Ignatian Spirituality and Discernment Term Paper

Ignatian Spirituality and Discernment - Term Paper Example The most astonishing fact has been that the Ignatian spirituality has quite a few similarities with much practiced religions like that of Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. Ignatian spirituality basically deals with the spirituality of the daily life. It focuses on the fact that God is active in our regular lives and ‘his’ presence can always be felt in the world. Ignatian spirituality was formed by Ignatius Loyola, who was a war - wound. Ignatius was also the founder of the Jesuits. Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins noted Ignatian spirituality as â€Å"insistence that God is at work everywhere in work, relationships, culture, the arts, the intellectual life, creation itself†. According to the words of Ignatius, the things in the world are presented to us â€Å"so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily†. The Ignatian spirituality focuses upon discerning the presence of God in the everyday activities of our lives (Ignatian Spirituality, n.d.) Discernment has been always a key issue in the Ignatian spirituality. In fact, the main thought of the spiritualism in this segment depends upon the realization and judgment of God in our daily life. Discernment, according to David Lonsdale, a veteran of Ignatian spirituality, â€Å"involves us in a process of sifting our daily experiences by noting and reflecting regularly on our affective responses to God and to life and its events. It means noting, for example, situations and events in which we experience joy or sorrow, peace or turmoil, attractions or revulsions, an opening out to others or a narrowing in on ourselves, a sense of Gods presence or absence, creativity or destructiveness. The purpose of observing and reflecting on these patterns of responses is that they deepen our sense of ourselves and they can show us where, for each of us, our Christian path lies, where the Spirit of God is

Discussion board Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Discussion board - Essay Example Prison wardens could use excessive force that violates human rights to meet these goals, particularly when handling difficult inmates. Use of inhumane strategies by wardens to contain an inmate’s behavior, either directly or indirectly could cause such wardens to be sued. This could be attributed to violation of laws that dictate that for whatever reason a person is incarcerated, such a person should not suffer pain beyond liberty deprivation and that even the most atrocious offender should be treated with dignity and respect. The report of such violations by a Rikers Island jail guards by Weiser (2009) provides an example of how wardens’ actions could cause them to be sued. This reporter observes that the jail’s wardens influenced other inmates to attack inmates who exhibited undesirable conduct. It was such action by the wardens that led to the death of Christopher Robinson, an 18-year old inmate, on 18th October 2009. Three wardens were linked to the death and charged by the Bronx district attorney of larceny and assault among other charges. Therefore, whereas wardens are charged with maintaining order in correctional facilities, they are limited by the need to respect human rights from acting

How Is Readability Important To Writability?

How Is Readability Important To Writability? User-defined operator overloading can harm the readability of a program if the user doesnt take into account differences in operands and possible confusion between the function of an operator. Consider if a user defined to mean the logical AND statement in Boolean logic. Someone else might believe to be the address of a variable such as the case in a language like C. It would make the code difficult to understand for a reader as well as make it difficult for a compiler to catch potential errors when the two functions of the get mixed up. What is aliasing? Aliasing is having two or more distinct names that can be used to access the same memory cell. It is useful in that it allows a programmer more freedom to access data but it also can be dangerous in that aliasing can lead to a lot of errors especially if a programmer doesnt do a good job of keeping track of these names or pointers to a memory cells. How is readability important to writability? Readability is important to writability because if a programming language is difficult to read and understand then it can be difficult for a programmer to create new code that might need to interact or use other code. Often times code needs to be modified and if a program is difficult to read then it is difficult to add new code to it. What are the three fundamental features of an object-oriented programming language? The three fundamental features of object-oriented programming are encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism. Encapsulation promotes the concept of information hiding, which is useful because it protects information from being changed or altered by other parts of a program. Inheritance allows one to reuse existing software so it allows significant improvement in productivity. Polymorphism allows data types and function to belong to more generic classes thus allowing for different data types to be processed in a uniform manner. What are three general methods of implementing a programming language? One method is compiler implementation in which programs are translated into machine language. Another method is called pure interpretation in which programs are interpreted by an interpreter. A third implementation method is called a hybrid implementation in which high-level language programs and translated to an intermediate language for easier interpretation. What arguments can you make for the idea of a single language for all programming domains? If there is only a single language for all programming domains this simplifies code and increases readability because everyone would learn the same language and have a common understanding of symbols and functions. There are no additional costs of having to train programmers in multiple languages and software would be easier to integrate since everything would be written in the same language. What arguments can you make against the idea of a single language for all programming domains? Different programming languages have different strengths and weaknesses and using a single language for all programming domains can make things more difficult especially when programming in a different language might be easier and more suitable. For example a functional programming language would be ideal for applying functions to given parameters but not a very good way of representing objects in the real world as opposed to object oriented programming. Some programs are more reliable in that they catch errors but at the cost of execution time and run time speed. Others run quickly and efficiently but are more prone to errors. Having a choice of languages makes accomplishing a certain task easier. What common programming language statement, in your opinion, is most detrimental to readability? One of the most common programming language statements that is detrimental to readability is the conditional statement such as an if, while, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ especially if it involves compound statements and or nested conditionals. I believe this is detrimental because often times conditional statements involve the reader of a code having to scroll up and down to follow what goes next. This is especially true with older languages that use the goto statement or ones that use the break command to leap out of a given conditional statement to a line further down or up. I personally find it even more difficult with nested loop statements because one has to recognize layers of conditionals and even more so in languages like C or Java that use brace marks to end compound statements. Sometimes a reader will forget which loop is running or will have a difficult time debugging when forgets to use a brace mark and the conditional statements overlap. Java uses a right brace to mark the end of all compound statements. What are the arguments for and against this design? One of the arguments for the usage of a right brace mark to end all compound statements is that it keep the syntax simple for compound statements and it saves a programmer time for not having to write extra characters to denote the end of a compound statement. One of the arguments against using braces to end all compound statements in Java is that its more detrimental to readability. Its more difficult to determine which different compound statement (while loop, for loop, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) is ending if you use a right brace mark to end all of those statements. This can be especially troublesome if you use many different types of multiple compound statements. Languages like Ada dont use right brace marks to end compound statements and that language has greater readability in this case. For example in Ada end if determines the ending of an if statement, and end loop determines the end of a loop. Many languages distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters in user-defined names. What are the pros and cons of this design decision? One of the arguments in favor of distinguishing between upper and lowercase letters in user-defined names is that it helps maintain code readability. For example if POINTER, Pointer, and pointer were distinct names that denoted different entities, then it might confuse someone reading the code. One of the cons of languages distinguishing between uppercase and lowercase letters is that it could hurt writability by making it harder for a programmer to code. For example if a programmer used MyString as a user name, then that programmer would have to remember that special case usage since Mystring, and mystring would not be recognized. 10) What are the arguments for writing efficient programs even though hardware is relatively inexpensive? As hardware costs decreased the major cost of computing shifted to programmer costs in software. Programs were being used more and more for larger and more complex tasks and thus having efficiently written programs saved on computing costs. Companies found out that programming language deficiencies such as incomplete type checking and poorly designed control statements led to lower programmer productivity. Write an evaluation of some programming language you know, using the criteria described in this chapter. Readability In terms of readability, Java has some issues with simplicity with respect to readability. There is feature multiplicity in Java as shown in the textbook with the example of count = count + 1, count++, count +=1 and ++count being 4 different ways to increment an integer by 1. Another problem is operator overloading since java allows some operators such as the + sign to add integers, floats, and other number types. One of the good things about Javas overall simplicity is that the basic constructs follows that of the C and C++ family, thus its relatively similar for people who know those languages. Control statements in java have higher readability than old BASIC and Fortran programs because they can use more complex conditionals like for loops. There is no need for goto statements that have the reader leaping to other lines of code that could be far away or out of order. However, the use of braces to designate the starting and stopping points of all compound statements can lead to som e confusion. Java has 8 primitive data types: Boolean, char, byte, short, int, long, float and double and has no pointer types. Data types and structures can be specified to a high degree. Writablity Java has a fair bit of orthogonality in that its primitive constructs can be used in various different ways. Because Java is an imperative language that supports object oriented programming, it can be fairly complex. Java supports data abstraction so it would be easier to create a binary tree in java with its dynamic storage and pointers than in a language like Fortran 77. Java also has a for statement which is easier than using a typical while statement. Java is a high level programming language so specifying details like memory allocation are unnecessary due to javas dynamic array system. Reliablity Java uses a type checker at compile time which virtually eliminates most of the type errors during run time. Its much improved over a program like C especially with respect to allocation and de-allocation of memory. It might be a little more cumbersome to get around the errors of Java but this insures that programmers dont screw up the code and possibly computer like what could happen with an inexperienced programmer in C. Java also has extensive exception handling and can check for and throw for several different documented exceptions. Java restricts the amount of aliasing from its predecessor C to allow for greater reliability. With respect to cost, Java has a fairly extensive library so it can be difficult for people to learn all the aspects of the language. Writing a simple program in Java is rather difficult due to the declaration of the public class and the execution statement public static void main (String[] args) {à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦}. However Javas support of encapsulation allo ws multiple programmers working on a project to collaborate without messing up each others code. Different parts can be designated as public, private, protectedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and thus access can be regulated. Java also has a free complier/interpreter system thus it is more widely used than an expensive compiler. Some programming languages, for example, Pascal have used the semicolon to separate statements, while Java uses it to terminate statement. Which of these, in your opinion, is most natural and least likely to result in syntax errors? Support your answer. Personally I feel that Pascals usage of the semicolon to separate statements is rather counterintuitive but possibly its because I learned the usage of the semicolon to terminate statements in C before I learned Pascal. In Pascal one needs to look ahead and identify whether or not the next line is a statement before putting a semicolon. This can be a hassle because requires a programmer to go back and change code before adding new code. For example if use had a program in Pascal that had a simple if statement If x = 0 then Answer:=1; Then in Pascal if you wanted to add an else clause you would have to go back and delete the semicolon because an else clause is not considered a new statement. If x = 0 then Answer:=1 Else Answer:=2; Some Pascal compilers will catch wrongly placed semicolons and declare them as errors. It also means that a programmer needs to be able to recognize what is and what is not a statement thus it hurts writablity. Of course, other requirements in Java such as the usage of parenthesis around the conditional or the usage of braces around the compound statements can also be confusing. However I think its easier to remember not to put a semi-colon after a right brace than it is to have to watch out for not putting it after each statement. The relative consistency of Java is more intuitive than the structure of Pascal.

Relative File Organization :: Free Essay Writer

Relative File Organization This topic discusses different types of indexing techniques that allows the location of records in a file relatively fast with fewer accesses. The techniques that will be addressed deals with random access file organization only. As this is the best file organization that allows records to be stored randomly rather than sequentially or in a contiguous manner. By using direct addressing, a predictable relationship between a key of a record and the location of that record on an external file is established. Two different forms of addressing can be used to establish this relationship: 1.Absolute Addressing 2.Relative Addressing Absolute addressing make use of the storage devices to determine the relationship, and therefore it is machine dependent, e.g., cylinder-number, surface-number, and record-number if we are using cylinder addressing or sector-number and record-number if sector addressing is being used. Hashing Hashing is the application of a function to the key value of a record that results in mapping the range of possible key values into a smaller range of relative addresses. For example, if a company is to maintain data of 10,000 employees by using the employee’s social security number, which ranges from 1 to 999999999, into 10,000 relative positions. The hash function to be applied to the social security number must be able to match each 10,000 social security number into each relative address available. However, collisions do occur. Collisions occurs when two different keys, in this case two social security numbers, hash into the same relative address. These two different keys are termed synonyms. The relationship between the file space and the number of keys is described as the load factor. Load factor is the ratio of the number of key values to be stored versus the number of file positions: Load Factor = number of key values / number of file positions Prime-Number Division Remainder Prime number division remainder method works just like using the mod operator in Pascal or the % operator in C or C++. The key to a record is divided with a prime-number and the remainder from the division is used as the relative address for that record. Digit Extraction This method analyzes the key values to determine which digit positions in the key are more evenly distributed. The more evenly distributed digit positions are assigned from right to left, and the digit values are extracted and used as the relative address. For example, for a key value 546032178, the relative address could be 8134, from left to right the first, third, fifth, and eighth digit positions has been extracted.

Paycom Marketing Plan

The Obama administration’s proposal for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, which was released as part of its â€Å"Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy,† is intended to give users more control over how their personal information is used in commercial transactions (Klosek, 2012). This type of framework is geared toward technologies such as mobile apps. Mobile app technology is capable of cloning personal information from a mobile device such as ID numbers, email address, current location, texts messages, calendars and personal photos. Companies such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL have agreed to not track consumer browser use. These companies have been critized in the past for not doing what is required to protect the privacy of its consumers. They have been tracking their information without any consent or providing information to the consumer regarding how the data will be used. Now with the CPBR, consumers will now have the right to control what information is used, how it will be used and monitor the accuracy of the data collected. In order to use the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights for future litigation, seven general principles have been developed to use as a guide. â€Å"Individual Control: Consumers have a right to exercise control over what personal companies collect from them and how they use it (Kloesk, 2012). † Going forward, companies will have to present consent as well as choices to the consumer about the data that is being collected, whereas before, consumers have been unaware of what type of data was being collected and how it was being used. Transparency: Consumers have a right to easily understandable and accessible information about privacy and security practices (Klosek, 2012). † There are many privacy risks in regards to mobile devices. With the CPBR, consumers with be informed about the most recent and relevant information regarding what personal data can be used. Mobile apps are an example where this information can be critical. â€Å"Respect for Context: Consumers have a right to expect that companies will collect, use, and disclose personal data in ways that are consistent with the context in which consumers provide the data (Klosek, 2012). This generally translates into a deeper guide to increased disclosers to the consumer. In the case that information or data is collected from a consumer and used for anything else other than for the use of the company, the consumer will be notified before and given the opportunity for consent prior to the information being used. They will also be informed what the data will be used for in relation to what is being shared. â€Å"Security: Consumers have the right to secure and responsible handling of personal data (Klosek, 2012). In summary, any data collected will be encrypted and secured when being moved from the consumer’s device to the companies servers. â€Å"Access and Accuracy: Consumers have a right to access and correct personal data in usable formats, in a manner that is appropriate to the sensitivity of the data and the risk of adverse consequences to consumers if the data is inaccurate (Klosek, 2012). † This describes the consumer’s rights to ensure t hat the data being collected is accurate. If they information is incorrect, then they will have the right to correct anything in error. In order for the consumer to ensure accurate information, they will also be granted access to the data being collected. â€Å"Focused Collection: Consumers have a right to reasonable limits on the personal data that companies collect and retain (Klosek, 2012). † Companies cannot collect data from any devices, unless it is relevant to the need or purpose of the original use. Any information collected will be used for a specific goal that is to be accomplished relevant to the need for it to be collected. Accountability: Consumers have a right to have personal data handled by companies with appropriate measures in place to assure that adhere to the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (Klosek, 2012). † Data retained will be handled appropriately. This means that employees will be properly trained on how to ensure information collected is secure and relevant. These seven guidelines are intended to act as a plan to improve consumers’ privacy protections. In addition, it act s as a tool to ensure that information being used from the internet is used to promote economic growth. It will also allow consumers to have increased involvement of their personal information and â€Å"help businesses maintain consumer trust and grow in the rapidly changing digital environment† (Obama, 2012). In the past, the internet has not been secure enough to protect consumer’s personal information. With added protected, consumers can feel more confident to use the internet which will enhance the opportunities for job creation and business growth. The seven guidelines more specifically provide a foundation to protect consumers and grant a greater self-certainty for businesses. American Consumers can’t wait any longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal information is safe online† (President Obama, 2012). In order for a consumer to feel secure, they need to have confidence that their information being used is accurate and used for relevant purposes related to the companies purpose and mission. Daniel Weitzner, who is a former White Hou se deputy chief technology officer for internet policy, is now an advisor to the Coalition for Privacy and Free Trade. He states, â€Å"I believe really strongly that the privacy tends to make progress when there are broad coalitions† (Weitzner, 2013). The Coalition for Privacy and Free Trade welcomes companies that collect, use and transfer personal data (Liebelson, 2013). Prior to the CPBR, companies have been accused of using information for unjust purposes. Apple has been caught storing users’ address books. Google was found tracking the search engines on users’ iphones. Overall, online privacy has been an issue since the internet was created. With the CPBR, consumers can feel for confident in their internet use. Because of these alligations over internet companies, the Federal Trade Commision as prompted companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL to commit to using the Do Not Track technology top prevent user browsing behavior from being tracked (Dharapak, 2012). Leadership is the key to being a successful manager. Peter Northouse (2001) defines leadership as a process whereby one individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. If you want to become an effective leader, a manager must guide employees in a positive manner in order to accomplish a goal as it relates to the company’s mission. There are two types of leaders. There is the transformation leader and the transactional leader and people may argue which leadership role is best for their company. As a manger myself, I believe that the transformational manager can better take the pulse of a group, understand its unspoken currents of thought and concerns, and communicate with people in terms they can understand and embrace. The transformational leadership approach can help managers become exceptional leaders. These types of leaders must develop a skill that will make individuals want improve, change, and be led. You not only have to know their wants, but you must also be able to identify their motives as well as needs. There are four factors to transformational leadership in which are known as the four I’s. The four I’s include: Idealized Influence describes managers who are role models that can be trusted, respected, and able to make good decisions for the organization. Inspirational Motivation is a way of motivating associates to commit to the vision of the organizations, while encouraging team spirit to reach goals that increase revenue and market growth for the organization. Intellectual Stimulation describes mangers who encourage innovations and creativity through challenging the normal beliefs or views of a group. These types of managers promote critical thinking and problem solving to make the organization better. Individual considerations describe a manager who can act as a coach and advisor. This helps not only the associates but the organization as a whole as well (Hall, Johnson, Wysocki, Kepner, 2012). The strengths involved with the transformational approach is that you can effectively influence employees on all levels and identify the needs an values of personal as well. However considering no individual is perfect, there are weaknesses identified by the approach. The weaknesses are that there are many components that seem too broad, treat leadership more as a personality trait than as a learned behavior, and have the potential for abusing power. Although, the strengths of the transformational leader empower individuals to do what is best for the organization. They also have strong role modeling skills that develop high values. In addition, they are active listeners that develop spirit and cooperation, create vision, and helps the organization by helping others put forth to the organization. Transactional leadership styles are more geared towards maintaining the normal flow of operations. They do what it takes to keep the lights on. They use discipline and incentives to motivate employees to perform. They tend to exchange rewards for high performance. A Transactional leader tends to not look ahead in strategically guiding an organization to a position of market leadership; instead, these managers are solely concerned with making sure everything flows smoothly today (Ingram, 2013). Transactional leaders can provide advantages in their abilities to address small operational details very quickly. They manage the things that build a strong reputation in the market. Transformational leaders shoot for ambitious goals while trying to achieve success through vision and team-building skills. Overall, different management styles are suited for different situations. One may needs to possess the skills of both leadership roles. Many times for minimum wage employees, the transactional approach would be more effective. Shift supervisors may also benefit from the transactional approach because they will need to pay attention to the small details. However, a COE with exempt employees will benefit more from a transformational leadership style. They need to have the ability to communicate, plan strategically, and pass missions down to implement details. Marketing Channels is similar to the ways that services and products are distributed. These concepts can be applied to channels in marketing and used as promotional channels. These channels include both direct and indirect marketing. Both of these concepts are extremely vital for various reasons, mainly because companies have to focus particularly on these. Direct marketing can allow a consumer to buy a product by communicating with several advertising media without having to meet in person with a salesman. This includes mail-order selling, direct mail sales, catalog sales, telemarketing, interactive media, and televised home shopping. Examples include distribution channels because they increase the convenience on a product or services to a customer. When customers have easy access, in most cases the demand of the product increases. It is because of distribution channels, that most retailers are wholesalers in the market. Marketing channels are also essential to the marketplace. These channels make the company aware of the needs and demands. Going back to direct and indirect marketing channels, they may sell to wholesalers, who in return, sell to retailers, or sell directly to retail stores. Companies can also use dependent or independent marketing channels. An example of an independent marketing channel would be a manufacturer’s representative. They usually sell the same or similar products to several different manufacturers. These people try to push better selling brands in retail stores, but they are not dependent on sales of the brands and can sell other brands because they are still profiting (Suttle, 2013). However, dependent channels such as small manufacturers rely on wholesalers to market their products to retailers. They also strongly rely on retailors to properly execute their promotions and sales. In the United states, channel members collectively earn margins that account for 30 to 50 percent of the ultimate selling price (Kotler, 2006). There is a very high cost involved with the marketing channel process. Most business are more likely to use several different channels, whether one would think of them as a channel or not. These include but are not limited to print advertising, email campaigns, pay-per-click marketing, direct mails, and banner ads. All of these are used to promote different products and services. The main concept to gather from a marketing channel is that it is a set of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for the use or consumptions by the consumer or business user. Marketing channel functions are performed by intermediaries. This includes a transitional function that is a result of buying, selling, and risk taking. Then there is the logistical function which involves assorting, storing, sorting, and transporting. Last, the facilitating function is incorporated by financing, grading, and marketing information and research. An industrial distributer in involved with a variety of marketing channel performances. These include selling, stocking, and delivering a full product assortment and financing. In smaller words, they act like wholesalers. When making the decision of what marketing channel to use, differential advantages can occur when a company retains a long-term advantage positions in the market that is relative to competitors. IT is important to choose the correct channel design because it directly influences all other marketing decisions and is also the key external resource for many manufacturers. When making these choices, one must ask three questions. 1. How close a relationship should be developed witht the channel members? In question 1, the factors to be considered include: distribution intensity, targeted markets, products, company policies, middlemen, environment, and behavioral dimensions. Who is doing the buying? Where, when and how end users but? 2. How should the marketing mix be used to enhance channel member cooperation? In questions 2, the company must have a firm grasp on the marketing mix. This include the product strategy such as quality branding, pricing strategy such as wholesale/retail/consumer, promotions strategy rather it is push/pull, and a distribution strategy. 3. How should the channel members be motivated to cooperate in achieving manufacturer’s distribution objectives? In question 3, a company needs to know the motivation of the channel members. They need an idea of what portfolio concept they will use for motivating ifferent types and sizes on channel members. Berman, B. Marketing channels: John Wiley & Sons Inc. , New York, 1999, ISBM-13; 978-0471362616. Delton, L. E. , Strutton, D. Marketing Channels: A Relationship management Approach. New York: Prentice Hall, 1997. Frazier, G. L. Organizing and managing channels of distribution// Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 27, No 2, Spring 1999, p. 226-241 Guibert, N. Network governance in marketing commitment in business-to-business channels// Journal of Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 2004, Vol. 2, No 6, p. 636-651. Remaining a small business is not easy. However, remaining small can have its advantages when it comes to business. One question many entrepreneurs ask them self is whether to stay small or expand. In some cases this decision can have its advantages and disadvantages. Why keep your business small? Staying small keeps the founder in close contact with the business, enables personalized service, enables flexibility, and you can make a profit sooner. Small keeps the founder in close contact with the business. You have the opportunity to be more personal and interactive with the customer. You can stay more attentive to feedback and hands-on interaction. This enables you to make decisions more quickly and carefully. When you have a larger business, decision can sometimes take too long and too can leave you with damaging results. Small enable personalized service and flexibility. A majority of communication in small businesses is between the customer and the company. There is usually not a chain that a customer has to go through when they need something. If they have an area of concern or need an answer quickly, small businesses make the process much more friendly to the customer. When you are small, you are much more flexible to adapt to change. You can tweak rules and policies that better benefit customers. Small also allows for a faster profit. You can save money in overhead much easier along with salary and benefit cost while keeping expenses low. By doing this, profit adds up at a much faster rate. When your company is just ran a few or a handful of people, there are opportunities that can be offered to you that you would not typically get in a larger business. You have more customer contact which gives you the leg up when dealing with customer objections and ways to overcome the challenges. A small business can also be cheap. The internet has cut many overheads of running a business. In the past, business owners needed to buy phones, land lines, offices, office equipment etc. These days, all they need is a website and a few business cards. â€Å"People make the mistake of believing that being bigger and more complex makes them better. This can be the opposite: the more simple and small your business is the better you product or service is going to be (Westbrook, 2011). Actor Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight on the popular sitcom The Office. Wilson is the co-founder for soulpancake. co, which is a social networking site for people who are interested in debating life’s big questions. They ask questions and then have discussion with others on the site. This creates a platform for interaction rather that a traditional content site. It also allows users to define the content and enables soulpancake to be more malleable as a business (Elliott, 2013). Rainn enjoys keeping his business small and is not concerned with expanding the business. By keeping this website distant from networks such as twitter and facebook, he feels that the users can feel freer to express their philosophical thoughts with each other. Vector Resources, Inc. is a woman-owned small business that provides a variety os technical support services to the government as well as the private sector clients. Their small business success has been geared around their commitment to customer satisfaction. They work in partnership with their customers to understand their needs and priorities and provide responsive, value-added support (Weisband, 2002). Vector has remained a successful small business because they keep the company in close contact with the business, they enable personalized services, enable flexibility, and they make their profits sooner. Instead of being afraid, Vector embraces the fact that they are a small business. They are not ashamed and do not try to go large. They grow off the idea that a business will only be small once so take advantage and appreciate it while it lasts. Owning a small business also has its advantages when it comes to fraud controls. In 2012 only 56% of small business experience external audits, whereas larger business had 91% audited. Small business received fraud training at 18. 5% compared to nearly 60% at larger organizations. â€Å"The percentage of small organizations that have formal controls in place is just so dwarfed by the large organizations,† Andi McNeal, CPA said. He also goes on to say â€Å"We noticed a real opportunity for small organizations to invest in simple measure, even a code of conduct, which frankly shouldn’t cost more than a handful of hours of employee’s time. † With this being said, training for employees is reduced as well as the risk that larger businesses have to maneuver past.

Counter Trade

Counter Trade Counter Trade: Unquestionably, currency is the preferred payment medium for any export or import transaction—it is easy, fast, and straightforward to transact. Sometimes, though, compa ¬nies must adapt to the reality that buyers in many countries cannot do so, whether due to the fact that their home country's currency is nonconvertible, the country doesn't have enough cash, or it doesn't have sufficient lines of credit. Sometimes companies and coun ¬tries find it practically impossible to generate enough foreign exchange to pay for imports.In recourse, they devise creative ways to buy products. For example, Indonesia traded 40,000 tons of palm oil, worth about US$15 million, with Russia in exchange for Russian Sukhoi fighter aircraft. This trade, like others that fall under the umbrella term countertrade, illustrates that buyers and sellers often find creative ways of settling pay ¬ment for imports and exports. Countertrade refers to any one of several diff erent arrangements that parties negoti ¬ate so that they can trade goods and services with limited or no use of currency.Technically, countertrade can be divided into two basic types: barter, based on clearing arrangements used to avoid money-based exchange; and buybacks, offsets, and counter purchase, which are used to impose reciprocal commitments. Countertrade is an inefficient way of doing business. By default, companies prefer the straightforward efficiency of cash or credit. In the case of countertrade, rather than sim ¬ply consulting current foreign exchange rates, buyers and sellers must enter complex and time-consuming negotiations to reach a fair value on the exchange—how many gallons of palm oil for how many planes, for example.In some situations, the goods that are sent as payment may be poor quality, packaged unattractively, or difficult to sell and service. Also, there is a lot of room for price and financial distortion in countertrade deals, given that nonm arket forces set the prices of these goods. Ultimately, countertrade and its vari ¬ations threaten free market forces with protectionism and price fixing that can complicate trade relations with other countries. Still, the harsh reality of international trade means that countertrade is often unavoid ¬able for companies that want to do business in markets that have limited or no access to cash or credit.Complicating matters is the fact that as much as companies may dislike them, many emerging markets prefer forms of countertrade to preserve their limited monetary assets, generate foreign exchange, and improve the balance of trade. In addi-tion, these methods help emerging markets reduce their need to borrow working capital as well as let them access the technology and marketing expertise of MNEs. More signif ¬icantly, benefits beyond financing the immediate transaction do accrue to companies.Accepting the option to countertrade shows managers' good faith and flexibility in the face of onerous conditions. These sensitivities can position the firm to gain preferential access to emerging markets. Philosophically, the idea of countertrade fits with many countries' basic notions of business. For example, the idea of â€Å"barter and trade† is part of some African traditions that are reluctant to conform to â€Å"Euro-centric† methods of cash payment. It is difficult to gauge the size of the countertrade market. Estimates in the past have ranged from 10 to 40 percent of total global exports.This figure has proven tough to verify due to inconsistent reporting and disclosure. Countertrade generally increases in economies that are experiencing widespread economic problems. In Argentina, countertrade among common citizens has increased due to a severe shortage of cash. There are several types of countertrade. The three most common ares- (1) Barter Barter, the oldest form of countertrade, is a transaction in which goods or services are traded for goods or services of equal value without any exchange of cash or credit.Each term of the exchange is negotiated in terms of the immediate trade of goods or services. For instance, Thailand and Indonesia signed a $40 million deal in which Indonesia would supply Thailand with an agricultural aircraft, train carriages, and fertilizer in exchange for Thai rice—no monies were or would be exchanged. There are barter firms that act as an intermediary between the exporter and importer, often taking title to the goods received by the exporter for a price or selling the goods for a fee and a percentage of the sales value. (2) BuybacksBuybacks are products the exporter receives as payment that are related to or originate from the original export. Buyback arrangements are quite common in the sale of technology, licenses, and even complete â€Å"turnkey† factories. Payment is made in full or in part either by products manufactured in the new facility or by production from the new licens e or tech ¬nology. Buyback countertrade is especially popular for turnkey infrastructure projects. For example, the customer pays for the project, say a steel mill, with government-backed long-term credit.The exporting contractor first guarantees that the project will work when com ¬pleted and then agree to buy back products or services from the completed facility or to serve as a distributor for products exported from the host country. The host-country buyer uses these hard currency payments to liquidate the original long-term credit. Throughout the relationship, no cash changes hands and no credit arrangements are necessary. The buy-back contract merely states that the output from the newly constructed facility is to be applied to the original price of the exports.This sort of arrangement was worked out between PepsiCo and Russia. Pepsi provided syrup to state-owned bottling plants in Russia and received Stolichnaya vodka in return, which it then marketed in the West. (3) Offs et Trade An increasingly important form of countertrade is offset trade, a transaction that takes place when an exporter sells products for cash and then helps the importer find opportuni ¬ties to earn hard currency. Offsets are most often used for big-ticket items, such as military sales.The Czech government made offset the deciding factor, as opposed to technical and performance criteria and price, in its jet fighter procurement. Offset arrangements are usually one of two types. 1. Direct offsets include any business that relates directly to the export. Generally, the exporter seeks contractors in the importer's country to joint-venture or coproduce certain parts if applicable. For example, an aircraft exporter could partner with a company in the importer's country to manufacture components that would be used in the manufacture of the aircraft. . Indirect offsets include all business unrelated to the export. Generally, the exporter is asked by the importer's government to buy a country's goods or invest in an unre ¬lated business. Some of the most common direct offset practices in military sales include coproduction, licensed production, subcontractor production, overseas investment, and technology transfer. Examples of indirect offsets might include assisting in the export of unrelated products from the host country or generating tourist revenues for the host country.