Toyota Target Costing Essay Example

Toyota Target Costing Essay Quality cost measurement under activity-based costing Wen-Hsien Tsai National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan, Republic of China Introduction Many companies in the world gradually promote quality as the central customer value and regard it as a key concept of company strategy in order to achieve the competitive edge (Ross and Wegman, 1990). Measuring and reporting the cost of quality (COQ) is the first step in a quality management program. Even in service industries, COQ systems receive considerable attention (Bohan and Horney, 1991; Carr, 1992; Ravitz, 1991). COQ systems are bound to increase in importance because COQ-related activities consume as much as 25 percent or more of the resources used in companies (Ravitz, 1991). COQ information can be used to indicate major opportunities for corrective action and to provide incentives for quality improvement. Traditional cost accounting, whose main functions are inventory valuation and income determination for external financial reporting, does not yield the COQ information needed. While most COQ measurement methods are activity/process oriented, traditional cost accounting establishes cost accounts by the categories of expenses, instead of activities. Under traditional cost accounting, many COQ-related costs are lumped into overheads, which are allocated to cost centers (usually departments) and then to products through predetermined overhead rates. For example, among various COQ-related costs, the rework and the unrecovered cost of spoiled goods caused by internal failures are charged to the factory overhead control account which accumulates the actual overhead costs incurred (Hammer et al. 1993, pp. 155-64). The predetermined overhead rates should be adjusted to incorporate the normal levels of various COQ-related costs, and excess COQ-related costs will be buried in overhead variances. The cost accounting treatment described above cannot satisfy the needs of COQ measurement. Thus, Oakland (1993, p. 210) claims that â€Å"quality related costs should be col lected and reported separately and not absorbed into a variety of overheads†. Prevention-appraisal-failure (PAF) approach and process cost approach are two main approaches to measuring COQ. We will write a custom essay sample on Toyota Target Costing specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Toyota Target Costing specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Toyota Target Costing specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer However, The author wishes to thank the anonymous referees for many helpful comments and suggestions about this paper. The author also wishes to thank the authors of references cited in this paper, especially the authors, Barrie G. Dale and James J. Plunkett, of the book, Quality Costing, and the author, Peter B. B. Turney, of the book, Common Cents: The ABC Performance Breakthrough – How to Succeed with Activity-based Costing, from which this paper quotes a lot of COQ and BC concept. Quality cost measurement 719 Received March 1996 Revised March 1998 International Journal of Quality Reliability Management, Vol. 5 No. 7, 1998, pp. 719-752,  © MCB University Press, 0265-671X IJQRM 15,7 720 these approaches still cannot provide appropriate methods to include overhead costs in COQ systems. Accordingly, many quality cost elements require estimates and there is a prevailing belief in COQ literature. It is a danger that managers become too concerned with accuracy in COQ determina tion – a number-crunching exercise that will consume resources disproportionately (Oakland, 1993, p. 197). In addition, most COQ measurement systems in use do not trace quality costs to their sources (O’Guin, 1991, p. 0), which hinders managers from identifying where the quality improvement opportunities lie. Nevertheless, these deficiencies could be easily overcome under activity-based costing (ABC) developed by Cooper and Kaplan of Harvard Business School (Cooper, 1988; Cooper and Kaplan, 1988). ABC uses the two-stage procedure to achieve the accurate costs of various cost objects (such as departments, products, customers, and channels), tracing resource costs (including overhead costs) to activities, and then tracing the costs of activities to cost objects. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for measuring quality costs under ABC. First, the present approaches to measuring COQ are reviewed; second, the two-dimensional model of ABC and activitybased management (ABM) is explained; third, COQ approaches and ABC are compared and an integrated COQ-ABC framework is presented; fourth, COQ measurement, COQ reporting, and uses of COQ information under ABC are discussed; finally, a hypothetically simplified example is presented to illustrate how to measure COQ under ABC. Approaches to measuring COQ Since Juran (1951) discussed the cost of quality, many researchers have proposed various approaches to measuring COQ. Reviews of COQ literature can be found in Plunkett and Dale (1987) and Porter and Rayner (1992). In this section, we will briefly review the approaches to measuring COQ. PAF approach After Feigenbaum (1956) categorized quality costs into prevention-appraisalfailure (PAF), the PAF scheme has been almost universally accepted for quality costing. The failure costs in this scheme can be further classified into two subcategories: internal failure and external failure costs. Oakland (1993, pp. 186-9) describes these costs as follows: †¢ Prevention costs: These costs are associated with the design, implementation and maintenance of the total quality management system. Prevention costs are planned and are incurred before actual operation. †¢ Appraisal costs: These costs are associated with the supplier’s and customer’s evaluation of purchased materials, processes, intermediates, products and services to assure conformance with the specified requirements. Internal failure costs: These costs occur when the results of work fail to reach designed quality standards and are detected before transfer to customer takes place. †¢ External failure costs: These costs occur when products or services fail to reach design quality standards but are not detected until after transfer to the customer. Quality cost elements. In order to calculate total quality cost, the quality cost elements should be identified under the categories of prevention, appraisal, internal failure and external failure costs. BS 6143: Part 2 (1990) and ASQC (1974) have identified a list of quality cost elements under this categorization. These lists just act as a guideline for quality costing. Most elements in these lists are not relevant to a particular industry, while many elements identified by practitioners are peculiar to an industry, or a company (Dale and Plunkett, 1991, p. 28). Some typical COQ elements are shown in Table I. In the initial stages of the quality costing exercise, some companies put mphasis on just identifying the costs of failure and appraisal activities. The methodology usually used is for each department, using a team approach, to identify COQ elements which are appropriate to them and for which they have ownership. Several techniques, such as brainstorming, nominal group technique, Pareto analysis, cause and effect analysis, fishbone diagrams, and forcefield analysis, can be used to effectively identify COQ elements (Dale and Plunkett, 1991, p. 41; Johnson, 1995). The quality cost measurement system developed will improve with use and experience and gradually include all quality cost elements. Economics of quality-related activities. One of the goals of total quality management (TQM) is to meet the customer’s requirements with lower cost. For this goal, we have to know the interactions between quality-related activities associated with prevention, appraisal, internal failure and external failure costs. It will help in finding the best resource allocation among various quality-related activities. In the literature, there are many notional models describing the relationships between the major categories of quality costs. Generally speaking, the basic suppositions of these notional models are â€Å"that investment in prevention and appraisal activities will bring handsome rewards from reduced failure costs, and that further investment in prevention activities will show profits from reduced appraisal costs† (Plunkett and Dale, 1988). Plunkett and Dale (1988) classify these notional models into five groups, which are further aggregated into three by Burgess (1996). After a critical review, Plunkett and Dale (1988) conclude that â€Å"many of the models are inaccurate and misleading, and serious doubts are cast on the concept of an optimal quality level corresponding to a minimum point on the total quality-cost curve†. Besides, Schneiderman (1986) asserts that, in some circumstances, if enough effort is put into prevention, no defects at all would be produced, resulting in zero failure costs and no need for appraisal (also given in Porter and Rayner (1992)). Thus, in these circumstances, the only optimal point is â€Å"zero-defects†. †¢ Quality cost measurement 721 IJQRM 15,7 Categories Prevention COQ elements Quality control and process control engineering Design and develop control equipment Quality planning by others Production equipment for quality – maintenance and calibration Test and inspection equipment – maintenance and calibration Supplier quality assurance Training Administration, audit, improvement Laboratory acceptance testing Inspection and test In-process inspection (non-inspectors) Set-up for inspection and test Inspection and test materials Product quality audits Review of test and inspection data On-site performance testing Internal testing and release Evaluation of materials and spares Data processing, inspection and test reports Scrap Rework and repair Troubleshooting, defect analysis Reinspect, retest Scrap and rework: fault of supplier Modification permits and concessions Downgrading Complaints Product service: liability Products returned or recalled Returned material repair Warranty replacement Loss of customer goodwill a Loss of sales a 72 2 Appraisal Internal failure External failure Table I. Typical COQ elements Note: a Intangible external failure costs (not included in BS 6143: Part 2) Source: BS 6143: Part 2 (1990) (also given in Dale and Plunkett (1991, p. 71)) However, Burgess (1996) integrated the three types of quality-cost models, derived from reducing Plunkett and Dale’s categories (1988), into a system dynamic quality-cost model displaying dynamic behavior consistent with published empirical data. According to the simulation results, Burgess concludes that the simulation provides support for the classic view of qualitycost behavior that an optimal level of quality exists only in certain timeconstrained situations. If the time horizon is infinite, or above a particular cutoff value, then spending on prevention can always be justified, i. e. the modern view prevails. Drawbacks of the PAF approach. Although the PAF model is universally accepted for quality costing, there are a number of criticisms of it (Oakland, 1993, pp. 200-1; Porter and Rayner, 1992), described as follows: †¢ It is difficult to decide which activities stand for prevention of quality failures since almost everything a well-managed company does has something to do with preventing quality problems. †¢ There are a range of prevention activities in any company which are integral to ensuring quality but may never be included in the report of quality costs. †¢ Practical experience indicates that firms which have achieved notable reductions in quality costs do not always seem to have greatly increased their expenditure on prevention. Original PAF model does not include intangible quality costs such as â€Å"loss of customer goodwill† and â€Å"loss of sales†. †¢ It is sometimes difficult to uniquely classify costs (e. g. design reviews) into prevention, appraisal, internal failure, or external failure costs. †¢ The PAF model focuses attention on cost reduction and ignores the positive contribution to price and sales volume by improved quality. †¢ As mentioned above, the classic view of an optimal quality level is not in accordance with the continuous quality improvement philosophy of TQM. †¢ The key focus of TQM is on process improvement, while the PAF categorization scheme does not consider process costs. Therefore, the PAF model is of limited use in a TQM program. Alternatives to the PAF approach. The alternatives to the PAF categorization scheme are divisions of quality costs into conformance and nonconformance, tangible and intangible, controllable and uncontrollable, discretionary and consequential costs, and so on. Crosby (1984, p. 86) divides quality costs into two categories: (1) the price of conformance (POC), including the explicitly quality-related costs incurred in making certain that things are done right the first time; and (2) the price of nonconformance (PNOC), including all the costs incurred because quality is not right the first time. Crosby’s POC includes prevention and inspection costs and his PNOC includes internal and external failure costs (Shank and Govindarajan, 1994, p. 6). In Xerox, quality costs are classified into three categories: (1) the cost of conformance (prevention and appraisal); (2) the cost of nonconformance (failure to meet customer requirements before and after delivery); and (3) the cost of lost opportunities (Carr, 1992). Quality cost measurement 723 IJQRM 15,7 724 The first two categories are analogous to Crosby’s POC and PNOC respectively. Xerox measures lost opportunities as the profit impact of lost revenues. It occurs when a customer chooses a competitive product over a Xerox product, when a customer cancels an order because of inadequate service, or when a customer buys Xerox equipment that is inadequate or unnecessary and switches to another brand. Juran claims that both prevention and appraisal costs are inevitable and are not worth including in quality costs (Juran et al. , 1975). Juran advocates a categorization of quality costs including: †¢ †¢ †¢ tangible factory costs, which are measurable costs such as scrap, rework, and additional inspection; tangible sales costs, which are measurable costs such as handling customer complaints and warranty costs; intangible costs, which can only be estimated, such as loss of customer goodwill, delays caused by stoppages and rework, and loss of morale among staff (also given in Porter and Rayner (1992)). Juran’s categorization scheme focusses on the costs of product failures and emphasizes the importance of intangible quality cost elements, which in the long term are of greater importance than cost reduction. Another alternative, proposed by Dale and Plunkett, is to consider the activities relating to supplier, company (in-house) and customer under the PAF categorization. This approach has the merit of new categories which closely relate to the business activities while retaining the advantages of th e PAF categorization (Dale and Plunkett, 1991, pp. 26-7). Process cost approach It seems that the identification of quality cost elements in the PAF approach is somewhat arbitrary. It may focus on some quality-related activities which account for the significant part of total quality cost, not on all the interrelated activities in a process. Under the philosophy of process improvement in TQM, analysts should place emphasis on the cost of each process rather than an arbitrarily defined cost of quality (Goulden and Rawlins, 1995). In view of this, the process cost approach, described in the revised BS 6143: Part 1 (1992), is proposed. It recognizes the importance of process cost measurement and ownership. The process cost is the total of the cost of conformance (COC) and the cost of nonconformance (CONC) for a particular process. The COC is the actual process cost of providing products or services to the required standards, first time and every time, by a given specified process. The CONC is the failure cost associated with a process not being operated to the required standard (Porter and Rayner, 1992). According to this definition, we know that the content of this categorization (COC and CONC) is different from that of Crosby’s (POC and PONC) and Xerox’s (COC and CONC) mentioned previously. The process cost model can be developed for any process within an organization. It will identify all the activities and parameters within the process to be monitored by flowcharting the process. Then, the flowcharted activities are allocated as COC or CONC, and the cost of quality at each stage (i. e. COC + CONC) are calculated or estimated. Finally, key areas for process improvement are identified and improved by investing in prevention activities and process redesign to reduce the CONC and the excessive COC respectively (Oakland, 1993, pp. 201-7; Porter and Rayner, 1992). The British Standards Institution has included this methodology in the revised BS 6143: Part 1 (1992). Dale and Plunkett (1991, p. 43) state that this will help to extend the concept of quality costing to all functions of an nterprise and to non-manufacturing organizations, and that it also gets people to consider in more detail the processes being carried out within the organization. A process modelling method, IDEF (the computer-aided manufacturing integrated program definition methodology) (Ross, 1977), can be used to construct the process cost models for the processes within an organization (Marsh, 1989). This method utilizes activity boxes with inputs, outputs, controls and mechanisms to depict the activities of a process. However, the IDEF method is developed for use by experts for system modeling. It seems to be too complex if departmental manager and staff were to be responsible for identifying the elements of process costs. Thus, Crossfield and Dale (1990) develop a more simple method called quality management activity planning (Q-MAP) for the mapping of quality assurance procedures, information, flows and qualityrelated responsibilities. In addition, Goulden and Rawlins (1995) propose a hybrid model to overcome the limitations of the IDEF method for process quality costing. It constructs integrated or functional flowcharts to represent the processes by using information from a three-level hierarchical model (function-department-activity), where the lowest level is an activity defined as a task with a single output. This will reduce the level of complexity of the IDEF type models. Other COQ approaches There are some approaches to measuring COQ in addition to the PAF approach and the process cost approach. For example, Son and Hsu (1991) proposed a quantitative approach to measuring quality costs, which considers both manufacturing processes and statistical quality control. Statistical terms of quality are translated to dollar terms in this approach. However, the quality cost model presented in their paper is restricted to a simplified manufacturing system which consists of only a machining area (with in-process sampling inspection) and a final inspection area (with 100 percent final inspection). Besides, Chen and Tang (1992) present a pictorial approach to measuring COQ, which is patterned after that used in a computer-based information system design. The COQ variables considered in this approach include direct COQ variables (PAF costs and quality-related equipment costs) and indirect Quality cost measurement 725 IJQRM 15,7 726 COQ variables (customer-incurred costs, customer-dissatisfaction costs and loss of reputation). It includes two major steps: (1) specifying the COQ variables as well as the significant relationships among the variables, and mapping the variables and relationships into an â€Å"influence diagram† showing the structure of a COQ system; and (2) converting the structure into a well-defined â€Å"entity-relationship diagram† showing the input-output functions and their associated properties. The influence diagram used in the pictorial approach can provide an easy-tounderstand COQ system for quality management practitioners, and the entityrelationship diagram can provide an effective framework for maintaining and modifying the COQ system. Quality cost collection Fundamentally, the PAF approach, the process cost approach and even Chen and Tang’s pictorial approach need first to identify the quality cost elements. For the PAF approach, COQ elements are identified under the cost categories of the selected categorization scheme. Most of COQ elements relate to qualityrelated activities. For the process cost approach, the cost elements of COC and CONC for a process are derived from the flowcharted activities of the process. Most cost elements of COC do not relate to quality-related activities of traditional COQ view. After identifying the quality cost elements, we should quantify the elements and then put costs (dollar values) on the elements which have been identified (Dale and Plunkett, 1991, pp. 40-1). In COQ literature, many authors pay attention to why COQ information is important and what should be included in a COQ system, and seldom discuss how to measure and collect quality costs. However, Dale and Plunkett give lots of guidance on quality cost collection, including objectives and scope, approaches, sources of data, ease of collection, level of detail, accuracy of data, and people involved (Dale and Plunkett, 1991, Ch. 3, pp. 6-51). Besides, Thorne (1990) recommends some relatively uncomplicated methods for calculating COQ, i. e. collecting quality costs by account, by defect type, by whole person, by labor hours, and by personal log (also given in Johnson (1995)). Dale and Plunkett state that â€Å"the collection and synthesis of quality costs is very much a matter of searching and shifting through data which have been gathered for other purposes† (Dale and Plunkett, 1991, p. 38). Some of quality costs are readily available from a cost accounting system (e. g. scrap and rework costs); some can be derived from the data of activity reports (e. g. repair and inspection costs). Nevertheless, a large portion of quality costs should be estimated by some ways. For example, the opportunity costs of lost customer goodwill and lost sales, which are intangible external failure costs (similar to the third category of Xerox’s COQ system), can be estimated by Taguchi’s quality loss function (Albright and Roth, 1994). Other examples are the costs of producing excess inventories and material handling due to suboptimal plant layouts, which are indirect failure costs and can be estimated by expertise. In addition, calculating prevention costs needs the estimates of apportionment of time by indirect workers and staff who do not usually record how they spend their time in various activities. Deficiencies of most COQ systems Generally speaking, there are the following deficiencies in measuring COQ among most COQ systems: †¢ The aspect of overhead allocation in calculating COQ is seldom discussed in the literature. In practice, some companies add overheads to the direct cost of labor and material on rework and scrap, while other companies do not. If they do, â€Å"rework and scrap costs become grossly inflated compared with prevention and appraisal costs which are incurred via salaried and indirect workers† (Dale and Plunkett, 1991, p. 45). †¢ Most of COQ measurement systems in use are not (there are some exceptions) intended to trace quality costs to their sources (O’Guin, 1991, p. 70) such as parts, products, designs, processes, departments, vendors, distribution channels, territories, and so on. Accordingly, the COQ information derived from these systems cannot be used to identify where the quality improvement opportunities exist. †¢ â€Å"It is the general lack of information about how people, other than direct workers, spend their time which presents a considerable obstacle to the collections of quality costs† (Dale and Plunkett, 1991, p. 112). The deficiencies mentioned above will decrease the accuracy of quality costs and limit the usefulness of a COQ system. However, these deficiencies can be easily solved under ABC (Cooper, 1988; Cooper and Kaplan, 1988), developed by Cooper and Kaplan of Harvard Business School, together with other techniques. Two-dimensional model of ABC Evolution of ABC The main shortcoming of traditional cost accounting is to distribute overhead costs over products by using volume-related allocation bases such as direct labor hours, direct labor costs, direct material costs, machine hours, etc. It will not seriously distort the product cost in the conventional manufacturing environment where overheads are just a small portion of product cost. In the modern manufacturing environment, however, the overheads will grow rapidly as manufacturers increasingly promote the level of automation and computerization, and the cost distortion of traditional cost accounting will be significant (Brimson, 1991, p. 179). The main reason is that many overhead costs vary with volume diversity, product diversity, and volume-unrelated activities (e. g. set-up and scheduling activities), not with the volume-related measures. For example, highvolume products consume more direct labor hours than low-volume products, but Quality cost measurement 727 IJQRM 15,7 728 high-volume products do not necessarily consume more scheduling cost than lowvolume products. Therefore, traditional cost accounting will overcost highvolume products and undercost low-volume products. In view of this, Cooper and Kaplan suggested using ABC to improve the accuracy of product costs. In early ABC systems (Turney, 1991, pp. 7-80), overhead cost is divided into various cost pools, where each cost pool contains the cost of a group of related activities consumed by products in approximately the same way. Each cost pool is distributed to products by using a unique factor that approximates the consumption of cost. This unique factor, called an allocation basis in traditional cost accounting, could be volume-related (e. g. direct labor hours and machine hours) or volume-unrelated (e. g. number of orders, set-up hours, and number of parts). Early ABC systems focus on the accurate assignment of overhead costs to products. They do not provide direct information about activities and do not consider the costs outside the plant. Thus, a two-dimensional model of ABC is proposed as shown in Figure 1. This ABC model is composed of two dimensions: cost assignment view and process view described in the following two subsections. The cost assignment view of ABC The detailed cost assignment view of ABC is shown in Figure 2. ABC assumes that cost objects (e. g. products, product lines, processes, customers, channels, Cost Assignment View Resources Resource Drivers Process View Cost Drivers Activities Performance Measures Activity Drivers Cost Objects Figure 1. Two-dimensional model of ABC Source: Adapted from Turney, (1991, p. 81) Resources Resource Drivers First Stage Quality cost measurement Activity Center Activity Activity Cost Pool 729 Cost Element Second Stage Activity Drivers Cost Objects Figure 2. Detailed cost assignment view of ABC Source: Adapted from Turney, (1991, p. 97) markets, etc. ) create the need for activities, and activities create the need for resources. Accordingly, ABC uses two-stage procedure to assign resource costs to cost objects. In the first stage, resource costs are assigned to various activities by using resource drivers. Resource drivers are the factors chosen to approximate the consumption of resources by the activities. Each type of resource traced to an activity becomes a cost element of an activity cost pool. Thus, an activity cost pool is the total cost associated with an activity. An activity center is composed of related activities, usually clustered by function or process. We can create activity centers by various ways according to different information needs. In the second stage, each activity cost pool is distributed to cost objects by using an adequate activity driver which is used to measure the consumption of activities by cost objects (Turney, 1992). If the cost objects are products, then total cost of a specific product can be calculated by adding the costs of various activities assigned to that product. The unit cost of the product is achieved by dividing the total cost by the quantity of the product. The resources used in manufacturing companies may include people, machines, facilities, and utilities, and the corresponding resource costs could be assigned to activities in the first stage of cost assignment by using the resource drivers time, machine hours, square footage, and kilowatt hours respectively (Brimson, 1991, p. 135). For the manufacturing activities, there are the following categories of activities (Cooper, 1990): †¢ unit-level activities (performed one time for one unit of product, e. g. 100 percent inspection, machining, finishing); IJQRM 15,7 730 batch-level activities (performed one time for a batch of products, e. g. sampling inspection, set-up, scheduling); †¢ product-level activities (performed to benefit all units of a particular product, e. g. roduct design, design verification and review); †¢ facility-level activities (performed to sustain the manufacturing facility, e. g. plant guard and management, zero defect program). The costs of different levels of activities will be traced to products by using the different kinds of activity drivers in the second stage of ABC cost assignment view. For example, machine hours is used as the activity driver for the activity machining; set-up hours or the number of set-up for machine set-up; and the number of drawings for product design (Tsai, 1996b). Usually, the costs of facility-level activities cannot be traced to products with the definite causeeffect relationships and should be allocated to products with appropriate allocation bases (Cooper, 1990). The information achieved from ABC cost assignment view is usually used for the decisions of pricing, quoting, product mix (Tsai, 1994), make versus buy, sourcing, product design, profitability analysis, and so on (Turney, 1992). The process view of ABC The process view of ABC is composed of three building blocks: cost drivers, activities and performance measures. It provides information on why the activities are performed via cost drivers and on how well the activities are performed via performance measures. Cost drivers are factors that determine the workload and effort required to perform an activity (Turney, 1991, p. 87), i. e. factors that cause a change in the cost of an activity (Raffish and Turney, 1991). For example, the quality of parts received by an activity (e. . the percent that are defective) is a determining factor in the work required by that activity, because the quality of parts received affects the resources required to perform the activity. Cost drivers identify t he cause of activity cost and are useful because they point people to take action at the root cause level, i. e. they reveal opportunities for improvement. An activity may have multiple cost drivers associated with it. Performance measures are used to indicate the work performed and the results achieved in an activity (Raffish and Turney, 1991). They tell us how the activity is meeting the needs of its internal or external customers. There are five fundamental elements of activity performance: (1) the quality of the work done; (2) the productivity for the activity; (3) the cycle time required to complete the activity; (4) the cost traced or allocated to the activity; and (5) customer satisfaction (Miller, 1996, pp. 94-5; Turney, 1991, pp. 88-9). †¢ Performance measures differ from one activity to another and from one company to another. Performance measures may be financial or nonfinancial. The process view of ABC places emphasis on processes. A process is a series of activities that are linked to perform a specific objective. A business process often runs across artificial organizational boundaries, departments or functions. Because of the interdependency of activities in a process, the work of each activity affects the performance of the next activity in the process. Accordingly, performance measures for one activity may become cost drivers for the next activity (Turney, 1991, p. 190). For example, performance measures for designing new tools may include the number of change in specifications and the number of new drawings, and these performance measures are just the cost drivers for the succeeding activity, manufacturing new tools. This tells us that merely identifying activities without consideration of their relationship to other activities in the process will result in overlooking many improvement opportunities (Lawson, 1994, p. 35). The information achieved from the process view of ABC can be used to aid in process/activity improvement. The potential improve

The narratives of exile and diaspora by Mahmud Darwish

The narratives of exile and diaspora by Mahmud Darwish â€Å"The narrative of exile and diaspora† is all about Mahmud Darwish’s expressions of his frustrations with the way his fellow countrymen face injustice cases in their own country and even how things get worse for them when they flee their country in the attempt to try and find better living environments. Mahmud Darwish is a Palestinian poet and an author who feels disgusted by the challenges facing his fellow countrymen.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on ‘The narratives of exile and diaspora’ by Mahmud Darwish specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More He holds a grudge with the entire Palestinian government describing it as a dictatorial form of leadership. He goes further to blame the government for what he calls failure to give proper care to its citizens. This renders them to painful and miserable deaths that he thinks could not be happening had the government taken the responsibility of protect ing their civilians. The theme of exile and diaspora as portrayed in Darwish’s poem can be traced back to the beginning of the earth. This happened when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command of not eating the forbidden fruit. The angels of God carrying swords of fire threw them out of the Garden of Eden. They hence had to flee out of Eden and seek refuge elsewhere. However, in reality the problem of exile originated from the turbulence that occurred in the Arab world caused by the Second World War activities. The Second World War led to the formation of movements aimed at opposing European colonialism leading to massive changes in political and social arena in the Arab world. For example, the formation of Arab Nationalism in the attempt to counteract the Europeans leads to the eruption of several movements in the Arab world to oppose colonialism. Such revolutions significantly affected the lives of many civilians. The civilians that inhabited Arab countries faced proble ms such as racial segregations and lack of proper protection by their own government. The most affected people are those who inhabited countries such as Palestine, Iraq, Egypt and Yemen. The claims made by Darwish are true according to Jewish literature. The author expresses his frustration at challenges such as racial discrimination, displacement, dictatorial leadership and the fact that Arab countries are full of tyranny and governed by the sword as they describe it.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As mentioned above, most civilians in the sword governed Arabic countries such as Yemen and Palestine who are the author’s main concern flee their own countries in search for refuge abroad. The most affected groups are the revolutionists and the top intellects that pioneered the whole idea of revolution and anti-colonialism movements. The leader’s ideas lead to war outbreaks between their own countries and the colonists. However, the others run away for fear of assassination by their superiors who either saw them as a threat or thought they could use the secrets they know to bring them to the ground. There were also dictatorial regimes, especially in Algeria where leaders killed their own civilians or created conditions that could not be tolerated by their citizens hence the need to flee. In fact, the governments of Algeria installed police forces and laws that were too hard for the civilians. Instead of enforcing law and order and ensuring that the citizens accessed protection they created conditions that pushed the civilians out of their own country. The other contributing factor is the tragic war that erupted between the author’s country, Palestine and the Israelites that led to among others the massive exodus of Palestinian refugees in the years one thousand nine hundred and forty seven and the year one thousand nine hu ndred and sixty seven. Their governments installed brutal police that instead of protecting the citizens, they oppressed them. As a result, they were not only defeated by their enemies but also lost thousands of their productive citizens who ran to other countries as refugees. It is absurd that the countries where the citizens run to for help and where they expect to get solutions, as well as a home away from home, prove to be even a worse temptation as they receive the opposite of their expectations while there. Mahmud Darwish claims that it is extremely ironic that Arabs are not fairly treated in fellow Arab countries. He gives an example of a Palestine who was found lying dead in Lebanon on top of a stone. All that is in his pocket are a few coins and a travelling document.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on ‘The narratives of exile and diaspora’ by Mahmud Darwish specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More From t his data, it is vividly evident that the refugees in Lebanon suffer deprivation of many rights. For example, instead of provision of a passport, all that a refugee had is a travelling permit. The story goes on to claim that the mother of the deceased kissed him and then mourns helplessly for a whole year. In conclusion, Mahmud Darwish claims that the emergence of exile and diaspora dwelling has been heavy because the Arab country governments lack commitment to provide their citizens with security. The problems faced by refugees are as a result of the governments of fellow Arab countries as they have totally failed to appreciate and embrace brotherhood. The only way to eradicate this problem is through self-responsibility among governments.

Business Research Literature Review

In this assignment, a comprehensive literature review had been developed for the business research proposal related with topic â€Å"study and analyze marketing tools and tactics used by Coles Supermarkets, Australia.† There were some major topics included in this literature review section. They were such as overview of the Australian retail industry, Global Retail Business, consumer demand and ideas of independence groceries. The main hypotheses of   this literature   review section is to analyse the effectiveness of   marketing tools and tactics used by Australian retail companies compare to global retail companies. It had been assumed that Australian retail market is still growing and it can be improved by modifying the marketing tools and techniques used in this industry.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   H 0 : Australian retail market has a steady growth in the market H 1 : Australian retail market do not has a steady growth in the market It has been found that Australian retail market is growing rapidly. The retail market of Australia has increased by 3% in accordance to the current value terms in 2016[1]. Although, the growth is positive, it had been analyzed that the growth rate had become slower than 2015[2]. The main reason behind the slower rate of growth of Australian retail market is that Australian customers remain cautious about their spending during the whole year due to low level of income growth. The customer good subdivision of Australian retail market has struggled with critical retail conditions over the last five years.   It had been found that volatile consumer sentiment and weak growth of economy due to fluctuating financial market had developed tensed time for the subdivision operators. In addition, it had been found that there was continuous fall in the retail demand in Australia for video games, photographic equipments, books, newspapers, stationary goods and footwear[3]. However, online retailing or internet retailing of Australia had reached a relatively steady rate. In the year of 2016, it had been found that the online retailing has outperformed store-based retailing is Australia. Due to the increase importance of retail presence across different channels had influenced Australian retailers like Woolsworth and Wesfarmers to increase investment on multichannel retailing[4]. They started to focus on online business presence. They started to use social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for promotion and advertisements. It had been analyzed that the trend of consumer demand of Australian retail market favored the convenience offered by online retailing. Aggressive expansion of Aldi indicates the continuous growth of this industry[5]. Wesfarmers is considered as the largest retailer in Australian in the year of 2016. The company is presently leading across different categories of retailing.   The value growth of the company Wesfarmers is highly driven by the strong performance is categories like office supply stores, home and garden, mass merchandisers and forecourt retailers.   The company is ranked as number one organization in terms of value share in the year of 2016[6]. It had been analyzed that retailing industry in Australia will increase at a value of CAGR of 3% over the next forecast period[7]. It will be largely driven by garden and home specialist retailers and online retailing. It is expected that these categories of retail industry will show strong growth due to growing demand for new houses and due to faster adoption of new technologies and online services.   There were two major factors that have affected the Australian retail market the most. They are such as Government policies and the subdued lending environment. The election of new coalition Australian government in 2013 had come up with two major factors[8]. The government has announced the withdrawal of government subsidies for many retail organizations. For this reason, various local retail groceries have closed their operation in Australia. The government has renewed the focus on the reduction of federal debt reduction to handle the national deficit leading to the viewpoint of tax increment and deep cuts to family benefits. In addition, banking sector has also become the subject of capital adequacy reforms designed to protect the retail industry. It would help to secure the retail industry from unexpected fluctuations and promote stability to this industry.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In term of future, it had been analyzed that, Omni channel retailing is going to be more relevant now than ever. In order to improve sales performance in future, retail companies have to combine brick and mortar operation with digital strategies. Rise of Smartphone adoption will increase online retail selling. In future online marketing will become the most important promotion and advertising strategy. There are various in-store technology can be used as effective marketing tool to increase sales performance. They are such as digital signage, interactive screens, self serve kiosks and online product directories. Presently it has been found that 49% of the Australian customers would like purchase products with the help of apps than a browser.   For this reason, retail companies such as Woolsworth and Wesfarmers have started to incorporate mobile apps in their Omni-channel marketing strategy. The Australian grocery retail had experienced a positive growth in the year of 2016. This high rate of growth in this sector can be explained by the success of discounters within the country. However, the growth of this industry is restricted by price discounting and intense amount of competition. These factors have hindered the growth rate of the grocery retailer s during the year. Rapid technology advancements provide retail companies the opportunities to engage consumer in-store. It has been found that perception of many marketers in the retail market is that the lending practices have also become constrained. It had also affected the commercial growth and customer credit. H 0 : Global retail business is changing due to market competition H 1 : Global retail business is not changing due to market competition Supermarkets and grocery retail industry is competitive not only in Australia but also in other parts of the world. The level of competitiveness is due to the change in consumer trends of the shopping their necessary goods from the market as well as changing sentiments. The change in the consumer sentiments has also changed the trading pattern of the supermarket retail industry all over the world[9]. Global supermarket retail industry has showed the growth of many popular supermarkets such as Tesco, Walmart, Aldi, Woolworths, Metcash, etc. It is seen that the supermarket retailers of Australia are adapting the trends of the demands of the customers that are responsible for the increase of footprints in the retail stores. They are facing the competition to meet the higher expectation of the customers in terms of convenience, freshness of the foods, transparency, standard of foods and other products served by it[10]. The trends that the retail supermarkets across the world are adopting are categorized into groups such as authentication of the fresh foods, convergence concepts that are convenience driven, impact of the changing regulations, creating opportunities to the workforce and consolidation of the operational movements. Companies are going to focus on the product differentiation focusing on the niche segment of customers. The addition of the online retailing and click and col lect options are more competitive than the traditional supermarket stores of different parts of the world[11]. On the other hand, it can be said that the supermarkets in many parts of the world are facing issues in maintaining the workforce i.e. skilled technical workforce. The companies are facing different issues in terms of maintaining the workforce in terms of technical problems. The technical experts and skilled expertise are hard to find in many countries of the world. However, it is the responsibility of the retailers to take of their employees in terms of employee engagement and their satisfaction. The supermarkets are facing problems in order to maintain an adjustment of the operations to the different associates who are associated with managing an array of tasks[12]. Research has portrayed the fact that the need of technology is of first priority. In terms of facility management systems, the global retailers are utilizing different types of human centred design that are considered as enhancing connectivity and monitoring the capabilities that improves user interface, intuitive opera tion and usability. The changing regulations of the countries are factors that are responsible for creating any effect on the trading patterns of the different supermarket retailers across the world. The two regulations that are important in creating a significant change of the business patterns of the supermarket retailers are refrigerant regulation and Food Safety Modernization Act. It can be said that the refrigerant regulation changes focuses on the issues of energy efficiency and the refrigerants. This implication will help the retailers while adopting refrigerators that are manufactured by using latest technologies[13]. The FSMA regulation is responsible for reduction of food waste by the companies. The individual retailers and the grocers are responsible for maintaining the freshness level â€Å"farm to table†. The companies are focusing on increasing the footprints in order to boost their never ending strategy in the expansion plans. In terms of focusing on the trollies of the consumers, it is seen that the global supermarkets are focused in providing benefits to the shoppers in order to improve their shopping experience. Hence, the hypothesis of the topic can be said that the global supermarkets are constantly trying to follow the recent and future trends in order to attract more customers that results to increase in the sales. It can be concluded that the global supermarket retail chains across the world are competitive in nature while developing their research and development department in order to imply the product differentiation by adopting different types of pricing strategies to attract the customers of the specific target market.   It is seen that the top retail companies are competing with each other not only in terms of price but also in terms of attracting more customers. . It can be said that the food retail industry across the world are simultaneously differentiating and consolidating. It is known by conducting research to the market regarding the integrity and safety of the foods they maintain in order to satisfy the consumers of the countries. H 0 : Global market strategies depend on the changing perspectives of consumers H 1 : Global market strategies does not depend on the changing perspectives of consumers Demands of the consumers are important aspect in the perspective of developing strategies of the global supermarket retail chains. Preferences of the consumers are the main criteria that businesses of every sector follow while standing apart in the competitive market in terms of different business operations such as revenue, customers, product expansion, market expansion, etc. The section will focus on the effect of changing patterns of the consumer demands in the perspective of shopping attributes and perception of choosing things especially food and other grocery items. There are also some problems that are faced by the global supermarket chains along with the supermarkets of Australia. Food and retail transition among the supermarket retail are caused due to the change in the consumer’s choice especially in terms of food items. The British people are known for consuming more calories when compared with other people of the different countries of the world. The transitional middle-income group is known for more consumption of processed foods that have very high in energy and salt content. These foods are known as problem foods because these foods are responsible of creating risks of different types of diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases. Research has been done not only to the supermarkets across different parts of the world but also to the consumers who are considered as the shoppers. It can be said that more than 85% of the respondents are preferring supermarkets for buying their essential things[14]. Among them, almost half of the consumers are regularly visiting the supermarkets and the convenience stores. They are focused in buying foods those are health y and does not contain more fat. The consumers purchase fresh bakeries, vegetables and different organic foods more than processed meats, soft drinks, fast foods, deep fried foods, instant foods, etc.) Apart from that, the supermarkets focus on the service quality, customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction and the self-checkout service for increasing the customer loyalty and the increase of the sales. The technological advancements of the supermarkets are responsible for increase of the sales of their products as well as setting various programs for the development of customer loyalty programs. Apart from that, self-service checkouts must be improved so that the customers are not facing any rush while shopping in the supermarkets. Tesco has improved their clubcards and other applications that help them in shopping at Tesco very easily[15]. Customized offers and discounts are set by the company to engage the shoppers to shop at Tesco. Aldi, Tesco, develops mobile applications so that customers can choose their products easily and can avail many benefits. New product development especially in terms of foods is the reason of changing patterns of the customers towards consumption of foods. The concept of e-retailing is also on demand that is responsible for attracting most of the youngsters. The youngsters are usually tech savvy and are focused to the latest trends of fashion on different items. Hence, the retailers are developing products according to the latest trends by keeping the price margin quite affordable. However, it can be said that different retailers across the world are focusing on global supply chain for seeking the benefits of lower cost in terms of agri-food supply chains[16]. The supermarket retail chains of United States of America are focusing on the just in time so that they can distribute the products to the customers in a proper time[17]. It can be concluded that American retailers such as Walmart, British retailer Tesco and German retailer Aldi are known for implementation of technologies by conducting a proper research on the customers of their areas of operations. The methods and the discounts are different from one country to another country. The food retailers are considered to as more focus to the demands and preferences of the customers. New food products along with customer service techniques are developed as per the choices and shopping patterns of the customers of their target markets. It can be said that supermarkets from all parts of the world are strongly agree about the fact of following the changing shopping patterns of the consumers of their target market in order to sustain in the target market. H 0 : The Supermarket giants rule the global retail industry H 1 : The Supermarket giants does not rule the global retail industry The big multinational supermarket retail giants rule global food and grocery markets. However, the importance of the independence groceries or the local retailers is considered as an important contributor of the economy of different countries. It can be said that the local grocers have a particular market share in many parts of the countries. The section will describe about the facts about the local grocery retailers of the world[18]. Local retailers in many undeveloped and developing countries are still preferred by huge customers in the rural areas. There is a sentiment that works behind the preference of choosing local groceries over big supermarkets. However, there are many advantages while shopping from a supermarket when compared to local grocery retailers, but the trust factor is more in the local shops than the big supermarkets. Apart from that, rural people rely on trust factor than other factors of price and availability of the goods. In the rural areas of different countries these things happen. On the contrary, the residents dwelling in the urban areas are focused to shop from the supermarket retail shops as they are price sensitive and the availability of the products are huge compared to the local retail shops[19]. There are many schemes and offers that the customers can avail while shopping from retail stores of Walmart, Tesco, Metcash, Coles, etc. There is a fact of going digital that is an area of top priority. It is seen that the supermarkets are going online in order to engage customers in the 24*7 shopping. They also provide extra discounts and offers in order to attract customer base. The huge varieties of products except groceries are a reason of threat for the local retailers. The different ranges of food products along with other daily requirement essential products are huge in number in terms of the quantity. Apart from that, the quality of the products in supermarkets is also high from that of the local retailers. It is the reason of the preference of the urban customers while shopping at the supermarkets[20]. To compete with the competitors, local retailers of many developed and developing countries like Germany, France, Malaysia, China, Japan, India, etc. are developing their operations in their target market. The target market of the local retailers is relatively very small compared to the big multinational retail stores. The strategies include lower price of the products. The most important is the use of the concept of convenience stores. The convenient stores are present in many local areas where consumers usually seek. Apart from the groceries items, the local grocery retailers are now storing different essential products that are required in the daily life of the consumers[21]. Research has showed that huge customer’s base is shifted towards the convenient store format of the local retailers. The element of trust factor is enhanced by the owner of the shops in order to convince them to buy goods from their shops. Technologies are also used by them in the operations of distribution maintain stocks in the stores, inventory level maintenance, etc. while maintaining the stock of the shop up to date. In conclusion, it can be mentioned that retail industry of Australia is increasing rapidly. However, the increment rate had been decreased compare to 2015. This is due to the reason that customers remain cautious about their spending during the whole year due to low level of income growth. People are becoming more inclined towards high quality products. Online retailing has become more important compare store retailing. Customers have become more concern about hygienic products. Omni channel marketing has become important part of marketing technique used in retail market. Companies like Coles, Woolworths and Wesfarmers have incorporated this strategy to enhance their business performance. Azizul Islam, Muhammad and Ameeta Jain, "Workplace Human Rights Reporting: A Study Of Australian Garment And Retail Companies" (2013) 23  Australian Accounting Review Brenes, Esteban R., Luciano Ciravegna and Daniel Montoya, "Super Selectos: Winning The War Against Multinational Retail Chains" (2015) 68  Journal of Business Research Burch, David, Jane Dixon and Geoffrey Lawrence, "Introduction To Symposium On The Changing Role Of Supermarkets In Global Supply Chains: From Seedling To Supermarket: Agri-Food Supply Chains In Transition" (2012) 30  Agriculture and Human Values Cameron, Adrian J. et al, "Do The Foods Advertised In Australian Supermarket Catalogues Reflect National Dietary Guidelines?" [2015]  Health Promotion International Carlos Fandos Roig, Juan et al, "Social Value In Retail Banking" (2013) 31  International Journal of Bank Marketing Charwak, B., "Pattern Of Retail Marketing" (2013) 6  Adarsh Journal of Management Research Cuneo, Andres et al, "The Growth Of Private Label Brands: A Worldwide Phenomenon?" (2015) 23  Journal of International Marketing Demirci Orel, Fatma and Ali Kara, "Supermarket Self-Checkout Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, And Loyalty: Empirical Evidence From An Emerging Market" (2014) 21  Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services Doherty, Bob, Alastair Smith and Sara Parker, "Fair Trade Market Creation And Marketing In The Global South" (2015) 67  Geoforum Elder, Sara D. and Peter Dauvergne, "Farming For Walmart: The Politics Of Corporate Control And Responsibility In The Global South" (2015) 42  The Journal of Peasant Studies Gadalla, Eman, Kathy Keeling and Ibrahim Abosag, "Metaverse-Retail Service Quality: A Future Framework For Retail Service Quality In The 3D Internet" (2013) 29  Journal of Marketing Management Kelly, Matthew et al, "Thailand's Food Retail Transition: Supermarket And Fresh Market Effects On Diet Quality And Health" (2014) 116  British Food Journal Krisjanti, Wenefrida Mahestu Noviandra,  The Effects Of Cultural Adaption In Immigrants' Purchasing Of Store Brands  (1st ed, 2012) Macfadyen, Sarina et al, "The Role Of Food Retailers In Improving Resilience In Global Food Supply" (2015) 7  Global Food Security Makandar, N, "A Review Of Contemporary Retail Formats In Emerging Australia" (2013) 43  Australian Journal of Marketing Makandar, N., "a study on referral marketing" [2014]  ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Retail Management Marcondes e Santos, Renata Borini, "Analysis Of The Economic And Environmental Benefits Through The Reverse Logistics For Retail" (2014) 3  American Journal of Environmental Protection Ochieng, E.G. et al, "Integration Of Energy Efficient Technologies In UK Supermarkets" (2014) 67  Energy Policy Raff, Horst and Nicolas Schmitt, "Manufacturers And Retailers In The Global Economy" (2016) 49  Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'à ©conomique Srivastava, R. K., "Role Of Music On Perceived Price In Retail Stores" (2013) 43  Australian Journal of Marketing Winson, Anthony and Jin Young Choi, "Dietary Regimes And The Nutrition Transition: Bridging Disciplinary Domains" [2016]  Agriculture and Human Values With a decade's experience in providing essay help,

Air Crash Investigation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Air Crash Investigation - Essay Example This report also aims in making recommendations for improving the system and reducing the failure rates. Table of Contents ABSTRACT 1 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Description of the Accident 5 3.0 Narrative of Events 5 4.0 Structure of Investigation Report 6 4.1 Executive Summary 7 4.2 Factual Information 7 4.2.1 Mission 7 4.2.2. Sequence of Events or Narrative of Events 7 4.2.3 Sequence of Crash or Response of Accident 7 4.2.4 Description of Damage and Injuries 8 4.2.5 Wreckage Report 8 4.2.6 Operational History 8 4.2.7 Compliance with Directives 8 4.2.8 Training, Qualifications and Certifications 8 4.2.9 Management of Record 9 4.2.10 Opportunities for Prevention of Accident 9 4.2.11 Mission Risk Factors 9 4.2.12 Emphasis on Safety 9 4.3 Analysis 9 4.4 Findings 10 4.5 Recommendations 10 5.0 Major Points and Findings of Investigation Report 10 6.0 Evaluation of Recommendations 12 7.0 Changes to Global Civil Aviation Regulations 15 8.0 System Operation 16 Conclusions 1 Recommendations 1 Lis t of Figures Figure 1 : Percentage of Causes for Air Accidents 5 Figure 2 : Leading Edge Horizontal Sabilizer Separation from Embraer 120 11 Figure 3 : Function of Horizontal Stabilizer 17 Figure 4 : Aircraft Pitch Movement 18 Figure 5 : Effect of Airfoil Shapes on Lift 19 Figure 6 : Horizontal Stabilizer of Embraer 120 19 Figure 7 : Loss of Leading Edge of Horizontal Stabilizer 21 Figure 8 : Fault Tree Analysis of Continental Express Flight 2574 1 Air Crash Investigation Continental Express Flight 2574 Details of Accident 1.0 Introduction According to Annesure 13 of Convention on International Civil Aviation (2010), also known as Chicago Convention, an aviation accident is â€Å"an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked, where a person is fatally or seriously injured, the aircraft sustains damage or structural failure or the aircraft is missing or is completely inaccessible†. The purpose of air crash investigations is to determine the reasons for accident and make safety recommendations to avoid recurrences and if possible preserve life. Its aim is not to apportion blame and liability if any on an individual or organization. Safety Boards are assigned the mandate to carry out these investigations; however, these are not regulatory bodies since approval and implementation of regulation is within the domain of Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). According to Boeing (2010), majority of the aircraft accidents were causes by pilot or flight crew error indicating a high percentage of human factor, followed by defective equipment or component that made up 14% of the total while less than one-third the human factor as shown in figure below: Figure 1 : Percentage of Causes for Air Accidents 2.0 Description of the Accident Continental Express Flight 2574, a domestic flight, was scheduled from Laredo International Airport in Laredo, Texas to Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas on 11 September 1991 with 12 passengers and two crew members on board. Nearly at the end of their 55 minutes flight to destination, aircraft crashed in a corn field near Eagle Lake, Texas due to structural failure. Texas

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 115

Summary - Essay Example At last, Africa came to light with the emergence of nationalist such as Kwame Nkhurumah of Ghana and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. South Africa was able to elect its first black president in 1994 after a long spell of foreign leadership (Murithi, 132). The intensity of Apartheid reduced as a result of the new era of leadership. The late 21 century was a symbol of a peaceful era as the world began transforming from world war era to an era of peace among independent nations. The transformation was signified by the end of a cold war between the USSR and the United States signed by US president George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev of USSR. The rebirth of the new era saw Africa through its struggle for independence and ushered a period of development. Africa has since gone a mile ahead with the improvement of the education system, technology and communication. Africa is currently able to host major events such as the Olympics and the world cup. Africa had undergone a lot of hostility in the past thus it was anticipated by many people that it would be hard for Africa to transform but it has responded well to the changes and currently considers all the past events as historical part of the new

politicians personal lives Essay -- essays research papers

Politicians make decisions that affect our everyday lives to the very state of defense for our country, and the media seems to personify personal parts of their lives. Should the press be allowed to interfere in and report on political figures personal lives? Some say they should, the people have a rite to know how an elected office candidate acts on said persons casual life. Others argue it’s an intrusion on privacy. It is my belief that these people run our country, but they all have personal lives that should be respected for the following reasons dignity, respect, and even suicide.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To begin with dignity is a base foundation of a person. Without dignity what good is a person’s word. Allowing the mass media to report on personal lives causes a direct loss of the subject’s personal dignity, and can lead to mistrust among voters and peers. When dignity is compromised scandals are allowed to run rampant. Scandals can affect a politicians public image, and voters and the general public may gain a misleading image of the candidate and ignore the person’s actual stance on issue therefore swaying voters to believe a false image. And example of this is the current president George Bush while his public image portrayed by the media is a redneck moron who used to do cocaine in 9/11 incident.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In addition respect is the basic respect for people is what bui...

Moral Permissibility of Torture

To most, torture is seen as action with a single definition that defines it, but in fact there are different types of torture that Henry Shue discusses in one of his articles. According to Shue there are rare conditions under which torture could be morally justified, but he does not endorse neither the interrogational torture not the terroristic torture. Although Shue agrees with illegality and morally wrongness of torture, he explains how one may go about defending torture and how it could possibly be morally justified. Henry Shue begins his article discussing torture with constraints which allows the victim to â€Å"surrender† and comply with the demands of the torturer. According to the Constraint of Possible Compliance (CPC), â€Å"the victim of torture must have available an act of compliance which, if performed, will end the torture† (Shue 427). With the aim of interrogational torture being to extract information from a person with holding it, this torture appears to satisfy the constraint of possible compliance, since it offers an escape, in the form of providing the information wanted by the torturers, which affords some protection against further assault. In practice there are evidently only a few pure cases of interrogational torture. For the most dominant type of torture that occurs today is considered to be terroristic. Terroristic torture is meant to put fear in not only the victim, but also all those who oppose that government. The victim’s suffering is being used as a means to end over which the victim has no control over. Terroristic torture cannot satisfy the constraint of possible compliance because its purpose, intimidation of persons other than the victim of the torture, cannot be accomplished and may not even be capable of being influenced by the victim of the torture. If terroristic torture were actually to be justified, the conditions would of course have to be met. The first condition Shue defines is the purpose being sought through the torture would need to be not only morally good, but also supremely important. These purposes would then have to be selected by criteria of moral importance which would themselves need to be justified. The second condition described is that the torture would presumably have to be the least harmful means of accomplishing the supreme goal. With the terrible pain and harm that is associated with terroristic torture, this condition could rarely be the case in this type of torture. The last condition Shue defines is it must be absolutely clear for what purpose the erroristic torture was being used, what would constitute achievement of that purpose, and when the torture would end. Henry Shue believes these three conditions will never be met primarily because terroristic torture tends to become a routine procedure in methods of governing and once it is set in motion by that government it would gain enough momentum to become a standard operating procedure within the government. Shue also describes how governments to choose to try and prove themselves to other nations, over eliminating themselves from the fight.