Strategic approach to global events

Strategy is a major approach towards ensuring the success of any venture which takes place. It is worth noting that strategy exists where there are activities which need to be achieved and conquered. This implies that the world in which we live in requires approaches which ensure that the events which come up in the course of life are realized. There are global events which require strategy.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic approach to global events specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this case, these global events are embraced by many nations because they mostly have a positive impact to the nations in which they are hosted. In addition, they enable the participants to enjoy the new environment in which they are hosted. It is however worth noting that the economic benefits of hosting major events are not clear cut. For instance, hosting the Olympics, the soccer world cup and European championships gener ate economic benefits to the host cities and as a result there are massive competitions between nations and cities to host these events. Given our present state of knowledge of the economic importance of major sports events, it seems that the global demand of cities to host them exceeds the supply of economically significant events. Any single city therefore will struggle to devise an economic development strategy based on sport solely on the basis of sports events. This essentially leads to what we have mentioned in this paper as strategy. This paper is a briefing that covers the issues surrounding Olympics event which took place in the Beijing city of China in 2008. Olympics is a global event that is held after every four years at predefined destinations around the world. This event is associated with opening up of economic opportunities for the host country. Hosting such an event opens market opportunities for different organizations. History of the Olympics No other sporting eve nt in the last 100 years has had the widespread effects of the Olympic Games. Along with providing a venture for the finest athletes from a variety of sports, the games provide opportunities for spectators to enjoy international competition in virtually every world nation. Through the years, nationalism developed in the Olympics as every nation took pride in its athletes and created heroes for youth to emulate.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Modern Olympic Games started with the 1896 games in Athens, and they have taken place every four years since then, with some gaps due to world wars. Madrid is one of the four candidate cities currently bidding for to host the 2016 edition of the Olympic Games. The ancient Olympics were founded as a festival to honour the king of Greek gods, Zeus. The games were held every four years for more than 1,000 years, from 776BC to 393, AD. Only Greeks were allowed to compete, although athletes from Greek colonies in countries that are now Spain, Italy, Libya, Egypt, Ukraine, and Turkey gave the Olympics an international flavour. The last games were held in 393 AD, after which the Christian Emperor of Rome, Theodosius I, banned pagan worship. The Olympic Games are one of the enduring contributions of Greek civilization. In addition to fostering a strong belief in the value of athletics, the games produced notable works of art, music, and culture and celebrated individual achievement. Those characteristics sparked the rebirth of the Olympics not more than a thousand years later, in 1986. The games began again in Athens, with just 14 countries competing in sports: track and field, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, wrestling, swimming, weightlifting, tennis, and shooting. These modern Olympic Games have continued through political conflicts, world wars, and the passing of generations. The modern Olympic Games were revived by Baro n Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator. His vision was to replicate worldwide the positive effects of the original Greek Olympics founded in Athens. According to the Olympic charter, â€Å"Olympicism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of the body, will, and mind. As these games take shape, they blend sport with a cultural touch.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic approach to global events specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This creates a way of life which is based on the joy which is founded and established in efforts put in place by the athletes and the host cities. Consequently, this gives the educational value which is used as an example and respect for the universal and fundamental ethical principles. Effects of the Olympic Games The games profoundly affect their host city, the media who cover the contests, and the athletes who compete. This effect is fe lt in the years leading to the competition, and in many cases it lasts for years afterward. Most Olympic competitors devote their early years to development and training in the hope of some day qualifying for the Olympics. Once they finalize their dream, it becomes the defining factor in their life and sets the path for the years ahead. Many trade on their Olympic success as they move on to other professions. Host city Cities from around the world compete furiously to host the Olympic Games because of the potential prestige and financial benefits they offer. Sport venues are created or refurbished and endure once the Olympics end, used by athletes from the host country. Yet the costs of hosting can be daunting. In spite of the huge financial risks, the race for potential host cities has only heated up. Leading contenders for the 2012 summer Olympics were Paris, London, New York, and Moscow, and the city of London was awarded to host the event. For instance Beijing underwent rigorous vetting and presented their plans to the international Olympic committee boasting of their assets and the benefits of awarding the bid to them in the build up to these games. The city of Beijing worked towards establishing a serene city. This was achieved by sprucing up the city, removing decaying slums, and constructing new high rise buildings. Traffic and transportation are always the concern with so many people concentrated in one city during the games that new roads need to be built, transit system refurbished, and travel capacity expanded. New stadiums and athletic facilities are required for every Olympic Games. The host city begins by assessing the current facilities that are suitable and then constructs needed arenas, pools, and so on. The funding becomes complicated as various groups pitch in money in return for use or ownership of the facility long after the games end.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Beijing 2008 Olympics significantly affected the long term economic of the city and state. These Olympic legacies can be grouped into three categories: 1.The creation of world class facilities 2.The national and international recognition of the city through extensive media exposure. 3.Community benefits such as local volunteerism, job creation and training, youth programs, and funding for community development projects. It was in July 13, 2001, and the people of Beijing, china anxiously waited to hear the results. The election being held on this day could leave a unique legacy to the country of china and especially the city of Beijing. This was an important day since the 112th International Olympic Committee session which was being held in Moscow, Russia was to conclude and state which city was going to host the 2008 summer Olympic Games. Eventually, the city of Beijing was honoured to host the games and this meant that they had seven years to prepare. Essentially, when the IOC chooses a host city, there are many factors to consider which include the city’s history of terrorism, environmental concerns, and recent locations of the games. Hosting the Olympic Games is a great honour for a city and country; however it is also a very expensive business. Host cities need to prepare for the games; which is why the host city is chosen seven years before the Olympics they are to host. The city of Beijing had immense work to do in order to ensure that it had placed itself strategically for the vent. A careful plan which was prepared estimated that the planners needed over 5,000 tons of vegetables to feed everyone during the games. In addition, water was a big concern for this drought prone city. Essentially, the city needed approximately 3.89 billion cubic meters of water in 2008. There were 650 star – rated hotels and 4,000 common hotels to accommodate up to 500,000 visitors but homes and increasing its security in anticipation of the games. In order to keep the city safe, there was need to deploy about 20,000 policemen and 10,000 professional security staff for the event. One of the biggest challenges that the organizers had to deal with was the stadium. That is the stadium where the opening and the closing ceremonies as well as the track and field events would be held. The Beijing developed a national stadium which was later known as the â€Å"Bird’s Nest† which was located on the Olympic Green next to Beijing National Aquatics Centre. This design was arrived at after the Chinese government hosted a design competition in 2002 and awarded the design to architects Herzog and deMeuron with ArupSport and China Architecture Design and Research Group. Work commenced on March, 2004. The stadium which was developed could seat as many as 91,000 spectators during the games and is 330 meters long, 220 meters wide and 69.2 meters high. Built with 36 kilometres of unwrapped steel, the stadium cost over 423 million U.S dollars . PEST Analysis Performing a PEST analysis on the event involves analyzing all the Political, Environmental, Social and Technological factors for purposes of strategic management. Political factors Political factors play a great role in the success of this event. Since it is a global event, the interaction between citizens from different countries is inevitable. If there is political tension between a hosting country and any of the participating countries, many followers of the event may avoid travelling to the hosting country for fear of their safety. For example, political differences between many nations disrupted the occurrence of this event between 1938 and 1950. As a result, the event’s mission suffered a major setback. Therefore, the existence of a favourable political atmosphere between the event’s hosting country and the participating nations is vital for the success of this event. Environmental factors The environmental factors include the surrounding conditi ons for example weather and climate. The weather conditions that surround this event are those of the hosting nation. Because of differing weather conditions in different countries, moving to the hosting country for this event presented many weather related problems. In some extreme cases people avoided travelling to China because of the fear for harsh weather conditions. This negatively impacted on the event’s mission. It is therefore important that the stakeholders give environmental factors a serious consideration before choosing a location for this event. Social factors Social factors usually entail the cultural aspects of a population. These may include race attribute, articulations about health, distribution of age and gender. The Beijing based Olympic event only attracted people in their prime age. Therefore the target group for this event is people in this age bracket. About gender, it is evident that World Cup attracts more males than females. The strategies employed to attract people should therefore put these social factors into consideration. Technological factors These factors include various Olympic events got transmitted through television to interested parties at different parts of the world. This is an excellent aspect of technology that makes it possible for those who unable afford to travel to china to follow the main events at the comfort of their homes. Advancements in technology have also made it possible for people to book tickets and hotel accommodations online. This enhances customer satisfaction and an increase the chances of getting more customers.Through technology the mission of the event gets easily fulfilled. External Analysis External analysis of the event involves looking at the potential threats and opportunities that the event would face when aspiring to achieve its mission. Threats The successful occurrence of this event faced several threat factors. The first threat is political differences between participating coun tries. The presence of political differences among different nations increase the likelihood of the outbreak of war in the course of or before the event occurs. An example of the effect of politics on this event is the Second World War that brought the event to a dormant state between 1938 and 1950. During this period, the mission of this event was shattered because the political tension existing then could not allow it to occur. It is therefore worthy to mention that a detailed analysis of the political situation around the world is necessary before choosing that location for this event. The second threat is criminology. During this event most criminals take it as an opportunity to carry out their criminal activities. Those individuals who fall victim of these criminal activities may vow never to attend a similar event in future. As a result, the event would end up losing its popularity and this would only work against its mission. It is therefore important for the stakeholders to put in place security measures aimed at unmasking any planned criminal activity. The third threat to this event is competition from similar events which would result in divided attention consequently limiting the impact of the event on its potential customers and the economy at large. To avoid this, it is advisable that the major stake holders and those involved in planning for this event ensure that it does not coincide with any other similar or competing event. Opportunities Even though this event faced many threats it is important to consider the many opportunities that it faced externally. First, Millions of people struggle for the opportunity to witness a live coverage of the event while others opt to follow the same series of events through television. Therefore the impact of this event will be far reaching and it is an essential tool in carrying out what the mission statement says. Secondly, the event provides an opportunity for some Chinese business organizations to penetrat e new markets. Through sponsoring this activity, the sponsoring company gets the rights to freely advertise its products to the people attending the event. As a result, it will manage to expand its current customer base to a greater size and diversify its product variety through the inception of a new brand to the market during this period. Besides, it will increase its popularity beyond international boundaries. Consequently, the organization will have a competitive advantage over its rivals over a period that extends the whole event coverage period. The third opportunity lies in the impact of this event on the destination (China). Through china, the event gets the opportunity to popularize itself to the people of that country. Before this event is hosted in any country, adequate preparations in terms of infrastructural facilities are made. Some of the infrastructural facilities that underwent remarkable improvement are roads and play stadiums for example the Yankee stadium and the birds nest. Citizens from China benefitted greatly from this infrastructural advancement and back in their minds, they attributed them to the event. As a result they developed positive opinions about the event hence making it to technically promote itself. Recommendation of Strategic Approach for Future Improvement In order to give the most appropriate strategic approach for future development, Porter’s five-force model will come in handy. This model is essential in determining an organization’s position in relation to the impact of the forces described by Porter. According to porter, all organizations are affected by forces such as supplier power, buyer power, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitutes, buyer power and rivalry By using this five force matrix, a strategic manager is able to strategize on how to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals. Supplier power Since the application of this force is based on an industry that has suppliers of raw mater ials, another approach is applicable for the event under consideration. In the event’s case, the suppliers can be likened to sponsors of the event. Without suppliers, organizations would collapse. Similarly, without sponsors, the funding of the month old event would certainly be a difficult task. In order to ensure constant support every time the Olympic event is held the organizers of or stakeholders should endeavour to foster a good relationship with the potential sponsors. If this happens, then they would be certain that the event would always succeed in achieving its mission. Buyer power Like supplier power, buyer power would imply the people interested in attending or following the series of activities that underlie the start and completion of this event. The income generated comes from none other than the fans and viewers in various stadia for example Gold mountain stadium, Birds’ nest stadium and the Worker’s stadium among others. When their turnout is lo w, the revenue falls but when it is high, the revenue shoots up. Therefore the way the stake holders impress the fans through the event will always determine how much they generate or how many business opportunities they create for business organizations such as tourist hotels. Threat of New Entrants The threat of new entrant to the event comes in the form parallel events that may emerge and divert people’s attention from this event. The parallel events could be other sporting activities that threaten to fight for a share of attention from the event’s customer base. To overcome this threat, the event organizers and stakeholders should aspire to make this event their favourite. The reality on the ground, however, is that the world cup event does not face any threat of new entrants. Threat of Substitutes In the context of the event, a threat of substitutes refers to a new event that would emerge and take the place of this global event. Over the years, such threat has not been witnessed and it is unlikely that it may occur soon. Rivalry In the context of this global event, rivalry would refer to other events that seem to compete for attention from the event’s customer base. It would come from other sporting activities like rugby, athletics and football among others. Indeed, this event has many potential rivals. As a result, its organizers and stakeholders should put up measures that help to overcome this force. Conclusion The Olympic event played a major role in the creation of business opportunities and opportunities for enhancing its popularity. Through various advertisements in electronic media, the event promoted sales of products from its main sponsors for example Coca Cola. Holding this event also came with numerous benefits to the citizens of China. They benefited from improved or high quality road networks, high-class stadium facilities and high class hotel facilities among others. The influx of tourists both in the local and the inte rnational scale also generated foreign income whose time has already started. Locally made products got international recognition and this formed a new source of income. As a result, the economy of China got a major economic. Reference List Alan Tomlinson, CY 2006, National identity and global sports events: culture, politics, and spectacle in the Olympics and the football World Cup, SUNY Press, New York. Clark, G 2008, Local development benefits from staging global events, OECD Publishing, New York. Close, P, Askew, D Xu, X 2007 , The Beijing Olympiad: the political economy of a sporting mega-event, Taylor Francis, New York. Espy, R 1979, The politics of the Olympic Games,Volume 13, University of California Press, California. Girginov, V Parry, SJ 2005 , The Olympic games explained: a student guide to the evolution of the modern Olympic games, Routledge, New York. Goldblatt, JJ 2002, Special events: twenty-first century global event management, Wiley, New York. Goldblatt, JJ 200 7, Special events: the roots and wings of celebration, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Government, C 2008, 2008 Summer Olympics — Beijing, China, In the Hands of a Child, Beijing. Gregory, C 2008, Local development benefits from staging global events, OECD Publishing, New York. Hill, CR 1996, Olympic politics, Manchester University Press ND, Manchester. May, G May, MG 2010, Strategic Planning, Business Expert Press, London. McAndrew, M 2006, Historical dictionary of the Olympic movement, Scarecrow Press, London. Payne, M 2006, Olympic turnaround:how the Olympic Games stepped back from the brink of extinction to become the world’s best known brand, Greenwood Publishing Group, New York. Preuss, H 2004, The economics of staging the Olympics: a comparison of the Games, 1972-2008, Edward Elgar Publishing, Massachusetts. Price, ME 2008, Owning the Olympics: narratives of the new China, University of Michigan Press, Michigan. Rea, PJ Kerzner, H 1997, Strategic Planning: A Pr actical Guide, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Roald Bahr, LE 2009, Sports Injury Prevention, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Shaw, CA 2008, Five Ring Circus:Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games, New Society Publishers, London. Wout van Wezel, RJJ 2006 , Planning in intelligent systems: aspects, motivations, and methods, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Young, DC 2004, A brief history of the Olympic games, Wiley-Blackwell, New York. Young, K Wamsley, KB 2005 , Global Olympics: historical and sociological studies of the modern games, Elsevier JAI, London. This essay on Strategic approach to global events was written and submitted by user Jaylen Ochoa to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Social Justice and Charity Essay Example

Social Justice and Charity Essay Example Social Justice and Charity Essay Social Justice and Charity Essay Social justice, in the present, is dominantly viewed by the contemporary civilization as the concept wherein everyone is equal with each other in terms of social privileges in life. Commonly, this concept is regarded in the aspect of material terms that every single individuals must have the same right for access and acquisition of the lifestyles choices, luxuries and services offered by the present social community. Thus, the concept of social justice is indeed presently established in relation to the economic aspect of the contemporary lifestyle. Concerning the correlation of concept of social justice with the aspect of charity, one can actually argue that the two are indeed opposite, as one would actually negate his or her justifiable personal right for social equality. Individuals who will indulge with charitable profession or services will indeed give up his or her privilege for equal status with the other and embraced a lifestyle potentially lesser in economic terms with the majority. However though, looking at the situation in the positive side, charitable profession such as those practiced by social workers can also be considered as privilege not in the economic aspect but in the social one. Indeed, social workers are indeed promoting social justice in their respective social community, as they are able to promote the equal betterment of the people through giving them their rightful privileges for services such as in the medical aspect and others in the form of selfless action. Thus, this concept must be critically explained to the social workers, as this will be the main core of the charity values and views regarding their profession influencing the prime decision that will put them in this field. For the social workers, the concept of social justice does not only apply to economic terms but in general social aspect wherein their personal rights and privileges will not be negated by their profession but will only be enhance and they will be able to personally l ive up the values of equality in the society.

Burger King Beefs Up Global Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Burger King Beefs Up Global Operations - Essay Example The corporate headquarters of Burger King is located in Miami, Florida. Miami is often referred to by Latinos as the capital of Latin America. The firm’s reputation in Miami which is one of the cities in the United States with the highest population of Latinos spilled over into the rest of Latin America (Uts, 2011). In terms of geographic considerations the proximity of Miami to the South America and the Caribbean region enhances the ability of Burger King’s management to visit these countries and for franchisees to visit corporate headquarters. Marketing is the value chain activity that adds greatest value to the company. The success of Burger King is highly dependent on its ability to attract return customers. Advertising has been used by the company to build the brand value of the firm. The company finances a lot of its marketing budget by charging its franchisees a 4% marketing fee on all sales which is independent of the 4.5% royalty fee it charges (About, 2011). 3 . The international expansion of Burger King came at a slower pace than its main competitor in the fast food industry, McDonald’s. An advantage of being the first to the market is that first entrants create greater brand value recognition than followers (Kotler, 2003). A second advantage of entering a market first is the ability to obtain a greater market share. Companies that follow have to invest a lot of money in advertising to steal market share away from the first entrant. A third advantage of being first in the market is the ability to lock up contracts with suppliers. This is very important especially in markets that have a limited amount of suppliers. The most important supplier for a hamburger chain is the slaughterhouses that provide the meat. On the other hand it is advantageous to enter the market later because the first entrant takes all the risks of the market not being suitable for the product the company offers. Another advantage of entering later is that the first entrant spends large amounts of capital to build up the demand for the product and is also responsible for creating the supplier network. 4. An advantage for a company such as Burger King in comparison with local merchants is that Burger King has greater purchasing power than the competition. Burger King can take advantage of economies of scale and as a consequence the firm can implement a lower price structure to attract customers. The local merchants have advantages over Burger King such as having a fixed customer base and greater knowledge of the customers eating preferences. 5. Burger King has more than 2/3 of its stores located in North America. The company has to move away from this strategy due to the fact that the fast food industry in this region is very saturated particularly in the United States. There are over 160,000 fast food restaurants located in the United States of America (Numberof, 2010). The company’s strategy must change to achieve greater internat ional penetration. Burger King currently has a physical presence in only 40% of the 210 countries worldwide (Garabain, 2008). Emerging economies should be the prime target of Burger King particularly the BRICS (Lukyanov, 2011). The BRICS is composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The population of China and India combined represent 36.66% of the world’s population. 6. It is advantageous to penetrate countries that have large numbers of youth and shopping centers. The main consumers of fast food are teenagers, generation

Article in Africa Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

In Africa - Article Example e, director for African Humans Rights Watch, insists The government, and the industries and farmers themselves, need to do a lot more to protect people who live and work on farms. The workers undoubtedly have to deal with plague-like conditions in which pesticides are exposed, lack of accesses to toilets is hindered, drinking water is not available, and to efforts are conducted to protect the workers through a union. In addition, he worked with closely with another association that produced a report known as â€Å"Ripe with Abuse: Human Rights Conditions in South Africa’s Fruit and Wine Industries.† Undeniably, the farm workers have no say on regulations but continue to suffer drastically. No evidence has been found to document any actions that is taken by the government to protect these workers. Although South Africa has laws that guarantee wages, benefits, and housing conditions; one cannot refute the fact that these big companies continue to push these workers into m isery. The majority of the current and former farm workers interviewed about these conditions said they had been exposed to pesticides without adequate safety equipment. When farm workers are inflicted with sickness, they are not granted any sick days unless they present a medical certificate. Clearly, the government needs to address this issue in order to elevate living

Health Improvement Essay Example for Free

Health Improvement Essay To address this challenge, the world’s governments committed themselves at the United Nations Millennium Summit to the Millennium Development Goals, including the overarching goal of halving extreme poverty by the year 2015. Yet, our planet’s capacity to sustain us is eroding. The problems are well-known – degrading agricultural lands, shrinking forests, diminishing supplies of clean water, dwindling fisheries, and the threat of growing social and ecological vulnerability from climate change and loss of biological diversity. While these threats are global, their impacts are most severe in the developing world – especially among people living in poverty who have the least means to cope. Is this environmental decline inevitable in order for poverty to be reduced? We argue not. Indeed, quite the opposite is true. If we do not successfully arrest and reverse these problems, the world will not be able to meet the Millennium Development Goals, particularly the goal of halving extreme poverty. As this paper demonstrates, tackling environmental degradation is an integral part of effective and lasting poverty reduction. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) provides the international community with a pivotal opportunity to redirect the global debate, and to forge a more integrated and effective global response to poverty and environmental decline. To succeed, we need to focus on the most important links between poverty, the environment and sustainable development. For many, ensuring sound environmental management means curtailment of economic opportunities and growth, rather than their expansion †¦ too often; it is viewed as a cost rather than an investment. Prepared as a contribution to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development focuses on ways to reduce poverty and sustain growth by improving management of the environment, broadly defined. It seeks to draw out the links between poverty and the environment, and to demonstrate that sound and equitable environmental management is integral to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, in particular eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, combating major diseases, and ensuring environmental sustainability. Four priority areas for sustained policy and institutional change are highlighted: ?Improving governance for pro-poor and pro-environment policies, institutions and services, with particular attention to the needs of women and children; ?Enhancing the assets of the poor and reducing their vulnerability to environment-related shocks and conflict; ?Improving the quality of growth to protect the asset base of the poor and expand opportunities for sustainable livelihoods; ?Reforming international and industrialized country policies related to trade, foreign direct investment, aid and debt. Policy opportunities exist to reduce poverty and improve the environment The environment matters greatly to people living in poverty. The poor often depend directly on natural resources and ecological services for their livelihoods; they are often the most affected by unclean water, indoor air pollution and exposure to toxic chemicals; and they are particularly vulnerable to environmental hazards such as floods and prolonged drought, and to environment-related conflict. Addressing these poverty-environment linkages must be at the core of national efforts to eradicate poverty. Many policy opportunities exist to reduce poverty by improving the environment – but there are significant and often deeply entrenched policy and institutional barriers to their widespread adoption. The past decade of experience since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio reveals some important lessons that help point the way forward. Three broad lessons are highlighted here: ?First and foremost, poor people must be seen as part of the solution – rather than part of the problem. Efforts to improve environmental management in ways that contribute to sustainable growth and poverty reduction must begin with the poor themselves. Given the right incentives and support – including access to information and participation in decision-making – the poor will invest in environmental improvements to enhance their livelihoods and well-being. At the same time, however, it is essential to address the activities of the non-poor since they are the source of most environmental damage. The environmental quality of growth matters to the poor. Environmental improvement is not a luxury preoccupation that can wait until growth has alleviated income poverty, nor can it be assumed that growth itself will take care of environmental problems over the longer-term as a natural by-product of increasing affluence. First, this ignores the fundamental importance of environmental goods and services to the livelihoods and well-being of the rural and urban poor. Second, there are many examples of how bad environmental management is bad for growth, and of how the poor bear a disproportionate share of the costs of environmental degradation. Ignoring the environmental soundness of growth – even if this leads to short-run economic gains – can undermine long-run growth and its effectiveness in reducing poverty. ?Environmental management cannot be treated separately from other development concerns, but requires integration into poverty reduction and sustainable development efforts in order to achieve significant and lasting results. Improving environmental management in ways that benefit the poor requires policy and institutional changes that cut across sectors and lie mostly outside the control of environmental institutions – changes in governance, domestic economic policy, and in international policies. Improving governance ?Integrate poverty-environment issues into nationally-owned poverty reduction strategies, including macroeconomic and sect oral policy reforms and action programmes, so that they can become national sustainable development strategies. Engage poor and marginalized groups in policy and planning processes to ensure that the key environmental issues that affect them are adequately addressed, to build ownership, and to enhance the prospects for achieving lasting results. Address the poverty-environment concerns of poor women and children and ensure that they are given higher priority and fully integrated into poverty reduction strategies and policy reforms – for example, the growing burden of collecting scarce water and fuelwood supplies, and the effects of long-term exposure to polluted indoor air. Implement anti-corruption measures to counter the role of corruption in the misuse of natural resources and weak enforcement of environmental regulations – for example, the destructive impacts of illegal logging and unregulated mining, or the preference for construction of new power and water investments over increasing the efficiency of existing investments. ?Improve poverty-environment indicators to document environmental change and how it affects poor people, and integrate into national poverty monitoring systems. This should be complemented by measures to improve citizens’ access to environmental information. Enhancing the assets of the poor ?Strengthen resource rights of the poor by reforming the wider range of policies and institutions that influence resource access, control and benefit-sharing, with particular attention to resource rights for women. This includes central and sub-national government, traditional authorities, the legal system, and local land boards, commissions and tribunals. Support decentralization and local environmental management – land, water and forest resource management, and provision of water supply and sanitation services – by strengthening local management capacity and supporting women’s key roles in managing natural resources. ?Expand access to environmentally-sound and pro-poor technology, such as crop production technologies that conserve soil and water and minimize the use of pesticides, or appropriate renewable energy and energy e fficient technologies that also minimize air pollution. This includes support for indigenous technologies, and the need to address the social, cultural, financial and marketing aspects of technical change. ?Promote measures that reduce the environmental vulnerability of the poor by strengthening participatory disaster preparedness and prevention capacity, supporting the formal and informal coping strategies of vulnerable groups, and expanding access to insurance and other risk management mechanisms. Reduce the vulnerability of the poor to environment-related conflict by improving conflict resolution mechanisms in the management of natural resources and addressing the underlying political issues that affect resource access. Improving the quality of growth ?Integrate poverty-environment issues in economic policy and decision-making by strengthening the use of environmental assessment and poverty social impact analysis. Improve environmental valuation at both the macro and micro level, in order to highlight the full cost of environmental deg radation for the poor in particular and the economy in general, and to improve economic decision-making. ?Expand private sector involvement in pro-poor environmental management to maximize the efficiency gains from private sector participation, while safeguarding the interests of the poor. This requires capacity within government to negotiate with the private sector – for example, to ensure that utility privatization benefits the poor – and to forge effective public-private partnerships that enhance the poor’s access to environmental services. ?Implement pro-poor environmental fiscal reform including reform of environmentally-damaging subsidies, improved use of rent taxes to better capture and more effectively allocate resource revenues, and improved use of pollution charges to better reflect environmental costs in market prices. Reforming international and industrialized country policies ?Reform trade and industrialized country subsidy policies to open up markets to developing country imports while avoiding environmental protectionism, and to reduce subsidies that lead to unsustainable exploitation – such as subsidies for large-scale commercial fishing fleets that encourage over-harvesting in developing country fisheries. . Make foreign direct investment more pro-poor and pro-environment by encouraging multinational corporations to comply with the revised OECD Code of Conduct for Multinational Enterprises, and to report on the environmental impact of their activities in line with the UN Environment Programme’s Global Reporting Initiative. ?Increase funding for the Global Environment Facility as the major source of funding for global public goods in the environment, such as a stable climate, maintenance of biodiversity, clean international waters and the protective ozone layer. These benefit the whole world as well as the poor themselves – so the rich world must pay a fair share for their maintenance. ?Enhance the contribution of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) to national development objectives by strengthening developing country capacity to participate in the negotiation and implementation of MEAs (for example, to ensure that the Clean Development Mechanism promotes investments that benefit the poor). Also, improved coordination is needed between MEAs so that scarce developing country capacity is used most effectively. ?Encourage sustainable consumption and production – industrialized country consumers and producers through their trade, investment, pollution emissions and other activities affect the environmental conditions of developing countries. Making rich country consumption and production more sustainable will require a complex mix of institutional changes – addressing market and government failures as well as broad public attitudes. Enhance the effectiveness of development cooperation and debt relief with more priority for poverty-environment issues, particularly for the poorest countries where aid and debt relief continue to have a valuable role to play in helping governments to make many of the changes recommended above. Mainstream environment in donor agency operations through staff training, development and application of new skills, tools and approaches, and revisions to the way resources and budgets are allocated. Transparent monitoring of progress against stated objectives and targets is needed in order to hold development agencies accountable and to ensure that a commitment by senior management to addressing poverty-environment issues is put into practice throughout the organization. Conclusion This paper looks ahead with some degree of hope and optimism for the future – there are sometimes win-win opportunities, and there are rational ways of dealing with trade-offs. Environmental degradation is not inevitable, nor the unavoidable result of economic growth. On the contrary, sound and equitable environmental management is key to sustained poverty reduction and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. There are significant policy opportunities to reduce poverty and improve the environment, but more integrated and pro-poor approaches are needed. The World Summit on Sustainable Development is an opportunity to focus on what is most important and to forge a coherent framework for action, with clear goals and achievable targets backed-up by adequate resources and effective and transparent monitoring mechanisms. There can be no more important goal than to reduce and ultimately eradicate poverty on our planet. PART 1 Why the Environment Matters to People Living in Poverty â€Å"Water is life and because we have no water, life is miserable† (Kenya) â€Å"We think the earth is generous; but what is the incentive to produce more than the family needs if there are no access roads to get produce to a market? † (Guatemala) â€Å"In the monsoons there is no difference between the land in front of our house and the public drain. You can see for yourself† (India) In their own words, the environment matters greatly to people living in poverty. Indeed, poor people’s perceptions of well-being are strongly related to the environment in terms of their livelihoods, health, vulnerability, and sense of empowerment and ability to control their lives. Figure 1 provides a simplified framework for understanding how environmental management relates to poverty reduction, and why these poverty-environment linkages must be at the core of action to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and related national poverty eradication and sustainable development objectives. Environmental management for poverty reductionDimensions of povertyDevelopment goals Part 1 of the paper focuses on the poverty-environment relationship by examining how environmental conditions in both rural and urban settings relate to three key dimensions of human poverty and well-being: ?Livelihoods – poor people tend to be most dependent upon the environment and the direct use of natural resources, and therefore are the most severely affected when the environment is degraded or their access to natural resources is limited or denied; Health – poor people suffer most when water, land and the air are polluted; ?Vulnerability – the poor are most often exposed to environmental hazards and environment-related conflict, and are least capable of coping when they occur. We also are concerned with the relationship between growth and the environment and how it affects the poor and efforts to reduce poverty. The environmental soundness of growth matters considerably to the poor, and countries with similar levels of income and growth can have quite different levels of environmental performance. While Figure 1 illustrates the main pathways between environmental conditions and dimensions of poverty, in reality these linkages are multi-dimensional, dynamic and often inter-connected: ?Poverty is now widely viewed as encompassing both income and non-income dimensions of deprivation – including lack of income and other material means; lack of access to basic social services such as education, health and safe water; lack of personal security; and lack of empowerment to participate in the political process and in decisions that influence one’s life. The dynamics of poverty also are better understood, and extreme vulnerability to external shocks is now seen as one of its major features. Environment refers to the biotic and abiotic components of the natural world that together support life on earth – as a provider of goods (natural resources) and ecosystem services utilized for food production, energy and as raw material; a recipient and partial recycler of waste products from the economy; and an important source of recreation, beauty, spiritual values and other amenities. The nature and dynamics of poverty-environment linkages are context-specific – reflecting both geographic location and economic, social and cultural characteristics of individuals, households and social groups. Different social groups can prioritize different environmental issues (Brocklesby and Hinshelwood, 2001). In rural areas, poor people are particularly concerned with their access to and the quality of natural resources, especially water, cro p and grazing land, forest products and biomass for fuel. For the urban poor, water, energy, sanitation and waste removal are key concerns. Poor women regard safe and physically close access to potable water, sanitation facilities and abundant energy supplies as crucial aspects of well-being, reflecting their primary role in managing the household. ?Environmental management, as used in this paper, extends well beyond the activities of public environmental institutions. In relation to poverty, environmental management is concerned fundamentally with sustaining the long-term capacity of the environment to provide the goods and services upon which people and economies depend. This means improving environmental conditions and ensuring equitable access to environmental assets – in particular land and biological resources, and safe and affordable water supply and sanitation – in order to expand poor people’s livelihood opportunities, protect their health and capacity to work, and reduce their vulnerability to environment-related risks. This broader conception of poverty and environment, and of environmental management, is essential to understanding the linkages between them and to identifying appropriate policy and institutional options for improving these linkages. There have been some impressive gains since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment – the first global conference devoted to environment and development issues. There has been a proliferation of environmental policies and institutions at national and sub-national levels, and environmental issues are firmly placed on the agendas of governments, civil society and the private sector. Major global environmental agreements have been forged and global environmental organizations established. Environmental sustainability has become a core concern of bilateral and multilateral development cooperation, and billions of dollars have been spent on environment-related programmes and projects. Tangible progress also has been achieved ‘on the ground’, although the picture is usually mixed. For example, in the 1990s some 900 million people gained access to improved water sources. However, this was merely enough to keep pace with population growth, and about 1. 2 billion people are still without access to improved water sources, with rural populations particularly under-served (Devarajan et al, 2002). Another example is the productivity of soil used for cereal production, which increased on average in developing countries from 1979-81 to 1998-2000. However, it fell in some 25 countries, most of them in Africa, with land degradation being one factor behind the decline (World Bank, 2002c). Despite these gains, pressure on the environment continues to mount worldwide, posing major challenges to the prospects for poverty reduction and human development in developing countries, in particular the least developed countries.

The Problems of SOL Testing :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Problems of SOL Testing Education is one of the most important tools that society possesses. The right implementation of this tool is one of the greatest ways of assuring the quality of life within a society. The ability to better ourselves, is one of the strongest inherit abilities of the human race. At its most basic definition, education is nothing more than the teaching of ideas. The early stages of schooling instill more attitude and social skills than knowledge. The younger stages of a person's life are usually the most definable years of their lives. As the age and skill level of the student increases, more education is based upon the interest of the student. For society to progress and excel, every generation must learn just a little more. Education is important and the ways that it is tested should show the most accurate measure of achievement. SOL's (Standards of Learning) is the testing I am going to explain, and why it should not be required in high school as a form of measurement of a s tudents achievement. First of all, what is SOL testing? SOL (Standards of Learning) Tests are prescribed tests in the state of Virginia that must be taken in order for students to attain credits required to graduate. SOL's are the minimum curriculum requirements for student achievement, so they say. This test is designed to test knowledge in subjects such as history, math, science, english and computer science. SOL's are required tests in the state of Virginia in order for a student to graduate. According to the Virginia Board of Education, SOL test scores are the single best measure of students' and schools performance and should be the primary criteria for graduation and accreditation. But is this really true? According to fairtest.org, no standardized test can accurately measure a student's achievement. Multiple choice tests cannot truly assess critical thinking, problem solving, and application skills. The only real tests of knowledge are through essay questions and performance tests. I don't believe any single test should be used to make big decisions concerning students futures. The Virginia Board of Education, according to fairtest.org, also believes that SOL's set reasonable targets for essential knowledge and skills all teachers must teach and students must learn.

Porter’s Diamond Model For China

The assembly industry uses the advance factors to take the advantage over the other countries. This is because they have more educated workforce, this will help them to do their work at more sophisticated way with better technological improvements, and mainly at cheaper cost which is the biggest advantage for assembly industry till now. Government investment in advance factors has also provided the industry with many educated workers, as result benefitting the assembly industry as a whole.If the domestic demand rises this will overall put the pressure on the assembly industry to come up with new designs and more innovative technologies to take the assembly industry to new level. As a result other companies like Nokia, Sony, HP who were already related with the china assembly industry they will be impressed with this new improvements, thus attracting other company’s also towards the China assembly industry.Because of these vast improvements of the assembly industry many domesti c firms are now encouraged to invest more creating more advance factors, so that it helps the industry to become more successful. This as a result creates a competitive advantage for the industry. Thus giving rise to more competition, and improving the product or services more. Different countries have different management ideologies.As it is an assembly industry more technologically related managers are needed to manage the industry like engineers should be there at the top level so that they will understand the best which machines to use, or which is more updated so that they can run the industry more well. Overall this will keep the industry in pace with others, hence they will be able to provide better services, attracting more foreign companies, and will also be able to hold their position at the peak. Porter’s Diamond Model For China The assembly industry uses the advance factors to take the advantage over the other countries. This is because they have more educated workforce, this will help them to do their work at more sophisticated way with better technological improvements, and mainly at cheaper cost which is the biggest advantage for assembly industry till now. Government investment in advance factors has also provided the industry with many educated workers, as result benefitting the assembly industry as a whole.If the domestic demand rises this will overall put the pressure on the assembly industry to come up with new designs and more innovative technologies to take the assembly industry to new level. As a result other companies like Nokia, Sony, HP who were already related with the china assembly industry they will be impressed with this new improvements, thus attracting other company’s also towards the China assembly industry.Because of these vast improvements of the assembly industry many domesti c firms are now encouraged to invest more creating more advance factors, so that it helps the industry to become more successful. This as a result creates a competitive advantage for the industry. Thus giving rise to more competition, and improving the product or services more. Different countries have different management ideologies.As it is an assembly industry more technologically related managers are needed to manage the industry like engineers should be there at the top level so that they will understand the best which machines to use, or which is more updated so that they can run the industry more well. Overall this will keep the industry in pace with others, hence they will be able to provide better services, attracting more foreign companies, and will also be able to hold their position at the peak.