The analysis of social and environmental sustainability against Essay

The analysis of social and environmental sustainability against financial sustainability - Essay Example This paper is focused on how the social and environmental sustainability differ from the financial sustainability and its impact on the way a company operates. It covers the challenges faced by the corporate firms to resolve the differences and the future implications of the reconciliation. The paper covers the details of the topic of discussion with real life example of corporate firms and it also discusses the theoretical framework in which the models of sustainability are based on. The social and environmental sustainability is to ensure that the society and its environment are not being affected by the business operations of the organizations. In order to achieve social and environmental sustainability, the company needs to make sure that all of its operations are following the required environmental standards and are adding value for the society. According to the reports of Colantonio (2009), there should be equal priority given to the social, environmental and economic sustainability. It has been mentioned that the social sustainability is one of the emerging issues of the contemporary business environment. With the increase in competitiveness in the business market along with the rise in population and decreasing natural resources, it has become imperative for the organizations to deal with certain sociological issues. Widok (2009) have mentioned that apart from the social and environmental sustainability challenges faced by the firms, they also face chall enges on the grounds of reporting on sustainability. It has been mentioned in his studies that reporting on sustainability activities has always been superficial in nature. Even though several organizations report that they conform to the standardized norms of the globally accepted sustainability practices, but the lack of detailed reporting has made them more lenient in its implementation. Moreover,

How international relations affects some area of interest to you. One Assignment

How international relations affects some area of interest to you. One way to approach this is to write about your proposed course of study, major or future career - Assignment Example With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the main actors who try to shape the policy of transitional countries are European Union and Russia. In this context, the reflection of this uncertainty on domestic Ukrainian policy is evident. In particular, from the very appearance of independent Ukraine the ideas of either getting closer to Russian Federation or entering European Union struggle with each other within Ukrainian society. In addition, radical changes of the ideological representation within Ukraine’s executive and legislative branches are closely linked to the preferences of this country in its foreign policy. In the given circumstances, the clear position of Ukrainian society is even not visible. Thus, the comprehension of Ukrainian internal situation is impossible without the investigation of balance of powers between Russia and the EU, clarifying the dynamics of both Russian and European policies towards Ukraine, and characterizing the reflection of these international attitudes in Ukrainian internal environment. Consequently, in a given essay it becomes evident that Ukrainian society lives under the rules defined not in independent manner but by international context, because throughout the years its government has represented uncertainty in this dual choice concerning the direction of foreign policy. To start with, contemporary state of international relations is an outcome of Cold War era, as ideological struggle between modern Russia and Western world (in particular, the EU and USA) still exists. In the recent history of European region, the key manifestations of this rivalry appeared when transitional countries entered either European Union (like Baltic countries) or established by Russia Eurasian Customs Union (like Belarus) (Freedman 8). After the decision of Poland on joining the EU, Ukraine turned into the border country between these two ideological camps due to its geographical position. In this context, an

Using The Evaluation Framework Economics Essay

Using The Evaluation Framework Economics Essay The possession of an ownership advantage gives a firm the opportunity to sell goods overseas but it fails to explain why this is carried out through production in the foreign market rather than exporting to the foreign market. As a result, there is the need for an evaluation framework. LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this Unit, you should be able to understand and grasp the following: the importance of an evaluation framework; the 4 criteria of the evaluation framework; assess the contribution of MNEs in a foreign country by using the Evaluation Framework. THE EVALUATION FRAMEWORK The contribution of MNEs to the development of the host nation, more particularly developing countries or LDCs has been the subject of much debate over the years. Whilst it is generally accepted that MNEs do contribute by way of technology transfer, skills diffusion and by bringing much needed finance capital, nevertheless criticisms abound as to the negative impact of MNEs in that they are viewed as exploiting the local labour force, they transfer outdated technology, and they strip the LDCs of much needed resources. However, MNEs were and still remain a very important ingredient of growth, especially for developing countries. This is why it is crucial for a host countrys government that it should be able to assess FDI in a policy context. The latter process is usually done by way of an Evaluation Framework. An evaluation framework usually encompasses 4 criteria. 3.3 Efficiency of Resource Allocation Efficiency of resource allocation relates to the extent to which there exist complementarities between of economic interests between the multinationals and the host countries. In a similar vein, it highlights the following: under what conditions do the operations of the TNC in a host country contribute to the world economic welfare that could not be achieved before? However, the presence of MNEs in host countries is often prompted by government-induced imperfections including protection from imports. Such a situation mainly occurred when countries were adopting an import substitution industrialization strategy. Adopting an import-substitution strategy entailed a high level of protection, via tariffs, import restriction measures and quotas, which discriminated against exports via explicit and implicit tax of export activities and an overvalued foreign exchange rate. Also, the government used investment license, differential taxes, tax holidays, exemptions and remissions to influence resource allocation between industries and sectors. The proponents of IS strategy firmly believed that they would be able to meet the domestic demand for manufacturing products; provide employment opportunities for skilled labour; ease pressure on the balance of payment and strengthen the long term productive capacity of the economy by importing the production technology via foreign firms  [1]  and by using the infant industry argument. Under such an era of protectionism  [2]  , MNEs were mainly regarded as being of a market-seeking  [3]   nature. Firms set up plant within foreign nations in order to supply their national markets in the most profitable way possible. The key location advantages (in Dunnings terminology) which determined these market-seeking investments were the cross-border transport and communication costs; artificial barriers (import restrictions) to trade in goods and services; the size, income per capita and the expected growth of the local market. Though cost considerations were deemed important and even decisive in certain marginal markets, an efficiency-seeking motivation was deemed to be of a very secondary nature (Pearce, 1999). However, the overwhelming consensus is that IS was a failure  [4]  . IS strategy has turned out to be self-defeating since it has resulted in huge increases in imports of equipment and inputs while transfer pricing constituted a severe drain on foreign exchange. Also, IS granted excessive protection to industries producing inefficiently non-essential goods for high-income elite. Furthermore, fiscal credit and exchange rate policies, coupled with subsidies on imports of capital goods, made it possible and advantageous to entrepreneurs to rely on high capital intensive equipment produced abroad and technology unsuited to the factor proportions prevailing in less developed countries. As a result, a new orthodoxy emerged in the late 60s and early 70s which stressed the role of exports of labour intensive manufactures as an engine of growth. This represented a return to the static theory of comparative advantage with trade based upon different factor proportions prevailing in various countries which meant that the pendulum turned full swing for development policy in LDCs from import substitution to manufactured exports. Export oriented strategy not only encourages free trade  [5]  , but also the free movement of capital, labour, enterprises and an open system of communication. It also entailed more efficient allocation of resources with firms competing internationally  [6]  based on their relative comparative advantages. These considerations, coupled with the emergence of trade blocks, were factors motivating changes in the strategic orientation of MNEs. MNEs underwent a complete restructuring of their global and regional supply profiles. This entailed locating  [7]  manufacturing operations in only a few countries but exporting for a wider market. Each subsidiary were opened to a fully competitive market situation which permitted the realisation of economies of scale and the attainment of optimal efficiency in production (Pearce, 1999). The where to produce clearly gained in prominence during such an era which led to MNEs redistributing their unchanged ownership advantages in order to create an international network of subsidiaries  [8]  which optimised their supply of established range of products. Thus, investments undertaken by MNEs were mainly of an efficiency-seeking nature. However, one should not underestimate the crucial role played by the government during that period. It was not only the choice of trade strategy but also the appropriate role of government policy which was at the heart of the development issue. For example, export-oriented growth and appropriate macroeconomic policies  [9]  were mutually of economic development in the NICs. The integration of NICs into world and regional economies was essential for their long-term growth. This required less government intervention and greater reliance on private initiatives and market forces. It provided an environment conducive to foreign investment and domestic entrepreneurship. The Government was expected to actively promote economic growth and use its resources to direct and support the private industry. It was the pursuit of such appropriate policies by these developing countries governments permitted shifts in their pattern of international specialisation in response to the changing structure of their comparative advantage at different levels of industrial development. As a result, the efficiency of resource allocation improved, the rates of growth accelerated, with benefits accruing to all concerned. DISTRIBUTION Distribution relates to the extent to which the gains arising from the MNEs operations are distributed between the partners. The host country would demand a fair share of the benefits created by the investment. However, the identification of a fair distribution is very difficult since it is almost impossible to price correctly some contribution such as technology diffusion and managerial expertise which are intangible in nature. In addition, the issue of distribution is even more contentious especially when profits of the multinationals are due less to the efficiency of resource allocation and more to market distortions or imperfections created and sustained in the first place by the government to attract these foreign firms. Also, the distribution of such rent is influenced by the relative bargaining strength of the multinationals and the host governments in the light of factors such as tax concessions, tariff protection and labour training. In this light, it may be argued that there is a direct relationship between the bargaining strength of the host country and its level of industrialization such that, the lower the industrialization level, the weaker its bargaining power. Finally, host nations are unable to extract their fair share of benefits because imperfections in the market for factors of production in which the multinationals are strong permits them to earn monopoly rent on these factors. SOVEREIGNTY Sovereignty relates to the ways in which the multinational may compromise the economic independence of host nations in either the short or long term. It highlights how the behaviour of multinationals may compromise the effectiveness of certain aspects of the host countries policies. For example, the intra-group transfer of rent, via transfer pricing practices, may undermine the autonomy of the host countries in areas such as fiscal policy, monetary policy, trade policy and its attempt to control and organize the structure of industries. SELF RELIANCE Self-reliance relates to the ways in which the operations of the multinational may undermine the viability or independence of local firms or enhance their potential. The self-reliance issue also crops up during the investigations of the impact of multinationals on the industrial structure of the host nations; for e.g. the level of concentration and/or modes of operations. It is also concerned with whether the operations of multinationals in the host nations may either enhance or hold back the availability of particular types of skills for local enterprises since there are claims that multinationals remunerate better their employees than local enterprises. However, there is no reason as to why the relationship between local enterprises and multinationals should be a competitive one. They may in fact complement each other rather than act as rivals. For e.g. multinationals may have recourse to indigenous forms for their supply of inputs and this may lead to significant benefits for the indigenous firms by way of improved technology, better quality control procedures and diffusion of skills. EXERCISES 1. MAURITIUS CASE STUDY Mauritius is unique in having had a wealthy class of sugar plantation owners who were actively seeking to diversify their investments in the first years of independence. They have experimented with horticultural and industrial exports, as well as with tourist facilities, for many years. It took the arrival of Hong Kong and Taiwan textile firms to get industrialization going, however. And South African hotel chains first brought the tourist facilities up to world class standards. Why couldnt they do it alone? The key missing ingredient was the much vaunted keystone of the new economy: knowledge. Mauritian investors lacked the depth and breadth of knowledge needed to create viable industry and tourism on their own. The overseas Chinese and South African investors brought in-depth knowledge of how to run an efficient firm. They also had intimate knowledge of customers and their preferences, as well of what the competition was offering. They were able to train the Mauritian workforce, interspersing production lines with faster Chinese workers and more flexible Indian ones to bring up productivity. Domestic investors, whether the sugar barons or more locals of more modest and ethnically diverse origins, unanimously reported that they were not squeezed out by foreign investment. On the contrary, they worked with, learned from, and in many cases bought out foreign investors. Ethnicity has been handled delicately in Mauritius, in surprising contrast to analysts predictions at independence. The few dozen Franco-Mauritian sugar barons who controlled the economy at independence in 1970 faced the classic South African nightmare of being washed into the sea. The majority of the electorate comprised landless descendants of cane-cutters brought in from the Indian subcontinent as contract labor. Yet Mauritians found a stable accommodation, in both politics and the economy. The constitution explicitly recognizes ethnic minorities, providing for 10 percent of parliamentary seats to go to also rans from ethnic minorities that would otherwise not be represented. The tiny new polity attained in two decades an economic transition from monocrop Sugar Island to a balanced economy in which textiles, tourism and sugar are the pillars. New forays are being made into business services, information technology and other diverse export products. Indo-Mauritians are still minimally represented as entrepreneurs, though they dominate the civil service. Sino-Mauritians, hitherto concentrated in smallscale commerce, enhanced their status through association with Hong Kong and Taiwan industrialists whose knowhow and investment initiated the textile sector. Economic tensions are worked out in annual tripartite negotiations between labor, government and employers, most of whom are Franco-Mauritians. Sound institutions have played a critical role in the process. The rule of law has prevailed consistently. The sturdy financial sector, led by Mauritius State Bank since 1828, provides investment capital to both domestic and foreign investors. The British tradition schools graduate fully bilingual, often tri- and quadrilingual students, whom employers find a great asset in the new global economy. Foreign And Local Investment In Mauritius Mauritius was chosen as a case study because it has a reputation as a country in which foreign investment has played a critical and unanticipated role in industrialization, driven largely by good policies. The case study bore this out, but added great complexity to the portrait. Ethnicity was a complicating factor that could have derailed growth, and sound institutions played as important a role as policies in its success. An Overview of Investment Policy and Performance in Mauritius In the 1960s as independence from Britain approached, James Meade and Burton Benedict published several studies that foresaw a bleak economic and political future for Mauritius.11 Meade proposed strategies to improve the standard of living while taking into consideration projected continuing rapid population growth (then over 3% per year). He foresaw pressures of population growth on economic resources on this small volcanic isle and suggested several mitigating strategies, including increasing productivity, encouraging emigration and family planning. Burton Benedict challenged Meades proposed solutions, asserting that even if Meades suggestions on ways to increase productivity were followed, this would not produce results strong enough to counter the population growth problem. To the Malthusian logic in these first analyses, Benedict added concern over the future political stability of Mauritius. He analyzed the 1953 and 1962 censuses and documented the impact of ethnic, religious, caste and linguistic fragmentation on local politics-from the national level to the squabbles over a repair contract for a small town road. He began with the observation that Mauritians rarely identified themselves and others as Mauritians. In 1962 people from the Indian subcontinent were the majority, but did not comprise a single ethnic group. 50.5 percent of the population was Hindu and 16.2 percent Muslim Chinese comprised 3.4 percent of the population, and the General Population, mainly Creoles and Franco-Mauritians constituted 29.9 percent. Although Africans had been brought to Mauritius in slavery, African languages and ethnic groups had melded into a mixed population speaking the Creole French patois that gradually became a lingua franca of the Island. The Indo-Mauritian population was 63 percent Hindu Sanatan and 19 percent Muslim Hanafi. There were generally endogamous minority sects of both major religions (the largest of which were Arya Samaj and Ahmadiyya), as well as Indian Christians. Castes had consolidated into a bipolar mode. They had no corporate organization, but were generally endogamous. Chinese were nearly evenly split between Christians and Buddhists. Indo-Mauritians were further split by language, which sometimes had ethnic connotations. Hindi was the mother tongue of 36 percent of the total population and Urdu of 13.5 percent. Smaller Tamil and Telugu groups rarely intermarried with other Hindus. The General population of metisse, Franco-Mauritians and others was 96 percent Roman Catholic. The Franco-Mauritian families, are mostly descendants of French nobility who fled there during the French Revolution. The British gained control of the island during the Napoleonic wars andgoverned it until 1968, but the French families dominated the domestic society and economy. For the dependency theorists of the 60s, Mauritius was an archetypical monocrop colonial economy. It depended on sugar for 99 percent of exports and one third of GDP. Cane fields occupied 90 percent of arable land. Of that, 55 percent was owned by 25 Franco-Mauritian families, often dubbed sugar barons. The remaining 45 percent of sugar estates were owned by 84,000 small farmers, predominantly of Indian origin. Almost no food was produced on the island. The majority who would dominate numerically in a democratic Mauritius was a land-poor population of former indentured laborers on sugar plantations from the Indian subcontinent. Until recently they had been considered transients, not counted as members of the population. Benedicts complex analysis of the ethnic situation did little to lift the prevailing pessimism about Mauritius future. The colonial government commissioned Meade to head an appointed commission to produce an economic strategy. The Meade Report was to strongly influence the government in creating its initial import substitution industrialization policy. The key recommendations in the Meade Report included tariff protection for certain local industries, a decrease of corporate tax from 40 to 30 percent, tax holidays for five of the first eight years of a company, priority of capital expenditure for projects leading to productive employment and the abolition of tariffs on importation of machine tools and equipment. These policies already focused on investment promotion, a policy which successive Mauritian governments have consistently favored. Even as early as 1960, investment in Mauritius reached 30% of GDP, a figure only recently achieved by the most successful economies in East Asia and largely unheard of in the developing world. At this time, however, neither the new government of Mauritius, nor others in the developing world, had recognized the connection between investment policy and the larger political and economic context. A number of trends of the first government, which was dominated by the Mauritian Labour Party from independence in 1968 until 1982, limited the effectiveness of investment promotion incentives. One concern of foreign investors was political stability. There had been some communal violence just before independence, and the new Hindu dominated government maintained a fragile truce with minorities, including Muslim, Chinese and Franco-Mauritians. Other concerns centered around macroeconomic policies. Currency controls and protective tariffs designed to nurture import substitution industries [for the tiny national market], raised energy and transaction costs and times for potential exporters. The involvement of government in labor/ management negotiations and the creation of state corpora tions in key sectors led investors to take a wait and see attitude toward government. And the fledgling transport and telecommunications infrastructure was barely adequate. The idea of creating an export promotion zone (EPZ) was added to the policy mix in 1970, only two years after independence. It was inspired by the success of Taiwan. Within a year the EPZ legislation was passed. In a stroke of brilliance, industrial leaders and policy-makers realized that Mauritius, being a small island with readily controlled access, could declare the whole island an EPZ-it did not need to have a fenced area. This allowed investors to build in dispersed locations, to facilitate transport for their workers and/or their products. Only a few foreign investors took advantage of the EPZ law in the 1970s, however. Mauritius isolated location in the Indian Ocean, its currency controls and uncertain political situation reportedly influenced the first investors to limit their commitments. What became the flagship textile firm, for example, was set up initially to do only the manufacturing marketing and management were based in Japan and Hong Kong respectively. By the end of the 1970s Mauritius was experiencing many of the same problems that other African countries had with state corporations, protective tariffs, and currency controls. With no petroleum resources, it had been hit hard by OPECs escalation of oil prices and the global economic distortions that ensued. Government was running unsustainable annual deficits, the balance of trade was negative, industry was stagnant, and foreign exchange rationing slowed down all transactions. A devastating cyclone catalyzed a change in direction and in government. An alliance of former opposition parties, the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) and Mauritian Socialist Party (PSM), won the 1982 elections, changing the dominant party position for the first time since electoral politics was introduced in 1947. The new government scrapped the mixed strategy of the 1970s, liberalized the currency, retreated from subsidizing state corporations, and put its full efforts into voluntary structural adjustment and promoting export-led growth. In retrospect, a recent government report sees that decision as an inevitable logical consequence of Mauritius geographic situation. The report, Mauritius at Crossroads (1995) explains that as a small island, physically limited by lack of arable land and relying solely on sugar for foreign exchange, Mauritius was condemned to turn to an aggressive export strategy. However, it was not until the early 80s that foreign investment actually took off. And, it appears, partly as a consequence so too did domestic investment take off. Today, according to Mauritius at Crossroads, every Mauritian is taught the concept Export or Die. This philosophy has led to the development of a sound business environment which is friendly to investors, both local and foreign, and which offers an attractive investment incentives package to compensate for the lack of resources and the no-longer inexpensive labor force. The older generation of industrial and government leaders also stresses that Mauritians have learned to make a virtue of their ethnic diversity. The switch to an export-led strategy came at a time of crisis. The ill-paid labor force was still predominantly of Indian origin, as was the government, whereas the industrial sector was led by Franco-Mauritians, Hong Kong/Taiwan investors and a few Sino-Mauritians. Several interviewees described the moment as if they had looked at one another, then at the surrounding hundreds of miles of ocean, and decided that they would sink or swim together. For the export strategy, Mauritius needed to reach out to Hong Kong and Taiwan textile magnates, who had the capital and skills to organize a competitive industry. Franco-Mauritian local capital and know-how, and contacts were needed to open up European markets. A cooperative, trainable labor force was needed to attract investors. And government needed to be fully committed to its investor-friendly strategy. Mauritius had hard-working bilingual predominantly male labor force. They were skilled in farming, not industrial work. Most analysts doubted that Hindu or Muslim women would ever come out of the home and into the workplace. Within six or seven years, Mauritius had full employment, and industrial workers were mainly women. Policies were the main, but not the only factor in investment decisions. Promoting investment has been on the top of the governments industrial agenda throughout the different development phases, but the understanding of what works for investors, for government and for the society as a whole, has evolved continuously. The first clearly defined policy came in 1961, as the colonial government began to prepare for an independent Mauritius, with the Industrial Development Tax Relief Act. The Export Processing Zone took effect in 1971, as one of the first acts of the newly independent government. Support services for exporters were given a fillip in 1981 with the Export Service Zones Act. In 1985, the Mauritius Export Development and Investment Authority (MEDIA) was established as the executive arm of the Ministry of Industry. Its main responsibilities are to attract investment, promote exports and manage industrial estates. Investors clearly weighed these incentives against the inconveniences created by location, lack of local food and fuel supplies and small market size. The only major policy disincentive for foreign investors is that they are not allowed to own land. Government has compensated by providing fully equipped industrial sites for lease. Hotel investors generally partner with a local landowner. In the 1980s Mauritius offered inexpensive labor, but within a decade the development of the textile and hotel sectors had brought wages to a middle level, by world standards. From the late 1980s through early 1990s, Mauritius experienced full employment. Rising wages have gradually priced the textile industry out of its mass-production T-shirt lines, and forced b oth government and industry to rethink development strategies. The Industrial Expansion Act of 1993 was a partial response to this dilemma. Through it Mauritius confirmed its commitment to permanent zero tax rates for exporters, and added a bundle of new-targeted incentive programs, providing for high technology investors, offshore financial services and freeport services. The full range of incentive programs Mauritius which were offered is shown in Table 6.1. To increase confidence in the industrial sector in general, corporate tax for manufacturers who do not qualify for the EPZ zerorate was cut from 35 to 15 percent. Table 3.1: Manufacturing Fiscal Incentives INCENTIVE SCHEMES QUALIFYING ACTIVITIES INCENTIVES Export Enterprise (EPZ)  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  All manufactured goods for exports  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Produce of deep sea fishing (Including fresh or frozen fish)  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Printing and publishing as well as associated operations  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  IT activities  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Agro Industries  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  No customs duty, or sales tax on raw materials and equipment  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  No corporate tax  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  No tax on dividends  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  No capital gains tax  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Free repatriation of profits, dividends and capital  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  60% remission of customs duties on buses of 15-25 seats used for the transport of workers.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Exemption from payment of half the normal registration fee on land and buildings by new enterprises.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Relief on personal income tax for 2 expatriate staff Pioneer Status Enterprise  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Activities involving technology and skills above average existing in Mauritius and likely to enhance industrial and technological development.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Applicant companies may come under one of three broad categories: (a) new technology, (b) support industries and (c) service industries.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  No customs duty, or sales tax on scheduled equipment or materials.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  15% corporate tax  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  No tax on dividends  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Free repatriation of profits, dividends and capital Strategic Local Enterprise  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Local industry manufacturing for the local market and engaged in an activity likely to promote and enhance the economic, industrial and technological development of Mauritius.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  15% corporate tax  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  No tax on dividends Modernization and Expansion Enterprise  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Two broad categories:  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Investment in productive machinery and equipment, such as automation equipment and processes and computer applications to industrial design, manufacture and maintenance CAD/CAM)  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Investment in anti-pollution and environment protection technology to be made within 2 years of date of issue of certificate.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  No customs duty on production equipment  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Income tax credit of 10% (spread over 3 years) of investment in new plant and machinery, provided at least Rs 10 million are spent and this occurs within two years of date of issue of certificate. (This is in addition to existing capital allowances which amount to 125%of capital expenditures.)  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Enterprises incurring expenditure on anti-pollution machinery or plant benefit from a further incentive, i.e. an initial allowance of 80% instead of the normal 50% Industrial Building Enterprise Construction for letting purposes of industrial buildings or levels thereof, provided floor space is at least 1000 square meters. Special conditions: The applicant can only be a company intending to erect an industrial building to be let to the holder of a certificate (other than an industrial building enterprise certificate) issued under this Act or to an enterprise engaged in the manufacture or processing of goods or materials except the milling of sugar.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  15% corporate tax  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  No tax on dividends  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Registration dues for land purchase: 50% exemption  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  There is also a non-fiscal incentive, namely the disapplication of the Landlord and Tenant Act, i.e. rent control Source: Destination Mauritius, Mauritius Export Development and Investment Authority (MEDIA). Table 3.2: Services Fiscal Incentives INCENTIVE SCHEME QUALIFYING ACTIVITIES INCENTIVES Offshore Business Conduct of business with non-residents and in currencies other than the Mauritian Rupee. Activities include: offshore banking, offshore insurance, offshore funds management, international financial services, operational Headquarters, international consultancy services, shipping and ship management, aircraft financing and leasing, international licensing and franchising, international data processing and other information technology services, offshore pension funds, international trading and assets management, international employment se

The ICU as an Effective Learning Environment Essay -- Nursing Reflecti

Learning is the lifelong process of transforming information and experience into knowledge, skills, behaviors and attitudes. It may occur as part of education, personal development or training. According to Hinchliff (1999), there are many factors that can give and affect the quality of learning such as students, teachers and the environment. Meanwhile, learning environment itself is the physical or virtual setting in which learning takes place. Hannafin, Land & Oliver (1999) described learning environment as a typically constructivist in nature, engaging learners in â€Å"sense-making† or reasoning about extensive resource set, including four components which are enabling context, resources, a set of tools and scaffolds. This paper is going to discuss the significance of my clinical area as a context for learning and how myself as practitioner can give to an effective learning environment. I have been a critical care nurse working in intensive care unit for almost seven years. I am graduated from local nursing school in 2002. At first, I worked on a regular hospital floor. One year later, I came to intensive care unit and obtained my intensive care post basic certificate in 2006. I was attracted to critical care nursing because of the challengers and the environment. Here in the intensive care unit my nursing skills and role continues to evolve. The intensive care unit is at a very strategic location and in the second floor where immediate transportation of patient is available from all departments and wards. The unit is staffed and equipped to a high standard to give quality care to the patient. The unit is divided into two adjacent clinical areas. Open plan area with ten bedded spaces and isolation room with two bedded spa... ... into people’s actions and feelings and can be a resource for helping people to improve their lives. The continuing in the students experiences at practice area are important in creating a welcoming learning environment. This can be achieved through a regular daily schedule and group support by involving staffs, unit sisters, doctors and specialists that have different level of knowledge and experiences. Finally, promoting a sense of community within the hospital and the practice area is an essential element to a welcome and supportive social climate. To end, this paper has identified my clinical area as context for learning in which it offers great learning opportunities although there are some limitations. A few recommendations have been highlighted to improve the quality of learning in the future.

George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 Essay

Imagine this, a perfect world of complete harmony and justice. There is no wrong, and there is no right. There is only utopia. It might be the perfect place where people want to live, or the place that people dream about. It might even be the picture of the future. However, this Utopian world is revealed to have flaws. It lacks many of the qualities of life that exist today. Thus the Utopian world isn’t so Utopian anymore. And the more that is revealed about the world, the more horrible it becomes. Soon, it becomes a nightmare, a world of illusions, of lies. That is the dystopic world that authors such as Bradbury and George Orwell pictures in their books, a world that exists under the image of utopia, and yet to the reader seems like a foreign, inhumane residence dominated by an all-powerful government. George Orwell’s 1984, and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 depicts two different dystopic worlds. The settings of both books are different and the characters are unique; however, both of these books are also very similar. 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are similar dystopic literatures by a common theme of censorship in which the government withholds or censors information, by a similar thread of a totalitarian government running the dystopic world, and by a common knowledge of the truth that the protagonist and the antagonist both hold. Censorship is a remarkable simple concept: the ability of the government to withhold or change information that passes into the public. All governments have some form of censorship, and some governments have less censorship than others. Yet censorship can also become a difficult concept to grasp, for censorship allows the government to influence how people think. The less censorship there is, the more people begin to think, which according to standards today, is a good thing. However, totalitarian governments such as the ones in Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 do not want people to think. They want people to just do, and thus it becomes a perfect seemingly Utopian world that the reader interprets as a piece of dystopic literature. In Fahrenheit 451, Beatty explains, † Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it† (pp.59). Beatty is declaring that there are many minorities as well as distinct groups of people. A perfect world must satisfy all of them, so if a book comes up that someone doesn’t like, burn it. However, burning is a permanent  process. A burned book cannot be recovered. Thus, as more books are burned, more history, information is being erased. People’s minds begin to dull from lack of reading and in the end; people accept the fact that the government controls them and their actions. Similarly, a quote from 1984 explains, â€Å"The messages he had received referred to articles or news items which for one reason or another it was thought necessary to alter, or†¦rectify†¦It was therefore necessary to rewrite a paragraph of Big Brother’s speech†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (38, 39). In this quote, Winston works in the Ministry of Truth to change the information that reaches the public. This is also censorship in order to keep the proles, the majority of the population, ignorant. By changing the information, there is no proof that people have against the validity of the government, and therefore people are sedated. In a similar way to Fahrenheit 451, the people come to gradually accepting the censored documents that reach them. They could take one fact one day, and the completely opposite fact another. Thus when the two books of dystopic literature are compared, the similar motif of censorship can be seen to play a huge part in the way the world runs. The government utilizes censorship while the common people accept it. When the reader sees this, it imparts a sense of horror in the seemingly Utopian world, and thus makes the two pieces of literature dystopic. Another aspect that connects the two pieces of literature together is the idea of a totalitarian government ruling the people. In both works, the government creates the sense of a utopian world. The idea is that the government rules every aspect of the people’s lives, and that is the only way for a utopia to exist. This way of thinking is also twisted in a sense, because totalitarian governments do not care for the well being of its people. The people who rule only want power. That is why the reader realizes that the piece of literature is dystopic. In Fahrenheit 451, the totalitarian government controls the police, mechanical hounds, and the firemen. The firemen act under the wishes of the government to burn people’s books. An explanation of the firemen is revealed in Beatty’s quote, † †¦there was no longer need of firemen for the old purposes. They were given the new job, as custodians of out peace of mind, the focus of our understandable and rightful dread of being inferior: official censors, judges, and executors.  That’s you, Montag, and that’s me† (58, 59). Beatty is explaining the reason that governments created firemen to burn books. The government can censor information that the public receives with the creation of the firemen, and it is the job to the people and the firemen to do their duties without question. That illustrates the totalitarian government in the society of Fahrenheit 451. In 1984, the totalitarian government is led by a figure, Big Brother. The Inner Party and the Outer Party are also part of the totalitarian government, only consisting of 15% of the population of Oceania. These people in the Inner and Outer Parties, with the exception to Winston, are devoted to Big Brother. Big Brother is the figure that holds the party and utopian society together, and the propaganda and demonstrations center around the totalitarian form of government. What is really scary about the totalitarian society is that when someone goes against protocol, like Winston did, he/she was not executed immediately. Instead, they are made to love the totalitarian society and show devotion towards it. Then they are killed. This is illustrated in the quote, † He looked up again at the portrait of Big Brother†¦the final, indispensable, healing change had never happened, until this moment†¦ The long-hoped-for bullet was entering his brain†¦ He loved Big Brother† (297). Winston was tortured at the Ministry of Love in order to love Big Brother. The government never killed him, and finally at the end, Winston loved Big Brother and was finally in bliss. This shows the horrors of the government. The government has total control over the people, and no one can escape from committing a crime against the government. The government will always and forever be. That is one of the reasons why the piece of literature is considered dystopic. It is also a reason why 1984 is a powerful book and serves as a warning to the readers. In conclusion, a similar aspect of both dystopic literatures is the totalitarian form of government in both. That type of government holds the Utopian society together, and it is precisely that aspect that horrifies the reader and makes both pieces of literature dystopic. A final point that both Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 have in common is that the protagonist as well as the antagonist who know the truth about the type of society they live in. Unlike the common people, the protagonist realizes that the world they live in is not perfect. The majority of people are content with their society, but Winston, in 1984, and Montag, in Fahrenheit 451, realizes that there could be so much more in the world that they live in. Montag discovers the truth and knowledge that the burned books contain. Montag shows curiosity for books by saying, † There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing† (51). Montag shows interest at books because he saw a woman voluntarily burn herself alongside her books. Thus he reasoned that books must contain substance. It also illustrates that Montag is a flaw to the perfect Utopian society. Even his wife shows little care for books or the fact that a woman was burned with her books. However, Montag starts to glimpse the imperfect society he lives in. Winston is also unhappy with how the government is and especially because of how there is little or no privacy. He is driven with the dreams and hopes of a better place, a better government in which to live in. He demonstrates this by writing in a diary, which was against the rules of the government. He also rebels in a sense by writing in the diary, † DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER† (20). Another connection that is shared by Montag and Winston is that both their wives illustrated the perfect form of beings in the society. Winston even stated that he hated his wife because she really didn’t have a mind of her own. This showed that there were only few people in the Utopian society that realized the society and government for what it was, and that the society was terrible. The antagonists also know the truth of the world they live in. In Fahrenheit 451, the antagonist is Beatty, who has read many books himself. He is very knowledgeable and uses literature to confuse Montag. In the end, the reader gets a sense of Beatty wanting Montag to kill him in order to be free of the acts he is committing and the government he is in. Beatty provokes and pushes Montag to kill him by saying, † Go ahead now, you second-hand litterateur, pull the trigger† (119). Although it doesn’t state clearly in the book that Beatty wanted Montag to kill him, it is one way of viewing this matter. In a similar way, O’Brien is the antagonist of 1984. During the part when he interrogated Winston, the reader learns that O’Brien is really  with Big Brother, and he has accepted the fate and results of the current government a long time ago. He even admits that he wants power and control. O’Brien proves both these facts by stating, â€Å"They got me a long time ago† (239), and, â€Å"The party seek power entirely for its own sake†¦It is exactly the opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined† (263, 267) O’Brien admits to siding with the current totalitarian government, but also admitting that the current society is flawed and grants power to a select few, at the cost of the other 85% of the population. Thus, the two pieces of literature also share the fact that the protagonists and antagonists know the whole, or part, truth. It is these connections that bring together these two books written about dystopic literature. And to conclude, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 are both pieces of dystopic literature. Both have many aspects in common. Although the two books are unrelated to each other in the sense of characters and the setting, both illustrate a dystopic world and give similar reasons and ideas about such a world. Both books illustrate how censorship can be used to control the people under the influence of the government. The books also reveal the necessity for a totalitarian government in order for the world to be a utopia and yet to the reader, dystopic. Finally, both pieces of literature show that there are flaws to this type of world to the protagonist as well as the antagonist in it. However, the way that the authors illustrate the outcome of the protagonist and antagonist is different. In George Orwell’s cruel dystopic world, the protagonist loses all hope and loves Big Brother at the end. In Bradbury’s dystopic world, Montag retains the hope that with his knowledge of books, humans can one day dispel the cruelty and censorship of the totalitarian government. While Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 can be read and just taken as a fantasy, a book that illustrates what could have happened, but did not. However, the authors of these books did not intend them to be simply read and discarded. What the author wants to impart to the reader is a warning. The warning is that in the future, the world that humans live in might one day mirror the world created by Bradbury or Orwell. If there is one thing for certain, it is a threat that the current world will reflect a world in Fahrenheit 451 or  1984. After all, humankind is evolving with swiftness, and anything can happen. There are many televisions in the world. Only one more step to make them all interact with each other and transmit/receive images, and the telescreens in 1984 exist. Sound, which is a predominant part of the utopian world, is taking up people’s time and thoughts in the real world. With all of the MP3’s and all of the other music tools that people constantly listen to, life indeed is starting to mirror the worlds of Orwell and Bradbury. Finally, people go at a quicker and faster pace now. Eventually, there will be a point where people have to stop and think about what is truly happening around them and to think about nature. If this does not happen, then indeed the world will be thrust into an unending cycle of chaos, and some may call it utopia when that happens. When a government arises to take power without the question or consent of the people, then is it utopia, or chaos and slavery? Bibliography Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. The Ballantine Publishing Group, 1953. Orwell George. 1984. New American Library, NY, 1949.

Are Education Systems Modern as Well as Practical Essay

A willing and able person who cannot find a job is given the title of unemployed. /When person who is willing to do work and also has the ability to do so cannot find a job, they are given the title of unemployed. Willingness to work can come about for a number of reasons such as the desire to escape from poverty or attain a higher standard of living. The problem comes in with the ability of that individual to earn a stipend. With the annual population growth being 1.8% during the last four years, nearly a million workers are being added to the workforce every year. However despite such vast potential at hand, the employment rates are creating an unfavorable environment. Nearly 60% of the population is in the ‘economically productive’ age group and with the alarming fact that the rate of youth unemployment in Pakistan is 8%, higher than the overall unemployment rate of 6% this year. Almost half of the Pakistani workforce is unemployed according to the figures released by the Pakistan Economy Watch. The low growth in labour productivity has not matched the rising labour force and due to the low literacy rate coupled with ongoing economic depression, poverty is constantly growing. Since the scientific revolution and the times of the Age of Enlightenment, our knowledge and the way we are educated has progressed through the advancing scientific methods. In our modern times, colleges give us the option of studying, for example, applied science or theoretical science. Our primary education sector /According to data from the International Labour Organization, the /Our primary and secondary education are to an extent meeting modern standards of education but the problem lies with the Tertiary sector. Unemployment and poverty have affected not only our country but the world. The foundation of the eurozone crisis lies with the 11.8% unemployment rate, up from .1% in only a month. Close to 19million in the 17-nation zone have been affected. The risk of poverty is constantly growing, and has become a global issue. Thoughtfully executed management of (social norms and expectations ) our agricultural sector can prevent the takeover of foreign companies along with the loss of jobs due to mechanization. The modern education as it is seen today consists of learning through the mediums of technology, that being the computer,projectors and the internet. The way I see it, the cramming of facts and dates and rote learning does not benefit our society, instead a practical aspect of learning needs to be taught by the government and private institutions. According to various records, with 50% of our population being women, the number of girl enrolling in middle school is alarming. Science has always fascinated children, but with time the motivation dies down. Reading a textbook surely giving us the knowledge but in the end we learn, give exams and forget. A practical demonstration on the other hand would enable the child to grab the idea better, en-rooting the knowledge permanently in their minds. The government has to not only focus on successfully executing growth-oriented policies but manage our agricultural sector.