Corporate Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Corporate Finance - Essay Example The flat world is here to stay, and has conquered both time and distance. Thomas Friedman is a thinker and a futurist par excellence, as his book ‘The World is Flat’ (2005) clearly shows. In the book, Friedman makes out a compelling case for a series of revolutions that have transformed the world to be what it is today. Friedman states that the availability of the internet and digital technology at a cheaper rate has enabled developing nations like India compete with Americans for jobs in the service sector. In the coming days, the author argues excellently that most of world manufacturing will be handled by China, which we can see increasingly in evidence if we look at the manufacturer’s label on most of our household electronics and appliances. This has already pushed China to be in line with the USA and Japan as one of the world’s largest economies (Friedman, 2005). Commenting recently in his ever popular column in the New York Times, Friedman argues now that the World is Full. Scientists have calculated that we are presently using up the Earth resources (especially in China) at the rate of 1.5 times the available supply. It does not take much to reason out the damage this is doing to the carbon footprint. In fact, the Australian environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Gilding is arguing that with the paucity of resources and rising prices everywhere, we could be heading for another crisis. The answer lies in population control and killing off the consumerist economy. When we have lesser mouths to feed, we will do better in providing jobs. The world’s resources and ecosystems will be in balance, food prices can be controlled and we can better handle the vagaries of weather and crop protection. It all makes sense when we see how things are connected. We see not only how things are, but what we have to do to get out of a crisis. President Obama heaved a sigh of relief as he announced that a deal on increasing America’s debt ceiling had

Great Expectations by a famous Charles Dickens Essay Example for Free

Great Expectations by a famous Charles Dickens Essay Great Expectations written by a famous man called Charles dickens. Great expectations is a famous and tense novel which was first published in the year 1860 to 1861 every fortnight in a magazine called all year round. The plot is based on a young boy called Pip, who in the first chapter meets and odd fellow in a gloomy, dark cemetery, pip walks on and soon finds himself turned upside down bye an ex-convict who threatens pip at the throat that he would cut out his heart and his liver if pip dose not do as he says. This dark gloomy fellow scares pip which makes you sympathize for pip. In chapter 8, pip is at a house with his mean sister and her kind and caring blacksmith husband Joe. As pip is a working class orphan he has no parents just is evil sister. Then a rich old, creepy women called Miss havishem asks pip to come round and to play, as he doesnt want to, his sister forced him. When he arrives he ends up in a room with no external light only candles and a dead like figure who demands him to play is Miss Havishem, she demands him to play with her beautiful older then pip daughter, Estella, whom pip falls in love with, you feel sorry for pip now because he cant get her because she is upper class and he is garbage to her. In chapter one, Dickens sets the scene by describing the marshes, saying it is an open dark place and thats were pip lives, so it make you sympathise for pip. When Magwitch comes, the mood changes to scary. When pip meets magwitch at the old gibbet, he says a gibbet with some chains hanging to it which had one held a pirate. The man was limping on towards him, as if he were the pirate come to life, he was using his imagination as if magwitch was the pirates ghost which has come to life, which gives the reader the effect of an old, white, dusty, see-through pirate has returned. When Dickens describes Miss Havisham room, he says it was a large room, well lighted with candles; no glimpse of daylight was to be seen. It seems pitch black but only candles laying around, pip sees everything is faded and old, her white wedding dress which she is still wearing, is white no more, but torn and ripped and grey. All clocks have stopped at the same time in this room. As if time has come to a stand still, except for the old wrinkles lady in the chair. Reading this makes you feel scared because if you were pip, then you would not want to stay in the room. In chapter 1 in the eerie settings of the marshes, we meet the sinister character called Magwitch. As he just pops out of the bushes and bellows hold yer noise or ill cut your throat, we get an image of a ruffled up man, a man with no hat but only rag on his head and broken shoes, and he is soaked in water and mud. When we see that he has a shackle on his leg we know he is an escaped convict. When he threatens pip to cut out his heart and liver and lies about having someone else who will get him when he is asleep in his cosy bed, then you see how much he wants the food and file. It is ironic that magwitch will be his benefactor after all his threats and bullying. When pip walks into Miss Havishem room and sees its all dark, we get a feeling of eerie. All the things the rooms are grey and aged, just like her, dickens writes:- Her shoes were white, a long white vale, I saw everything in my view which ought to be white. He repeats the word white, which gives an effect of how old everything is. He describes she is like a corpse I sometimes have sick fancies miss havishem says and then she says she wants pip to play and clicks her fingers at pip and makes pip fell uncomfortable, which is weird for an old lady to demand a young boy to play. Pip who is the main character of Great Expectations is an orphan that lives in a boggy environment which makes you feel sorry for pip. He then meets magwitch and even tho he scares pip, as dickens describes him as a bundle of shivers pip still remembers his manners and he has respect for elders even magwitch. Half way through dickens changes 1st, 3rd person which show how small he is in retrospective view. When pip enters the room with Miss Havishem in it, he feels scared but he is still polite towards her. When she I talking to pop he tries to avoid eye contact wit her when Miss Havishem asks if he is scared of a women who has not daylight since before he was born, he lies and says no. when she calls Estella in the room, pip immediately fall in love with her, but when she says no because he is a working class boy, he turn his back on Joe and hates him because he did teach him how to be a gentle man and cries then kicks the wall. In Great Expectations, Dickens writes in the first person about Pip life. Chapters one and eight are the two key chapters that are enough to hook the reader. Dickens includes strange characters, like Magwitch in the cemetery. The story is a journey of pips life from child hood to man hood and it shows all his emotions and fears through out. Dickens uses his imagination which appeals to the audience and his vocabulary to his advantage, writing out all pips emotions, making you feel as if you were Pip, which makes this a very good and famous story. All of the characters are different and each has their own dramatic events. Great expectation is a well known novel because it hooks you from the 1st chapter all the way to the end.

The consultants responsibility to facilitate client decisions

The consultants responsibility to facilitate client decisions Management consulting can be defined as the creation of value for organizations, through the application of knowledge, techniques and assets to improve business performance. This is achieved through the rendering of objective advice and/or the implementation of business solution (MCA 2009 as stated in Matthias 2011). Central to the notion of management consulting is the ability to identify a problem, research and recommend a solution and help implement that solution. The role of the consultant have become central to the life of many organizations, today the question isnt how many companies are using consultants but how many are not using consultant (Pellegrinelli 2002). However the role of the consultant and their impact on the decision making process in client organization has been the subject of many debates. This essay examines the role of consultant in decision making process of a client. The essay starts by looking at the role of the consultant as a facilitator of the client decision, without altering such decision. Then proceed to look at the role of consultant as an expert who can be seen as being responsible for the decision and outcome for the execution of project. Furthermore, the two distinct roles are considered side on side and we look at other approaches to decisions making in the consultant clients relationship. Facilitating Clients Decision Decision making is one of the most important management decisions, if not the most important of all management activities (Mintzberg 1989 as stated in Buchanan and Huczynski 2010). The consultant goal is to influence decision making in organization, therefore it is pertinent that the consultant understands how decisions are made in organizations. Wickham and Wickham (2008) suggests that there are three major decision making models in practice, the normative decision making model, the descriptive or the prescriptive model of decision making. Facilitation is the process of providing opportunities, resources, encouragement and support for a group to succeed in achieving its objectives, and to do this through enabling the group to take control and responsibility for the way they proceed (Matthias 2011, p6). Facilitation is a complex, iterative process which enables things to happen (Velden and Leenknegt 2006). At the center of process facilitation is the need to build relationship. The facilitator primary responsibility is to help client with process-type interventions to make decisions. The goal of process facilitation is to increase the client systems capacity for learning so that it can fix its own problems (Schein 1999). Here the decision-making and action lies predominantly in the hand of the client (Whittle 2006) with the consultant playing a passive role. Sometimes the consultants may deliberately enroll internal champions to create internal ownership of ideas (Fincham, 2002 as stated in Whittle 2006). Different authors have used different names in defining the role of the consultant as a facilitator including Schein who called it the process consulting model. He suggested that consultants are facilitators who help to empower the clients to solve his own problem and not own the problem. Similar to the process model is the role of the collaborator (Block 2000 as stated in Cameron and Green 2004). Also, Nees and Greiner defines a facilitator as the friendly co-pilot in their model (Appelbaum and Steed 2005), associating the knowledge based of the facilitator to business experience. The application of facilitation in practice however, depends largely on what level of change is required and organizational development. Sherwood and Callahan (2006) developed strategic process consulting where they used undergraduates to facilitate the changes in the strategic processes in two organizations with the client making the key decisions but at their level of expertise. Also, Ambler 2006 used a combination of part training/ part facilitation/ part consulting to engage in a consulting project that required managers in clients organization to take more responsibility. Both projects had to deal with facilitating changes in non-technical part of the business. However Stager (1986) and Cameron and Green (2004) argue that facilitation can be useful even in technical field like IT. There are different assumptions that the process model is built on; first, the client not only helps in making the diagnosis, they also benefit from participating in the diagnosis especially when the problem is a nontechnical one. Secondly, the client has helpful intent and has some problem solving ability, thirdly the client knows the form of intervention or solution that will work best in the organization because he or she understand contextual issues like power and politics in the organization. The clients problem solving abilities is improved upon as clients engage in the diagnosis of the problem and the selection and implementing the solutions (Rockwood 1993). Facilitation is useful when: there are Complex (unknown or conflicting) objectives, the process is complex, there are disagreements, buy-in is essential, multiple inputs are required, Ownership is required and lastly, managing hierarchical issue (Matthias 2011). Advantages of the facilitator model includes that it offers new approaches to solutions. Secondly, they are able to spot risk and focus on issues not agendas and, they are able to see potential for wider application NCAS (2006). Also the process consultation model is important for building long term relationships because it focuses on the future of the organization client and also helping to build the required expertise in the clients organization. Matthias (2011) suggests that the process consulting model is most useful in achieving long term result. Buckenmyer and Stough (1998) argue that the concepts of empowerment, participation and involvement are not always 100 percent positive. One consequence of unbridled empowerment can be dysfunctional organization. Also processes facilitation exposes clients to the risk of group think and group polarization which does not lead to the optimal solution being chosen (Buchanan and Huczynski 2010). Facilitation is more time consuming than content models (Stager 1986), and sometimes clients crave quicker and proactive intervention (Whittle 2006). Expert decision making The alternative approach to client consultant decision making argument is to understand when the client places the decision making powers to the consultant. The concept of consultant having decision making power or significant influence in decision making is plausible when the consultant plays the expert role. Edgar Schein developed content models which are divided into the purchase of expertise model and the doctor-patient model. Schein purchase-of-expertise and doctor-patient models are similar to Blocks expert and pair-of-hands roles of the consultant respectively. Appelbaum and Steed (2005) suggests that Scheins content models are similar to Nees and Greniers model for role of consultancy. They link the mental adventurer to the expert role, the strategic navigator, management physician and system architect to the doctor-patient model. The purchase-of-expertise model suggests that consultant needs to provide some type of expertise; this model allows the client to remove themselves from the problem (Rockwood 1993). This model is useful when the problem is straightforward and client organization does not possess the needed expertize (Schein 1978). In the expert role, the client delegates full authority to the consultant to plan and implement the changes. Decisions are made by the consultant on the base of his or her judgment, Client responds only when asked to. The goal is to solve the immediate problem (Cameron and Green 2004). The expert role is a specialist area (Witham and Witcham 2008) and requires technical knowledge Werr and Linnarsson (2001). However, the problem of the purchase-of-expertise model is that it places enormous responsibility on the client to diagnose the problem properly and the also difficult to use when the problem is tricky and difficult to diagnose and the consultant is not held responsible for wrong consequences (Schein 1978). It is doubtful if any expert body of knowledge exists in management realm (Williams and Rattray 2004), and the consultant doesnt know everything (Stager 1986). Another problem with the expert approach is that the client is distanced from the process of problem solving. They also downplay the role of power and politics in the client organization. In addition, placing decision making in the hands of the client may create a superior/inferior relationship, which is offensive to some clients (Stager 1986). Role of clients There is no doubt, that there exist different client roles in consulting project, however authors like Appelbaum and Steed (2005), Pellegrinelli (2002) argue that in reality the question of client is ambiguous and problematic. However, Schein (1997) proposes a model to understand different types of client relationship, he identified five types of clients: The first is the contact clients, the individual who is first contacted by the consultant; the intermediate clients, the individuals or groups who gets involved in different activities as project evolves; the primary clients, is the client who ultimately own the problem and they are the ones who are responsible for paying the consulting bills. The unwitting clients are the clients who will be affected but who are not aware that they would be impacted. The indirect clients are members of the organization who are aware that they will be affected but who are unknown to the consultant. Ultimate clients; are those whose welfare must be c onsidered, they include the total community and the total organization. This raises the ethical dilemma as the consultant needs to be able to manage the different types of clients and their different interest, influence and level of participation. Pellegrinelli (2002) suggests that facilitation model requires the consultant to be far more conscious of their various clients and stakeholders while the expert model, the interest of the senior manager commissioning the work tends to suffice. Also not all interventions are assumed to be helpful. The very presence of a consultant, and even mere data gathering changes things for the client/subject, and/or their stakeholder (Williams 2001). Also the fact that the facilitator does not own the problem raises the question of the contribution of the consultants (Wickham and Wickham 2008). Regardless of the mode of consulting employed, the consultant runs the dilemma of choosing between what needs to be done and what the paying client expects to be done (Williams 2001). In our understanding of the consultant roles and decision making, it is important that we identify who owns and makes the decision. Bartecko (2010) argued that the clients should not allow the consultant make decision for them, she attributes the failures of many projects to the lack of ownership on the project. The expert role can be susceptible to the risk of being used as rubber stamp and tools in the hand of senior management especially when making tough decision (Shapirro et al 1993). While the facilitator can also be used to push managements agenda to the group and the facilitator can manipulate the group (Matthias 2011) however, the purchase of advice can be interpreted as a sign of managerial ineffectiveness or if consultants renew the management concerns they were enlisted to lessen (Whittle 2006). Organisational Learning The knowledge and the learning objectives of the client have impact on what role the consultant wants to play and how it is received within the organization. One of the key requirements sought by clients is that the consultant must be knowledgeable (Minter 1994). The export model is seen as a specialist area and it is known to be technical (Wickham and Wickham 2008). The facilitator seems non-technical and deals with the soft skills in organization (Cameron and Green 2004). The authoritative leaders or expert can make the consultant appear arrogant and insensitive in the eyes of clients (Shapiro et al; Clark and Fincham, 2002 as stated in Whittle 2006). Werr and Linnarson (2001) also opine that the traditional expert role creates a dangerous situation where the client loses knowledge to the consultant making them dependent on the consultant. From the foregoing it is arguable that the consultant facilitating helps build and retain organizational learning. The lack of success in consul ting process isnt so much the lack of experience but not understanding what it is to help someone and not operating by those principles (Schein 1999). An example of the failure of the expert model of changing clients decision can be seen with the Nett positive, a Business Analysis consulting company from India taking on a project in FCMB a bank in Nigerian. Nett positive took the expert role and were trying to reintroduce an online performance management system which was the brief from the bank. However, they had two problems that beguiled the project, firstly they ignored the power and conflict in the organization and secondly they were seen to be protecting the interest of the contact client and not the primary contact. As the expert moved to try and develop the data needed as required by the client, the client decided to challenge the knowledge in-house to design the same system. So a cross functional team from IT, Finance and Sales was formed and given the mandate to design the task. Eventually the new performance management system was designed and the contract with Nett Positive was cancelled. Bridging the different Approaches While authors like Schein as stated in (Rockwood 1993) and (Velden and Leenkgert 2006) suggest that consultants decisions often time lie between facilitating and expert mode based on the situation and context. Schein however proposed that what is important is that all consultant and client relationship should be based on helping the client. Schumacher (n.d.) identified three new approaches to consulting. The first is the complimentary consulting which tries to integrate the expert and process consulting modes in a complete and cooperative manner. The integrated consulting was developed based on shared understanding of communication, feedback mechanism and reflection loops. However, the integrated approach does not have concrete realization in practice (Schumacher n.d.). The third modus of consulting is the client ownership-role of his problem and does not delegate to the consultant. The consultant only offers cooperation architecture and acts as sparring partner. However for long ter m stability of organizations, any model that places the decision in the hands of the client and the consultant as a partner is arguable better. Conclusion Facilitating client decision is all about the consultant helping the clients to make accurate decision. The strengths of the argument for the consultant facilitating clients decision is that the client was part of the process that developed the solution. On the other hand the consultant can change clients decision by taking on the role of the expert, in this mode the decision actually lies in the hand of the consultant however the effectiveness of this method is contentious. However the consultant that chooses to facilitate needs to be able to manage the different clients roles in the organization without being seen to be protecting the interest of any group. Facilitation helps the consultant to ensure that the client grows the knowledge required to make good decisions. Lastly the FCMB, net positive case was studied to see the failures associated with the consultant trying to change clients decision instead of facilitating it. This example further reiterates the fact that for long term sustainability and growth of the client-consultant relationship, the consultant should encourage facilitation instead of trying to change the clients decision.

Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Many people are split on the idea of capital punishment because it involves death. I feel that capital punishment is morally and ethically acceptable because it rids society of our worst criminals. Many people argue that killing criminals who kill is just as bad as being the criminals. For one the criminals killed innocent people who had no idea what was coming, and had no way to prevent it. The criminal who commited the crime in almost all cases had to commit first degree murder, which includes some planning of the act. To plan an act of murder and taking someone’s life is beyond emotion, it is psychological and takes some rationalization. If no rationalization takes place, then it can happen again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another reason that pro-capital punishment argument is that there are innocent men and women sitting on death row that shouldn’t be sentenced to death. Most death row inmates, unless they commit a serious multiple murder have been in and out of jail most of their life. Capital Punishment is a way for society to weed out the bad seeds that corrupt the whole. Personally I think they should be castrated, or not have a conjugal visits. Having people like that procreate makes me sick. Someone who has taken someone’s ability to procreate and enjoy life should be treated if they had killed themselves that day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I also think that multiple rapists should be put to death. If they are given a chance to put their life together and they commit the same crime again then, rehabilitation was unsuccessful and they should be terminated. This may sound like a Nazi speaking of the Jews in the early 1930s, but they based the killing on a religion, not on a case by case basis, as we do in this country. Our legal system is ment to rid society of evil, and by killing the murderers and rapists it clears them out of the genetic pool and also gives an example to others of what not to do. Although it may seem cruel to systematically kill people based on one act in their life, it is justifiable because those people have the potential to kill again, and if they are going to hurt someone they should be kept from society. Capital Punishment :: essays research papers Many people are split on the idea of capital punishment because it involves death. I feel that capital punishment is morally and ethically acceptable because it rids society of our worst criminals. Many people argue that killing criminals who kill is just as bad as being the criminals. For one the criminals killed innocent people who had no idea what was coming, and had no way to prevent it. The criminal who commited the crime in almost all cases had to commit first degree murder, which includes some planning of the act. To plan an act of murder and taking someone’s life is beyond emotion, it is psychological and takes some rationalization. If no rationalization takes place, then it can happen again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another reason that pro-capital punishment argument is that there are innocent men and women sitting on death row that shouldn’t be sentenced to death. Most death row inmates, unless they commit a serious multiple murder have been in and out of jail most of their life. Capital Punishment is a way for society to weed out the bad seeds that corrupt the whole. Personally I think they should be castrated, or not have a conjugal visits. Having people like that procreate makes me sick. Someone who has taken someone’s ability to procreate and enjoy life should be treated if they had killed themselves that day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I also think that multiple rapists should be put to death. If they are given a chance to put their life together and they commit the same crime again then, rehabilitation was unsuccessful and they should be terminated. This may sound like a Nazi speaking of the Jews in the early 1930s, but they based the killing on a religion, not on a case by case basis, as we do in this country. Our legal system is ment to rid society of evil, and by killing the murderers and rapists it clears them out of the genetic pool and also gives an example to others of what not to do. Although it may seem cruel to systematically kill people based on one act in their life, it is justifiable because those people have the potential to kill again, and if they are going to hurt someone they should be kept from society.

Nervous Conditions Essay

Nervous Conditions The choice to resist or comply in situations greatly affects the success and personal relationships of Tambu and Nyasha throughout the Nervous Conditions. Tambu arrives at her uncle’s school initially embracing her education and passion for learning, while there she begins to notice the relationships that existed between the settlers and native, males and females in society. Nyasha understood how awful these relationships were as a young girl. She suffers from severe depression and an eating disorder while trying to cope with and understand these relationships.There are many different decisions made with a variety of strategies that either helps them advance or causes them to fall victim to the controls of colonial society. An educated woman was very uncommon in Zimbabwe during the 1980’s. Tambu decided to pursue her education against her mothers will. You notice the generation gap when her mother says ‘’Can you cook books and feed them t o your husband? Stay at home with you mother. Learn to cook, clean and grow vegetables’’(Ma Shingayi, 15). She decided not to follow the traditional path of women and began selling corn at the market with her teacher to pay for her schooling.Tambu decided to resist fait at a very young age and continued not listening to her family throughout the novel. She felt weighed down by the burdens of womanhood and would not tolerate settling into that lifestyle. Nyasha’s resentment for her parents results in her lashing out and developing an eating disorder. When her mother takes the D. H Lawrence book form her without asking Nyasha begins an argument with her at dinner and storms off without eating. This is the first sign of her nervous condition and foreshadows the escalating problem of her eating disorder. The decision to become bulimic is an attempt to control her life.She feels that her parents are preventing her from becoming the person she wants to be. ‘â₠¬â„¢ They’ve done it to me’’ (Nyasha, 200) she says to Tambu. She feels that she can’t become the confident successful young women she knows is inside her until her parents stop treating her this way. Her parents chose to take away her books, force her to eat and beat her for punishment. This created very strong feelings of hostility towards toward them. These feelings of animosity only get worse throughout the novel as her father gets more controlling to in order to fix her problems.Nyasha’s hatred for her mother goes beyond the issue of them controlling her. This extra hatred for her mother comes from her decision to be her husbands ‘’underdog’’ (Nyasha, 119). She doesn’t believe in the idea of surrendering her dreams and lifestyle to the control of a man. She does not respect her mother for doing this and it only adds to the escalating family conflict. After the Christmas dance Nyasha decided to resist the rules set by her father to hang out with Andy. Babamukuru calls her a whore and beats her, threatening to kill her and hang himself.After all of this Nyasha says this to Tambu ‘’ you cant go on all the time being whatever’s necessary. You’ve got to have some conviction, and I’m convinced I don’t want to be anyone’s underdog. It’s not right for anyone to be that. But once you get use to it well, it just seems natural and you carry on. And that’s the end of you. You’re trapped. They control everything you do’’ (Nyasha, 119). This shows the resentment she has for her mother. She disobeys her father to show that she is not going to be controlled like that. In her eyes she is getting a head by doing this but it only makes her father more controlling.As the preparations began for her parents wedding Tambu became resentful towards Babamukru for ‘’having devised this plot which made such a joke of my parents my home and myself’’ (Tambu, 151) She becomes anxious and angry with her uncle for not understanding how torn she was with this situation. Tambu decides not to go to the wedding; this is the first time she has stood up for herself in Babamukru’s house. After the ceremony she has some regret for not going but the fact that she was able to make her own decision made it all worth it. ‘’guilt, so many razor sharp edges of it, slice away at me.My mother had been right; it was unnatural; I would not listen to my own parents, but I would listen to Babamukuru even when he told me to laugh at my parents. There was something unnatural about me. ’’(Tambu, 167) This wedding made her realize how much she had just been just doing everything he said even if it was wrong and this made her feel very week. Making the decision not to go gave her a ‘’newly acquired identity’’(Tambu, 171) and she gladly took the lashings and punishment for it. When the nuns from Sacred Heart came to the mission school to recruit they offer Tambu a scholarship and a position at the school.Maiguru stands up for Tambu when Babamukuru shuts down the idea. She accepts the offer to the Convent School and becomes so focused on her education she fails to see the effects of this situation on her personal relationships with Nyasha and her friends. Nyasha writes her letters revealing her struggles and how she is on a ‘’diet. ’’ Tambu is so caught up in her studies that she chooses not to write back and help her. When she returns to the mission her friends Maidei and Jocelyn will no longer talk to her. They are very resentful that she left them to go to the white catholic school.Tambu seems very caught up in the colonial society and is slowly loosing track of her roots and connection to the homestead. During her first trip home form Sacred Heart her mother warns her of Englishness and how it is the ma in cause of Nyasha’s Problems. She tries to remove that thought from her head but you notice it stayed with her when she says. ‘’ Quietly, obtrusively and extremely fitfully, something in my mine began to assert itself, to question things and refuse to be brain washed, bringing me to this time when I can set down this story it was a long and painful process for me that process of expansion. ’ (Tambu, 208) She starts questioning her decisions and what she has lost or given up as a result of them. Sacred Heart is no longer her main focus; this shows a significant change in how she views life. Through characters like Nyasha and Tambu one can directly see the struggle that colonialism created for women along with the apparent issues between African men and women during this time period.The decisions that were made either got these girls to the next step in their lives or left them stuck in conflict and abuse. Both Tambu and Nyasha are very set on making there own decisions and finally stand up for them selves against Babamukuru. The beating they receive from making some decisions sets them back but they feel as if it rejuvenates them and gives them power over his control. Works Cited Tsitsi, Dangaremba. Nervious Conditions. London: The Women’s Press Ltd, 1988

Healthcare fraud and abuse Essays

Healthcare fraud and abuse Essays Healthcare fraud and abuse Paper Healthcare fraud and abuse Paper As a Denzel Washington fan, I remembered a movie a couple of years back with a relation to health care entitled John Q.   It depicts a man undergoing hardships to get his son a heart transplant because his HMO would not cover it due to his employee status. Although the plot did not center on health care per se, it got me thinking about how far my own HMO coverage would go. This paper aims to tackle 3 types of abuse and fraud in healthcare in order to prevent and direct much needed resources to those deserving. Along with the advances that we have achieved come those with ill-intent out to further themselves hence health care fraud and abuse.   This is defined in Qui Tam FYI as, â€Å"deceptive means used by an organization to profit from government healthcare agreements. That definition has more recently been extended to include not only deception, but also unreasonable ignorance of the rules.† In 1985, to combat the growing threats against this criminal activity, the NHCAA or National Health Care Antifraud Association was established and has turned to become the leading American organization directed towards health insurance fraud. Their mission statement: â€Å"To protect and serve the public interest by increasing awareness and improving the detection, investigation, civil and criminal prosecution and prevention of health care fraud.†3   Ã‚  We go on to discuss the different type of fraud and abuse. The most rampant is the misrepresentation of goods and services.   A concrete example is when someone is treated for a common cold but when forwarded to the HMO it would appear that the patient was tested for pneumonia and a full blood test was conducted when no such activity was done. The hospital or clinic would then receive compensation for something which was fictitious.   A simple way to prevent this would be to confirm with the person examined unless they were in on it too. Another is padding the costs of medical services and medicines.   Purchase prices for medicine are sometimes marked up 200% onwards under the guise of increased cost. With services however, the modus operandi is billing for each separate exam rather than the comprehensive package therefore increasing the total price.   Both instances would increase revenues while maintaining overhead costs. Lastly, some institutions recommend treatment or exams which are unnecessary.   They plague on people’s fears and tell them it is better safe than to be sorry.   The difference between this example and the first one is that the tests actually took place.   It was just not needed.   In the person suffering from the cold example, a doctor could say that he needs to go through a battery of tests in order to eliminate other possibilities when the symptoms shown were very negligible or unfounded. Healthcare fraud and abuse is covered in the United States by the Federal False Claims Act.   This law protects victims and with penalties like fines and in sever cases even prison sentences.   It provides that any citizen can on the behalf of the government, file a case against companies or persons engaged in misrepresented activities and also protects that citizen from legal repercussions. Medical insurance companies also hire independent auditors and investigators to validate the claims made by clients and establishments to defend against potential loss from swindlers. â€Å"In 2003, health care costs paid to hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, diagnostic laboratories, pharmacies, medical device manufacturers and other components of the health care system, consumed 26.3 percent of the GDP of the United States, the largest of any country in the whole wide world.† That amount of money will attract people with ill-intent who always try to make a quick buck.   This will be a continuing fight from organizations like the NHCAA and governments who want to make sure that persons who deserve medical assistance will always get it. Reference List World Health Organization Report. (2000). Why do health systems matter?   WHO Qui Tam FYI.   â€Å"What is health care fraud?† retrieved 9 March 2008 from quitamfyi.com/healthcare-fraud.html National Health Care Antifraud Association.   Mission Statement retrieved 9 March 2008 from nhcaa.org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?webcode=about_nhcaawpscode=WhoWeAre Wikipedia article on health care.   (2008) â€Å"Health Care† retrieved 9 March 2008

Free Essays on Ratio Analysis

Ratio Analysis Paper 23 September 2002 CMGT/577– CIS Business Financial Management Facilitator Table of Contents Introduction: 1 Financial Statement Ratios 1 Profitability Ratios 1 Activity Measures 2 Financial Leverage Measures 2 Liquidity Ratios 2 Other Factors 3 Sample Company 3 Citations: 4 Introduction: Before beginning an analysis of a company it is necessary to have a complete set of financial statements, preferably for the pas few years so that historical trends can be obtained. Ratios are a way for anyone to get an idea of the financial performance of a company by using the information contained in the financial statements. Ratios are grouped into four basic categories, liquidity, activity, profitability, and financial leverage. This document will use a variety of these ratios to analyze the firm, Sample Company, as of December 31,2000. Financial Statement Ratios Profitability Ratios The ratios returns on investment (ROI) and return on equity (ROE) are two of the most popular measure of profitability of a company and, along with the P/E ratio, have the most significant value of any of the ratios. The DuPont Model expands on the ROI calculation by inserting sales and it’s relationship to the companies’ generation of profits and utilization of assets into the calculation. Additional profitability ratios include the price earnings ratio (P/E), the dividend payout and the dividend yield. The price earnings ratio helps to indicate to investor how expensive the shares of common stock of a firm are. Dividend yield is part of the stockholders ROI and is represented by the annual cash dividend. Dividend yields have historically been between 3% to 6% for common stock and 5% to 8% for preferred stock. Dividend payout ratio shows the proportion of the earnings paid to common shareholders. Dividend payout for manufacturing companies range from 3... Free Essays on Ratio Analysis Free Essays on Ratio Analysis Ratio Analysis Paper 23 September 2002 CMGT/577– CIS Business Financial Management Facilitator Table of Contents Introduction: 1 Financial Statement Ratios 1 Profitability Ratios 1 Activity Measures 2 Financial Leverage Measures 2 Liquidity Ratios 2 Other Factors 3 Sample Company 3 Citations: 4 Introduction: Before beginning an analysis of a company it is necessary to have a complete set of financial statements, preferably for the pas few years so that historical trends can be obtained. Ratios are a way for anyone to get an idea of the financial performance of a company by using the information contained in the financial statements. Ratios are grouped into four basic categories, liquidity, activity, profitability, and financial leverage. This document will use a variety of these ratios to analyze the firm, Sample Company, as of December 31,2000. Financial Statement Ratios Profitability Ratios The ratios returns on investment (ROI) and return on equity (ROE) are two of the most popular measure of profitability of a company and, along with the P/E ratio, have the most significant value of any of the ratios. The DuPont Model expands on the ROI calculation by inserting sales and it’s relationship to the companies’ generation of profits and utilization of assets into the calculation. Additional profitability ratios include the price earnings ratio (P/E), the dividend payout and the dividend yield. The price earnings ratio helps to indicate to investor how expensive the shares of common stock of a firm are. Dividend yield is part of the stockholders ROI and is represented by the annual cash dividend. Dividend yields have historically been between 3% to 6% for common stock and 5% to 8% for preferred stock. Dividend payout ratio shows the proportion of the earnings paid to common shareholders. Dividend payout for manufacturing companies range from 3...