Friday, September 6, 2019

Food and Money Essay Example for Free

Food and Money Essay Why did Huang Tsung-hsi see the well-field system as a foundation of a renewed Chinese culture and a stable political state? The well field was the center of a plot of land divided into 9 sections. Eight families farmed the plot; each held one of the sections and the central one belonged to lord of the whole plot. Why? The well-field system is believed to be the most ideal arrangement between landowners and tenants. Under this system, the families occupying each of the eight fields will befriend each other, cooperate in guarding the crops, watch each others back in case of danger, and rescue one another in times of trouble and illness. This system promotes harmony and equal treatment by the landlord. The burden of taxation is also distributed evenly among the families. Huang Tsung-hsi saw this system as the foundation of a renewed Chinese culture and stable political state because, as a follower of Mencius, he advocated that rulers must rule their subjects justly and well. Huang Tsung-hsi abhorred selfish autocratic rule. If a ruler promotes equal distribution, people will not be afraid of getting poor. If the people are assured of their just treatment, there will be peace in a society. Once people are content, government will not fail. In Ibn Khaldun’s analysis of Islamic society, did â€Å"group feeling† function in the same way as the well-field system did for Huang? In Ibn Khalduns analysis of Islamic society, he defined group feeling as subordinating of an individuals personal needs to that of the interest of the group. He argued that if an individual wont prioritize the group, there would be no peace and social development. Comparing this with the well-field system, I should say that in a way they are the same. The same because both systems promote solidarity and cooperation to achieve a purpose. In the well-field system, it can be assumed that individual needs are secondary in relation to what is best for the group. Works Cited Swann, Nancy. Food and Money in Ancient China. Princeton, 1950.

Food and Money Essay Example for Free

Food and Money Essay Why did Huang Tsung-hsi see the well-field system as a foundation of a renewed Chinese culture and a stable political state? The well field was the center of a plot of land divided into 9 sections. Eight families farmed the plot; each held one of the sections and the central one belonged to lord of the whole plot. Why? The well-field system is believed to be the most ideal arrangement between landowners and tenants. Under this system, the families occupying each of the eight fields will befriend each other, cooperate in guarding the crops, watch each others back in case of danger, and rescue one another in times of trouble and illness. This system promotes harmony and equal treatment by the landlord. The burden of taxation is also distributed evenly among the families. Huang Tsung-hsi saw this system as the foundation of a renewed Chinese culture and stable political state because, as a follower of Mencius, he advocated that rulers must rule their subjects justly and well. Huang Tsung-hsi abhorred selfish autocratic rule. If a ruler promotes equal distribution, people will not be afraid of getting poor. If the people are assured of their just treatment, there will be peace in a society. Once people are content, government will not fail. In Ibn Khaldun’s analysis of Islamic society, did â€Å"group feeling† function in the same way as the well-field system did for Huang? In Ibn Khalduns analysis of Islamic society, he defined group feeling as subordinating of an individuals personal needs to that of the interest of the group. He argued that if an individual wont prioritize the group, there would be no peace and social development. Comparing this with the well-field system, I should say that in a way they are the same. The same because both systems promote solidarity and cooperation to achieve a purpose. In the well-field system, it can be assumed that individual needs are secondary in relation to what is best for the group. Works Cited Swann, Nancy. Food and Money in Ancient China. Princeton, 1950.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Theories of How Individuals Interact in Groups in HSC

Theories of How Individuals Interact in Groups in HSC 2.1 Write an assay explaining theories of how individuals interact in groups, particularly applying them to teams that work in your Health and Social Care setting. The relationship between classical Grounded Theory (Glaser, 1978; Glaser Strauss, 1967) and the interpretive tradition of Symbolic Interactionism is strong and historical. Although this relationship has been discussed in previous publications as a given limited literature has explained the connections between their silent assumptions and concepts precisely and thoroughly (Chenitz Swanson, 1986; Crotty, 1998; Speziale Carpenter, 2007). Bruce Tuckman (1965) developed a 4-stage model of group development, this is his theory on how Health and Social Care professionals should be working effectively in managing human resources. The four stages of his theories are; Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing and also added a fifth stage of model to group development after 10 years which is Adjourning. The fifth model is when a professional breaks the knot and leaves the group without informing anyone. Forming: The group comes together and gets to initially know one other and form as a group. Forming is when a new set of Health and Social Care professionals are introducing one another by communicating and interacting in a group. They exchange information and set a target to be met as successful team work. The manager will need to set a clear guild to the Health and Social Care workers and it must be followed effectively so the colleagues avoid any misbehaviours and prevent from problems arising between each other in a team work. Forming is where a big group of Health and Social Care professionals are depending on one particular individual whom is a team leader or their role model, this person will have a huge responsibility in guiding the group of Health and Social Care professional to the right path in their carer to pass their activities. An agreement on team aims other than received from team leader. In this team individuals are not certain of their own role or responsibilities as they are all depending on one person who is the team leader. The team leader has skills and knowledge and must be willing to answer all the questions about the team purpose, activities and external relationships. Individuals test tolerance of system and leader directs to telling mode as he is in charge of the team and tells everyone to do what he wishes. Storming: A chaotic vying for leadership trialling of group processes. Storming is when a group of members dont agree with each others decisions, team members attempt to establish themselves in relation to another member in the team or team leader, who might receive challenging behaviour from a team member in disagreeing with decisions made. At this stage issues are developed over members having their own views rather than a whole team agreeing to one point of view. A team will only have conflict rising when they are not working effectively and the team leader is managing the group following the guild lines.   The improvement guide: a practical approach to enhancing organizational performance (GJ Langley, RD Moen, KM Nolan, TW Nolanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 2009 books.google.com). Norming: Eventually an agreement is reached on how the group operates (norming) The third step, norming, is where the team members fall into agreement over the solutions for their team. In this step, the team members are able to talk openly about their opinions and have the ability to adjust their behaviour to avoid conflict. The team members agree on the teams values, rules, professional behaviour and methods of work (Armstrong, 2006). Performing: The group practices its craft and becomes effective in meeting its objectives. The final step, performing, is where the team fully understands, co-operates and supports one another, thereby working as a single unit rather than individuals. Teams that have reached this step display high levels of motivation, knowledge, competence and autonomy (Armstrong, 2006) Adjourning: The process of without informing the group, that is, letting go of the group structure and moving on. This is the fifth and last step Bruce Tuckman (1965) developed which breaks the team apart without any signals showing. References Aldiabat, Khaldoun M; Le Navenec, Carole-Lynne. The Qualitative Report; Fort Lauderdale16.4 (Jul 2011): 1063-1080. http://search.proquest.com/openview/55df192e1247c417cbc00ba1b141ca1d/1?pq-origsite=gscholarcbl=55152 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01933928808411771?src=recsys

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

The Use of Symbols in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Essay

The Use of Symbols in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a few key symbols to represent major themes in the book. The most obvious and well known, as it is in the title, is the scarlet letter Hester is forced to wear. Three other symbols are the scaffold, the sun, and the forest. To begin with, the most important and influential symbol in the entire book is the infamous scarlet letter, hence the title, The Scarlet Letter. In the second chapter, Hester walks out of the prison, wearing the infamous scarlet letter ‘A’. During the first few years of Hester’s punishment, the letter was a daily reminder of shame. In chapter five, Hawthorne writes,, "†¦Hester Prynne had always this dreadful agony in feeling a human eye upon the token; the spot never grew callous; it seemed, on the contrary, to grow more sensitive with daily torture." As the story unfolds, though, this letter comes to mean other things to Hester and the people. Rather than bringing torture to Hester, it eventually becomes a symbol to some people meaning "able." In chapter 13, Hawthorne writes, "They said that it meant ‘Able’; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength." A few pages later, Hawthorne writes, "The scarlet letter had not done its off ice." The scarlet letter was meant as a punishment for Hester, and yet here we see that it hasn’t punished Hester. Then, in chapter 18, Hawthorne writes, "Thus, we seem to see that, as regarded Hester Prynne, the whole seven years of outlaw and ignominy had been little other than a preparation for this very hour." Although the scarlet letter does bring shame to Hester, as Hawthorne writes, it has not performed its duty. Hester pl... ...d. (For example, in chapter 21, Hawthorne writes, "Their immediate posterity, the generation next to the early emigrants, wore the blackest shade of Puritanism, and so darkened the national visage with it, that all the subsequent years have not sufficed to clear it up.") The common interpretation Hawthorne tries to get across implies that Natural Law (as seen in the book) is equal to God’s Law, and that the Puritans have all their beliefs mixed up and they’re wrong. This is where Hawthorne errs. In reality, Puritan Law is closer to God’s law than is Natural Law, as we see it in the book. The Puritans base their law on God’s Law, but the Natural Law portrayed in the book isn’t based on God’s law. In closing, Hawthorne uses several symbols to portray themes and ideas in this novel. Each of these has common interpretations, many of which aren’t completely accurate.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Essay --

A camp focused on not only torture but death. something so permanent, so final. thousands of prisoners thrown in this camp every day just to be killed (about 800,000). With no rhyme or reason, besides the thought of the jews being completely worthless and not even deserving of living on this earth and breathing the air. The logic in this time is completely lost, they jews were treated no better than dirt under the guards shoes. On a list of the nine worst concentration camps Treblinka is the second. ( the first being the worst.) This camp in particular has gas chambers made to look like showers. even including shower faucets and tile.With pipes running across the ceiling which of course was designed to appear as pipes for the water when in reality the pipes were filled with carbon monoxide gas ( a deadly gas). When the prisoners piled in they were gassed to death.The guards often referred to the tunnels to the chambers as â€Å" the road to heaven†. The other prisoners were sometimes just machine gunned or even â€Å"spilled onto the railroad platform† Bodies were often thrown into huge ditches located east of the chambers. Containing nothing but filthy, scrawny, and hopeless bodies. Five thousand to seven thousand Jews arrived each day increases to about 12,000 a day, though thousands were dead on arrival. This camp was the the last camp whose sole purpose was â€Å"extermination†. It was only fifty miles from the large city of warsaw, which blows my mind that people will still fully confidently try to convince people that the camps never happened. It became known as Treblinka I when the death camp, Treblinka II, was built. The camp was laid out in an irregular rectangle, 400 m by 600 m, surrounded by barbed wire and anti- tank spanish hors... ...revolt took place, approximately two hundred managed to break out. Only sixty of those who escaped were alive at the end of the war to tell the world about the horrors of the awful, terrific camp called Treblinka. When this final gassing was completed, the camp area was ploughed over and trees were planted. The camp was turned into a farm, a guard then settled with his family to protect the crime scene. Perhaps because people were very interested in the rumors they were hearing about what the germans had been conducting in this camp. I would find it hard to believe too, in order to take in all the cold hard facts I also would want to see it with my own eyes. It was because of all the other people who also felt this way that the retired guard felt obligated to â€Å"protect and or guard† the historical area of land where the unforgettable and unbelievable took place.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Essay --

Change management Change is constant, integral part of our personal and professional lives. Change occurs in our world and beyond, at national and global level, in political and socio-economical areas, in management of organisations. As the contemporary world becomes more complicated and significantly interrelated, it forces companies to change their work strategies and become globally competitive (Jeritt, 2013). These pressures for change should be identified by management and immediately enact change management process to increase productivity and performance (Marked By Teachers, 2004). Achievement of such objectives is paramount for organisations; despite of challenges which may originate during implementation of changes (Content Writing, 2012). According to Techopedia (2013): ‘Organisational Change Management is a framework structured around the changing needs and capabilities of an organization. OCM is used to prepare, adopt and implement fundamental and radical organizational changes, including its culture, policies, procedures and physical environment, as well as employee roles, skills and responsibilities.’ Kotter (2009) defines change management as the utilization of basic structures and tools to control any organizational change effort. Today for implementation and monitoring changing process are known plenty of different models. It will be analyzed and evaluated most common models which are Lewin's Change Management Model, ADKAR model and Kotter's Eight Step Change Model. Each model provide particular approach with own advantages and disadvantages therefore it’s significantly important to clearly understand each of the three change management models (Cellars, 2007). Lewin's Change Management Model Kurt Lewin presente... ...tion. Organisational culture provides as opportunities as well as issues for companies. If culture combines with organization’s strategic and operating targets, it can stimulate improvement of performance and efficiency. At the same time dissimilarity of organisation culture and targets may lead for pernicious results (Katzenbach Center, 2013). Thus, organisational culture affects practically on all aspects of the company and it’s exceptional for every organisation and also one of the arduous objects to change (Business Dictionary, 2013. Hence, applying of culture within organisation include analysis of complex of features as beliefs, ideologies and values of company. According to Investopedia (2013) organisational culture define as: ‘The beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions’.

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Domestic and Global Business Environment

BA 7000 Domestic and Global Business Conditions Bradley T. Ewing, Ph. D. Jerry S. Rawls Professor in Operations Management Area of ISQS Office: BA 164A Phone: 742-3939 Email: bradley. [email  protected] edu MBA Summer 2009 COURSE DESCRIPTION BA 7000 – Domestic and Global Business Conditions – This course is intended to help students develop a better understanding of the domestic and global environments in which US businesses compete. Specifically, this course takes a satellite-view of markets in which firms compete, including markets for goods and services; money, bonds and stocks; foreign exchange; and labor.These markets are examined individually and as a system. Particular emphasis is placed on studying the interactions among all markets in order to gain a better understanding of how domestic and global business conditions affect the formulation and implementation of business strategies. COURSE OVERVIEW This course examines the fundamentals of business conditions a nalysis with an emphasis on how domestic and global business conditions affect the formulation and implementation of business strategies. Specifically the primary goals of this course are to enable you to: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢Recognize the relevance of domestic and global business conditions to managerial decision-making and firm performance, and to apply business principles to relate to business issues and the marketplace. Understand the mechanisms of the domestic and global business environment within the broad social, political, industrial and economic contexts. Explore the nature of business conditions and the implications for decision-making, research, business and policy. Analyze the firm, organization, or practices and its operations from a domestic and global systems perspective.Acquire a skill set of analytic tools that will increase your human capital. BOOKS & MATERIALS These books are fairly quick and easy to read: The Undercover Economist by Tim Harfor d The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explains the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli Articles: â€Å"Who Supplied My Cheese? † Business Economics, October 2005. (will be posted on my web site www3. tltc. ttu. du/ewing) â€Å"Strengthening Globalization’s Invisible Hand,† Business Economics, October 2006. (will be posted on my web site www3. tltc. ttu. edu/ewing) Other: Economics for Dummies (contains background, reference material) Online Lecture Notes – a set of PowerPoint slides (in pdf) available on my web site (http://courses. ttu. edu/bewing). You should use these to supplement the e-delivery lectures You should read â€Å"Economics for Dummies† in its entirety before reading any of the other books or doing the assignments. Additionally, you should view the lectures on DVD concur rently with your reading of â€Å"Economics for Dummies†.Reading â€Å"Economics for Dummies† and viewing the lectures prior to doing the assignments will help you understand the material and it should help you get the best grade possible. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. Develop students’ ability to think in business terms and about the conditions surrounding their operating environment. 2. Develop students’ ability to view organizations from a domestic and global business systems perspective. 3. Build students' analytical skills for conducting business analysis. 4. Provide students with the opportunity to develop strategies for real world problems, and to develop decision making skills. . Integrate knowledge gained in other business experiences. Course Topic Guide Material to be covered: Business Conditions Concepts and Analysis Introduction to business conditions, concepts and analysis Operating a firm within the domestic and global environment Global economy an d the Federal Reserve Economics of Risk – risk analysis (perception & communication), risk management & decision making Value Creation, Supply Chain Economics Business model – integrating economics, operations & strategy Note: You may download a set of PowerPoint slides to accompany the lectures.COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING All assignments need to be emailed to me with the course title and semester (i. e. , â€Å"MBA – BA 7000 Summer 2009†) clearly written in the subject line. I will acknowledge receipt of your assignments – usually within 24 hours. Due to the amount of spam and the use of a junk mail filter, do no assume that I have received your assignment until you have received an acknowledgement from me (Note: please use your official Texas Tech email account so that way your email has a better chance of getting through).General Guidelines for Written Work All written work prepared outside of class should be typewritten and contain a cover page with your name, course number, date, and title. Where page lengths are noted for particular assignments, the page lengths assume 12 point font, 8 1/2 by 11 paper, double spaced type, and one inch margins on all sides. In cases where 12 pitch type is not available, page lengths should be adjusted proportionately. Please include a cover sheet for all work which includes your name along with the date and subject of the project. Written work will be graded for both content and quality.That is, grammar, punctuation, spelling, coherence, style, and organization will be considered. A concise style is essential. Corporate executives repeatedly emphasize the need for business schools to do a better job of preparing MBAs to write in an organizational context. The standards applied to writing quality will approximate those applied to major corporate documents that have been prepared for broad distribution among senior executives. In order to receive a grade of â€Å"B† in the cours e the student will need to do â€Å"B† quality work on each of the above assignments.In addition to the above assignments, students will need to do â€Å"B† quality work on the following assignments (#1-4): Assignment #1 Turn in a 2-3 page critique of The Undercover Economist. In your critique of the book identify key points that you think will be valuable to you (or, in some cases, for a particular industry, the domestic or global economy) in the years to come. Additionally, identify what parts, if any, of the book were a waste of your time to read. I also want you to identify what parts of the book relate to the lectures.Next, discuss how you would/could successfully apply the major points of the book in an organization (of your choosing but presumably in the field of your chosen profession). Discuss potential pitfalls (i. e. , areas that are especially vulnerable to â€Å"success† and thus provide examples of how these major points have been unsuccessfully ap plied in the organization of your choosing). Discuss how you would (e. g. , if you were to be consulted or had been consulted) apply some of these tools and knowledge differently to the organization in the future.Then on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being the best) give an overall assessment of the book. Assignment #2 Turn in a 2-3 page critique of The Tipping Point. In your critique of the book identify key points that you think will be valuable to you (or, in some cases, for a particular industry, the domestic or global economy) in the years to come. Additionally, identify what parts, if any, of the book were a waste of your time to read. I also want you to identify what parts of the book relate to the lectures.Next, discuss how you would/could successfully apply the major points of the book in an organization (of your choosing but presumably in the field of your chosen profession). Discuss potential pitfalls (i. e. , areas that are especially vulnerable to â€Å"success† and th us provide examples of how these major points have been unsuccessfully applied in the organization of your choosing). Discuss how you would (e. g. , if you were to be consulted or had been consulted) apply some of these tools and knowledge differently to the organization in the future.Then on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being the best) give an overall assessment of the book. Assignment #3 Turn in a 2-3 page critique of Freakonomics. In your critique of the book identify key points that you think will be valuable to you (or, in some cases, for a particular industry, the domestic or global economy) in the years to come. Additionally, identify what parts, if any, of the book were a waste of your time to read. I also want you to identify what parts of the book relate to the lectures. Next, discuss how you would/could uccessfully apply the major points of the book in an organization (of your choosing but presumably in the field of your chosen profession). Discuss potential pitfalls (i. e. , areas that are especially vulnerable to â€Å"success† and thus provide examples of how these major points have been unsuccessfully applied in the organization of your choosing). Discuss how you would (e. g. , if you were to be consulted or had been consulted) apply some of these tools and knowledge differently to the organization in the future.Then on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being the best) give an overall assessment of the book. Assignment #4 Turn in a 2-3 page critique of Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. In your critique of the book identify key points that you think will be valuable to you (or, in some cases, for a particular industry, the domestic or global economy) in the years to come. Additionally, identify what parts, if any, of the book were a waste of your time to read. I also want you to identify what parts of the book relate to the lectures.Next, discuss how you would/could successfully apply the major points of the book in an organization (of your cho osing but presumably in the field of your chosen profession). Discuss potential pitfalls (i. e. , areas that are especially vulnerable to â€Å"success† and thus provide examples of how these major points have been unsuccessfully applied in the organization of your choosing). Discuss how you would (e. g. , if you were to be consulted or had been consulted) apply some of these tools and knowledge differently to the organization in the future. Then on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being the best) give an overall assessment of the book.In order to receive a grade of â€Å"A† in the course the student will need to do â€Å"A† quality work on each of the above assignments. In addition to the above assignments, students will need to do â€Å"A† quality work on the following two assignments (#5-6): Assignment #5 Turn in a 2-3 page critique of the articles â€Å"Who Supplied My Cheese? † and â€Å"Strengthening Globalization’s Invisible Hand,†. In your critique of the article identify key points that you think will be valuable to you (or, in some cases, for a particular industry, the domestic or global economy) in the years to come.Additionally, identify what parts, if any, of the article were a waste of your time to read. I also want you to identify what parts of the article relate to the lectures. Next, discuss how you would/could successfully apply the major points of the article in an organization (of your choosing but presumably in the field of your chosen profession). Discuss potential pitfalls (i. e. , areas that are especially vulnerable to â€Å"success† and thus provide examples of how these major points have been unsuccessfully applied in the organization of your choosing). Discuss how you would (e. g. if you were to be consulted or had been consulted) apply some of these tools and knowledge differently to the organization in the future. Then on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being the best) give an overall assessm ent of the article. Assignment #6 – Value Creation Project The Value Creation project consists of a written report. VALUE CREATION DISTANCE LEARNING PROJECT OUTLINE: In this assignment I want you to select an existing company and then select a country (or, if doing a project related to Wind Energy, you may choose a region of the US or the offshore) to which you want the chosen company to expand.Next, I want you to investigate the external environment of the country to which the firm plans to expand and compare it to the domestic environment in the firm’s home country. I then want you to discuss how good of a fit the new country’s environment is for your chosen firm. Specifically discuss: What macro-environmental trends are relevant? What are the contending forces in the industry? What forces are changing the industry over time? Are there key competitors that present opportunities or challenges to the firm?Define opportunities as favorable conditions in the exter nal environment, define threats as unfavorable conditions in the external environment, and conduct an environmental scan. Additional factors about the chosen country that you may want to consider when doing the environmental and competitive analyses. Each sub-section (i. e. , A, B, C, D, E, F) should be about 2-3 pages. Thus, since there are two major parts (i. e. , I and II), the overall length should be around 24-36 pages. Additionally, a cover page and a references section are required (but do NOT count in the page length suggestions).The absolute page limit (not including the cover sheet and references) is 40 pages. A full letter grade will be deducted on any project longer than 40 pages. No exceptions. Please follow this outline carefully. I. General Environmental Analysis A. Economic 1. Overall level of development 2. Economic growth: GDP and industry 3. Role of foreign trade in the economy 4. Currency: inflation rate, currency controls, stability of exchange rate 5. Balance o f payments 6. Per capita income and distribution 7. Disposable income and spending patterns B. Social/Cultural 1.Population size, growth, density, distribution (urban/rural) 2. Literacy rates, education levels 3. Existence of middle class 4. Similarities and differences in relation to company's home market 5. Language and other cultural considerations C. Political 1. System of government 2. Political stability and continuity 3. Ideological orientation 4. Government involvement in business 5. Attitudes toward foreign business 6. National economic and development priorities 7. Membership in regional trade organizations D. Technological E. Physical 1. Physical distribution and communications network (e. . , supply chain) 2. Climate variations 3. Shipping distance F. Major Threats and Opportunities II. Industry/Competitive Environment A. Threat of New Entrants/Barriers to Entry 1. Limitations on trade (e. g. , high tariff levels, quotas) 2. Documentation and import regulations 3. Local standards, practices, and potential non-tariff barriers 4. Patent/trademark availability 5. Preferential treaties with a company's home country 6. Legal considerations for investment, taxation, profit repatriation, employment 7. Availability of intermediaries B. Threat from Competitors 1.Number of international competitors and their market shares 2. Number of local competitors and their market shares 3. Advantages needed to compete effectively relative to competitors C. Threat from Substitutes D. Power of Buyers 1. Customer needs and desires (e. g. , demand behavior and estimation, price elasticity of demand, etc. ) 2. Local production, imports, consumption 3. Exposure to and acceptance of product/service 4. Availability of complementary products/services 5. Industry-specific key indicators of demand 6. Attitudes towards products of foreign originE. Power of Suppliers 1. Number and location of suppliers 2. Market structure (e. g. , competitive, monopoly, or in-between, etc. ) F. Maj or Threats and Opportunities ASSIGNMENT DUE DATES (Recommended) Assignments #1 & #2 are due June 22, 2009 Assignments #3 & #4 are due July 13, 2009 Assignments #5 & #6 (Value Creation Project) are due August 3, 2009 Note: The absolute Final Date to turn in all assignments is Monday, August 3rd at 5:00 PM CLASSROOM POLICY ISSUES WITHDRAWAL POLICY The requirements set by the university for withdrawal will be strictly followed.You should retain all documentation of courses you have dropped. STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS The university is committed to the principle that in no aspect of its programs shall there be differences in the treatment of persons because of race, creed, national origin, age, sex, or disability, and that equal opportunity and access to facilities shall be available to all. Any student who because of a disability may require special arrangements in order to meet course requirement should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make any necessary accommodations.S tudents should present appropriate verification from AccessTECH in the Student Counseling Center in West Hall. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY The university catalog states the following: â€Å"It is the aim of the faculty of Texas Tech University to foster a spirit of complete honesty and a high standard of integrity. The attempt of students to present as their own any work that they have not honestly performed is regarded by the faculty and administration as a serious offense and renders the offenders liable to serious consequences, possibly suspension. The catalog defines cheating as â€Å"Dishonesty on examinations and quizzes or on written assignments, illegal possession of examinations, the use of unauthorized notes during an examination or quiz, obtaining information during an examination from the examination paper or otherwise from another student, assisting others to cheat, alteration of grade records, illegal entry to or unauthorized presence in an office are instances of cheating. I n this class, collaboration with others on in class examinations and cases is considered within the definition of cheating. RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS A student who intends to observe a religious holy day should make that intention known to the instructor prior to the absence. A student who is absent from classes for the observance of a religious holy day shall be allowed to take an examination or complete an assignment scheduled for that day within a reasonable time after the absence.