Importance of Internal Analysis in Strategic Management

Death in Todays Society Essays

Death in Todays Society Essays Death in Todays Society Paper Death in Todays Society Paper Essay Topic: Everything Is Illuminated Introduction Death distances humans from life, is what death is thought of today. Death that is the strongest proof of humans being mortals is denied on its face value by the modern age people. People try to escape death and defeat its existence to live a fearless life that maximizes their pleasure for eternity. The phobia against death has made people avoid discussing death in public, and today it has become a taboo, like pornography was in the medieval ages. Sociologists and thinkers such as Gorer, Moller and Cline have studied the subject in great detail with solid research and a concerted effort they have recognized the changed behavior of people towards death. Instead of accepting its existence and getting on with the reality: that we have to leave this world one day, people deny death. This is reflected in their behavior towards death rituals and gatherings. Discussing death or the deceased is considered to be strange in todays society. People that speak of death or the dead people face prudery at the hands of their social environment. Thus, death has become a taboo, or something that should not be talked about. This situation was not always the case; in fact this is a modern day development. This transition in the reactions of people with respect to death, as noted, studied and explained by Gorer and his proponents is known as Taboo Thesis. In this paper a discussion will be made on the following thesis statement, â€Å"Death, today, is treated as a fearsome, alien phenomena and has become a taboo, with lesser and lesser people concerned about it. â€Å" Contribution from Gorer. Geoffrey Gorer, born in 1905, was a renowned English Anthropologist. He spent his life in understanding the nature of humans and how do they get along with different variation in their lives. One of his greatest contributions to the field of Sociology is his work and research on the notion of death, the transition that it has been through the ages and its prevalent status in the current world order, categorically the United Kingdom. Very interestingly Gorer compares the treatment of death in the modern society with that of the notion of pornography in the Victorian Era. This creative and analytical thinking ability of Gorer made him stand out from other thinkers and anthropologists and thus his work has become exceedingly significant for scholars in order to expand their horizons of study on death or other related areas (Gorer 1955). Gorer compares the treatment of the notion of pornography in the Victorian era with that of the treatment of death in the contemporary world. In the Victorian era pornography was considered to be a highly intimate affair and discussion in public was considered to be an â€Å"eye-brow† raising issue that would lead to prudery in the society if projected. Gorer does not approve of such reactions as he believes that copulation and sex are issues known to people in general, so veiling them does not make a lot of sense as people tend to speak about issues that they are aware of, so the same must hold true for pornography as well. This argument is aesthetically forwarded by Gorer regarding death and the reaction of people to it in the contemporary world. Gorer opines that death is as big a truth in life as life itself, but today people try to evade from its existence in a manner that is similar to the Victorian era where people avoided sex and obscenity related discussions in public. Gorer believes that the society is distancing itself from the acceptance of a universal fact, and truth, and perhaps this is something that one would agree with as well (Gorer 1955). A contemporary example Let’s consider the Somalian drought, termed as the â€Å"worst humanitarian crisis† by the UN. It is on the verge of engulfing the lives of more than 700,000 humans in the months to come. This drought has shown the real face of humans to themelves, but its such a pity that we still don’t seem to care. No matter how steep the death toll is, no matter how severe a disaster, people just continue living their own lives, for life has become as convenient as it has never been before. Joseph Stalin was absolutely spot on when he coined his famous quote â€Å"a death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic†. No better sentence in the world could depict how we act to events such as the Somalian drought. Humans are so indifferent to everything that is happening around them, and have become so self-centered that they simply don’t care who died outside their circle. This goes for the entire human race for the most part, and not a particular class or segment of the society. A prominent example of the hedonistic approach that has taken as the sole path of our lives is the Annual Tomatina Festival in Spain. More than 90,000 pounds of tomatoes, tantamount to several hundred thousand tomatoes, are wasted in this festival, for what is termed as â€Å"for fun†. The event has more than 20,000 tourists from around the world, spending Dollars and Euros to attend this futile activity, participating actively (One India Living 2011). That is exactly what Gorer depicted. We treat death to be something really personal and not worth mentioning or discussing in public. This transition has come about with the change in people’s attitudes towards death and their eloping from religion and scriptures. We have to die one day and that day could be any day, but we just don’t want to know which day it is because we simply don’t care. We want to maximize pleasures and avoid pain and we, today, have become more self-centered and rational; so as far as we are happy, the world is a good place to live in. This ideology was forwarded by Gorer in the post World War II era and one can claim that his thinking was influenced by the innumerable deaths that were incurred during that period. However Gorer is not alone with his conception of alienation of death and bereavements from the society, in fact Aries is pretty much a proponent of the same (Gorer 1955). Walter’s Perspective On the other hand Tony Walter, born in 1948, a freelance writer and a sociologist on the subject of Death and Society, has a different chain of thoughts. Walter has conducted a lot of research regarding the reaction of people towards death and he came up with sound observations and claims. He is not of the opinion that death in the modern age has become a taboo. In fact, he declares that the modern society is much more concerned with deaths, and as a ground to this argument he presents the mass media as the evidence. He says that today in newspapers and in electronic media we see that the news of deaths is overwhelmingly dominating. He says that deaths were not given more importance in the past. Today the leading newspapers of the world publish death reports and publications on the front page and there never was a time in history where deaths were subjected to more seriousness and significance. A recent example of this is the notorious events of Tottenham in 2011 where one death triggered the masses to cause riots and challenge the establishment of the law enforcing authorities in UK (Walter 1991). The work of Moller The argument here is not only about the discussion of death, bereavement practices and rituals exercised in pubic, but also the message taken by people from the deaths of their loved ones. Dr. David Wendell Moller sheds light on a beautiful concept entailing death. He expresses the significance of death to life and claims that death is not an end in itself, in fact it is the beginning of an eternal and illuminated journey of salvation. Dr Moller, also known as Dr. Death among his students and colleagues in the School of Medicine, IUPUI, has conducted research on the subject of Death and Dying and he has also noted a prominent transformation in the beliefs of people regarding death. Like Gorer, Moller maintains the view that in the early time before the 19th Century death was celebrated in a humble manner. People used to gather to talk about the life of the person who had just died. The family, friends and acquaintances used to share various incidents and experiences associated with the departed soul. This was a useful social exercise as it did not only give chance to the family members of the deceased person to mourn and share their sorrows with others but it also served as a platform where people could remind themselves of their ultimate faith and get prepared to face it. With the passage of time this concept has depleted and now instead of facing death as the sole truth of life people either tend to evade it, avoid it, deny it and sometimes even defeat it. This act of avoiding death has lead to curious psychological dilemmas among people. Now they see death as being horror, fearsome and ugly and that is why they don’t want to talk about it anymore (Moller 1996). Cline and the fear of death in women This elevating fear in the minds of people regarding death is also acknowledged by Dr. Sally Cline. In her book â€Å"Lifting the Taboo† she goes out an extra mile and brings the fear of death in women to limelight. With respect to her research she says that women are afraid of dying today. The fear is not of the fact that they have not done anything to please the Almighty, but the fear is astonishingly for materialistic reasons. People fear death because they perceive death to be something that will snatch their worldly pleasures from them. People evade the notion of dying because they don’t want to submit their wills and themselves to an eternal entity, God. People want to pursue their dreams till eternity and want to be the commanders of their destinies and fates. This is where we once again come to the view points of Gorer and Moller that today death has become a taboo. People don’t talk about it and thus they don’t know anything about it. Cline also discusses some of the most prominent and standout sources of fear for death in women and not surprisingly the fear was related to their household, love, relations, children and affection. With this entire discussion in hand and the views of different thinkers and sociologists taken into consideration we can sum up the discussion into the concluding phase (Cline 1995). Conclusion  Death, the greatest truth on earth after life is treated as a taboo in today’s world. People in the modern day life try to turn their backs when it comes to talking about death. Death is treated as something that is either a curse or lower cast argument not worth discussing in public. A lot of people also take the topic of death and dying as highly private, intimate and personal and it is not the place of friends, relatives and even parents to talk about it with them. This avoidance of the acceptance of the realm of death is forcing modern age into a state of denial. The dilemma is so severe that we have stopped the process of self talk as well, and we just want to deny and defy death. As mentioned earlier in this paper, Moller is of the opinion that death has been captured by mass media much more than it has been covered historically. Perhaps this is the reason that people avoid discussing death in public circles, because it is already been discussed everywhere. But the discussion of death in newspapers or electronic media is not for the sake of self evaluation, or for the spiritual good of humans, it is in fact covered like any other news item where statistics are mentioned and that’s it. The people, to whom media is aimed at, have now started looking at death in quantitative terms rather than its subjectivity. Death is not seen as the beginning of a new life by the people today. Under the current circumstances where we see consistent deaths recurring all over the globe in Haiti, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya and Turkey by means of natural disasters and human activities people have started treating death as a taboo. Deaths are occurring so frequently and so quickly that people have started fearing and they don’t want to let that fear overcome their lives and devastate their spirits and efforts. People want to live the moment and in the urge to do so they have distanced themselves from morality. People have become hedonistic. In the drive to avoid discussing death, people today have involuntarily forgotten about death. Those who talk about death are either looked down upon or are perceived to be puritanical in their approach towards life and that is exactly how death has become a taboo in today’s world. Denying death and eloping from its acceptance will do no good. The media, the family and the society needs to play a role, a role to revive the forgotten norms and values of death. The media is also obliged to edify the masses and bring them closer to humanity and nature. Talking about death, or those who are dead in a family gathering shall not be done with the aim of becoming puritanical or acquiring necrophilia, in fact the purpose should be to accept a reality and to get on with it without thinking about escaping it. This will bring us closer to the life, and will give us motivation and better reasons to become a better human being, and to play our role in the welfare of the society. References David Wendell Moller. â€Å"Dying and Historical Context. † Confronting Death. New York, Oxford University Press. 1996. Geoffrey Gorer. â€Å"Pornography of Death. † Death, Grief and Mourning. † Doubleday and Company. 1955. Sally Cline. â€Å"Earlier Times, Other Cultures and Religions. † Lifting the Taboo. New York University Press. 1995. Sally Cline. â€Å"Mortal Messages. † Lifting the Taboo. New York University Press. 1995. Tony Walter, â€Å"Modern death: taboo or not taboo. † Sociology, 1991, 25, pp. 293-310. One India Living. â€Å"History of the â€Å"Red† La Tomatina Festival. † Web. 2011

The White Tiger by aravind adiga Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The White Tiger by aravind adiga - Essay Example The metaphor of â€Å"light and darkness† appears quite often in the Balram Halwai story. For example, Balram believes that river Ganga symbolizes darkness and that is why he refers to its as â€Å"Ganga of black† (Adiga, 57). Balram warns Wen Jiabao to avoid washing himself in Ganga and he mentions the acids, garbage and diseases that are in the river. He describes the river as one that brings death. Initially, it is described as â€Å"holy† and is meant for cleaning the soul and the body. This makes it a big tourist attraction centre. However Balram opposes this idea and argues that it is only the Indians who know that the river is full of dirt. People who live far away from the river are also not aware of this dirt. Therefore, this means that people who live far from the Ganga River are in darkness of this reality and those who live near the Ganga River are in lightness of this reality. The novel also represents the concept of lightness and darkness among poor and rich people. While the richer people own pets like dogs, poor people may only afford a water buffalo that they require for survival. The class of the divine creature is recognized with the dogs of the wealthy as well. Another disparity in possessions is the type of alcohol people afford. Wealthy people only buy most luxurious alcohol that is referred to as â€Å"English liquor†. ... These themes encounter each other all through the novel. Even while Balram has managed to establish himself in the town of Bangalore, he carries on looking for methods of distinguishing himself from â€Å"darkness.† As one of his white tiger drivers knocks a boy by the road, he pays a visit to the boy’s family and gives their surviving son a job (Aravind, 10). He recognizes that this verdict may make him seem weak, but he says that he was left with no other choice. He says, â€Å"I cannot live in the same way as the Buffalo, the River and wild Boar lived, and perhaps still live, back in Laxmangarh. Now I have seen the light.† Rooster Coop Rooster Coop is a metaphor that Balram uses to define the system of the master/servant system of India. The rooster coop symbolizes the cage that Balram lives. He depends on his master who makes all the decisions about what he ought to do. Apart from these conditions, the servants are also accommodated symbolize a rooster coop. The author states that the majority of the servants are caught in the Rooster coop, just like the poor people in the poultry market. He argues that ninety nine percent of the servants are caught in the rooster coop and Balram is one of them. On a certain day at the marketplace, Balram gets to see caged roosters being butchered next to one another. All the Roosters are aware that they are next in the list to be slaughtered, but they are reluctant to rebel. Balram sees the Indian servants entrapped in servitude, but they are all reluctant to break out of the â€Å"Rooster Coop† because they honor their families. Aravind Adiga often cites the rooster coop when he is talking of a feature or situation of the Indian servant class and he also supports himself for killing his master with it. The

Term Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Term Paper - Essay Example This aspect of Edna’s awakening is important for the status of Chopin as a writer, for she portrays her heroine above but not of culture which Edna desperately tried to grasp. Whatever feminist beliefs Kate Chopin held, she makes it clear that Edna is largely unaware of- and certainly unconcerned with- the reasons for her actions and that her awakening is a realization of her sensual nature, not of her equality or freedom as an individual. Some critics tend to associate Chopin’s novel to the feminist tract; however, Chopin’s motives tend to be of a Naturalist rather than Feminist, for much of Chopin’s portrait of Edna depends upon the Lousiana Creole setting she chose and the naturalistic literary convention of her day. Chopin concentrated to a greater degree on the life of sensation and careless enjoyment that the Creoles lived. Creole society occupied the southern half of Lousiana. The descendants of French and Spanish colonists of the eighteenth century , the Creoles were bound by Catholicism, strong family ties, and a common language. The cultural patterns of the Creole society have been romanticized by local colorists like Chopin in their works. Through her characterization of Edna, she wanted to scrutinize the Creole society and its reputation for an easygoing attitude. For this purpose, Chopin has not placed her heroine in a rigidly moralistic environment. She eloquently translates Edna’s feelings, her emotions and experiences when she enters the ‘sensuous’ Creole environment. Chopin reproduced this little world through her naturalistic techniques with no intention to shock or make a point, rather for her these were the conditions of civility. This attitude of the novelist clarify Edna’s position as an outsider, whose behavior is not shocking or inexplicable, for her position allows Chopin to deal with the clash of two cultures. Edna’s awakening is a product of the clash of cultures that she ex periences. It is important to note that Edna initially finds it difficult to participate in the easy intimacy of the Creoles. She describes herself as â€Å"self-contained†, and remains largely so until the end of the novel, in the sense that she incorporates no doctrine or set of principles outside herself. However, she does become a fully sexual being. Therefore, her awakening is more or less a sexual one rather than an approach towards an independent self. Her approach is rather physical in terms of her leaving her husband’s house and entering her own independent house named as â€Å"pigeon house†. Here, it is important to note that Chopin carefully translates Edna’s new-found independence in the imagery of â€Å"pigeon house†. As the name suggests the house gives an impression of a trapped existence, which can never free itself from the bounds of sensual nature of the Creole society. That is to say, though Edna tries to form a new identity she is still entrapped in the male dominated society guided by her own unconscious longing for Robert Leburn. Edna’s actions are partly the result of her will, in allowing herself expose to Robert’s charms, and mainly the result of her position in the Creole society. Her sexual awakening begins with the flirtations of Robert, but it is apparent

Corporate Responsibility Strategy Development For Maruti Suzuki Management Essay

Corporate Responsibility Strategy Development For Maruti Suzuki Management Essay The report is on Corporate Responsibility practice currently in Maruti Suzuki India Limited, review of their performance and recommending a strategy which delivers positive value with a sustainable competitive advantage. Maruti Suzuki India Limited is major concerns are the labour issues caused by the contract, young and restless and the environmental impact. With the awareness of environmental aspect, customers are shifting towards eco-friendly products and valuing product which are doing so. Regulation and global competition on becoming more environmental friendly organisation is pushing companies to do more on reducing consumption and waste. The corporate responsibility issues in value chain across the three category Environmental , Social and Economic is analysed and is tabulated with the prioritised impacts. Then the current performance highlights of the MSIL in the Environmental , Social and Economic from their annual Corporate Responsibility Report. The short comes and areas of improvement are discussed. With the issues and the present performance of corporate responsibility, a better responsible vision is created. A corporate responsibility strategy is developed to gain value. Introduction Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL, formerly known as Maruti Udyog Limited) is a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan. Maruti Suzuki claims to be the leader of the Indian car market for over two and a half decades. The company has two manufacturing facilities located at Gurgaon and Manesar, India. Both the facilities have a combined capability to produce over a 1.5 million vehicles annually. The company plans to expand its manufacturing capacity to 1.75 million by 2013. Maruti Suzuki contributes 45 % of total industry sales in India. Maruti Suzuki is the only Indian Company to have crossed the 10 million sales mark since its inception since 1983. In 2011-12, the company sold over 1.13 million vehicles including 127,379 units of exports. (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012). The Company employs over 9000 people (as on 31st March, 2012). Maruti Suzukis sales and service network is one of the largest among car manufacturers in India. The Company has been rated first in customer satisfaction in the JD Power survey for 12 consecutive years (Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 2012). Figure Maruti Vision and Core Values F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworksvision-banner-bottom.jpg Source: (Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 2012) Maruti Suzuki has gained several awards for organisation performance and products. Maruti is be the leader in the automobile industry in India and doing their best to improve in their performance. Figure Certifications Source : (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012) Maruti has a strong presence of its network and availability across India. With a 1100 sales network in 801 cities and 2958 service station in 1408 cities. Figure Maruti Domestic Presence F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworksmap.jpg Source: (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012) The Maruti started exporting since 1987, as of 2011 the total units exported was 863,380. Europe has the highest share with 55 % followed by Asia 17 % , Africa 16 % and Latin America 10 % . Recently they have started exporting to Oceania. Maruti has expanded into Insurance , Finance , Used Care Sale and Fleet management keeping closely aligned with the core business. Maruti also has a Joint venture with its 19 suppliers who are considered to be vital among the 290 suppliers. Maruti Insurance Maruti Finance Maruti TrueValue N2N Fleet Management While working to enhance shareholder wealth, Maruti Suzuki will regularly engage with all stakeholders to assess their needs and through its products, services, conduct and management initiatives, promote their sustained growth and well-being (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012). There has been issues in the management do to the joint venture agreement between Suzuki and Government of India , until recently Government of India has sold its complete share to Indian financial institution. Due to the management changes and pose of job loses dude to the change there has been lot of unresolved issue with the work force. Since its first operations in 1983 there has been strikes , go slow protest by the labours. There have been many occurrence in the years 1984,1997,2000,2001,2002,2011 and 2012. The recent incident at Manaser shock the whole industry, leaving one dead and 100 injured when more than 500 workers broke the office and set it on fire. The reason of this from the labour side is that the contract works get only half the salary of the permanent employees also claim harsh working conditions. Discriminatory comments to a low-caste worker by the supervisors. The management disagreed to the cast discrimination. Corporate responsibility issues across value chain Clean, lean and safe cars are not only societally desirable but they also have the potential to create a competitive advantage for the industry, insofar as they meet these consumer expectations, are affordable and address needs which are applicable to, and have to be addressed by, the global community as a whole (European Commission, 2006). Environment Issues Environment issue is mainly in the Manufacturing of vehicles, inbound component and part manufacturing and Logistics. Electricity is consumed in both inbound and operations and their back up power supply is powered by fossil fuel both leading to Greenhouse gas. There are waste such as Hazardous waste from the production, shredded metals and residue from raw materials, Oil and lubrication from operation and service, package materials and water waste. Logistics is a major operation as the manufactured vehicles has to be delivered across the country and also to the harbour for exporting. With the just in time model the is an increases in the inbound logistic (India transport portal, 2010). The Fossil fuel is used for combustion and this leads to Greenhouse gas potential increasing the carbon foot print. Figure shows the important environment issues across the value chain. Figure Environmental issues across the value chain F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworkcsrSlide1.JPG Social Issues The recent incident in Manesar says more on the social issues which are involved with the workforce management. Even with the industry saying Maruti is best in wage payment they have workforce issue due to the contract workers, young and restless workers (Malini Bureau, 2012). Figure shows the key social impacts across the value chain, in social all the issues are taken as important as failing to respond to it will damage the reputation and decrees the brand value. Figure Social issues across the value chain F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworkcsrSlide2.JPG Economic Issues Economic issues concerns over the policies and the good practices in doing the business. The regulation which has to be obeyed in doing the action, this issue should not trigger companys image as corrupt and spoiled. Figure show the key economic issues across the value chain. Figure Economic issues across the value chain F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworkcsrSlide3.JPG Review of Corporate Responsibility Corporate responsibility practices of an organisation relies on the transparency of the practices as presented in corporate reporting and strategy documentation. Maruti Suzuki has well prepared and clear information on corporate responsibility which is published in their website and annual corporate responsibility report which are aligned to Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworksbanner-1.jpg Maruti Suzukis focus has been on growing together with its business partners. The Company is aware that in Giving support to its business partners on issues of sustainability, it will Get back in return manifold. This will naturally translate into an opportunity for Maruti Suzuki and all its partners to Grow together sustainably (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012). Transparency The corporate responsibility report generally tends to have its good deeds more on it and this is why there may be a lack in transparency. This report should be prepared as per the international Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. Based on environmental and social impact performance, Maruti Suzuki India Limited has received an overall Scientific Rating of 6.3, which is 26% higher than the average for all Company Ratings. Transparency related to environmental performance is 7.6 and Transparency related to social performance is 6.1 the full index is in the Appendix A (GoodGuide, 2012). Corporate responsibility report can be made more reliable when there is a check and reliability check by external authority . Having more indicators to compare and asses the position of the company within the industry. Environment performance Maruti has significantly brought down CO2 emission per vehicle in car manufacturing. At the Gurgaon Plant, CO2 per vehicle in 2010-11 came down by 15% compared to the previous year while in Manesar facility, CO2 emission reduced by 13% during the year. Maruti uses Natural Gas for power generation, which further limits CO2 emission. The use of waste fuel of turbines to generate steam and compressed air also helped bring down CO2 emission per vehicle. Maruti has registered its first Clean Development Project with the UN Framework for Climate Change (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012). In a significant initiative, a part of the hazardous waste generated at the plants is supplied to the cement industry where it is utilized for co-processing. The hazardous waste being sent includes paint sludge, phosphate sludge and ETP sludge. In all, 6,447 tons of such waste was sent for recycle/use in the cement industry in 2010-11, the first year of this initiative. The present landfills are also being emptied out, enabling efficient use of land within the facilities (Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 2012). The 42% of the total water requirement was met through recycled and reused water in 2010-11. Figure Environmental performance in 2011 Gurgaon plant Manesar plant F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworks15co2.jpg Reduction in CO2 emissions F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworks13co2.jpg Reduction in CO2 emissions F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworks5wa.jpg Less water used In manufacturing F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworks16wa.jpg Less water used In manufacturing F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworkstree.jpg 25,000 Tree Planted F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworksled.jpg LED lights for street lighting and meeting rooms F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworksindex.jpg 6,447 tons of waste recycle/re used F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworkslo.jpg 76% of suppliers within 100 kms of radius Source : (Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 2012) Environmental performance can be increased by reducing the logistic in supply chain and transporting the finished product. Recycling of the cars after its life cycle, Maruti Suzuki has to do much in their environmental aspect when it is compared with the Global terms. Social performance Maruti Suzuki spends Rs 15.2 crore on social responsibility projects in 2010-11, an increase of 34.5 per cent over the previous year. Employee volunteers remained the driving force behind the Companys social programs. They contributed about 2792 volunteer hours, at 24 volunteering centres. Road Safety is Maruti Suzukis (Q,N,C,F)* flagship national program for the society. The Company and its partners promote Road Safety by imparting driving training, awareness and advocacy (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012). The number of Maruti Driving Schools, set up and managed by its dealer partners, doubled to 166 during 2010-11. The Company also imparts driving training through Institutes of Driving Training and Research (IDTR), set up in partnership with state governments. These IDTRs trained 70,000 people during 2010-11. While working to enhance shareholder wealth, Maruti Suzuki will regularly engage with all stakeholders to assess their needs and through its products, services, conduct and management initiatives, promote their sustained growth and well-being (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012). The Company works closely with communities in four villages at Manesar. It runs education support centres, a computer literacy centres and vocational training programs including driving training, besides upgrading school infrastructure in these villages. Figure Social initiatives Maruti Suzuki is one of the best paid companies, with the economic and drops in sales figure it has been put in tough times. There have been rising issue with the management and labour in the past and in July 2011 the works broke the office in Manesar plant and set it on fire with took a life of a senior executive and left hundreds injured. This issue are due to the lack of management attention , having contact workers , young and restless workers. The loss in lockout of Manesar plant was more than 1 billion rupees (India CSR, 2012). Economic Performance Maruti Suzuki strongly believes in sustained business growth and works towards the well being of its direct stakeholders. It makes far-reaching investment decisions taking into consideration unmet customer needs, market growth potential, upcoming regulations and long term sustainability of the Maruti and its various stakeholders (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012). Maruti Suzuki is investing over Rs. 60,000 million in new manufacturing facilities, expansion of RD infrastructure and vehicle stockyards. Maruti registered its highest ever sales of 1,271,005 vehicles in domestic and export markets in 2010-11.Companys sales in the domestic market crossed the one million vehicle milestone for the first time in with the sale of 1,132,739 units, a growth of 30.1% over the previous year. Figure Economic performance ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS ACHIEVEMENTS 2009-10 ACHIEVEMENTS 2010-11 CHANGE Domestic Sales (nos.) 870,790 1,132,739 30.1% Export Sales (nos.) 147,575 138,266 -6.3% Total Sales (nos.) 1,018,365 1,271,005 24.8% Net Sales (Rs. mn) 289,585 361,282 24.75% Profit After Tax (Rs. mn) 24,976 22,886 -8.3% Reserves and Surplus (Rs. mn) 116,906 137,230 17.3% Market share (A+B+C)* 44.6% 44.9% 0.3 % Contribution to national exchequer (Rs. mn) 51,442 71,343 38.6% Expenditure on RD (Rs. mn) 1,733 4,163 140.2% Expenditure on CSR (Rs. mn) 113 152 34.5% Source : (Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 2012) Developing Better Vision With rapid economic growth and investment in new capacities, skill development is critical for the country and the manufacturing sector. While this requires a concerted effort at the national level, Maruti Suzuki is doing its bit in this area as part of its CSR program. With learning from the past Maruti has an issue which impact social dimension which in turn affects the economic dimension. With the growing awareness of environment, failing to act will bring in issues in long term. Stage 1 Maruti has its value since its launch and is said to be Indias Pride , on environmental impact the have to improve their indicators. Environmental and social performance can be only improved if the people who are involved are willing to bring in the process. They have ISO 14001:2004 Environment Management System Certificate for Gurgaon and Manesar Plants, Figure bring in the Human resource factor in the ISO 14001 in the stages will help in effective engagement of people. Figure Sustainability through human resource factors F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCoursework14001.jpg Source : (Bonnie Su-chun, 2001) Stage 2 Redesigning process, product and business to gain value, one of the causes for manesar Plants incident was the lack of ownership and executive decision. With the past experience the should be new process in place to avoid such fatal risk. Creating new ways for improving efficiency, adding more value for the customers will be achieved only with the interest of the stakeholders. Innovation in more energy efficient cars , Stage 3 and 4 are with the innovation and expansions of business aligning to its core business. This can be new venture dealing with the cars after their life cycle, this could bring in more value and reduce the waste. To have an effective execution of the vision there should be an integrated and systematic in the five critical areas. Figure Vision Vision Developing Corporate Responsibility Strategy The Corporate responsibility strategy could be implemented in 3 years addition along the way. Corporate Responsibility Drivers Stakeholders including consumers, investors, and employees pay increasing attention to the social and environmental footprints of business and corporate-responsibility (Bhattacharya, et al., 2011). The drivers for the corporate responsibility are Growing concern of the environment. Social wellbeing of the workers. Customers preference of products which are efficient and environmental friendly To improve the brand value Key Issues Objectives Improving workforce management by collaborating with the associations and satisfy the genuine needs of labours. Improving executive task ownership and responsibility through having a structure. Improving community through local hiring, working with NGOs to run education and health camps. Educating good driving habits through Road Safety Initiatives and Maruti Driving Schools. Compiling with governing body and organization for environmental impact assessments, social impact assessments and internal management systems. Research and development on bring out more efficient vehicles. Targets and Key Performance Indicators Training 3,00,000 people on Safe driving. Opening 50 more Maruti Driving Schools. Reducing CO2, electricity and water consumption by 3 % per vehicle in both the manufacturing plants. Improve workforce welfare, avoid strikes. To have 75% of suppliers with ISO 14001 certification. Reducing packaging material by 5 % and using bio degradable packaging material. Reducing employee injury rate by 10 %. Governance Stakeholder Engagement Maruti has a well-structured organization with good communication channel to perform. Figure Corporate governance structure F:MBAModulesSem 2NBS-M019 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYCourseworkcorprategor.jpg Source : (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012) To have an effective Corporate Responsibility there should be good engagement across all levels with the understanding about it. The Board of directors who look into the whole CR function and discuss with the committees for prioritising the issues and key activities. These committees are different for economic, social and environment they are responsible for the distributing the roles and responsibility to the staffs , achieving targets and reporting to the Board of directors. Control and audit looks into the performance of staffs, changes in the global stage and benchmarking. Figure Governance, Accountability and Reporting Structure Remuneration of executive and employees for achieving their targets will motivate them to carry on the good work. The Stakeholder engagement can be improved by does the activities in Figure Stakeholder engagement activities Figure Stakeholder engagement activities Stakeholder Activity Shareholders and Investors Annual General Meeting Investor Meets Suppliers Product Meeting Joint Venture HR Meeting Dealers Balanced Score Card Dealer conference Zone Meeting Social Meetings with Community NGOs meeting Environment Regulatory Authorities Community Feedback Management Systems The process of managing the sustainability should be headed by the Board of directors having the knowledge of the prioritise issues and key activities. Management communities get in the views and concerns from various elements, they then asses the importance and benefit of performing the action on it. The also look in for possible risk which will affect them. These are taken into account in the planning stage itself. Environmental , social and economic impacts should be open to scrutiny by government agency , independent regulatory bodies and other firm in order to have a transparency and increasing the confidence of the reliability in the performance figures. The risk management activity is reviewed by the Audit Committee through a management subcommittee, namely the Executive Risk Management Committee. It reviews risk management activities on a regular basis, in addition to scanning for emerging risks. Economic Social Executive Risk Management Committee Board Of Directors Assessment by Authorities and outside firms Environmental Stakeholder Concerns, Business Impacts, Risks And Opportunities Management Committee Adapted : (Maruthi Suzuki, 2012) Risk Risk is caused both from internally driven and externally driven. Figure Maruti Risk Economic Risks Environmental Risks Systematic financial failure Labour Strike Competitor Economy slowdown Carbon Positioning Flood and Land Slides Plastic waste Earthquake Land and water use management Geopolitical Risks Societal Risks Government Changes New policies and regulations Water supply crises Power supply crises Fire and Safety Reputation Technological Risks Failure of IT system Cyber attack and Data privacy Conclusion Maruti corporate responsibility is performing good at the moment when compared to its competitor in the domestic region. The major issue in the social are the labour unrest. With the improved vision the company will bring in more value. The process is improved with implying human resources factors and managing the at all levels. Transparency is gained by allowing the external firms and authorities to scrutiny. The new corporate responsibility strategy is aligned to the existing activities and issue. Stretching the environmental performance figures will gain brand value and compete with the international industry level . Bibliography Bhattacharya, C., Danie, l. K. Sankar, S., 2011. What really drives value in corporate responsibility?. [Online] Available at: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/What_really_drives_value_in_corporate_responsibility_2895 [Accessed 11 12 2012]. Bonnie, F. D. Su-chun, H., 2001. Achieving sustainability through attention to human resource. International Journal of Operations Production Management, 22(12), pp. 1539 1552. European Commission, 2006. A Competitive Automotive Regulatory System for the 21st century, Belgium: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. GoodGuide, 2012. Maruti Suzuki India Limited GoodGuide Ratings. [Online] Available at: http://companies.goodguide.com/l/121398/Maruti-Suzuki-India-Limited [Accessed 11 12 2012]. India CSR, 2012. Lockout in Marutis Manesar Unit Costing Rs 90 crore Per Day: Assocham. [Online] Available at: http://www.indiacsr.in/en/?p=7334 [Accessed 10 12 2012]. India transport portal, 2010. A peek into Marutis supply chain management. [Online] Available at: http://indiatransportportal.com/2010/12/a-peek-into-maruti%E2%80%99s-supply-chain-management/ [Accessed 09 12 2012]. Malini, G. Bureau, E., 2012. Four reasons behind Maruti Suzukis Manesar problems. [Online] Available at: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-22/news/32777541_1_maruti-suzuki-s-manesar-maruti-s-manesar-shinzo-nakanishi [Accessed 09 12 2012]. Maruthi Suzuki, 2012. Awards. [Online] Available at: http://www.marutisuzuki.com/sustainabilityreport/certifications.html [Accessed 10 12 2012]. Maruthi Suzuki, 2012. Maruthi Suzuki Sustainability Report 10-11, Gurgaon : Maruti Suzuki India Limited . Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 2012. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://www.marutisuzuki.com/about-us.aspx [Accessed 11 12 2012]. Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 2012. Annual Report 2011-12, New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India Limited. Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 2012. Environmental Performance. [Online] Available at: http://www.marutisuzuki.com/sustainabilityreport/environmental.html [Accessed 10 12 2012]. Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 2012. Sustainability approach. [Online] Available at: http://www.marutisuzuki.com/sustainabilityreport/sustainability-approach.html [Accessed 10 12 2012].

Membership in the field of counseling

The discipline of mental health has had a long history of challenges and controversies. In the past decade we have seen an active progress in the way mental health professionals have been recognized and clearly identified as a separate discipline from psychiatry or clinical counseling. Moreover, legislations to promote the welfare of mental health counselors have been lobbied for as well as setting up standards for education, training, certification and practice of the profession. One of the most active proponent for the professionalizing of the mental health discipline is the American Mental Health Counselors Association, the organization have enabled the setting up of a professional organization exclusively for mental health counselors, the setting up of a national certification program for mental health counselors, the accreditation of educational institutions that provide training in mental health education and the setting up of a national system of state licensure (Messina, 1999). The AMHCA have become the primary voice of all mental health professionals in the country and it continues to work for the betterment of the profession and to protect those who are engaged in the counseling profession. As a mental health student, I realized that it is important to join professional organizations not just for certification or to meet licensing requirements. I believe that professional organizations are like the federal government that oversees the conduct of the profession and sets ethical guidelines and standards of practice much in the same way that the government upholds the constitution. Becoming a member of a professional organization would give me a clear direction of what my professional responsibilities are and what limitations I need to be aware of, it would also help me delineate the services that I can offer to my clients given the kind of training and education that I have. It also would keep me abreast of the recent developments in the mental health discipline; it provides trainings and workshops, research funding and a stable support group for the mental health counselor. One of the objectives of the AMHCA (2004) is to work with educational institutions that provide mental health counselor training and to make sure that the curriculum is aligned with the core competencies and skills that a mental health counselor should have even before seeking professional recognition. This is important because it would ensure the standardization of the counselor education and thus makes it possible that all mental health counselors are equipped with the necessary skills to give quality services to their clients. According to Messina (1999), only a small proportion of educational institutions have been accredited by the organization, in the long run this would mean that few mental health graduates would be qualified to become mental health counselors as required by AMHCA. If fewer counselors seek to be accredited or certified, then the professional integrity of the practitioners will deteriorate. This is an important issue to look into since the kind of services and the quality of the client-counselor relationship is dependent on how well-trained and equipped the counselors are to meet the needs of the client. We all know that the efficacy of the counselor in helping the client resolve his/her issues is dependent on the counseling plan that counselor draws up for the client. It takes a certain degree of skill and theoretical knowledge to be able to deal with different clients and it is the responsibility of the counselor to always uphold what is best for the client. It is therefore important to come up with a legislation that would require all educational institutions to seek accreditation from the AMHCA (2004) to further the mental health profession. References American Mental Health Counselors Association found at http://www.amhca.org/ Messina, J. (1999). What’s next for the profession of mental health counseling? Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 21; 3, 285. Retrieved on October 17, 2007 from Academic Premier Search database. Â  

Atlantic Computer Case Study Essay

Atlantic Computer developed a product, the â€Å"Atlantic Bundle†, to meet an emerging basic server market. The Atlantic Bundle is a Tronn server coupled with the Performance Enhancing Server Accelerator software tool â€Å"PESA†. Atlantic Computer must decide on the pricing strategy. Situational Analysis The external analysis is as follows: †¢Customers: The first customer identified has a primary need to host websites, â€Å"Web Server† customer. The second customer identified has a primary need for file servers that help layout designers share graphic, text, and layouts, â€Å"File Sharing† customer. Customers in these segments appear to be the ones that will benefit the most from the PESA tool. †¢Competition: The primary competition in the market is Ontario who claims 50% of revenue market share with the remainder of market comprised of many smaller venders (external threat, Appendix A). Ontario’s business model focuses on driving out non-value added costs and competing largely on price (value pricing). Its products are sold primarily through the internet. †¢Collaborators: The server division relies upon a high-touch direct sales channel at a higher cost than that of online sales. Sales reps receive 70% salary and 30% commission. †¢Context: The largest segment of the server industry is the high performance server segment. The segment is expected to demand approximately 200,000 units next year and is expected to grow at approximately 3% annually over the following two years. The basic server segment is a newer segment with strong forecasted growth of 36% (external opportunity, Appendix A). The segment will comprise approximately 20% of total units sold next year at 50,000 units. By the third year of the forecast, the basic server market will make up approximately 30% of total units sold. The internal analysis is as follows: †¢Company situation: Atlantic is a well-established company with over 30 years of experience in the server market. The company is known for providing top-notch, highly reliable products and high quality, responsive post-sales assistance (internal strength, Appendix A). Atlantic has focused on selling high-end performance servers to large enterprise customers. The â€Å"Atlantic Bundle† was developed to assist the company in emerging into the basic server segment. The product was created to produce a basic server without creating a substitute product to the high performance servers. However, the logic seems flawed as customers would not have viewed the basic server as a substitute to the high-performance servers (internal weakness, Appendix A). In the past, Atlantic’s sales force gave away software tools. †¢Relative market/competitive position: Ontario’s Zink server performs at approximately the same level as Atlantic’s Tronn. Even without the built-in PESA R&D costs the Tronn was priced higher relative to the Zink. Hence, the target market was narrowed to include customers that require more than one server. PESA allows the Tronn to perform up to four times faster than its standard speed. The â€Å"Atlantic Bundle† will allow companies to reduce the number of basic servers they must purchase and reduce operating expenses such as electricity charges and software license fees. Mr. Matzer indicated the â€Å"Atlantic Bundle† is the sale they want. †¢Results: The gains to customers from the PESA software tool were examined and it was found that the Web Server and File Sharing application segments will benefit the most from the tool. The conclusion was based on the benefit to customers of being able to purchase fewer servers and the resulting savings (internal strength, Appendix A). †¢Challenges: The primary challenge will be to address whether Atlantic will be successful utilizing its commissioned sales force rather than online sales. Another problem arises in how to motivate the sales force and the training required to sell the â€Å"Atlantic Bundle†. Finally, software has historically been given away which appears to be the industry norm. Charging for software may alienate customers (internal weakness, Appendix A). Alternative Courses of Action Free PESA Software with Purchase. Rather than regarding the PESA R&D as a sunk cost, I chose to distribute the costs to every server. The price under this route was determined to be $2,122 (see Appendix B). The primary drawback is that a customer who would have normally purchased the Tronn without the software would be charged a higher price ($2,122 vs. $2,000). Continuing with the tradition and norm of free software, staff would not have to be retrained and customers will not feel alienated. Furthermore, the one-bundle price could easily be transitioned to on-line sales, and the low price will increase market share. The â€Å"free† software could create an illusion of low perceived value. Finally, the lower price will result in lower profit margins, and it does not take into consideration the value advantage received by the customer. Competition Based Pricing. The price under this route was determined to be $3,400 (see Appendix C). Under this route, the company will earn more profit per bundle sold. Additionally, minimal effort is required to determine the price. However, the competition based pricing creates indifference between the â€Å"Atlantic Bundle† and its competition. The higher price will also reduce market share and could stir a pricing war. Cost-Plus. The price under this route was determined to be $2,245 (see Appendix D). Atlantic would gain market share under this route as the price is low relative to the benefits the customer receives. Additionally, the pricing will remain the same for the next three years. This approach does not take into consideration the value advantage received by the customer. Also, it results in lower profit margins per bundle sold. Value-In-Use. The price under this route was determined to be $3,200 (see Appendix E). The primary benefit is that the approach is customer focused. The price is justified and the customer will perceive higher value for the price. Higher margins will also be earned. However, Atlantic will lose market share under this route at the higher price. Additionally, staff would have to be extensively re-trained and motivated. Customers who primarily purchase online may be reluctant to sit through â€Å"We can save you money!† sales pitches. Recommendation The company should proceed with the free PESA software route. The primary benefit is that the company will be able to initiate online sales which will reduce training costs, salaries, and commissions and will make up for the lower profit margins earned. One primary drawback is a customer will be charged a higher price even if they do not require the PESA tool. However, the target market has been narrowed to include customers that require more than one server, because it is unlikely that a customer who requires only one server will purchase the Tronn over the Zink. The most likely response from Ontario is to lower the price of the Zink to remain competitive. At the low price of $2,122, Ontario would have to lower Zink’s price to less than half of the price of the Tronn to fight for market share from the target market. Finally, the lower price feeds into the market-penetration strategy to maximize market share. The issue of perceived low quality can be disregarded as customers h ave proven the low-cost strategy utilized by Ontario has not affected their opinions on quality. Conclusion The free PESA software will allow the company to compete on the same level as Ontario through price and online sales without having to retrain employees, stray from the general rule of providing free software, or introducing sales pitches to customers who will likely be reluctant to take part. The low, competitive price will support market penetration and favor Atlantic should Ontario reduce its prices.