Culture Walk Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Culture Walk - Assignment Example Faustian the term implies a situation where the person is very ambitious in his life and wants to achieve success in life. However, improvements in technology has made people to be in a rat race as they are always in a hurry to gain more power and position and achieve success in life as early as possible. Therefore, to meet with the growing competition and culture people sometime give up their moral integrity just to win the race of life. With concern to the cultural walk regarding the different phases of life it is observed that since the beginning of life individuals always wants to know the purpose of their existence. The realities of life that is birth, death are not known to anybody and therefore people search for the reason behind their life. People often find themselves in a situation where they may think that what will happen and where will they go after life ends. This made the people thing that whether they will return to earth if they die. As we are moving with the improve ment in technology, people from all the walks of life following different cultures are more willing to know about their future existence on this planet. People are always with the problem of identifying their purpose of life. The universe, the life on earth and mankind all are the gift of god and nature and so are to be judged equally as believed by individual. Moreover, people from different cultural background have varied views towards life and the perception of individuals has also changed due to technology. People are no more close to the nature hence affecting their walk of life. With regard to this aspect of life it can be depicted that life has become more materialistic and happiness are no more grounded with nature. Kirkpatrick Sale mainly focuses on the technology and the various challenges people are facing due to the improvements in the technology. The Rebel against future takes us back to the period of 1811 when people were feared of Luddite rebellion. The

Personal Application Assignment Essay Example for Free

Personal Application Assignment Essay A variety of texts and articles over the past few years have argued for the use of an alternative approach to teaching organizational behavior, one that emphasizes experiential learning. This approach emphasizes an existential, emergent view for learning organizational behavior (McMullen, 1979), where the role of the instructor is that of learning facilitator, responsible for designing experiences for students to base learning upon, rather than as teacher, responsible for lecturing on theory and concepts. While gaining wide acceptance, this approach has nevertheless created problems in the assessment of students performance. Significant learnings in this model of teaching occur not only from the development of concepts, but also from the experiences themselves. McMullen (as well as others) has proposed the use of a personal application assignment to help solve the problem of performance assessment. This assignment is based upon the experiential learning model formulated by Kolb (1971). This model is discussed in more detail in the text chapter on learning styles. Kolbs model argues that learning occurs through a process which might begin with a concrete experience, which leads to reflective observation about the experience. Abstract conceptualization follows in which models, paradigms, strategies, and metaphors are applied to the results of the experience. Active experimentation concludes the cycle as the concepts are then put into practice, thus generating new concrete experience. Figure 1 shows the model more clearly. In one sense, persons able to learn using all four modes of the model will be better able to take away learning from the variety of contexts in which they interact. We feel that the Personal Application Assignment is a useful tool for both evaluation of a students work in courses taught using an experiential approach; and further, that the Personal Application Assignment can serve as a way to help students learn to learn. The PAA is both an evaluation and a teaching technique. Our past history of teaching using this method has shown that the PAA, in order to be most useful, must include clear guidelines for the student. To that end we have undertaken to set forth the guidelines below to help students to understand the requirements for effective PAAs. Guidelines on Grading, Topic Selection, and Confidentiality First of all, we believe that a 20-point grading system simplifies understanding how each component of the paper is graded and weighted. There are five elements to the paper and each normally is weighted equally. These include the four elements in the learning style model and a fifth element that takes into account the introduction, integration, synthesis and general quality of writing in the PAA. The score given in each element depends upon how effectively the student has met all the criteria listed for that section of the paper. For the instructors part, we believe that instructors need to provide specific feedback as quickly as possible to students on why they were awarded points in each area and, more importantly, what they need to do to improve. To achieve these objectives the same summary sheet that guides the grading is provided to the student as feedback. This sheet is attached at the end of this handout. The above paragraph referred to the weighting as â€Å"normally† being equal for all parts of the paper. In cases where the quality of the student writing is clearly below acceptable standards for college- level courses, this component or the entire paper may be given a significantly lower grade. (Preparing a good quality initial draft to be reviewed by a peer will help eliminate this potential problem. An initial draft is not the same as a first draft or rough draft. It should be a version the student has already revised one or more times. Students should be responsible for seeking out help with their writing skills if necessary. Choosing a good topic is essential. Select an experience that relates to the assigned course topics. It should be an experience that you would like to understand better, (e.g., there was something about it that you do not totally understand, that intrigues you, that made you realize that you lacked certain managerial skills, or that was problematical or significant for you.) When students are excited about learning more about the incident, their papers are lively and interesting. The topic must be meaty enough to take it through the entire learning cycle. The incident does not have to be work related; an incident in any setting (sports, school, family, church, etc.) that relates to the course topics is acceptable. You should select a recent experience (not something that happened back in high school). The more recent the experience, the more likely it is that you could take actions that could improve your current interactions with a supervisor, group member, roommate, or other person with whom you have an ongoing relationship. You also may select an experience which is not ongoing if this is more salient to you. Two additional issues should be considered in choosing your topic. The first is confidentiality. Students sometime wish to write on a topic that is of a personal nature. They may be willing for the instructor to read their paper but not want this to be read by other students in the class. This is a reasonable request and confidentiality will be honored. Students who want their paper to be confidential should inform the instructor ahead of time and should write â€Å"confidential† at the top of the paper. There is one exception to the confidentiality rule. If a student describes conduct related to the University where significant University rules or State/Federal laws have been violated by other students or University staff, the instructor reserves the right to bring this issue to the attention of the appropriate administrator to ensure that the situation is remedied. Elements of the PAA 1. Concrete Experience In this part of the paper, students briefly describe what happens in the experience. A simple description of the events which occurred is not sufficient. The feelings experienced by the student as well as his or her thoughts and perceptions during the experience are relevant to this discussion. Another way of looking at the concrete experience would be to recognize that it possesses an objective and a subjective component. The objective part presents the facts of the experience, like a newspaper account, without an attempt to analyze the content. The subjective part is the here-and-now personal experience of the event. This experience is composed of feelings, perceptions and thoughts. Helpful hints: (1) It often helps students to replay the experience in their mind. After reviewing the experience, students should write a report of what they saw, heard, felt, thought, and heard and saw others doing. (2) Students should avoid presenting the detailed mechanics of the experience unless these are critical to the remainder of the paper. This section of the paper should be no longer than 1.5 pages long. (3) Students should avoid reporting the feelings and thoughts experienced after the experience being described. This retrospection is more appropriate in the reflective observation section. Example: We all sat at the table together. Not a sound came from any of us. Finally, after what felt like an hour to me, I simply had to say something. Why are all of you taking this course? I asked. One person, a small foreign looking man said, I needed this course to complete my MBA. Others laughed. Another person, a nicely dressed woman, said, Id like to get an easy A.' I thought to myself: What a bummer! I didnt want to be in a group with people who didnt take the subject matter seriously. When the meeting ended, my perceptions of the group had somehow changed. Maybe this was a good group to be in after all. Some of the members had similar interests to mine, and most of them were nice people that I could see getting along with. I felt somehow hopeful that this semester wouldnt be so bad after all. 2. Reflective Observation The student should ask him/herself: What did I observe in the experience and what possible meanings could these observations have? The key task here is to gather as many observations as possible by observing the experience from different points of view. The main skill to work on is perspective taking or what some people call re-framing. Try to look at this experience and describe it from different perspectives. For example, how did other participants view the situation and what did it mean to them? What would a neutral (objective) observer have seen and heard? If some time has passed since the experience, do you now see the situation differently? Look beneath the surface and try to explain why the people involved behaved the way they did. Reflect on these observations to discover the personal meaning that the situation had for you. Helpful hints: (1) If possible, discuss the experience with others who were involved to gain their views and clarify your perceptions. (2) Unhook yourself from the experience and meditate about it in a relaxed atmosphere. Mull over your observations until their personal meaning comes clear to you. Try to figure out why people, and you in particular, behaved as they did. What can you learn about yourself, looking back on the experience? If you write about a conflict or interaction, be sure to analyze both sides and put yourself in the shoes of the other people involved. Examples: In thinking back on the meeting, I began to see how the group might have taken my comments. My comments were, after all, somewhat aggressive. Some might even call them belligerent. Had I said these things before this class, or at work, I must confess that I would have surprised even myself. But it seemed there was more going on here than met my eye at the time. Sarah and Bob at first didnt seem to be the kind of people to combine forces on this job, so why was I arguing against them this time? Then it dawned on me: Their departments were about to be combined into the same division! Why hadnt I remembered that during the meeting? Many thoughts raced through my head. Was the cause of last nights high that we won the game? Was it the first time we had worked together as a group? Maybe the fact that member X wasnt there that night helped! But I still had a nagging hunch that my involvement, downplayed as it was from previous meetings, helped. 3. Abstract Conceptualization By relating assigned readings and lectures to what you experienced, you are demonstrating your ability to understand conceptually abstract material through your experiences. This process will help you refine your model of people and organizations. While some assigned readings and lectures will have varying degrees of relevance to your experience, it is important that you make several references and not limit your conceptualizing to just one source. Use at least two major concepts or theories from the course readings and cite them correctly e.g,, (Osland, Kolb Rubin, 2001, p. 31). By reviewing the assigned reading material, you should be able to identify several specific concepts or theories that relate to your experience. First, briefly define the concept or theory as you would for someone who was not familiar with it. What issue or problem does the theory examine? What variables are used to analyze the problem and how does the theory explain the link between causal variables and outcomes. What suggestions does the theory give as to effective management practices? Second, in a separate paragraph, apply the concept thoroughly to your experience. The tie-in should include the specific details of how the theory relates to and provides insight into your experience. Try to develop diagnostic questions based on the theory that help you to analyze your situation. Does the theory explain what causes certain behaviors or outcomes and were these causes present in your situation? Does the theory distinguish between effective and ineffective practices that help you to understand your situation? Does the experience support or refute parts of the theory? You are encouraged to suggest modifications to a theory to make it fit your particular situation better. Helpful hints: (1) It is sometimes useful to identify theoretical concepts that interest you first and then search out and elaborate on a personal experience that relates to these concepts. (2) An alternative approach is to select an experience you wish to understand better and then select concepts that apply to your experience. The example below shows how one concept was defined and applied in a student PAA. Abstract Conceptualization Example There are several organizational behavior concepts that help me understand this experience. One is the Thomas-Kilman theory of conflict (Osland, p. 284-285) which is based upon two axes, either the concern for ones own interests or the concern for the interests of the other party. The five styles reflect a low or high position on these two axes and are labeled competition, compromise, avoidance, accommodation, and collaboration. In the incident I described, my coach began with a collaborative style, high concern for both his own interests and the interests of the other party. He tried to work out a solution that would satisfy both of us but I neither saw nor heard his point of view. I just wanted to get my own way and practice in the same way I had on my previous team. I see now that the conflict style I used was the competitive style, high concern for my own interests and low concern for the interests of the other party. Looking back, this is the style I have used most often throughout my life; I usually got away with it before because I was such a good athlete. However, my experience with the coach supports the textbooks description (p. 285) of the losses that may result from using this style. I lost everything when I was kicked off the team and I certainly alienated the coach and the other players and discouraged them from wanting to work with me. 4. Active Experimentation This section of the paper should begin by summarizing what you learned about yourself as a result of writing the paper. What new personal insights and practical lessons did you learn about how to more effectively deal with these types of experiences. Make sure to focus on what you learned about yourself, rather than what you learned about someone else, general situations such as group behavior, or processes such as negotiation. This should be presented in a separate paragraph and not buried within your discussion of an action step. Next you should present four action steps that you will take to make you more effective in the future in these situations. (Future actions must be based on the experience reported in the Concrete Experience.) These actions can be stated in the form of guidelines as to how you would act differently or resolutions as to steps you could take to develop or practice particular skills. You should elaborate in detail how you see your action ideas being carried out. A given step might include several related activities to complete it. Sometimes students have a tendency to list an action step and then shift to explaining why they would take the action without sufficiently explaining the actual behavior they would modify. For example, the statement â€Å"I would strive to communicate better because people feel I don’t listen very well† does not tell a reader very much about what you would do to communicate better. Saying that â€Å"I will strive to communicate better by using active listening techniques where I will paraphrase the other’s viewpoint before presenting my own opinion† is a better indication of how you will carry out this action step. There should be a clear link between your action steps and the concepts presented in the abstract conceptualization section. If the theories you selected provide recommendations for improving management practices, you are encouraged to incorporate these ideas in formulating your action steps. Dont just repeat tips from the text. Try to include at least one action resolution that is based upon new knowledge that you have gained about yourself. If you were to re-live your experience, what would you do differently? What would you do to improve the situation? In past student PAA’s it is often difficult to sort out where one action step ends and another begins. Please provide a separate paragraph for each action step and number or otherwise demarcate the separate action steps. For example, â€Å"First, I would .. My second action step would be † This will help the reader differentiate between action steps and will ensure that you provide four distinct action steps as part of your plan. Explain why you would take these action steps. Why would the selected behaviors be likely to improve the situation? Helpful hints: (1) Project a future experience in which you envision the implementation of your ideas and then elaborate on that experience as a way of demonstrating how your actions will be carried out. (2) Where does this situation exist in your life (home, work, school)? Do you need a support system to make it happen? How will you obtain the cooperation of others to jointly improve the situation? (3) Try to imagine the final results of your experimentation. What will it be like if you accomplish what you want to do? Example of Action Steps: How then can I best utilize and improve my achievement motivation? First, I must arrange for some accomplishment feedback. This will be done by designing or perceiving tasks so that I succeed bit-by-bit, gaining a reward each time and thus strengthening my desire to achieve more. Second, I should look to models of achievement. If people around me succeed, it will further stimulate me. I will ask them how they go about setting realistic goals for themselves and observe how they get feedback from others regarding their performance. Third, I should modify my self-image to include my desire for personal challenges and responsibilities and my requirement of continual feedback. (As a first step, I imagine myself as a person who requires or must have success, responsibility, challenge and variety.) I will seek out situations that are more likely to provide these challenges in the future. Fourth, I must learn to control my reveries. Just beyond the borderline of awareness, many of us are constantly talking to ourselves. While it is fun to fantasize, I will try to make sure my aspirations are realistic given my current skills and time available to accomplish my various goals. I will spend time prioritizing my goals to ensure that I don’t try to do too much or too little. Finally, although I would never admit so, I agree that salary is a potential dissatisfier for me. Therefore, I must insist on what I perceive as a fair return for my performance. I will discuss my salary expectations with my supervisor to ensure I know what is expected and also to ensure that my boss knows my expectations. Wish me luck! Here is another example of a good action step, written by a student who wanted to stop being a passive follower and become more of a leader. I am going to take a more active role in team meetings. I will volunteer to be the team facilitator in at least one meeting during this semester. In all other meetings, I am going to make at least two process interventions to help the team function more effectively. To prepare myself, I am going to carefully observe other students who are excellent leaders, and I will read two articles on team leadership. I will also design an evaluation form on my team participation and ask my team to use it to evaluate me after the meeting I facilitate. Based on their feedback, I will continue working on possible weak areas during the rest of this course. 5. Integration and Writing The well written PAA has a focal issue and a story line with themes that are carried throughout each of the four sections. The idea of synergy applies here: The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If integration is present, then the reader can attend to the content without distraction; if integration is absent, barriers prevent the reader from gaining a full appreciation of the content. Are the major themes that you have identified integrated throughout your paper? Make sure that the reflective observation takes into account the viewpoint of all the key people cited in the concrete experience. Do the concepts cited in abstract conceptualization fit well with these observations? Is there a clear link between the concepts or theories that you cite and the subsequent action steps that you formulate? Citing the theories is not just meant to be an academic exercise it should help guide the analysis of the situation and the planning of practical steps for improving future situations. Other barriers that prevent the reader from fully appreciating the papers content are spelling and grammatical errors, as well as the overall appearance of the final document. Since good writing skills are so important in the business world, there should be no errors in your paper. Use the spell check (and grammar check) on your computer before you hand it in. Sometimes reading a paper aloud will indicate where sections of a paper may need revision to simplify awkward or unclear sentences.

heat and life :: essays research papers

When I see companies, I see different cultures. Each company has its unique culture, which probably represent almost everything about the company. The culture not only distinguishes a company from another company but also it sets values and norms that employees follow. Company’s culture has everything to do with its success or failure. For example, Nantucket Nectars’s founders, Tom First and Tom Scott, deliberately made things as informal as possible at the beginning. There were no hierarchy, no dress code, and no stodgy corporate culture. The free-spirited attitude of the two is flaunted throughout their company. But now, as juice sales approach $20 million, Nantucket Nectars is outgrowing its fraternity house culture. First and Scott are grappling with how to manage that growth without destroying the entrepreneurial spirit that has made the company special. Then, how do companies set up cultures as start up companies? Where does it come from? The founder, early in the company’s life, typically spawns it. First and Scott set the work ethic for Nantucket Nectars long before selling a single bottle of juice. During summers on Nantucket, they spent long hours, selling supplies from a boat to earn money and a reputation for service. Today, Nantucket Nectars’s employees put in equally long hours. The office is lit up well past 8p.m, and many staffers drop in on weekends to take care of business. Whether or not the founder of a company thinks much about cultural issues during its start-up phase, those issues become critical as a company matures. â€Å"How you maintain a culture during explosive growth is probably the No.1 thing that I worry about,† says Frank Ingari, chief executive of Shiva Corp. There are factors that make it easy or difficult to create or change an organization’s culture. A Company’s culture has something to do with its employees’ behavior, values and expectations. At Nantucket Nectars, weekly staff meetings include a guest speaker-an employee â€Å"who has to stand up and talk about their whole life, and what inspires them,† First says. â€Å"We are so busy, sometimes we don’t respect what other people do. I wanted everyone to understand who the people are and how they are helping this company.

Promote Child And Young Person Development Essay

1. Explain the factors that need to be taken into account when assessing development When assessing children and young people it has to be done sensitively and accurately. There are a number of factors to be taking in to account, such as confidentiality. If you want to carry out an observation on a child you have to have permission from a parent or guardian that who is responsible for that child. Most parents guardians are happy for you to observe there child although parent will not want other parent or other people to have no involvement such as reading reports as they don’t want them to know how their child’s development is getting on. By following the parents request you must not leave note books or files lying around for other parents or people to see as they want it to stay confidential. When storing confidential information it should be stored carefully and make sure when you are discussing a child that you are only doing it with other practitioners within the se tting. Also when assessing children their wishes and feelings should be taking into consideration. Children have rights just as much as adults, there will be times when it is not appropriate to observe children. For example if a child a child has become unsettled when doing an activity such as art work and they don’t like the paint. It is also when doing an observation it has to be written in a respectful manor. Ethnic, linguistic and cultural background needs to be taken into account because it is important that we assess the children’s development reliably. Sometimes the child’s behaviour, skill and interests are shown independently by the children because of their ethnic, linguistic or cultural background, for example a child may not take part in a story like the three little pigs because they see the pigs as dirty. As an observer may see this as the child not being interested in this book or drama. Bearing in mind that the linguistic background is particularly important because the child may not show these kind of skills because the words are not familiar. Also disability and specific requirement is where some children or young people with a disability needs to be taken into consideration when doing an observation. In schools this is accepted, for example you may have children  with dyslexia may need extra time when it comes to sitting test, while in a nursery children need one to one with an adult and may need to give one instruction at a time. If a practitioner does not understand the child’s disability this will lead to underestimating and child’s ability. All children and young people rely on you as a practitioner. There is no point in assessing a child’s development unless we do it so fairly accurately. Statements show that if you don’t do observations accurately it will harm the child’s development especially if it leads to the adults underestimating the child’s ability and progress. This means that we have to consider the reliability of the information we gather and also the limitation s of any observations methods that we may use. 1.2. Assess a child or young person’s development in the following areas: a. †¢ Physical b. †¢ Communication c. †¢ Intellectual/cognitive d. †¢ Social, emotional and behavioural e. †¢ Moral 3. Explain the selection of the assessment methods used 4. Develop a plan to meet the development needs of a child or young person in the work setting. Outcome 2 Be able to promote the development of children or young people 1. Implement the development plan for a child or young person according to own role and responsibilities, taking into account that development is holistic and interconnected 2. Evaluate and revise the development plan in the light of implementation 3. Explain the importance of a person centred and inclusive approach and give examples of how this is implemented in own work 4. Listen to children or young people and communicate in a way that encourages them to feel valued 5. Encourage children or young people to actively participate in decisions affecting their lives and the services they receive according to their age and abilities. Outcome 3 Be able to support the provision of environments and services that promote the development of children or young people 1. Explain the features of an environment or service that promotes the development of children and young people Outcome 4 Understand how working practices can impact on the development of children and young people 1.  Explain how own working practice can affect children and young people’s development 2. Explain how institutions, agencies and services can affect children and young people’s development Outcome 5 Be able to support children and young people’s positive behaviour 2. Evaluate different approaches to supporting positive behaviour Outcome 6 Be able to support children and young people experiencing transitions 1. Explain how to support children and young people experiencing different types of transitions

Financial services Essay

HSBC wants to be known as the world’s local bank and this tagline reflects HSBC positioning as a globe spanning financial institution with a unique focus on serving local markets. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd (HSBC) was established in 1865 to finance the growing trade between China and the United Kingdom and currently, it is the second largest bank in the world. In spite of serving more than 100 million customers through 9500 branches in 79 countries, the bank works hard to maintain local presence and local knowledge each area. Its fundamental operating strategy is remaining close to its customers. As chairman Sir John Bond said â€Å"our position as the World’s local bank enables us to approach each country uniquely, blending local knowledge with a worldwide operating platform. † Ads for the HSBC campaign depict two different ways of culture Profile of company and the description of the market where HSBC operates HSBC has got over 7. 500 offices in 87 countries. It is very widespread and has around 220. 000 shareholders in 124 countries and territories. It provides a full range of financial services being Personal Financial Services, Commercial Banking, Corporate Investment Banking and Markets Private Banking. HSBC mainly operates in Europe, Hong Kong, Asia-pacific region, Australia and America. It is interested in the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific region and is continuously heavily investing in these regions. The major top UK competitors of HSBC are Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland and Those are the corporations operation where HSBC carefully investigates and tracks at all times. However HSBC is not a bank that follows the ideas and the management manners of its competitors. HSBC Holdings PLC has shown steady growth in share price over the last five years and clearly indicates that a company is worth investing in. HSBC Group also demonstrates constant growth and is a very reliable corporation. These enable us to recommend investing in HSBC because of its growth opportunities and bright profitable prospects. The HSBC banking corporation is on third position in the world in regard to assets ownership. Almost 22% of HSBC’s profits have been derived from Hong Kong, which is a well known operational centre. Known as the world’s local bank, HSBC has a history of helping millions of customers globally in order to achieve their financial aspirations. They understand the importance and functioning of different markets through their experience in international trade. As a result, HSBC has grown into a company or banking institution that has the deepest respect for different cultures and people connected to these cultures. Their motto is to look at their customers as individuals and strive towards providing them with a personalised service and credit card products that will fit each of their specific needs. Simultaneously, HSBC Group has been trying to build up a good reputation in the US and conquer the markets of HSBC – North America, proudly stands one of the top 10 financial services companies in the United States. Its combined team reached more than 53,000 employees works with the common goal of meeting the needs for about 100 million customers. After achieving the goals in US, the company focused on developing countries and is more interested in the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific region and is continuously heavily investing in these regions. Furthermore HSBC is considering moving its head office from London to Hong Kong. Britain’s greatest bank, warned key shareholders that this was unsatisfying full-year results have made arguments for shifting HSBC’s domicile to Hong Kong â€Å"unsatisfying†. The investors have been shocked by the swift gear-change in HSBC’s review of its domicile but some others have already told the HSBC that they would sponsor the move. Some other investors said that they understood the move and that the bank had been a change of tone as HSBC reviews its domicile. UKs capital terms for the main banks, now is one of the greatest in the world and according to the Basel terms, is expected to go even higher. Although HSBC refine to the investors that if the terms in Hong Kong is more relaxed requirements, that can cost less and develop more profit by making it the best use of its balance sheet. The loss of HSBC’s head office in London, despite the fact that abused for months because of the raise in financial arrangements, would be a severe blow to the Coalition which, admitting some of its banker criticism is relying on a private-sector-led recovery. However, HSBC supported that it elects to stay in UK and told that an approaching change in its position was entirely hypothetical. Marketing environment of HSBC The most important intention of the report is to investigate the business environment of HSBC Holdings PLC. HSBC Holdings also is one of the market leaders in today’s banking world. HSBC head office it can be found at London’s Canary Wharf on the HSBC tower. HSBC stands for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which was established by a man from Scotland, named Thomas Sutherland, in 1865. The report presents information about the company’s activities, financial performance and market environment. Going through few major topics will provide investors with reasonable overview. The first part of the main body will primarily focus on the Company’s Profile and Activities, afterwards the analysis of macro-environment and the micro-environment of the company, evidence of an audit of key competences within the company followed with the recommendations and conclusion. Macro-Environment Analysis PEST ANALYSIS POLITICAL Government is responsible for protecting the public interest. Political stability affects business decision. Consumer protection. Regulations of business activities. ECONOMIC Competitor activity. Competition for resources. Savings. Unemployment numbers. SOCIAL Work life balance. Trends in consumer behaviours. Leisure. Lifestyle. TECHNOLOGY Technological arrange is speeding up. Technology develops now products (internet). Improved communication. Internet business. POLITICAL ANALYSIS HSBC banking has been sheltered by the regulations and policies made by different governments in the countries where they are working. The company has been able to remain to the policies agreed by each government to make sure that the company will be able to accomplish business operation successfully and effectively. HSBC Company also formulates their own defence strategies besides any governmental restrictions and limitations. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS Being one of the world’s leading and completive businesses in conditions of banking and finance HSBC said to have a secure and successful economic strength. In spite of lots of dangers that they meet in many parts of the world, the management of HSBC make what they need to be able to go beyond such struggles and to have a better economic condition and create a shield against unemployment. SOCIAL ANALYSIS HSBC is being affected by the circumstances of the society in which they are in use. By the side of this HSBC tries harder to make sure that each society is given the same chances to take the benefit of the resources given by the organization. The company adhere to having good name and relations in the society that belong to secure that everything will be customary and under control. TECHNOLOGICAL ANALYSIS The urgent situation of information technology, internet and generally the improvement of technology effects how HSBC has been working in the past years. The company search for different systems and used internet to get to their costumer all over the world and also help them know the latest trends in the global business. Except from these, the company also uses special facilities which help then to advance their productions and operations and also make them to achieve their goal. Technological breakthroughs can create new industries which might prove a danger to presented organizations. To summarise PEST analysis looks at the business strategies to understand the environment that the company is working and also to take the advantages and benefits to minimize the threats and the dangers for the business. Micro-Environmental Analysis -Porter’s Five Forces Potential entrants HSBC has many threats from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and a large number of other markets consider to enter into banking industry as a result of high profits that the specific kind of industry offers. Large super-markets in UK seek to enter without considering that those threats sometimes breakdown organisations such as HSBC. Although, HSBC received several threats from the market, they were still able to create high standards for the competition. Strong branding images are used from HSBC, so the company will not result in loss of customers. Bargaining power of customers An organisation created a value which has affected the occupation from one of the two important forces customers’ power. The role of this force contains the customers concentration along with the size. In other words, HSBC managed their customers as a result of allowing the company to gain customer loyalty. The strategy that was used by HSBC allows them to have a chance becoming a world leader in banking industry. Threat of substitutes: Another significant threat that HSBC faces is that competitors provide new products and services. This threat gives the opportunity to the company to work hard as a result of being sustain to its position. HSBC’s strategy focuses on the four different customers’ sections. Bargaining power of suppliers: Customer power mirrors to supplier power. This force focus on two important points. The first one is the significant size and concentration of suppliers and the second one the differentiation in the materials being supplied. HSBC use the strategy of charging markets with different prices according to differences of the price of each buyer. Rivalry among current competitors: There have many rivals in the banking and financial sectors. HSBC used efficient strategies to ensure its leadership position in the market among rivalries. Moreover, due to the capabilities of other rival companies, HSBC develops strategic plans to confirm that they are permanently being the first choice of their customers in banking industries. Nowadays, as we cross the mountain of financial crisis, a number of banks went to liquidation . SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS International Finance. Record Profits. Listed in London. China. WEAKNESSES Poor Performance. Brand Name. OPPORTUNITIES Growth on emerging economies. Biggest Bank in Middle East. Low mortgages interest rates. THREATS Moving back to China. New Regulations. Fewer Revenues from the integration of financial markets. STRENGTHS International Finance Since HSBC is a global company itself is well qualified to advise other companies on aspects of international business. With offices around the world, for the international client HSBC often cannot be defeated in this area. HSBC knows how to succeed in Mergers and Acquisitions (M & E) and the organic and the effective development. Record Profits Last year, HSBC experienced the most profits ever for a UK high street bank. HSBC have revealed their profits more than doubled in 2010 to ? 10 billion with every region in the black for the first time since 2006. Listed in London HSBC is listed primarily in London and Hong Kong stock exchanges, which saves the company a lot of grief in complying with new U. S. legislation Sarbanes-Oxley law. Many companies have chosen to list on foreign stock exchanges, except America, because of expensive new regulations. China HSBC has 140 years of experience in China. Since China is the place to be today for companies and banks, HSBC benefits for being so old Chinese company and accepted by the Chinese people. The best news for HSBC is that, like other companies grow in China, it does too. The reason this happens is that it wins new customers and new global opportunities with each passing day. The HSBC has the largest network of any foreign bank in China and deeply understands the Chinese market and the customer. In a world that is increasingly going the way of China, this is quite a boon to HSBC. WEAKNESSES Poor Performance There is a poor performance in the section of â€Å"personal finance services†. HSBC try to fix these problem years ago. But the problem is there every year. Brand Name While it is certainly a global company, HSBC came late in the game to decide to execute a comprehensive marketing strategy and take advantage of the global brand. Because he had created so many different banks in different countries at different times over a period of one hundred years, which set them up with different names – Hong Kong Bank of Canada, the British Bank of the Middle East, etc. Not even all of these banks prior to 1998, bore the logo of HSBC. In 1998, they were all branded together, but the previous lack of branding and name changes can damage the HSBC brand recognition. Customers may have thought that HSBC was responsible local bank and did not realize that HSBC had already serving for decades. OPPORTUNITIES Growth on emerging economies Apart from the growing Chinese middle class Brazilians and Indians have begun to appear as consumer culture, and thus increases wasteful consumers. Some residents of those countries in the past does not even own a bank account, but companies such as HSBC is ready to move in and benefit from the growing middle class in these areas. In places like Argentina and Turkey, HSBC experienced pre-tax profits by 50% in the past years. This is where it grows more. Biggest Bank in the Middle East The other banks are removed from the Middle East. However, HSBC has been running regional activities at the local level and have been rewarded for his efforts with numerous awards and honours for the Middle East market. HSBC is a trusted name there, and the company benefited from new democracy in Iraq by establishing a presence in the country. HSBC is the largest international bank in the Middle East. Low Mortgages Interest Rates The low mortgage interest rate increases the revenues and market’s shares. HSBC has made some records on this. THREATS Moving Back to China The banking colossal HSBC has been most explicit threat yet that it might move its headquarters from London because of the narrowing regulatory noose. New Regulations The investors of HSBC have been warned that future profitability will be affected by the new global policies designed to make the sector of financial more secure, but smoothed the blow with the promise of increasing dividends. Marketing Mix Of HSBC Marketing: HSBC was known as one of the biggest banking and financial services organization in the global. It has more than 9,800 offices worldwide and employs over 253, 000 people in 85 countries in the world and nowadays, the competition of banking company is very demanding and challenging. Therefore, many different organizations should be used strategic management so that compete effectively and successfully in theirs. In order to competing with other organization successfully, HSBC was able to use many strategies such as Marketing Mix, SWOT Analysis, PESTLE Analysis, and Porters Five Forces Analysis. These strategies focus on four customer groups include Private Banking, Personal Financial Services, Commercial Banking, and Corporate & Investment Banking and Markets, and these will help HSBC reach their organization goal. In Marketing Mix once the company is ready to choose business strategy, it has to begin planning the details of marketing mix or 4Ps (Kotler at el. 2008). The main aspect of Marketing Mix is product, price, place and promotion that the firm combine to produce the response it wants in the target of market segmentation. Product HSBC uses hexagon symbol which means one of the world leading brands for customer experience, corporate social responsibility and represents brand recognition. HSBC provide a full range of service, such as personal finance, commercial banking, corporate investment banking and markets, private banking, insurance, mortgage, credit cards and so on. Price In Price and Service Strategies, normally a low price will attract more customers, but HSBC did not focus on pricing strategy. They decided to use service strategy. For example, employee in HSBC serve customer with the best service. Place HSBC comprises around 9,800 offices in 85 countries especially Hong Kong, China, and UK. HSBC group moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to London. Also, HSBC provide the facility of â€Å"Internet Banking† where customers can access their account 24 hours per day and 7 days per week without going bank. Promotion Advertising is the best way to do promotion. HSBC also used many kind of advertising for their promotion, such as billboard, TVC, print ad, newspapers, spot radio and also website. In addition, HSBC sponsored with many company and exhibition, such as Jaguar, HSBC Women’s Champions. Segmenting, Target Markets and the behaviour of customers in segmenting of HSBC Marketing: The market segmentation can help the marketing manager to determine the best marketing mix for organizing and serving the unique segment. This process is dividing the markets into the segments for the potential customers and has the objective for improving the competitive position of the company which can serve its customer better customer service. Market Segmentation is a subgroup of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to have similar product needs. Generally, the segmentation strategy is the division of the defined market in the smaller groups for the potential users of the products and can exhibit significant and meaningful variables which can represent the increased and measurable opportunity for the products positioning or investing the resources within the organization and can raised the forecasted marketing achievement objectives in the entire organizational goals of the business. The information technology is considered to be one of the major tools for the functionality scale worldwide of the company. It has its own website and it also has the e-business for internet, interactive, PC internet, and the telephone banking. In order to achieve the company’s marketing objectives, the organization needs to develop its marketing strategy or the marketing program that is centre to the detailed specification of marketing mix and it also includes the internal control as well as the procedures for assuring of effectively implemented and part of this is the market segmentation whereas if this is properly controlled or implemented, then it will greatly contribute to the achievement of the overall goals and the marketing objectives of HSBC. Many of the analyst believed that most of the financial institutions rely mainly on the generic marketing strategies. For the past years, HSBC is known as having the strong brand which can maintain the string perception for the minds of the customers. This can take the time for establishing much resource in keeping be remembering by the other customers as the local banks as well as managing in transferring the brand equities to the corporate brands. The Market Segmentation is the centre for the strong development of marketing strategy which involves the identification of the customers’ perception, needs, expectation, and the buying behaviour in order for them to group homogeneously for the customers who can be satisfied as well as marketed to the similar manner. Therefore, there had been expectation that the one segment can differ from the another activity to the customers profile and to the buying behaviour which has the connection to the sales and marketing activity in establishing these customers which is an ample factor for having these knowledge. The market segmentation is not only to group the customers but to shrewd the certain segment for the development of the clear brands position which as part of the integral process of market segmentation. The company now can launch the marketing strategies which use the marketing segmentation for managing its growth for strategic outlook. This can be done by the deliberation of the revenue generation culture and maintaining the prudent risk or the market risk while investing further to the people. The company has focused on the customers’ needs as a main issue for their development and had been done by dividing the customers in their location and with respect to their culture. In this regard, the company had recognized that most of the customers want to have the long term relationship to the company, ambitious and confident, and has the high productivity and focused to the marketing. In the detailed telephone interview, the respondent noted that the market segmentation of the company for the products and services for the groups of different location worldwide are effective and most of the generated profits had been use in overseas subsidiaries. In this regard, the company can manage to capitalize the presence overseas as well as the local knowledge and the expertise so that they can bring the new customers for opening the new accounts as well as looking at the other services and products that offered by HSBC. The company also had been optimistic that most of the customers prefer HSBC for the long term experience and having the well trained staff added to the lower charges and to the broad range of the products. Lastly, this market segmentation is considered to be generic wherein it greatly depends on the region for the several subsidiaries of the location of HSBC and some of the strategies are put to good. In 2003, HSBC had invested huge amount for proprietary relationship to the customers and to their management system so that the customers are managed efficiently. Therefore, they handled greater customer care and process of financial requirements in order to generate the customers’ satisfaction. For example, In UK HSBC generated much customers contacts for more than one million and led to the expansion of the existing relationship while the internet goes to the heart of every customers and their convenience which is important channel to the customers. In this manner, the e banking of HSBC can be available for the 17 territories and countries worldwide. The commercial banking is one of the strengths of the company which includes the incorporated business as the partnership, sole traders, trading entities, and associations. In this area of business, the company main contacts to the customers are the network managers’ relationship which managed and established to the local branch level or the expansion of the commercial banking centres so that they can meet their future and existing customers into their international reach while the corporate and investment banking can prove that the company can give the competitive advantage which can provide services for 25,000 subsidiaries and 1,200 customers for more than 50 countries. Because product managers can understand customers needs, then the group is supporting the teams through investing into the increase automation for the software and to the risk management, to the intranet site, to the central support of relationship management and having the geographical knowledge. In line with the private banking, the relationship to the managers can operate on the cross border basis in order to serve requirements which specialize for the clients for the different sectors which are all in line to the differentiated approach of the group into the international private banking. Because of increasing the customer base for the company, it build services centre for every particular transactions. In order for the company to remain competitive, it had invested that it can introduce the company in the introduction of the supporting and functionality expansion. The company had compelled to the metric of high level which can provide the actionable data. In line with this, HSBC had surveyed 27,000 customers all over the 24 countries which consist of customers’ experience. The findings that presented by are higher cost-t-serve goes across the entire aspect of HSBC in the professional or personal experience. Upon the movement of the company in its segmentation to the other regions, its product and services had been aligned to the needs of the market segments as the needs to banking through information technology. Through this service, the design for the right distribution channel in reaching the every distinct group so that they can stay contact. This segmentation had been essential to every single business detail that runs the bank in recognizing its long term growth. Conclusion and Recommendation for improvements of HSBC: In conclusion we would like to state that HSBC Group is in constant search of further development and its key data of latest year’s financial performance proved that they are succeeding in their aims, as the company is showing increase in almost all aspects of its business. It has shown steady growth in total profits in all most important regions of operation. It has also achieved large earnings per share increase over the last five years. The company has recently made a successful growth in the Middle-East region and expects continuous growth in profits from that region. In Asia all business segments exceeded and also contributed to overall function of the HSBC Group. From our point of view, in a company that has reached such huge size and success, there is not much that can be improved, considering their financial performance. It is worth mentioning, that HSBC Group should give more attention to the rapidly developing internet banking system. The information presented in this report is enough to make the final decision and as far as we are concerned it is good and reliable company to invest in. It is a perfect long-term investment. HSBC Group has around 220. 000 shareholders in over 124 countries and this only adds to its reputation and proves its trustworthiness.

Parse a Delimited String Into a String List (Delphi)

Parse a Delimited String Into a String List (Delphi) There are many times when you need to split a string into an array of strings by using a character as a separator. For example, a CSV (comma separated) file might have a line like Zarko;Gajic;;DelphiGuide and you want this line to be parsed into 4 lines (strings) Zarko, Gajic, (empty string) and DelphiGuide using the semi-colon character ; as a delimiter. Delphi provides several methods to parse a string, but you might find that neither one does exactly what you need. For example, the ExtractStrings RTL method always uses quote characters (single or double) for delimiters. Another approach is to use the ​Delimiter and ​DelimitedText properties of the TStrings class- but unfortunately, there is a bug in the implementation (inside Delphi) where the space character is always used as a delimiter. The only solution to parsing a delimited string is to write a method of your own: Delimited String Example ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~procedure ParseDelimited(const sl : TStrings; const value : string; const delimiter : string) ;vardx : integer;ns : string;txt : string;delta : integer;begindelta : Length(delimiter) ;txt : value delimiter;sl.BeginUpdate;sl.Clear;trywhile Length(txt) 0 dobegindx : Pos(delimiter, txt) ;ns : Copy(txt,0,dx-1) ;sl.Add(ns) ;txt : Copy(txt,dxdelta,MaxInt) ;end;finallysl.EndUpdate;end;end;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Usage (fills in Memo1) :ParseDelimited(Memo1.lines,Zarko;Gajic;;DelphiGuide,;)

The Battle of Fiore Essays

The Battle of Fiore Essays The Battle of Fiore Essay The Battle of Fiore Essay The Battle of Fiore Natsu! he yelled. Natsu! Wake up! Why?! yelled Natsu. The Grand Magic Tournament is beginning in an hour! yelled the Master. Natsu jumped out of his bed and got dressed in two seconds because he had completely forgot about the Grand Magic Tournament. Natsu, being one of the three Dragon Slayers in his guild, has to take part in the Grand Magic Tournament. Before I tell you the story about the Grand Magic Tournament and its adventures, I should tell you about the main characters background. Natsu is a Dragon Slayer. The best there is, ctually. He learned his Dragon Slaying powers from the great fire dragon, Igneel. Not only did Igneel teach him but he raised. Natsu eats fire in order to power himself up. Natsu is an extremely strong mage, but with that power comes a great weakness Natsu can barely stand when he is on anything that is moving. Natsu, GaJeel, and Wendy, the three dragon slayers headed out along with Erza, the re-quiper, Lucy, the stellar spirit mage, and Gray, the ice mage all headed out to the Grand magic tournament. Excitement coursed through Natsus veins. They were all walking and alking about the tournament. They were all pumped up to fight the other guilds to see who is stronger. l heard that the Sabertooth guild is really strong, theyVe been ranked as the number one guild in Flore. Said Erza mieah, well were gonna kick their butts right outa the number one spot! yelled Natsu. Stop yelling you idiot its too early said Gray. Hey Natsu, after the tournament, me and you need to have an all-out fight to see which one of us is stronger! said GaJeel. Heck yeah! Im gonna kick your but you block of iron! screamed Natsu. What did you say to me?! You wanna go right now?! said GaJeel. Calm down you idiots, you want me to beat you guys up right now? said Gray. What?! said Natsu and GaJeel at the same time. Guys, dont fght said Wendy. mieah, Wendys right. All three of you need to calm down. A fght between you three would be catastrophic. Said Erza. All three of them immediately did as Erza said, being that the only thing that any of them feared was her. They finally reached the entrance to s tadium where the tournament would be held. Whats that smell? asked Natsu. What are you talking about? Asked Lucy. l smell it too. Said GaJeel. Me three. Said Wendy. The three Dragon Slayers were raised by dragons so they have the noses of dragons. What all three of them were smelling was the evil stench of the Dark Lord, Zeref. Zeref knew that there would be dragon slayers here so he cast a magic spell on himself to mask his smell as much as he can. But the dragon slayers are too good. They smelled him from a mile away. The gang all went into the stands of the stadium to watch the first battle take place. The two contestants were from the guilds called Blue Pegasus and Llamia Scale. Two seconds atter the bell rang to signal the start the match, it was over. The contestant from Llamia Scale had finished the battle in one blow. Blue Pegasuss contestant, Aaron the Golden swordsman was unconscious on the battle field, while Lyion the ice mage was standing victorious. Gray stood with eyes wide open wide open. He wasnt expecting his brother to be in the contest. Gray and Lyion were not related by blood however, they both trained under the same master. A tragic incident occurred, resulting in the death of their master. After that, they both went their separate ways. If this plan goes correctly, all the people that can get in my way will be eliminated said a mysterious man in a pitch black hoodie. Underneath the stadium stood the man. He held a bone in his hand. But not an ordinary bone. It was a dragon bone. Beneath the stadium was a mountain of dragon bones, which the hooded man had been collecting for the past seven years. With the bones of this dragon, I can resurrect the Great Dragon of Betrayal! Then all will be mine! said the mysterious man. He walked over to the mountain of bones and tossed the final bone into the pile. He raised his hand and muttered magic words under his breath. As he talked, black smoke came from his mouth and fingers and covered the pile of bones. Yes return from the grave! Become my servant! Eliminate the council! he said The pile of bones began to emit a bright green light. The bones mysteriously floated into the air and rearranged themselves into the shape of of a dragon! Suddenly, the bright green light went out. Boom. A gigantic explosion filled the entire stadium, ripping apart the floor and blasting pieces of rock everywhere. From under the stadium emerged a dragon. It was pitch black with extremely sharp scales. Standing on top of its head was the hooded man. Bow down to me! I am the king! Everything will be mine! he shouted so that entire stadium could here. Not if I can help it! yelled one of the council members who then blasted a giant ray of destruction magic at the dragon. When the ray hit the dragon, nothing happened. Now its our turn MWHAHAHAHAHA! KILL THEM ALL! he yelled, while taking off his hoodie. The dragon opened his mouthed and unleashed hell on the council. An explosion of black fire shot at the council. Just as he fire reached the council it stopped. It sat there, right in front of the council. As it sat there it slowly got smaller and smaller until it disappeared. Standing right where the fireball used to be, was Natsu. No one is going to die on my watch. Said Natsu, licking his lips. No! Natsu! You cant fght against him! Thats the Dark Lord, Zeref! yelled Master Makarov. Who said I was fighting against him? I wanna go against the dragon, Im a dragon slayer arent l? said Natsu. Dont take all the fun! said GaJeel. Ill sit this one out hat dragon looks really scary said Wendy. Hey master! Why dont you and the other ten wizard saints get together and beat up Zeref for me? asked Natsu. 0k Natsu, you be careful. said the master. Natsu, GaJeel, and the two dragon slayers from Sabertooth all stood together, looking the dragon dead in the eye. Lets go said Natsu. All four dragon slayers ran towards the dragon at full speed. With fire covering his hands, Natsu hit the dragon as hard as he could and sent it flying. GaJeel followed it up with a soaring kick of iron and shot the dragon down to the floor. Frosh, from Sabertooth and Shadow from Sabertooth used a technique called unison raid, ombining the light and the shadows into a beam ot power and blasted it a dragon, causing a massive explosion, surrounding the dragon. All of their attacks were in vain. The dragon stood back up with ought a scratch on it. However, all of the dragon slayers knew that wouldnt be enough. Hey guys, lets give him a taste of our breath! yelled GaJeel 0k! they yelled in unison. The dragon slayers opened their mouths, getting ready to fire. An orange light shined from Natsus mouth, a silver light from GaJeels, a white light from Froshs, and a black light from Shadows. Fire dragons roar! yelled Natsu. Iron dragons roar! yelled GaJeel. White dragons roar! yelled Frosh. Shadow dragons roar! yelled Shadow. Four gigantic beams of power shout directly at the dragon. A mixture of red fire, melted iron, white light, and pitch black shadows pursued their target. It hit the dragon and caused a catastrophic explosion, wearing away the rocks near it. When the dust cleared, the dragon stood there, bruised, burned, and cut all over. Not too shabby, that actually hurt a little. Said the dragon He can talk?!? said Natsu. Of course I can! Werent you all raised by dragons? he asked. Anyw?ays, I need you all to defeat Zeref. Please, free me from this prison. Death is my only freedom; I do not wish to fight you. Zerefs magic is controlling me. He pleaded. But I thought you were evil! said GaJeel. No, I am not. Zeref, being immorta l, cursed me 200 years ago. Anyone near me is cursed with misfortune and betrayal. He said. So, if we defeat Zeref, the curse will wear off? asked Natsu. mies. said the dragon. Then dont worry, well kick his butt! assured Natsu. However, you must be careful. Zeref is not only a powerful dark mage, but he is also a powerful dragon slayer. Zeref is a dragon slayer?! they all said. mies. I know because I am the one who taught him his dragon slayer techniques. I raised him, and treated him like my own. Then one day his eyes became shrouded with greed. He cast this curse on me and used his magic to control me. He used my power to destroy cities, and towns, and kill thousands. I tried to fight the dark magic but when I was on the brink of breaking free, he killed me with his own hands. said the dragon. Well if Zeref is controlling you then how are you talking to us now? asked Shadow. Zerefs magic has temporarily weakened because of his fight with the ten wizard saints. Allowing me freedom for a short period of time. He answered. Hey big guy I need a favor. asked Natsu. mies, what is it? he questioned. Can you blast me with the biggest fire ball you can make? he asked. Why on Earth would I do that?! he yelled. Cause Im gonna eat it. said Natsu. Hm 0k. He said. The dragon mustered up all the magic energy he had left into one big blast and shot it at Natsu. Secret Dragon Slayer Technique, Fire Collector! yelled Natsu. He swung his arms back and forth and the fire slowly circled around him. Natsu proceeded to eat all of the fire. When he was done, his body was red and steam came off his body. Im all fired up. He said. The dragon looked at Natsu witn amazement in his eyes. Go tortn and deteat Zeret, son of Igneel. He thought to himself while his eyelids got heavy Natsu and the others ran off towards the fight between Zeref and the ten wizard saints. Rage filled Natsu body when he remembered the story the dragon told him. Im gonna send him flying. aid Natsu. After ten minutes of running, Natsu and the others finally reached the battle ground. They were surprised to see all ten wizards immobilized on the ground. No one can stop me! I am the- he was interrupted by the sight of Natsu appearing in front of his face in tenths of a second. Natsu drew back his fist and engulfed it in flames. His fist swung at top speed and connected with Zerefs face. Zerefs body went soaring through the sky and landed on the ground with a loud thud. He lay unconscious on the ground with a fist imprinted on his face. Natsu turned around to the rest of the ragon slayers. Take him to the council. I dont think I can move anymore, I put all my magic into that punch. He said. Shadow and Frosh picked up Zeref and took him to the council. GaJeel picked up Natsu and walked him to a hospital. Frosh asked the Council to send help for the ten wizard saints. One Week Later Natsu and the rest of the gang head up to the castle of the council. They got a letter in the mail saying it was an emergency. When they arrived at the castle, Ezra knocked on the door. They heard a muffled, Its open! They opened the door slowly Surprise! screamed hundreds of people. The Council through a party in honor of fairy tale as a thank you for saving Flore. There was cake, music, dancing, and even small fghting tournaments! We are here to give thanks to the bravest guild in history, Fairy Tale, for saving not only our lives, but the lives of everyone in Flore. said one of the council members. Near the end of the night, the party died down and everyone went home. Natsu walked home, back to his guild, Fairy Tale. He lay down in his bed and closed his eyes Natsu wake up! Time for the rescheduled Grand Magic Tournament! yelled Master. Not this again

Special Character Chart for German

Special Character Chart for German Both PC and Mac users sooner or later confront this problem: How do I get à ¶, Ä, à ©, or ß out of my English-language keyboard? While Mac users dont have the problem to the same degree, they too can be left wondering which option key combination will produce a  « or a  » (the special German quotation marks). If you want to display German or other special characters  on a Web page using HTML, then you have yet another problem- which we also solve for you in this section. The chart below will clarify the special German character codes for both Macs and PCs. But first a few comments on how to use the codes: Apple/Mac OS X The Mac option key allows users to easily type most foreign letters and symbols on a standard English-language Apple keyboard. But how do you know which option combination will produce which letter? After you get past the easy ones (option u a ), how do you discover the others? In Mac OS X you can use the  Character Palette. To view the Character Palette you click on the Edit menu (in an application or in the Finder) and select Special Characters. The Character Palette will appear. It not only shows the codes and letters, but also how they appear in various font styles. In Mac OS X theres also an Input Menu (under System Preferences International) that allows you to select various foreign-language keyboards, including standard German and Swiss German. The International control panel also allows you to set your language options.   Apple/ Mac OS 9 Instead of the Character Palette, the older Mac OS 9 has Key Caps. That feature lets you see which keys produce which foreign symbols. To view Key Caps, click on the multicolored Apple symbol at the top left, scroll down to Key Caps and click. When the Key Caps window is visible, press the option/alt key to see the special characters it produces. Pressing the shift key and option simultaneously will reveal yet another set of letters and symbols. Windows - Most Versions On a Windows PC, the Alt option offers a way to type special characters on the fly. But you need to know the keystroke combination that will get you each special character. Once you know the Alt0123 combination, you can use it to type an ß, an , or any other special symbol. (See our Alt-code chart for German below.) In the related feature,  Can Your PC Speak German?, I explain in detail how to find the combination for each letter, but the chart below will save you the trouble. In the same feature, I explain how to select various languages/keyboards in Windows. Character Codes for German These codes work with most fonts. Some fonts may vary. For the PC codes, always use the numeric (extended) keypad on the right of your keyboard and not the row of numbers at the top. (On a laptop you may have to use num lock and the special number keys.) For this German character, type: German letter/symbol PC Code Alt + Mac Code option + 0228 u, then a 0196 u, then A e, acute accent 0233 e 0246 u, then o 0214 u, then O 0252 u, then u 0220 u, then U sharp s, es-zett 0223 s

Development of Innovative Mindset Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Development of Innovative Mindset - Term Paper Example It is imperative to note that disabled individuals have a role to play in boosting performance in contemporary society. They also have personal aspirations and professional ambitions that are only tenable through education.   As noted by Palladino (2001) the significance of education calls for the development of holistic policies that are not discriminatory. Nations should develop favorable education policies to boost disabled education. In particular, they should set up education centers for persons with extraordinary needs, provide scholarship and funds to facilitate their quest for knowledge (Cooner, Tochterman & Garrison-Wade, nd). Construction of favorable infrastructural set ups that embraces their needs are also crucial. These elements provide hope for the disabled who are being nurtured to realize their full potentials. Special education has not received proper management and strategic support systems from key stakeholders who include school leaders. The leaders have not taken the initiative to develop inclusive school programs that give every student equal chance of participation. The programs within several institutions do not favor students with various kinds of disabilities consequently hindering their performance academically and socially (Palladino, 2001). The high rate of discrimination also affects their self-esteem, ego and confidentiality. These are significant elements for holistic development. The stakeholders have also failed to develop viable policies to safeguard the rights of students equally and prioritize the special needs of the disabled students. This is because poor policies that guide operations in the education sector in several nations have been the source of failure resulting to a total neglect of the disabled. According to Palladino (2001), poor educational policies have continued to deny individuals with special needs the right to education. This may lead to high level of uneducated society members. This eventually poses a serious burden to governments. Scholars affirm that nations should align their education policies with the millennium development goals (MDG) that seek to promote universal education.

GrammLeachBliley Act and its effect in Economy Essay

GrammLeachBliley Act and its effect in Economy - Essay Example The GLB Act is also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999. As its name suggests, it is meant to bring into practice or reality what were then needed at that point –_ to modernize financial services. Signed into law by President Bill Clinton to repeal part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which limits what banks could do, GLB created opening up of the market among securities companies banking companies, and insurance companies. Under the Glass-Steagall Act, the three companies cannot be combined in any way but under GLB, they were made free to do so. The GLB Act therefore gave more power to the players of the financial services industry as it allowed consolidation or combination of commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms, and insurance companies. The 1998 case of Citicorp, a commercial bank holding company, merging with Travelers Group, an insurance company by forming conglomerate Citigroup exemplified the case in point. A temporary waiver pro cess1 for combining securities, insurance, and banking was needed or the merger in 1998, would have violated the Glass-Steagall Act and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. GLB therefore legalized the merger on a permanent basis. How it became a law through the legislative process? Through congressional vote by chamber and party, GLB came about in 1999. Prior to said date, the banking industry had been seeking the repeal of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act since the 1980s, if not earlier. In 1987, the Congressional Research Service reported on the matter, after exploring the cases for and against preserving the Glass-Steagall Act2. This was followed by respective versions of the legislation being introduced in the US Senate by Phil Gramm and US House of Representatives Jim Leach with the support of Rep Bliley, Jr, Chairman of House Commerce Committee from 1995 to 2001. As stated earlier, the banking industry

Labor Relations - Union Free or Unionized Environment Essay

Labor Relations - Union Free or Unionized Environment - Essay Example They also influence the employees’ social needs and the relationship between the management and the workers. They are however not a guarantee to increased productivity in the workplace, since they may limit the employees from giving the Company their best performance. This may be because of the union’s influence as it highlights some of the needs of workers XYZ does not fulfill (Sporgnardi, 2000). Making the employees aware of these needs may introduce and increase the number of strikes in the workplace. Differences between operating in a union-free environment and in a unionized environment In a union free environment, the decision the management makes solely concentrates on increasing productivity of the organization. This may be through directly investing in the organization, for example investing in intensive marketing of the company’s products. The indirect method involves corporate social responsibility, where the organization creates the best working envir onment and introduces awards for the best performing employee. In a Unionized environment however, there is presentation of the interests of two parties: the employer and the worker. The unions assume that the workers provide optimum services to the organization hence, strives to increase the wages of its members. They force the employers into increasing wages and introducing strategies in the organization that show that they treat them fairly in the workplace. This influences the decisions the management makes because it has to put into consideration the demands of the union (Kaufman, 2001). The Human Resource management is more effective in a union free environment than in a unionized environment. In a union free environment, the managers carry out research on how to improve the efficiency of the employees. They carry out activities such as job analysis, in order to develop job descriptions and job specifications that would enable them in formulating the salary structure for all i ts employees. The employees, in this environment, deal with the management directly in terms of payment increase or incentives. In a unionized environment, the union stands out as the sole bargaining agent. The employees compile a report of conditions in the workplace, which the union considers in order to come up with a collective agreement on how to solve conflicts in the organization, increasing the wages and how the management should improve the working conditions. Management in union free environment is unable to question the decisions the heads of department and top managers make in the organization. It is therefore not a guarantee that all their decisions are efficient in the productivity of the company. The workers union, on the other hand, is able to question any decision the employers make. This may result to the managers coming up with creative solutions that may be more productive. The CEO of XYZ may embrace the aristocratic style of leadership, where the management shou ld not question his decisions. Some of the decisions that he would make would have a negative impact on the employees, for example increasing the production line without increasing the number of employees in the workplace, hence overworking the employees. This may lead to production of low quality products that may result to reduced sales level. The union’

The learning organization can never be achieved in reality Essay

The learning organization can never be achieved in reality - Essay Example Management theorists including Smith recognize that although there has been considerable debate about learning organizations ever since the emergence of the concept in the early 1990s,it has not been easy to cite examples of such organizations in real life. Smith (2001a) therefore is of the opinion that the concept of the learning organization may be too idealistic to be translated into reality; similarly, theorists such as Jashapara (1993) have metaphorically equated the struggle to become a learning organization with 'a quest for the Holy Grail'. This paper first reviews, summarizes and explains available literature on the subject of learning organizations and further attempts to determine whether such an organization is in reality achievable or not.The concept of the learning organization was pioneered and popularized during the 1990s by Peter Senge through his book The Fifth Discipline which was first published in the year 1990 (Smith, 2001b). The premise behind the theory of lea rning organizations is that in the rapidly changing world; where today's new discovery may be obsolete tomorrow, only those succeed who are 'adaptive' and 'flexible' (Smith, 2001) and Senge (1990a, p. 4) believes that this could only happen when organizations 'discover how to tap people's commitment and capacity to learn at all levels'. Senge (1990a, p. 3) views learning organizations as those where people continually strive to broaden the horizons of their capacity for the achievement of desired results, where innovative and out of the box thinking is encouraged and cultivated, where team work and collectivism is valued and 'where people are continually learning to see the whole together'. Senge believes that true learning enables both organizations and individuals to re-invent themselves and thus argues that survival alone is not the objective for learning organizations. He goes on to distinguish between 'adaptive' or single-loop learning and 'generative' or double-loop learning, and explains that where 'adaptive learning' is that which is necessary for mere survival, learning organizations are those which combine adaptive learning with 'generative learning', i.e. learning which enriches the ability to create (1990a, p. 14). Evolution of the Concept of the Learning Organization Rowden (2001), in an effort to trace the learning organization to its founding disciplines recognizes that the concept of the learning organization is not new and can trace its roots in organizational learning (Argyris & Schon, 1978) as well as being derived from action learning (Revans, 1983). Further, the learning organization concept is found to be rooted in organizational development specifically in 'action research methodology' and organic organizational theory. The concept is based most specifically on systems theory (Senge, 1990a) whereas its application to business has been more of an evolutionary outcome of strategic management (Fiol & Lyles 1985; Hosley et al. 1994), which in turn has over the years realized that the fundamental source of strategic change is in fact organizational learning (DeGeus 1988; Jashapara 1993). Rowden (2001) further notes the opinions of thinkers Senge (1990b) and Stata (1989) that the practical application of the notion of the learning organizatio n began with the increased emphasis on continual quality improvement in the recent past. Characteristics of Learning Organizations Senge (1990a) identifies the five building blocks of the learning organization and calls them its 'component technologies', which are systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning. Similar thinking is echoed by Watkins & Marsick (1993) and Rowden (2001), who agree that learning organizations share certain key characteristics. They provide learning opportunities to

SG Cowen Recruitment System Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

SG Cowen Recruitment System - Case Study Example The company still seeks to grow further by diversifying into the geographical regions of the world but wants to keep an integrated mission and vision for hiring new talent and recruits at the various positions in the company. The case outlines the recruitment session for a period of 2001-2002 at SG Cowen, starting from the establishment of the recruitment procedures at the company and the flow of applicant and recruitment selection at all levels of the company. The case of SG Cowen: New Recruits has been analyzed through observation. It has been observed that the company has an established and exhaustive recruitment process for hiring recent graduates, which pertains to inviting applications from candidates in the market, targeting candidates from the core schools by holding interactive career setting and recruitment sessions with the interested applicants and tier based interview sessions at the universities as well at the company in New York. Through the information provide in the case, it has been noted that the recruitment procedure for new graduates into SG Cowen is based on the strategy formulated by Rae. This strategy by Rae is to target the core schools and universities for the future employees of SG Cowen. These core schools include schools ranked amongst the top 10 business schools in the United States as well as the 15 schools which make up the top 25 schools in the United States. This is a unique strategy to adopt in a highly competitive market for recruits. It was also observed that the only the academic performance of the candidates and their previous work records and experiences were not the only factors taken into account when making a decision for hiring new recruits. The orientation of the candidates, as well as their drive, interest and passion for the business and the industry as well as the suitability to the culture of the organization were also taken into account when deciding on the selection of new recruits to be hired by SG Cowen. The problem that has been observed in the case pertains to the issues faced by the management of SG Cowen when it comes to deciding the final recruits amongst those candidates who have the potential, the drive as well as the academic record and experience to be recruits of SG Cowen but for some reason have not received affirmation form all the interviewers at the Super Saturday interview rounds. Connections to Human Resource Management The article is very much related to the human resource field and the Human Resource Management function. This case provides the entire recruitment and selection process at SG Cowen which is a part of the human resource management function. The case depicts the recruitment steps and process though which the candidates go through to be hired by the company. These steps pertain to on On Campus Round and Super Saturday which culminate in the selection of the class of 30 or so recruits for SG Cowen. The On Campus round takes the form of introduction and sign up sessions at the core schools where the interested students can sign up for applying as a candidate to SG Cowen. An informal session is kept between the representatives of SG Cowen, the MD and the

The learning organization can never be achieved in reality Essay

The learning organization can never be achieved in reality - Essay Example Management theorists including Smith recognize that although there has been considerable debate about learning organizations ever since the emergence of the concept in the early 1990s,it has not been easy to cite examples of such organizations in real life. Smith (2001a) therefore is of the opinion that the concept of the learning organization may be too idealistic to be translated into reality; similarly, theorists such as Jashapara (1993) have metaphorically equated the struggle to become a learning organization with 'a quest for the Holy Grail'. This paper first reviews, summarizes and explains available literature on the subject of learning organizations and further attempts to determine whether such an organization is in reality achievable or not.The concept of the learning organization was pioneered and popularized during the 1990s by Peter Senge through his book The Fifth Discipline which was first published in the year 1990 (Smith, 2001b). The premise behind the theory of lea rning organizations is that in the rapidly changing world; where today's new discovery may be obsolete tomorrow, only those succeed who are 'adaptive' and 'flexible' (Smith, 2001) and Senge (1990a, p. 4) believes that this could only happen when organizations 'discover how to tap people's commitment and capacity to learn at all levels'. Senge (1990a, p. 3) views learning organizations as those where people continually strive to broaden the horizons of their capacity for the achievement of desired results, where innovative and out of the box thinking is encouraged and cultivated, where team work and collectivism is valued and 'where people are continually learning to see the whole together'. Senge believes that true learning enables both organizations and individuals to re-invent themselves and thus argues that survival alone is not the objective for learning organizations. He goes on to distinguish between 'adaptive' or single-loop learning and 'generative' or double-loop learning, and explains that where 'adaptive learning' is that which is necessary for mere survival, learning organizations are those which combine adaptive learning with 'generative learning', i.e. learning which enriches the ability to create (1990a, p. 14). Evolution of the Concept of the Learning Organization Rowden (2001), in an effort to trace the learning organization to its founding disciplines recognizes that the concept of the learning organization is not new and can trace its roots in organizational learning (Argyris & Schon, 1978) as well as being derived from action learning (Revans, 1983). Further, the learning organization concept is found to be rooted in organizational development specifically in 'action research methodology' and organic organizational theory. The concept is based most specifically on systems theory (Senge, 1990a) whereas its application to business has been more of an evolutionary outcome of strategic management (Fiol & Lyles 1985; Hosley et al. 1994), which in turn has over the years realized that the fundamental source of strategic change is in fact organizational learning (DeGeus 1988; Jashapara 1993). Rowden (2001) further notes the opinions of thinkers Senge (1990b) and Stata (1989) that the practical application of the notion of the learning organizatio n began with the increased emphasis on continual quality improvement in the recent past. Characteristics of Learning Organizations Senge (1990a) identifies the five building blocks of the learning organization and calls them its 'component technologies', which are systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning. Similar thinking is echoed by Watkins & Marsick (1993) and Rowden (2001), who agree that learning organizations share certain key characteristics. They provide learning opportunities to

Discussion question week 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion question week 4 - Essay Example rkable example of a company that has experienced that, and discussing the differences of domestic and global marketing strategies (Adamson et al, 2007). A brand is a figure of the features that makes a product exceptional. Every business has its brand. Various businesses attempt, but several fail at building a winning brand. When a company notices that its sales are flagging, it blames it on the brand. The shift of focus has moved from the product-blame to the brand-blame, thus relating to the manner the buyer’s conduct transforms (Ries et al. 2002). Branding is a more effective method of selling products; thus entirely fine products can be unsuccessful because of poor branding. Branding increases the returns but also intensifies the risks. The emotional ties developed by customers and brands ought not to be broken as messing with them results in irreparable damage. A brand acquires strength though the market constantly remains subtle. Coca-Cola ranks top of the list as the most identified brand with a sale of almost 1 billion drinks each day. However, when Coca-Cola stopped the distribution of the original Coca-Cola drink, i t replaced it with the New Coke drink to match up the competition posed by Pepsi-Cola. New Coke hardly made any sales as the consumers rebelled against it (Gobe, 2010). Coca-Cola learnt the hard way that marketing is more than the product. It had simply focused on the taste factor when it was strategizing to build on its product, in the process missing its major brand property, which is originality. Coca-Cola had been the only product in the market ever since its foundation, with the brand name becoming product’s name as well/ Coca-Cola majorly capitalized on its original status in the various promotional campaigns (Cross Cultural Blunders). The launch of New Coke was a contradiction to the marketing efforts by Coca-Cola. It was very misguided confining the brand’s importance to a question of taste. The representation was more important

Corporate Restructuring Essay Example for Free

Corporate Restructuring Essay Purpose of Corporate restructuring : 1. To enhance the shareholder value 2. To utilize the assets properly 3. To get profitable investment opportunities 4. To diverse the business 5. To reduce cost of capital by designing innovative securities through corporate restructuring Types of Corporate restructuring : 1. Mergers or amalgamation The words mergers and amalgamation are always interchangeable but there is slight difference in mergers and amalgamation. Merger is fusion of two or more entities and it is a process in which the identity of one or more entities is lost (as is often seen when political parties merge). In the case of a merger, the assets and liabilities of a company get vested into the assets and liabilities of another company. The shareholders of the company being merged become shareholders of the larger company (as when two or more smaller banks merge with a larger bank). On the other hand, in the case of amalgamation, shareholders of both (or more) companies get new shares allotted that are of a new company altogether. 2. Acquisition or takeover : Acquistion may be defined as an act of acquiring effective control over assets or management of a company by another company without any combination of businesses or companies.In acquisition , two or more companies may remain independent, separate legal entity but there may be change in control of companies. Acquistion : When managements of acquiring and target companies mutually and willingly agree for the takeover it is called acquisition or friendly takeover Takeover : Takeover means acquisition . When the company takes the target company unwillingly or forcefully it is called takeover. The term takeover is understood to connote hostility. 3. Leveraged buyouts (LBO) : A leverage buyout (LBO) is an acquisition of a company in which the acquisition is substantially financed through debt. 4. Divestment : A divestment involves the sale of company’s assets or product lines or  divisions or brand to the outsiders.It is reverse of acquisition. There are 2 types of divestments : sell-off and spin-off Sell off : When a company sells a part of its business to a third party it is called sell –off Spin-offs : When a company creates a new company from the existing single entity it is called a spin-off. 5. Reverse merger / Reverse Takeover : The acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. The transaction typically requires reorganization of capitalization of the acquiring company.

Report on rituximab as a biologic

Report on rituximab as a biologic Rituximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody that has been one of the most prevalent biologics on the market, and has made some very significant sales over the last few years. It was originally designed in 1986 by IDEC pharmaceuticals. The drug is now being marketed under the brand names Rituxin and MabThera, dependant on the region. The antibody is chimeric in nature and is comprised of murine and human regions. It contains heavy and light variable regions of a murine origin and constant heavy and light regions of human origins meaning the Fc domain is of human origins, and so can invoke Fc receptor binding (see figure 1). The antibody is produced artificially and the gene construct of the murine and human domains are engineered and inserted into vectors, and then expressed in mammalian cells line. The mammalian cell line of choice for this specific drug is the Chinese Hamster Ovary cells (CHO cells); these provided the corrected folded drug in sufficient quantities. The use of the mammalian cell line ensured that firstly the antibodies had the correct codon usage, glycosylation, amino acids and folding, as these are mammalian cells so are able to carry out these tasks to closer specification as human cells. http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v22/n47/images/1206939f1.jpg Figure 1: representation of the rituximab antibody. Taken from http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v22/n47/fig_tab/1206939f1.html The filtrate from the suspension had to be purified to obtain the rituximab that will be used for clinical applications. There are two methods used to perform this task. First of all Ion-exchange chromatography, this method allows the removal to toxic products, cell mass, some viruses and unimportant protein products. The second step of purification that is used is affinity chromatography; affinity chromatography is then used to remove the specific antibody with high resolution and specificity. As a mammalian cell line was used for the expression there is a slight chance that possible viruses can pass through the purification process and be found in the final product, so a few processes were introduced to remove these possible contaminants. The media was autoclaved and human transferrin was removed, the ion exchange chromatography also helps remove some retroviruses. The drug reaches a purity of around 99%, and has a shelf stability of 2 years. The FDA originally approved Rituximab in 1997 for use against B-Cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that had become resistant to all other forms of treatment (chemotherapy). Since its approval for use against lymphoma, it has been approved and is used off label for use against other diseases. It is seen to have an efficacy against autoimmune (AI) diseases, transplant rejection treatment and severe ulcerative colitis. Rituximab is known as an anti-CD20 antibody, meaning that it acts on and binds to the CD20 molecule. CD20 molecules are found in large amount on the surface of activated B-cells. The reason for targeting these cells is that the activated B-cells are generally the ones that are causing the problems in the disease discussed earlier. However, CD20 is also expressed, in smaller amounts, on most other B-cells so there is a certain amount of collateral damage to the immune system, which in some cases has led to an increase risk of catching serious infections. CD20 is a very weird antigen, it has no known natural ligand and its function is still very much unknown, opinions are that it helps maintain calcium concentrations across the membrane. After being binding to the CD20 at amino acid positions 170-13 and 183-183, it is seen to halt the cell cycle and induce apoptosis. There are two methods that carry out this apoptotic response, the first being the indirect killing of the cell. This involves a mechanism called anti-body dependant cell cytoxicity (ADCC). ADCC is mechanism where one the FAB part of the antibody has bound to the receptor on the surface the Fc domain changes formation and can now bind to an FC receptor. Fc receptors are found on other cells within the immune system, such as NK cells, the binding of the FC domain to one of these cells induces a killing response from the activated immune cell recruited. The Fc domain also has the ability to activate complement, so the biding of specific blood proteases, induces lysis of the cell. There is also a less well-understood mechanism that rituximab uses to kill activated B cells. This is by directly inducing apoptosis upon binding, why this occurs is not fully unde rstood, from studies it can be seen that the binding of rituximab to the CD20 causes a down regulation of MHC, a down regulation of the B-cell receptor and flux down pathways that induce apoptosis. In a recent study it can be seen that 50% increase of 30%. So that is a huge increase in the amount of patients who were currently unresponsive to available treatments. As can be seen from these results the introduction of rituximab was a real breakthrough in the field, and provided a method of treatment for those people who had no other option. As motioned earlier the drug is frequently used off label by clinicians. Rituximab has been seen to have very promising result when used to treat MS and some other AI diseases. There have also been recent developments into the treatment of severe ulcerative colitis, and rituximab is currently in phase III trials for use against ulcerative colitis where existing treatments are currently not effective. Rituximab was and is still a huge commercial success; grossing $5.68 billion in 2009 (a 9% increase on the previous year) it was one of the best selling biologics. With all the possible applications of this drug it does mean that there is still a commercial future for the drug. Rituximab is currently being marketed by Roche, Biogen and other companies have exclusivity for marketing in Japan, China and India This can be seen with how often clinicians use the drug off label to treat diseases that the FDA didnt originally approve it for. The shear wide-ranging applications of the drug are one of the main reasons for its commercial success. The drug was also a huge boost to the clinicians tools to fight against diseases which had become resistant or unresponsive to the existing gold standards, such as in B cell lymphoma and RA as discussed above. There is also still future prospects for this drug with phase III trials currently underway for the use of the drug against severe ulcerative c olitis and possible uses in replaced rejection treatment plans, so it seems that this drug is likely to be a block buster for some time to come.