector and location. But there are more than merely cost advantage of shared service Centres. It is together with other support tools like information engineering, can be seen to let go of the clip of MAs so that they can concentrate on analysing, construing information and playing as concern spouses. There is small understanding in respects of whether some other procedures, such as direction coverage could be carried out in shared service Centres or non. Some emphasize that standard studies and discrepancy analysis can be standardized in a shared services Centres. KPMG ( 2006 ) supported t his position by calculating that everyday direction coverage will be a peculiar growing country in the usage of shared service Centres, as organisations pursue the betterment of direction information quality. Others oppose this thought by reasoning that such procedures must be conducted in concern units to vouch the staff has the ownership of the issues and hence increase the committedness to the accomplishment of such procedures. Even though the acceptance of shared services Centres is predicted to lift well, preponderantly in the country of dealing processing, everyday direction coverage, regulative conformity procedures and investing direction, the usage of shared service Centres is besides increasing for less standardised procedures like concern public presentation analysis meaning the greater assurance every bit good as edification in the theoretical account of shared services ( KPMG, 2006 ) . Shared service theoretical accounts have become loosely accepted as an efficiency eng ine without the hazards related with concern procedure outsourcing. General, the great advantage of shared service theoretical account when compared with out-sourcing is that it should be possible to heighten efficiency and effectivity of the bringing of service while at the same clip there is no loss of control or dependence that are side effects of concern procedure outsourcing theoretical account. To the contrary, concern procedure outsourcing theoretical account for finance are said to be in its early phase and less widespread than other support maps such as information engineering. However, it still represents an emerging tool for standardize everyday processing ( KPMG, 2006 ) . Business procedure outsourcing is non a new construct and many concern maps presents are outsourced. Typical illustrations comprise of paysheet processing, human resources, information engineering, belongings direction and services and revenue enhancement conformity. Some organisations have besides outsourced all of their dealing processing, clerking and accounting. Business procedure outsourcing enables the concern to concentrate on its strategic issues by let go ofing resources from non-core activities. The efficiency gained would cut down the costs and raise profitableness so that more financess can be reinvested in nucleus and value-added activities. The future outlook is that the tendency in out sourcing will go on to derive foothold and more energy will be saved because the clip finance people will pass on transactional or control activities would diminish well ( Danko, 2009 ) . Hypothesis 6: In top performing artists, more everyday accounting activities are centralised into shared servicew Centres or concern procedure outsourcing

Employee Satisfaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Employee Satisfaction - Essay Example Promotion should purely be merit based so that everyone in the organization gets an opportunity to move up the ranks. Also, in the event of job openings, it is advisable to first try and hire from within. This not only saves costs on training but also in a great platform for employee stimulation. It is important for the employees to be challenged to a reasonable level so as to encourage them to be interested in their job, thus, it is likely that the productivity levels will remain high. Motivation is key to increasing the productivity of a workforce. Compliments, for example, are excellent motivators. Satisfied employees are aware that they are appreciated as they constantly receive positive feedback from their superiors. High employee satisfaction levels are directly linked to employee productivity and employee retention as satisfied employees are more productive and loyal to their organization that their unsatisfied counterparts. An employer who understands what motivates his staff has definite control over his staff. The article "dispelling the modern myth: Employee satisfaction and loyalty drive service profitability" gives a report on research findings on operation management, service management, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Human Resource Management. The research focuses on the correlation between employee satisfaction and performance. It is a general belief that better satisfied employees have higher levels of productivity. Rhian & Silversto cites earlier works by the Americans Deming(1986), Juran (1989) and the Japanese Ishiakawa(1985) who are all management experts their writings shows that improved job satisfaction increases the productivity of employees. These authors' argument supports the belief that better performing enterprises always treated their employees in a better way. True to its title, the research finds contradicting evidence to earlier works and the general beliefs to what had been commonly accepted in the management world. The author's gives the example of Isakawa 1985 who argues that with better satisfaction, one has improved drives hence will tend to co-operate with fellow employees. The research findings from an empirical study of one of UK's Supermarket chains showed that this is not always true. The most profitable stores were the ones with the least satisfied employees "implying a negative correlation between employee satisfaction and measures of productivity, efficiency and profitability" Rhian & Sylvester. However, reports by management experts that employee satisfaction and loyalty are key factors to enhancing productivity efficiency and increasing profit. The paper puts into application, Heskett, Sasser and Schlesinger's service profit chain model to a UK supermarket. The major aim is to determine the performance linkages between employee perception and performance, customer perceptions, behavior and financial performance. Works by both Hesket and Schlesinger (1991) and Reichheld (1996) improving employee loyalty through poor rewarding helps in improving the services the employees provide hence profitability is improved. The research is a case study of the Home Improvement Store Chain in the United Kingdom. This is a large group of supermarket chains in the UK. The company was chosen since it had senior management believed that satisfaction was key to

Lab 4 Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

4 - Lab Report Example In other words the more yeast put in the Hydrogen Peroxide the more violent the reaction; therefore, giving off more oxygen. This is because of the reaction theory (the rate of a reaction depends on how often and how hard the reacting particles collide with each other) Response to Question 3 As the concentration f the enzymes decreases, so does the speed and vigor of the reaction. This is evidenced from the low volume of oxygen produced in tube 3 with less enzyme concentration. As the enzyme concentration decreases, the rate of reaction also decreases because there are fewer enzymes present to break down the substrate. Response to Question 4 More enzyme activity is expected if the substrate concentration is decreased. When there are low concentrations of substrate there is a linear relationship between the reaction rate and substrate concentration. In these conditions the relation of catalase enzyme to hydrogen peroxide substrate molecules is high. Experiment 2: Effect of temperature on enzyme activity. Data Table 2: Effect of temperature on the production of gas Tube Temperature ?C Balloon diameter (cm) Refrigerator 6 5.0 Room temperature 23 12.5 Hot water 90 1.0 Response to Question 1 The enzyme in this experiment is catalase enzyme and hydrogen peroxide is the substrate. Response to Question 2 The rate of enzyme catalyzed reaction tends to  increase with the increasing temperature of reaction medium. Enzymes are known to be proteins, they are gradually denatured thus lose their activity at the temperatures beyond their optimum temperature. In this case, catalase enzyme’s maximum activity is around 37? degrees Celsius. At extremely low temperatures, the reactants move around slower because of having less kinetic energy. This means that collisions occurring between the substrate and catalase enzyme active site happen less resulting in reduced enzyme-substrate complexes, therefore, slow down the reaction. An increase in temperature causes the reactants to have more kinetic energy. They, therefore, end up moving around faster and the movements cause more collisions between the substrate and active site of the enzyme. Therefore, there shall be more enzyme-substrate complexes taking place hence speeding up the reaction. Temperatures above the optimum alter the shape of the active site of enzymes. This  causes the temperature to denature the enzyme. In effect, enzyme-substrates would not be created due to the substrate not fitting in the active site. Denaturing the enzyme would mean that the tertiary structure is altered, which would end up causing the reaction process to stop completely. Response to Question 3. Yes plants and animals have the enzymes that breakdown hydrogen peroxide. Response to Question 4 Maintaining an optimum temperature of about 37 degrees Celsius increases the enzyme activity. Response to Question 5. The presence of catalase enzyme in cells catalyses the toxic hydrogen peroxide to non toxic products that incl ude, water and Oxygen. Hydrogen Peroxide ----–catalase enzyme---- Water + Oxygen. Response to Question 6 Experiment to determine the optimal temperature for enzyme function The experiment would be set up as below. First, set up the water bath; secondly, place a thermometer in the water bath so that the proper temperature is maintained. 0-5degrees Celsius: 400mL beaker to be filled with water and ice 20-25 degrees Celsius: No water bath is required to maintain the room

Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence Assignment

Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence - Assignment Example As a function of these carryovers, the stakeholders within the firm, both leadership and line employees, find it difficult to exercise the full potential that the brand could integrate with the end consumer. Moreover, the loss of efficiency has effects on the net level of profitability and the level of competition the firm can integrate within the market. 2.1 Challenges (need review) Currently, Solent Sport suffers from a range of issues; the majority of these problems can be fixed by the proper use and application of BI. Firstly and most importantly, the firm must seek to perform a thorough review of what is currently working and what needs improvement. In this way, the following discussion will centre upon the way that the can maximize its potential by the correct application of BI within its component parts. As such, a cursory review of the firm lends the analyst to understand the technological systems that manage business interaction are both antiquated and serving to constrain t he level of analytical inferences that could be drawn from more updated packages that are currently on the market. Moreover, a business level analysis of the firm lends the researcher to understand that the technological shortcomings are only one small part of what hampers the business prospects. (6)Communication issue - A far greater issue lies in the fact that the means of communication have been cut between employees, middle management, and upper level management. As a function of this, the means by which informed decisions can be made have been greatly reduced. As the analysis of the key determinants has shown, BI can greatly facilitate the business process and create a synergy that would otherwise...   Currently, Solent Sport suffers from a range of issues; the majority of these problems can be fixed by the proper use and application of BI.   Firstly and most importantly, the firm must seek to perform a thorough review of what is currently working and what needs improvement. In this way, the following discussion will centre upon the way that the can maximize its potential by the correct application of BI within its component parts.  As such, a cursory review of the firm lends the analyst to understand the technological systems that manage business interaction are both antiquated and serving to constrain the level of analytical inferences that could be drawn from more updated packages that are currently on the market.  Moreover, a business level analysis of the firm lends the researcher to understand that the technological shortcomings are only one small part of what hampers the business prospects.(6)Communication issue - A far greater issue lies in the fact that the means of communication have been cut between employees, middle management, and upper level management.   As a function of this, the means by which informed decisions can be made have been greatly reduced. As the analysis of the key determinants has shown, BI can greatly facilitate the business process and create a synergy that would otherwise not be realized.Moreover, seeking to perform shock changes to such a system without speaking to these needs first will most certainly result in only a nominal or partial degree of overall success.  

(The Budget)Funding and sourcing of London Olympic Games 2012 current Essay

(The Budget)Funding and sourcing of London Olympic Games 2012 current challenges and issues - Essay Example The budget funding and the capital sourcing for the 1948 London Olympic Games was more straightforward than now, as everything was paid for directly by the British taxpayer.1 Besides at that stage less extensive sporting facilities were required as there were fewer sporting events and there were also participants and spectators than expected for the London Olympic Games of 2012. Put simply to be ready for the London Olympic Games of 2012 the British capital has to build new sporting facilities as well as updating its available accommodation, and travel infrastructure. In 2012 it would not be acceptable to house either athletes or spectators in old army barracks to keep costs down as happened in 1948.2 The organisers of the London Olympic Games of 2012 also have to think about extensive security measures as the 7 / 7 attacks demonstrated London’s vulnerability to terrorist attacks.3 Modern Olympic Games have actually needed a great deal of direct capital investment from both the private sector and also the private sector organisations and sectors in order to construct world class sporting facilities alongside suitable accommodation for athletes and spectators as well as effective travel infrastructures. Most of the modern Olympic Games have gone over budgets, even if the majority of construction work was done before the games started. The British government has also had a past record of building projects and various venues that have gone over budget and being late, for instance the Millennium Dome and the Scottish Parliament building.4 Recent Olympic Games such as those in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and the latest in Beijing 2008 all managed to boost great sporting facilities besides suitability impressive accommodation and travel infrastructures. These Olympic Games were all very expensive to host and required significant amounts of budget funding and sourcing to be staged effectively.

Should Everyone be Equal in the Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Should Everyone be Equal in the Society - Essay Example At only 14 years old, Harrison Bergeron tries to break down the equality that has engulfed the entire country including his father. Handicapper general ensures that she monitors any bright person who tries to think beyond the normal reasoning capacity. Individuality in this society is no more. This is evident when the handicapper general guns down Harrison Bergeron and her empress. Hidden individuality is also evident when the presenter who reads the press conference does the reading while wearing a mask since she is pretty. Because Harrison is more handsome and stronger, he gets to carry the heaviest load of handicaps to weaken him. The tone of the story varies from fearful to happiness but ends up in a somber mood when main characters end up dead. Happy mood is evident when Harrison frees everyone in the studio from the slavery of wearing handicaps and dancing sets in.

Company Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Company Law - Essay Example The specail committee has approved the payment of ?2 million as the consultation fees to Harry for effectively maneuvering acquisition of Durmstrang Ltd.At this juncture, we have to see the powers of such committees. If the main board has delegated the power to the committee to fix any amount as the consultation fees to any director without any ceiling, then the decision of such committee need not to be ratified by the main board. However , if the main board has not delegated the power to such a special committee to decide about any consultation fee to be paid to any director but only can make a recommendation to the main board and then, the main board has the final authority to accept or reject such a recommendation. In such scenario, as the main board has disapproved such payment, then the consultation fees paid to Harry has to be repaid to the company. However , it should be noted that taking Harry’s efforts in successfully handling such merger as it has added value to the company , it is suggested that Board should take into consideration before making any refusal to pay compensation as recommended by a special committee. ... y, is interested in a future business arrangement or transaction, he has the duty to divulge his extent and nature of his interest to other directors or to the Board2. S 177 also requires that the disclosure should be made to the company well before the start of such business arrangement or transaction3. Further, a director is expected that he is aware of the issues of which he ought to be known reasonably on such business transaction4. A director is bound to disclose his interest’s of another person also, if such other person’s interest tantamount to an indirect or a direct interest on the part of such director5. A director should divulge his interest when he ought practically conscious of the conflicting interest in any business transaction6. Further, the general rule as prescribed in s 175(1) restricts unauthorised clash of personal interest of directors with that of the company but not in duty to the company as decided in the case Bray v. Ford7 . In IDC v Cooley (19 72), it was held that Cooley was accountable only for not divulging a business opportunity when getting a sanction to pursue a new business, had the company itself might have seized the opportunity had it known previously8. In IDC v, Cooley case ,when a director who has received any information even in his private capacity but has only one capacity that it is in his capacity as director such information is being received . It was held in Bhullar v Bhullar9 that the infringement of duty emanates from the failure to exchange any relevant information to the company. The appellants were under an onus to divulge the necessary information to the company. (Mantysaari 2005:187). In Gardner v Parker10 , it was held that where the director had not divulged his interest in any business transaction, then such

The NCOER Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The NCOER - Research Paper Example CONCLUSION Abstract Noncommissioned officers are very important in the military. In order to appraise the performance of individual noncommissioned officers, boards use officer evaluation reports. The Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Reports (NCOERs) have been effective in making decisions regarding promotions, assignments, school selections, and retention on active duty for noncommissioned officers. Officer evaluation board members have always praised the application and relevance of the Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Reports (NCOERs), while majority of junior officers, who include noncommissioned officers ridicule it. Despite the fact that the system of conducting officer evaluations and giving reports has been applied in the army for years, there have been a lot of problems in this system. This paper also discusses the sources of these problems and highlights a number of ways to resolve the problems in the Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation and Reporting (NCOER) system. Keyw ords: Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs), Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report (NCOER), Senior Officers, Junior Officers, Introduction Noncommissioned officers (NCOs) are valuable people in the army. This is because despite not having been commissioned, they play vital roles in the regular operations of the military. It is from this that they are viewed as the ‘military backbone’. Their duties range from acting as links or intermediaries between the regular enlisted units and commissioned officers, to performing duties as simple as scheduling, filing paperwork, and other administrative duties. Rush points out that â€Å"senior noncommissioned officers traditionally have been the keepers of their organizations lineage and traditions. Serving as role models and mentors, they pass on and inculcate the traditions and organizational ethos into newly arrived soldiers† (2006, p. 25). In order to get opportunities in the army and advance, noncommissioned officers need to have their potential and performance assessed regularly, and this is done through the Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report (NCOER), which is the tool used to appraise the performance of an individual NCO. Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Reports (NCOERs) therefore have a strong influence on the noncommissioned officer opportunities and chances for advancement in the army. Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report (NCOER) Evaluation reports for noncommissioned officers have been used in the military for many years. According to Rush (2006), â€Å"the NCOER provides formal recognition of duty performance, a measurement of professional values and personal traits, and is the basis for performance counseling by rating officials† (p. 26). The information contained in a Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report (NCOER) also determines the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) of a noncommissioned officer, his assignment, future school selections, and promotion (Rush, 2006) . With the NCOER, a noncommissioned officer capacity’s to face future challenges in his profession is bolstered. All army officers are expected to recognize, appreciate and observe the values of â€Å"loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage† (Lloyd, 2007, p. 1). During their evaluation, noncommissioned officers demonstration of these values in their duties is assessed. Meaningful concern arises in the event that a noncommissioned

ODCE model tax tready Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ODCE model tax tready - Essay Example In this regard, GoodFood Inc. has been identified to be conducting operations in different States owing to which the company is taxable under the OECD model2. The term Permanent Establishment (PE) in Article 5 is used for tax treaty purposes. PE is a concept of tax that indicates the business level in the Source State. It also involves in various other treaty provisions. Alternative provision found in paragraph 42.43 of Article 5 of the OECD model implies that foreign enterprises should be present more than 183 days, but it is not necessary to have a specific place of business. The alternative provision does not require specific time, but it is necessary to fix the place of business. In this respect, according to the provision, GoodFood Inc. is not taxable, as the date of business commencement is not mentioned3;4. The UN model is used as a tool in international tax treaty negotiations in developing and developed countries for managing tax issues. The role of this model is to allocate taxing right between the residence jurisdictions and source jurisdictions. This model allows larger source taxation. It is also referred to as ‘double taxation convention’. The OECD model allows more exchange of information and this mode involves in the every kind of taxes and description while the UN model only involves taxes in the model. However, the provision of exchange information is similar to both models. Thus, based on the UN model, GoodFood Inc. is taxable5;6. The services PE provision in Article 5 of OECD model is used for tax treaty purposes. The services PE provision requires foreign enterprises to be operating more than 183 days in a twelve month, but not necessary to have a fixed place of business. The main commitments of PE provision are to provide a taxation right to the Source State. This provision is essential for several articles, but is important for article 7, which is included in industry profits. In this respect, it can be stated that

Female Acceptance into a Computer Based Society Essay Example for Free

Female Acceptance into a Computer Based Society Essay INTRODUCTION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Advancement on technology had brought different changes into the society. These aims to provide additional comfort and making things work more efficiently. But there are changes that people cannot prevent to happen. These are biological changes such as getting old.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   People respond to the aging process as a negative thing. Misconceptions arises that lead to common negative behavior towards the aging process. Getting old is a natural process. Anti-aging solutions are invented to prevent physical changes that it may cause like gray hair and wrinkles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Its no secret that our bodies change as we age. Physical as well as psychological changes as effect of aging can be experienced.   Some changes are obvious, while others are more subtle. Others, may experience the effects of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, which can gradually diminish their abilities to participate fully in activities. While there are still people age comfortably and remain active, alert and vibrant throughout their lives. Their physiologic age may be quite younger than their chronological age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Because of the negative connotation on the process of aging, women who are known to be more conscious than men generally find it an issue to accept aging as a natural process of life. OBJECTIVES This study aims to discuss the impact of aging to the female group given in a modern and more advance society. This will provide description on how female cope, adapt and react to the aging process. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The research covers the issue of aging on female point of view. . It also provide an overview on what is aging and the physical and mental changes it bring to a person. This also identify some misconceptions about aging. SIGNIFICANCE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The study is significant to discuss the impact of aging to women. It identifies the reasons on how the female gender response to the stage of aging. It discusses the common misconceptions regarding aging that can be properly addressed. This study is also significant for future researches related to the topic. RELATED LITERATURE Misconceptions on Aging There are a lot of misconceptions about getting old. It is a negative connotation that aging means getting near to the end of growth. And that old age is a lonely stage of life. It is also a misconception that when one is old, he/she believes that there are only limited to certain activities especially in the physical aspect. One fears getting old because of the fear of loosing independence. Another misconception is that people think that the happy days of their lives were experienced when they are young. According to a recent study shown, these several misconceptions vary from the reality regarding the issue of aging.   The research was conducted by VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and University of Michigan researchers to 540 adults who were between the ages of 21 and 40, or over age 60 . They were asked to rate their level of happiness through answering questions. The results are published in the June issue of the Journal of Happiness Studies, a major research journal in the field of positive psychology. There is a stereotype existing between the old and young in the society. One thinks that the happy days of his/her life happens only when he/she is young.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In another research by Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D., the concept of ageism was examined between younger and older men and women in the present study. It was entitled â€Å"Effects of Age and Gender on Perceptions of Younger and Older Adults†. The study discusses the older adults are perceived more negatively than younger adults. Through gender interaction effect, a significant age by was found. Both younger and older men rated stimulus older adults significantly less positively than stimulus younger adults. However, older women rated stimulus older adults significantly more positively than they rated other stimulus-age groups. Older women were the only subject group that did not exhibit a consistent negative bias against older adults. Conversely, younger women rated stimulus older adults more negatively than any subject group. Biological   Effects   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The effects of aging are obvious on the body. Our body is made up of cells and tissues that keep on regenerating and replenishing to keep our body sustaining. As we grow old, this process decreases where replacement of old to new cells are slowing causing the signs of aging to appear.   Physical changes like poor hearing and declining vision takes place. The strength of muscles lessens due to soft tissues like skin and blood vessels that became less flexible are some general changes that occur in the human body as it ages. Skin starts to become dry and wrinkled. It looses its elasticity and the glands function less so sweating occurs lesser than the usual. Moreover, there is an overall decline in body tone that can be observed. The body’s performance becomes less efficient. Not all people experience decreased organ function to the same degree—some individuals are healthier due to good diet and exercise when they are younger. Aging also affects the immune system of a person. Human antibody lessens their act against free radicals. The immune system also changes with age. The antibodies, disease-fighting proteins, protect the body against bacteria, viruses, and other harmful agents in a healthy immune system. A healthy immune system also prevents the growth of abnormal cells, which can become cancerous. With advancing age, the ability of the immune system to carry out these protective functions is diminished—the rate of antibody production may drop by as much as 80 percent between age 20 and age 85. This less-effective immune system explains why a bout of influenza, which may make a young adult sick for a few days, can be fatal for an elderly person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For females, these changes on the body due to the advancement of age have a greater issue.   Aging causes changes on the physical aspect of a person and one of the major effects of aging occurs in the female reproductive system. With aging, a womans breasts lose tissue and subcutaneous fat, reducing breast size and fullness. There is also a decrease in the number of mammary ducts. The breasts lose support. Aging breasts commonly flatten and sag, and the nipple may turn in slightly. The areola (the area surrounding the nipple) becomes smaller and may nearly disappear. Loss of hair around the nipple is common. Breast cancer risk increases with age. Women should perform monthly breast self-examinations. However, because breast self-exams do not always pick up early stages of breast cancer, women should also talk to their health care providers about mammograms. It also affects the fertility cycle of a woman. Menopausal stage takes place on about age 45 to age 55 of a female where the ovaries does not longer produce egg cells. This means that she can no longer bear a child. This is also the end of the menstrual cycle since there is no longer the release of sexual hormones that motivates the cycle. Although the average onset of menopause occurs in the early part of the sixth decade there is an observable, real and significant decline in the 10 to 15 years before menstruation ceases. Scientific studies on natural populations (those with high marital rates and no birth control) and on â€Å"infertility populations† all confirm the presence of an age related decline in female fertility independent of all other factors. This effect becomes most prominent after age 35.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Aging cause loss of female fertility. Although menstrual irregularities generally begin to show in the last half of the 5th decade (a time termed perimenopause) there is a marked decrease in fertility in the 10 years preceding this that appears to be independent of male or pelvic factors and despite the occurrence of regular menstrual cycles and ovulation. Similarly a decrease in success rates for IVF is seen in this population as well. The discussion then seems to focus on whether this decrease in fertility is due to ovarian factors, uterine factors or both. In other mammals there does appear to be a host of age related uterine changes that do limit fertility however, initial studies in humans failed to show consistent aging changes. Furthermore it now seems that the endometrium of an ovulatory older woman with appropriate levels of estradiol and progesterone should be able to be appropriately receptive to and supportive of implantation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The catch here is that as we age, even while still regularly menstruating, there are subtle shifts in hormonal patterns that may make the endometrium less receptive. As an example, luteal phase defect is far more common at the edges of reproductive life (very young, very old, newly delivered) but progesterone supplementation, which in theory should overcome the defect, does not appear to have made a significant difference in pregnancy rates for older women. More compelling support for the idea that the problem is primarily ovarian in nature comes from the fact that pregnancy rates for younger women and older women undergoing IVF with donor eggs are quite comparable. There are however, still some questions about uterine receptivity and study is ongoing in attempts to isolate out the effect of the â€Å"older uterus† from the effect of aging eggs of poor quality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The bottom line for now seems to be that although everyone agrees that egg quality and ovarian reserve definitely decline with age and are perhaps the primary factors causing an age related decrease in female fertility, there may be uterine factors in play as well. Further study to elucidate the mechanisms at work and, hopefully, to devise new treatment options are indicated. A number of other studies investigates the effects of aging. Scientists have found, for example, a possible explanation for why women have longer average life spans than men. The difference seems to be biologically determined, and male and female sex hormones are probably responsible. The blood levels of female sex hormones drop sharply during menopause. At that time, the incidence of heart disease and high blood pressure in women increases to match the incidence in men, suggesting that the presence of female sex hormones offers some protection against heart disease. Aging Population   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In developed nations, life expectancy has increased more in the 20th century than it has in all of recorded history. A person born in the United States in 1995 can expect to live more than 35 years longer than a person born in 1900. Today more than 34 million Americans are 65 or older, accounting for about 13 percent of the population. By the year 2030, their numbers will more than double: One in every five Americans will be over age 65. A person who lives 100 years or more—a centenarian—was once a rarity, but today about 60,000 Americans are 100 years or older. By the year 2060, there may be as many as 2.5 million centenarians in the United States. The number of supercentenarians—people 105 years of age and older—will probably be as commonplace in the next century as centenarians are fast becoming now. How to Counteract with Aging   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Knowing what to expect and taking steps to counterbalance the effects of aging can help you maintain a young spirit and an independent life. A healthy diet, regular exercise program and positive attitude can help delay the onset and slow the progression of many age-related changes. Many of the changes in our musculoskeletal system result more from disuse than from simple aging. Fewer than 10 percent of Americans participate in regular exercise, and the most sedentary group is over age 50.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stretching is an excellent way to help maintain joint flexibility. Weight training can increase muscle mass and strength, enabling people to continue their daily routine activities without maximal exertion. Even moderate amounts of physical activity can reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease and some forms of cancer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Much recent research has been conducted on the effects of exercise on aging. In all of the studies described above, exercise had positive effects on aging. It has been found to increase reaction time, assist in predicting good aging, and improve psychological well-being. Factors such as health, social support, efficacy, and motivation are indicators of the maintenance of exercise. One should acknowledge the factors influencing exercise, recognize the numerous benefits of exercise, and take action at any age in order to live a more healthy and happy life now and in old age. Long-term regular exercises may slow the loss of muscle mass and prevent age-associated increases in body fat. Exercise also helps maintain the bodys response time, as well as its ability to deliver and use oxygen efficiently. Just 30 minutes of moderate activity, incorporated into your daily routine, can provide health benefits. An exercise program doesnt have to be strenuous to be effective. Walking, square dancing, swimming and bicycling are all recommended activities for maintaining fitness into old age. The 30 minutes of moderate activity can be broken up into shorter periods; you might spend 15 minutes working in the garden in the morning and 15 minutes walking in the afternoon. It all adds up. But if youve never attempted an exercise program before, be sure to see your doctor before starting one now. Psychological Aging   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Behavioral medicine research over the past several years has identified a umber of psychosocial characteristics that affect the development and course of a wide range of life-threatening illnesses. Included among these psychosocial risk factors are hostility, depression, social isolation, high job strain, and low socioeconomic status. The specific mechanisms whereby these factors influence the patho ­genesis and prognosis of major causes of death such as coronary heart disease (CHD) and cancer have not been identified yet, but considerable research points to accompanying health behaviors (smoking, dietary habits, and alco ­hol consumption) and biological characteristics (altered functions of the sym ­pathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems [SNS, PNS], of the hypothal ­amic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis, and of the immune system) as likely mediators. Finally, research evaluating interventions targeting psychosocial risk factors in groups of patients with CHD and cancer offer considerable promise that secondary prevention will be shown to have an important place in the treatment and rehabilitation of major chronic diseases . Anti-aging can be a difficult topic to address. A war is currently being fought over the meaning of anti-aging (as research, medicine, brand, or simply adjective) and thus even mentioning the term is likely to prejudice many readers. Defining Anti-Aging   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like it or not, anti-aging now has a number of quite different common meanings and connotations. Each is championed by a particular group or loose coalition of interests, but advocates for these groups have a way of diving into the fray without defining their terms. This makes reading about anti-aging techniques, technologies, medicine, products, and debates very confusing for the newcomer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For the scientific community, anti-aging research refers exclusively to slowing, preventing, or reversing the aging process. There is, as of 2007, no medical technology that allows this to be done although the jury is still out on calorie restriction in humans. Nor is there any currently available method (short of waiting for people to die) to accurately measure the effects of an alleged anti-aging therapy. In the medical and more reputable business community, anti-aging medicine means early detection, prevention, and reversal of age-related diseases. This is quite different from tackling the aging process itself, and a wide array of strategies and therapies are currently available. Calorie restriction, for example, is a demonstrated way to lower risk for a wide range of age-related degenerative conditions. The wider business community including a great many fraudulent and frivolous ventures views anti-aging as a valuable brand and a demonstrated way to increase sales. At the worse end of the scale, this leads to snake oil salesmen, anti-aging creams that may or may not make your skin look younger, and infomercials that tout the anti-aging benefits of exercise machines. Broadly, and very charitably, we can look at these varied definitions of anti-aging as meaning to look and feel younger in some way which has no bearing on how long you live or how healthy you actually are.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The confusion of most interest is between the first two definitions. Many interventions lengthen life span for individuals by preventing or curing specific age-related diseases that would otherwise prove fatal. For example, ask yourself whether preventing heart disease or diabetes is anti-aging medicine. This would have no effect on the aging process, but it would help many people to live longer, healthier lives. Is this anti-aging research? Scientists say no, some medical and business groups say yes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Aging is such a bad word in our society. We dont want to see old people, much less sit next to them. Even old people dont like to be around other old people.But maybe the reason that many seniors cant embrace their golden years is that they have never had it modeled for them. People today just live longer. The fastest growing segment in todays society is those 85 and older. Its a whole new ballgame for seniors today. A lot are unsure what to do or whats expected of them. In some ways, were pioneers showing younger folk what to do and what they can do when they are this age. Indeed, the work of a person growing old is that of becoming an elder, discovering spiritual treasures and passing them along to others. Despite physical limitations, there are many positives about aging, including more time to be spent in meditation and prayer, working on a closer connection to God and selves. That meditative work can encourage elders to review their lives, see how they made a difference as well as bringing up old wounds and pains. Its here that seniors need to work on forgiving others, themselves and God as they let go of past hurts, grudges and pains. AGING ON FEMALE’S PERSPECTIVE Response to Physical Changes It is a much issue for women when they feel they get old considering females to be a more conscious gender when it comes to the physical aspect. After discussing the physical changes that it can bring, without proper caring, one’s body can be a total wreck. Another issue that aging brought is that it lessen one’s self esteem. Women are conscious of their age. Youth implies beauty. Something that one tries to preserve while she is still has the youthfulness. That is why anti aging creams, pills etc. are in demand to most women. For example, there is a preference of choosing a younger female.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As women age their concerns about health grow—and rightfully so given that women are at greater risks for some health conditions. For example, according to the Illinois Department on Aging, heart disease is the No. 1 leading cause of death among older women. Women are twice as likely as men to die within the first year of having a heart attack. The second leading cause of death for women is cancer—specifically lung and breast cancer—and the third leading cause of death is stroke. Women who have hypertension or diabetes are at greater risk for heart disease and strokes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like all women, lesbians are at risk for health problems associated with aging. Some evidence suggests that they may even be at greater risk for some age-related health problems. For example, because lesbians as a group are less likely to have been pregnant, more likely to drink alcohol and smoke—and more likely to be overweight—their risk of breast cancer may be greater than the risk among women in the general population. However, we need much more research before we can say much of anything for sure about lesbians’ risks for breast cancer or the other leading causes of death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study we are collecting information about these and many other health concerns of lesbians. We are happy to report that, in general, the 450 lesbians in our study are overall very healthy—in fact, when we first interviewed them in 2000-2001, 74% of them rated their health as good or excellent; only 7% said that their health was poor. Very few women in the study reported being diagnosed with breast cancer , heart disease, or diabetes. However, 17% said that they have high blood pressure (hypertension). One of the reasons for these low rates of problems is that the women are relatively young—the average age of the women in the study is 39 years (only about a quarter of them are over 45 years old). As they get older, lesbians, like other women, face higher risk for these serious health problems. Because we have not yet discovered the cure for aging it is important that we take care of ourselves in order to reduce these risks and improve our overall quality of life. Among the most important ways that we can take care of ourselves include getting regular exercise, not smoking, and using sodium (salt) and alcohol in moderation. Some misconceptions of women and the truth   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The older I get, the worse my body will feel. The increasing stiffness and aches pains that often come with age are not a result of age, but are due to lack of movement. Although there are some changes in the tissues in the process of aging, one can continue to remain remarkably flexible and free of pain through something as simple as regular stretching.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Its too late to start taking care of myself it wont do any good at this age. A healthy lifestyle has been found to be one of the most important factors in how people age. Improvements in lifestyle (with the 3 key areas being good food, exercise and regular relaxation and rest) will bring improvements at any age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Im getting too old to learn new things Research shows that older people can, and do, learn new things. Attitude plays an important role. People who believe they can learn new things do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sex is only for the young. People can, and do, continue to enjoy sex well into their senior years. People are sexual beings throughout the life cycle, but sexuality is experienced differently at different ages. Changes in hormones affects the experience of sex, and one may need to find different ways to be intimate. Relaxation is key here so that we dont panic when things dont happen the way they used to. Aging does not imply that they are too old for sex but simply they need to give themselves some breathing room to become familiar with our changing physiologies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The older I get, the less attractive I become. There is nothing more attractive than someone who has aged well. There is a special radiance in a elderly person who is at peace with themselves and life. Attractiveness has absolutely nothing to do with age. Its never too late to change the two most important ingredients to graceful aging attitude and lifestyle.   At the risk of sounding like a broken record to those of you whove read my previous articles there are two very simple but essential lifestyle ingredients for successful aging -relaxation and stretching.       References: http://www.hope.edu/academic/psychology/335/webrep2/ageexercise.htm http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/lifestyle/2006-06/17/content_619419.htm http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/lifestyle/2006-06/17/content_619419.htm http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ageismwoolf.html http://www.seniorwomen.com/articles/articlesElginOld.html http://www.riversidehealth.com/articles/aging.htm http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=224topcategory=Wellness http://infertility.about.com/cs/femalefactors/a/femaleage.htm