Managing Cost of Quality Essay Example for Free

Managing Cost of Quality Essay Article Reference: Schiffauerova, A. and Thomson, V., â€Å"Managing cost of quality: Insight into industry practice†, The TQM Magazine, 2006 Abstract This paper reports on the study of the quality costing practices at four large successful multinational companies. All four companies use systematic quality initiatives; however, a formal cost of quality (CoQ) methodology was only employed at one of them. This is in agreement with the literature findings arguing that a CoQ approach is not utilized in most quality management programs. The article discusses and compares the quality programs of all four companies and explains the benefits of the eventual adoption of a CoQ approach in each case. The analysis provides a new insight into company practice, useful not only for academic research, but also for use by industry. Keywords: Cost of quality, CoQ, quality costing, industrial practice Introduction Improving quality is considered by many to be the best way to enhance customer satisfaction, to reduce manufacturing costs and to increase productivity. Any serious attempt to improve quality must take into account the costs associated with achieving quality, since nowadays it does not suffice to meet customer requirements, it must be done at the lowest possible cost as well. This can only happen by reducing the costs needed to achieve quality, and the reduction of these costs is only possible if they are identified and measured. The identification itself is not straightforward because there is no general agreement on a single broad definition of quality costs. However, according to Dale and Plunkett (1995), it is now widely accepted that quality costs are the costs incurred in the design, implementation, operation and maintenance of a quality management system, the cost of resources committed to continuous improvement, the costs of system, product and service failures, and all other necessary costs and non-value added activities required to achieve a quality product or service. Measuring and reporting these costs should be considered a critical issue for any manager who aims to achieve competitiveness in today’s markets. There are several methods that can be used to collect, categorize and measure quality costs. The traditional P-A-F method suggested by Juran (1951) and Feigenbaum (1956) classifies quality costs into prevention, appraisal and failure costs. Prevention costs are associated with actions taken to ensure that a process provides quality products and services, appraisal costs are associated with measuring the level of quality attained by the process, and failure costs are incurred to correct quality in products and services before (internal) or after (external) delivery to the customer. The cost categories of Crosby’s model (Crosby, 1979) are similar to the P-A-F scheme. Crosby sees quality as â€Å"conformance to requirements†, and therefore, defines the cost of quality as the sum of price of conformance and price of noncon formance (Crosby, 1979). The price of conformance is the cost involved in making certain that things are done right the first time and the price of non-conformance is the money wasted when work fails to conform to customer requirements. Another formal quality costing approach is the process cost model, which was developed by Ross (1977) and first used for quality costing by Marsh (1989); it represents quality cost systems that focus on process rather than products or services. Several references propose CoQ models that include the additional category of intangible costs. These are costs that can be only estimated such as profits not earned because of lost customers and reduction in revenue owing to non-conformance. The importance of opportunity and intangible costs for quality costing has been recently emphasized in the literature. Dale and Plunkett (1999) describe a less formal method based on collecting quality costs by department. Another recently proposed CoQ methodology is a method based on a team appro ach, in which the aim is to identify the costs associated with things that have gone wrong in a process (Robison, 1997). No matter which quality costing approach is used, the main idea behind the CoQ analysis is the linking of improvement activities with associated costs and customer expectations, thus allowing targeted action for reducing quality costs and increasing quality improvement benefits. Therefore, a realistic estimate of CoQ, which is the appropriate tradeoff between the levels of conformance and non-conformance costs, should be considered an essential element of any quality initiative and a crucial issue for any manager. A number of organizations are now seeking both theoretical advice and practical evidence about quality related costs and the implementation of quality costing systems. A reasonable amount of detailed information on various methods of categorization, collection and measurement of quality costs can be found in the literature (Plunkett and Dale, 1987; Williams et al., 1999; Schiffauerova and Thomson, 2004). However, there are only a few published, practical examples from indus try that give specifics about the costs that are included or excluded in quality costing and about how the costs are practically collected and measured. More detailed descriptions of CoQ systems from industry can be found in Whitehall (1986), Hesford and Dale (1991) and Purgslove and Dale (1996). This paper intends to contribute to this area by providing an analysis of the quality costing practices of four successful companies. Research Intent and Methodology The objective of this research was to obtain and analyze data concerning the practices of successful companies in the area of quality management. Specifically, the main interest was to investigate if these companies collect, measure and monitor quality costs, which kinds of costs were considered in the calculations, and whether any formal CoQ approach was used. The analysis provided a new insight into company practice, useful not only for academic research, but also for use by industry. Four companies were selected to participate in the research. The main objective of the selection was to identify the organizations with well established quality programs belonging to the different industrial sectors. Companies serving the same market could have been reluctant to share details concerning their quality practices with competition. This paper keeps the company names confidential and refers to them as Company A, B, C and D. A benchmarking session took place at McGill University. The quality management programs running at the four companies were described by company representatives. The organizations utilized this occasion as an occasion to obtain new information on the practices used at other companies and to mutually compare their experiences, efforts and successes. Summary of the Benchmarking Session This section summarizes the initiatives in the field of CoQ for the four participants. A comparative analysis of their quality strategies and final remarks follow. Company A Company A is a telecommunication company. It has very complex products, and therefore, the number of opportunities for defects per unit is very high (45,000 defect opportunities per assembly). However, Company A’s customers expect zero defects. Quality initiatives therefore play an important role in the company’s product management. Company A’s model for cost of quality measurement and calculation follow the P-A-F model, where CoQ = (P + A + F (internal + external) + other costs)/cost of goods sold. Company A is well aware of formal cost of quality methods and it has clearly determined its CoQ definitions. It knows exactly what are its conformance and non-conformance costs; however, it struggles to find out the shape of its CoQ curves, and hence, an optimum CoQ tactic. The search for an optimum CoQ is difficult because the business cycle changes often (every 2 years or less); product lines are released in phases, and component obsolescence and multiple engineering changes are quite common. Every change causes a new search for an optimum CoQ; moreover, different product lines require separate review, and variable volumes reduce optimization opportunities. Company A uses an activity based management approach, which means that it uses activity-based costing (ABC) to determine cost categories. It maps financial categories into activity costs, and activities performed at cost centers are rolled up to aggregate quality costs and percentages. In this way, the company obtains exact information about every category: prevention costs, appraisal costs, as well as internal and external failure costs. An example of activity costs is given in Table I, and the resulting CoQ chart is shown in Figure 1. Table I: Example of activity costs in Company A Activity primary OPD Change Management Internal Quality Issues External Quality Issues DFX, NPI support Proto Support PLC Deliverables Mfg Tools Quality Reporting Other Cost of quality category Failure Internal Prevention Failure Internal Failure External Prevention Prevention Appraisal Prevention Appraisal Cost of Business Totals Activity % 8% 12% 17% 9% 4% 6% 22% 6% 10% 6% 100% Cost categories Salaries Depreciation Suppliers Others Company A uses other metrics for performance comparisons, such as ‘new versus mature product’ or ’part number based CoQ ratio’. CoQ is measured at individual test stages, which allows trend analysis and comparison using mature product as the benchmark for new product. Figure 2 shows the decreasing trend of CoQ for manufacturing operations. The graph shows a decrease for all CoQ components; however, it is failure costs which show the biggest reduction, about 40 % over 18 months. The breakdown of CoQ and its cost values are measured quarterly. % Figure 2: CoQ in manufacturing operations for Company A shown on a relative cost scale. Company A has been using their CoQ methodology successfully. The company declares savings in quality costs, has quality improvement in every part of their process, and achieves very aggressive improvement targets. Moreover, the end customer directly benefits from the inhouse quality initiative. As a result, customer satisfaction is increasing. Company B Company B is a multinational microelectronics company, which dedicates a lot of effort to quality improvement. Their far-reaching and successful quality improvement program is the main axis of their quality initiatives. The program includes continuous improvement focused on process as well as extensive education and training on quality for all employees. Despite the fact that there is a great interest in reducing non-conformance cost, Company B does not measure, report or chart CoQ. It does not use any formal CoQ model and does not try to optimize cost of quality. Nevertheless, it does reduce cost due to poor quality through its continuous improvement activities. The company has a strong operations and process focus, where emphasis is put on process yield and cycle time improvement. It believes that a continuous quality improvement program focused on process will provide the opportunities for quality improvement and thus reduction in cost of quality. Company C Company C is in the aerospace industry and emphasizes products with near zero defects. Company C describes its cost of poor quality model as an iceberg philosophy, where just a few categories for poor quality cost are measured and monitored. This is, however, just the tip of the iceberg, since most of the cost factors leading to poor quality are non-visible or completely hidden (and non-quantifiable). Company C has implemented a process that allows tracking of all non-quality events and associated root causes as well as corrective actions and lessons learned. It puts full attention into measuring the cost of poor quality. It has 4 main quality ratings, which measure nonconformities (scrap, rework, etc.), poor adherence to specifications (internal, external, customers’, suppliers’), number of defective parts in parts per million, and on-time delivery. Their cost of non-quality is systematically reduced through a corporate-wide initiative based on continuous improvement. It also uses a sophisticated IT system for tracking quality. Although Company C has had success in improving the value of non-conforming quality costs, it does not use any CoQ model, and it does not include the cost of quality among its calculation elements. Company D Company D is a manufacturer of home products. It has set its quality level at a fixed warranty rate, and it attempts to optimize its quality effort to achieve this target. At the time of the benchmarking session, the company did not measure CoQ; however, it was planning to do so and was building a CoQ model. The envisioned CoQ program was based on a P-A-F model. The strategy of Company D was to directly attack failure costs in an attempt to drive them down, to invest in the right prevention activities to bring about improvements, to reduce appraisal costs according to achieved results, and to continuously evaluate and redirect prevention efforts to gain further improvements. Discussion Table II shows a comparison of the quality initiatives and CoQ effort carried out by the four companies. The following discussion is focused on the relation between the quality strategies and the industrial sectors, on the kinds of CoQ models used, on the satisfaction with company efforts, the results stemming from the quality costing programs, and the recommendations by the authors of this paper. Table II: Comparison of quality initiatives of four companies Company A B C D COC CONC P-A-F ABC Quality costs CONC + COC CONC CONC CONC Formal CoQ model P-A-F + ABC none none none Quality efforts intensive intensive intensive moderate Program satisfaction high high high moderate cost of conformance cost of non-conformance traditional model including: prevention + appraisal + failure costs activity-based costing Quality Strategies The business environment, which is the industry sector and product line, dictates the strategy adopted by the companies to assure achievement of the required level of quality. Companies A, B and C all work in high-tech industries that require very high levels of quality, and therefore, they all have quite elaborate quality and productivity improvement systems with the objective to achieve zero or near zero defects. Company D, which serves home product markets, uses a fixed rate of return through its warranty policy as its quality limit. The company, however, does have a continuous improvement program. Quality Costs Table II suggests that Company A is the only one that in fact measures both kinds of quality costs, conformance and non-conformance. This allows the company to search for the right balance between the amount spent on quality and the resulting benefits. Companies B and C both regard reducing non-conformance cost as a high priority, and therefore, they exert substantial efforts in measuring and monitoring failures and other nonconformances. At the same time, they use elaborate, systematic quality improvement programs in order to reach a zero defect quality level. The direction of these initiatives is consistent with the industry quality environment, which tolerates absolutely no defect, no matter what the cost is. Conformance costs are consequently given much less attention in the quality management programs and measuring them together with the cost of non-conformance is therefore disregarded. The situation for Company D is however quite different. Even though the company also does not measure conformance costs, the nature of its own quality strategy suggests that it would benefit greatly if it started doing so. Identification and measurement of both kinds of the quality costs would certainly improve the quality policy that Company D follows. The policy has a determined rate of return as its quality limit. Being able to find an appropriate trade-off between conformance and non-conformance costs would help Company D determine an optimal level of effort towards achieving quality. Formal CoQ Methods Literature (for example, Porter and Rayner, 1992; Schiffauerova and Thomson, 2004) suggests that, if quality costs are measured by companies, then the classical P-A-F model is the one most frequently used in practice. Even within the limited sample of four companies, P-A-F was the only model encountered. Company A is currently calculating its quality costs according to the tradit ional categorization of prevention, appraisal and failure costs. Moreover, Company D claims that it is planning to utilize this model in the near future as well. The results of this research therefore confirm other researchers’ findings on the frequency of the use of the P-A-F method in industry. Focus by companies on the classical P-A-F methodology is not surprising; however, there are several other alternatives available for monitoring CoQ. Other quality costing methods, such as Crosby’s model or process cost model, are being used with success (Schiffauerova and Thomson, 2004). Every company has to choose an appropriate CoQ method that suits its needs and its situation best. For a detailed checklist of the issues to be considered when deciding on a CoQ approach, see Dale and Plunkett (1995) Activity-based costing (ABC) is considered to be more compatible with quality cost measurement systems than traditional accounting. Although most CoQ measurement methods are activity/process oriented, traditional cost accounting establishes cost accounts by the categories of expenses instead of activities. Thus, many CoQ elements need to be estimated or collected by other methods. There is no consensus method on how to allocate overheads to CoQ elements and no adequate method to trace quality costs to their sources (Tsai, 1998). The use of ABC for a CoQ calculation is therefore an appealing alternative, and Company A is benefiting from this powerful combination. The employment of a CoQ approach together with ABC enables Company A to obtain exact information about every CoQ category: prevention costs, appraisal costs as well as internal and external failure costs. Companies B and C do not utilize any formal quality costing system. This is in agreement with the common suggestion that the CoQ approach is not fully appreciated by organizations and the practical use of formal quality costing in industry is quite rare. Satisfaction with Quality Efforts The quality initiatives of companies A, B, and C are very elaborate and the amount of effort is intensive. Whether they use a formal CoQ method or they solely aim at a reduction in the cost of poor quality, the companies obtain excellent results from their quality programs. All three companies mentioned a high satisfaction with their quality efforts during the benchmarking session. Judging by the success of Company A with its CoQ program, we suggest that companies B and C would benefit from measuring CoQ, and that they would be surprised if they knew their real quality costs. These companies should select an appropriate CoQ model that suits the company’s situation and implement the quality costing methodology in order to improve the efficiency of their quality initiatives. Monitoring quality costs would allow them to better identify target areas for cost reduction and quality improvement. Moreover, sufficient savings should occur to justify CoQ measurement expenses. Company D has a continuous improvement program that brings it moderate results and is already looking to improve it by implementing a CoQ strategy. As mentioned above, the implementation of a suitable CoQ method would secure reduced costs and improved quality benefits for Company D. Summary Even though quality is nowadays considered to be a critical success factor for achieving competitiveness, the CoQ approach is not fully appreciated by organizations, and only a minority of them use formal quality costing methods. The four companies that participated in the benchmarking session with McGill University on cost of quality have systematic quality initiatives, and have been successful in improving quality and reducing the cost of nonconformance. However, the only company that measures cost of quality and uses a formalized CoQ model is Company A. Company D is at the point of starting to use this quality measur ement tool as well; however, it is at the beginning of this path. On the other hand, Company B and Company C focus their quality efforts solely on continuous quality improvement. They measure, monitor and work mostly with the cost of non-conformance, and do not formally include cost of conformance in their analysis. It was recommended that companies B, C and D set up a suitable formal quality costing system compatible with the needs and the situation of each company. For companies B and C this program will mainly facilitate identification of the target areas for quality improvement and cost reduction in quality effort. For Company D it would also help balance its quality costs and establish an optimal level of effort towards achieving quality. CoQ programs should be part of any quality management program. The methodology is not complex and is well documented. CoQ programs provide a good method for identification and measurement of quality costs, and thus allow targeted action for reducing CoQ. Further education on the practical level is needed for managers to understand better the CoQ concept in order to appreciate fully the benefits of the approach, to increase their ability to implement a CoQ measurement system and to save money. References Crosby, P.B. (1979), Quality is Free, New York: McGraw-Hill Dale, B.G. and Plunkett, J.J. (1995), Quality Costing, 2nd edition, Chapman and Hall, London Dale, B.G. and Plunkett, J.J. (1999), Quality Costing,3rd edition, Gower Press, Aldershot Feigenbaum, A.V. (1956), â€Å"Total quality control†, Harvard Business Review, Vol.34, Hesford, M.G. and Dale, B.G. (1991), â€Å"Quality costing at British Aerospace Dynamics†, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Vol.205 (G5), p.53 Juran, J.M. (1951), Quality Control Handbook, 1st edition, McGraw-Hill, New York Marsh, J. (1989), â€Å"Process modeling for quality improvement†, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Total Quality Management, p.111 Plunkett, J.J. and Dale, B.G. (1987), â€Å"A review of the literature on quality-related costs†, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.4, No.1, p.40 Porter, L.J. and Rayner, P. (1992), â€Å"Quality costing for total quality management†, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 27, p.69 Purgslove, A.B. and Dale, B.G. (1996), â€Å"The influence of management information and quality management systems on the development of quality costing†, Total Quality Management, Vol.7, No.4, p.421 Robison, J. (1997), â€Å"Integrate quality cost concepts into team problem-solving efforts†, Quality Progress, March, p. 25 Ross, D.T. (1977), â€Å"Structured analysis (SA): A language for communicating ideas†, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol.SE-3, No.1, p.16 Schiffauerova, A. and Thomson, V. (2006), â€Å"A review of research on cost of quality models and best practices†, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.23, No.4 Tsai, W.H. (1998), â€Å"Quality cost measurement under activity-based costing†, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.15, No.6, p.719 Whitehall, F.B. (1986), â€Å"Review of problems with a quality cost system†, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.3, No.3, p.43 Williams, A.R.T., van der Wiele, A. and Dale, B.G. (1999), â€Å"Quality costing: a management review†, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol.1, No.4, p.441

The UK Tourism Industry: Benefits And Challenges

The UK Tourism Industry: Benefits And Challenges This report provides a product and market development strategy for the UK tourism industry. It focuses on the benefits and challenges of the UK tourism industry. The background history of UK and the overview of the scope are revealed in this study. It also outlines the vision, mission and its strategic objectives. The report highlights a summary of the key findings of strategic marketing audit of the UK tourism sector. The findings of the report are used to develop a strategy for increasing the economic benefits of tourism to UK. The strategy for overcoming the challenges in order to increase the number of individuals visiting UK for tourism is disclosed in this report. The report concludes by making strategic recommendations for areas of growth in tourism activities in UK, development of products and resources needed to ensure viability. More so, significant barriers to implementing those recommendations are identified throughout the report to address the concerns of stakeholders of the industry. Summary of Key Issues and findings The summary of key issues and findings that Britain needs to address in order to improve upon her global competitiveness includes; The importance of local market and business markets Growing Competition New Trends in Demands Competition from emerging destinations Taxation of accommodation and food Entry Visa and Increase in Price Climate Change Build on Britains image and increase distribution through the trade Britains major source of market and Britains core market However, only five points would be discussed in the body of the report and the rest will be sent to appendix 1. Definitions, methodology and framework Definitions This section seeks to explain strategic positioning and tourism. What is strategic positioning? According to Michael E. Porter, (1996) strategy is the ability to make an informed decision on how, when and where to target a customer group, facilitate resources and set objectives (limits) makes the difference between managers who thinks from a strategic perspective in light of what might emerge in future. Lovelock (1991), describes positioning as the process of establishing and maintaining a distinctive place in the market for an organisation and/or its individual product offerings. Putting them together, Strategic Positioning is the positioning of an organization (unit) in the future, while taking into account the changing environment, plus the systematic realization of that positioning (source:http://www.zenska-mreza.hr/prirucnik). What is Tourism? According to, Guyer Feuler (1905), Tourism is a collection of activities, services and industries which deliver a travel experience comprising transportation, accommodation, eating and drinking establishments, retail shops, entertainment businesses and other hospitality services provided for individuals or groups traveling away from home. Tourism can be categorized into Domestic, Outbound and Inbound. Domestic tourism involves people taking holidays, short breaks and day trips within UK. The outbound tourism has to do with the peoples movement from UK to other provinces, territories or countries to explore. The inbound tourism involves individual traveling from other places such as Ghana, Togo, USA etc. to UK Methodology This report seeks to focus attention on the benefits and challenges of tourism industry in UK. The methods used in completing this report include; Literature review (Journals, Books, Articles and the internet) Data analysis at UK, both national and sub-national level Stakeholder engagement Conceptual framework The study adopted marketing framework to explain the functions that links the business with customer needs and wants in order to get the right product to the right place at the right time. Overview of the marketing process (Adapted from tutor2u, Riley (2012) Mission, Vision and Strategic Objectives The Mission To increase tourisms contribution to the growth and development of UK economy. The Vision UK is globally recognised as one of the worlds leading regional destinations for conference, business, sporting and other recreational activities. The country is noted for her high quality facilities, cultural and entertainment. In view of this, the report seeks to; Improve the UK share of tourism worldwide and employment and quality of life. Increase UK share in global visitor market. Strategic Objectives Maximize tourism visitation, spend and length of stay Attract investment in tourism related products Increase industry participation in marketing activities through industry engagement Improve tourism related community assets/products. improve the engagement of visitor with products Improve market access and connectivity Developing and marketing competitive tourist destination in UK Build on Britains image and increase distribution through the trade Improve the range of product on offer and make it easier to get to Britain Introduction This chapter provides the background history of UK and the overview of the industry. Background History Current state of UK The United Kingdom is a country that consists of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It is a wonderful country with diverse culture and tradition. It is highly belief that, the nature of the people in the country, its landscapes, culture, character, history and traditions; its achievements, impact, successes, and standing; and its future, its vision, its potential makes the country Great. The aforementioned characteristics of the country has reckoned its own people, and people from across the world to see Britain, to know Britain and to understand Britain (Source: Former Prime Minister, Tony Blair). The country is a Member of plethora organisations which include the European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Commonwealth of Nations, World Trade Organisation (WTO), and Organisation of Economic Corporation and Development. UK has the permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Through tourism contributions, United Kingdom is the world sixth largest economy and Worlds first industrialized country with a population of over 62.4 million (Ref. UN, 2011). The Overview of Tourism Industry in UK Tourism industry in UK has immensely contributed to the economic development in the country. The industry occupies a unique position as the UKs 5th largest industry, 3rd largest export earner behind chemicals and financial services and worth  £115 billion a year. Besides, it employs over 2.6 million people and supports over 200,000 Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) (source: VisitBritain.com, 2012). Overseas visitors spend around  £18 billion a year in this country and they contribute more than  £3billion in tax and duty to the Exchequer (VisitBritain Consultation Document, 2012). Research has revealed that, tourism in UK is extremely growing faster than any other economic sectors. It is outpacing mining, agriculture, and fishing as a leading industry for the country. One could see the value of tourism in UK is extremely high. Although, the industry has been helpful to the countrys economy, there has been stagnation of growth recently, due to few key issues and challenges. This has made the industry to decline to the seventh position in the international tourism destination. This result is based on the visitors attendance and expenditure (Ref. UNWTO, 2011). It means that, France, USA, China, Spain, Germany and Italy are all ahead of UK in the tourism hierarchy (Ref. UNWTO, 2011). The question here isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. `what might be problems or challenges resulting to poor attendance of tourists in UK. It is argue that whiles UK tourism performs well, international tourism is fiercely competitive business and their competitors are upping their game (VisitBritain.com). The industry is facing problem on how to create a competitive, world-class tourism industry in Britain which can match both the quality and the best of British business as well as the scale of tourism in Britain in particular. Situational Analysis: The UK Tourism Industry and its Competitiveness The Value of Tourism to the UK Economy The contribution of UK tourism industry to the national economy demonstrates the magnitude and complexity of the industry. According to VisitBritains CEO, Sandie Dawe (2012), tourism has tremendously contributed to the development of UK economy. To her, the industry can grow by more than 60% which would be amounted to about  £188bn by 2020. Besides, the number of jobs directly and indirectly linked to tourism could rise by 264,000 to 2.89 million by 2020, (source: VisitBritain). Value of Tourism (Adapted from VisitBritain.com) Deducing from this, one could see that, tourism is a major contributor to the balance of payments. On the contrary, it is one of the few activities which would enable UK to achieve competitive advantages through the redistribution of labour within Europe (Economist, 1993:5-6). It is also a vital motivator of the UK economy reducing the deficit of the balance of payments, boosting employment, generating income, and contributing to regional development (Zacharatos, 1989:274; Truett Truett, 1987:178). In fact, tourism per se is one major generator of wealth in UK economy. The contribution of the tourism industry in the UK economy has been very encouraging. As of 2010, the contribution of tourism has a total revenue of  £110 Billion and 2011- £120 Billion per annum (UK Tourism Statistics, 2012). Visitors ( £m) Spent ( £Bn) Leisure 11.5 6.6 Business 6.8 4 .0 Students 0.5 1.4 Other 2.4 1.2 In 2011 (Ref: International Passenger Survey, 2011) * 1% increase in the cost, meaning, tourism earning drop down by 1.3% (Sensitive Tourist, 2001) 3.2. UKs Position in the International Market However, the industrys position in the international market chart has been falling for the past 3 years now. This is because the competition in the global market place has become very tough as a result emerging destinations and other outstanding destinations such as France, Italy, Malaysia, Turkey, U.S.A etc. Although the industry was able to beat the cut-out point set for year 2012, yet the countrys position in the global market is still declining. In 2011, as illustrated in Tab.1 below, UK came in the 7th position in the world classification of tourist destinations. The growth in global travel over the last two decades means that UK is competing against more destinations, for a larger number of potential visitors (VisistBritain.com). Strategic Key Issues Findings Facing The Industry The following key themes are outlined from the strategic audit based on research and findings in appendix 2 and 3. The importance of local market and business markets The local and business markets are seen as the UKs core markets. Research conveyed by VisitBritain has revealed that challenging facing UK international tourism does not only come from economic trends and competitive activity, but source market also poses unique complications. The local market consists of Western Europe and its surrounding nations such as France and Italy. France, Spain, Germany and USA generate 1/3 of all money spent by visitors in the UK economy (Visitbritain). However, since 2006, UK has lost these market shares and visits. This indicates that, Britain needs to defend volume, value and market share of these areas. New Trends in Demands The International tourism is moving to a level where consumers are demanding in new and varying activities which would engage them always. Consumers are demanding for new areas such as eco-tourism, health-tourism, sports-tourism, and activity-tourism and education tourism. This means tourists are no more interested in the culture or geographical location of the country. Therefore, in order to attract the attention of tourists, the industry should turn their attention on activity tourism, education tourism Growing Competition and Competition from emerging destinations Competition from existing and emerging destinations is another challenge. The emerging destinations like China, Malaysia, and Dubai are the countries that are growing at a fast rate in the tourism industry. Competitors are moving at fast rate, investing in marketing campaigns and addressing policy issues. For example, US government recently has published tourism strategy and national travel to deal with the visa process, border controls and issues of image. However, the major challenge here is how to create a competitive, world-class tourism industry in Britain which would match both the quality and the best of British business and innovative policies to create value and enhance of competitiveness. Emerging Markets The competition in the global market place has become very tough as a result of emerging destinations and other outstanding destinations such as France, Italy, Malaysia, Turkey, U.S.A etc. The strategic audit has outlined China, Turkey, Malaysia, Dubai and Egypt as the key target areas for tourism growth. Although the industry was able to beat the cut-out point set for year 2012, yet the countrys position in the global market is still declining. This has resulted because the global marketplace is getting tougher and countries like France, US, China, Germany and Dubai have recognized the potentials of tourism. This has awakened them to deliver growth and jobs in a tough economic climate. Taxation of accommodation and food Research has revealed that UK hotels and restaurants overtaxed in detriment to revenues for the wider economy. Thus, most UK hotels and restaurants charges full VAT rate on tourist accommodation, meal and attraction. There are several shops and restaurants in UK that charges tax on everything tourists buy. A notable example is McDonald- any food bought from McDonald has been tag with tax. This has demoralised most of the tourist to visit UK. Entry Visa The difficulty in accessing entry visa to UK is another factor inhabiting Britains competitiveness as a destination for international tourism. It is an established fact that, for one to get tourist visa to UK is very difficult. Apart from difficult visa process, it is also expensive as compared to other tourist destinations. For instance, to get a tourist visa to UK, one has to pay an Amount of  £78 whiles Schengen visa is  £53. So comparatively, people would prefer going to Germany, France and other destinations in lieu of UK. This has resulted poor performance since visitors from china, India and other African countries are now visiting Germany and France. Climate Change The weather condition in UK is seen as a drawback and hindrance to tourism in United Kingdom. As the weather in UK is unpredictable, tourist most often complain of been disturbed by rain and unfavourable weather conditions. This has negatively affected the industry since most people are discouraged and lost interest in embarking on tourism to UK. Developing Strategic Options from the above Analysis The findings above outline a number of challenges facing the tourism industry in UK. This section will develop a strategy that would be used to increase economic benefits for the countrys tourism industry. It would also outline a strategic approach to destination marketing (refer to appendix 2) in order to increase the number of individual visitors. It will develop a brand for UK tourism to get a sustainable presence in the global tourism market place. Pursuing local and business markets The industry should increase domestic visitation and focus on the local which is UKs core market. The UK industry should not ignore its local market and business markets whiles the emerging destinations such as China, India represent long term opportunity for growth. The industry should use advertisement, motivation and rewards to encourage the indigenes of this country to embark on domestic tourism. This will smell good for those outsiders to develop interest in visiting UK. Strategic development of clusters Clusters occur as a result of both vertical relationships with suppliers and customers as well as horizontal relationships based upon shared technologies and common customers (Barker, 2007). Thus, in order to increase economic benefit of international tourism in UK, the industry should aim at forming a cluster that will bring group of industries on board. The presence of the cluster will accelerate and magnifies the process of factor creation in the industry. Once the cluster is formed, it allows companies from the interconnected industries to invest in infrastructures, technologies, information and human resources to improve economic benefits of the tourism industry. Japan, for example provides a compelling impact of clusters on a countrys competitive advantage. In Japan, Keiretsu has formed a cluster of companies around the major banks with shareholding connections (Barker, 2007). This has encouraged cooperation and interaction. In simple put, the scale of the cluster will encourage greater investment, specialization, exchange information and ideas about market needs. Porter on cluster has cited several examples and it will be interesting to observe that clusters are active and strong in Japan, Italy, Sweden, and Germany. However, it is very weak in UK Strategic destination alliance Research has disclosed that, France, Spain, Germany and USA generate 1/3 of all money spent by visitors in the UK (VisitBritain). However, since 2006, UK has lost these market shares and visits. This means that, UK needs to defend volume, value and market share of these areas. In order to gain market share, the industry should establish a strategic partnership with the emerging competitors. The industry can link up with such destinations to form a league of nations with must visit and must see places. The tourism industry can develop stronger relationships with other private companies in the name of tourism partnership program. This will help to develop and promote cultural tourism and opportunities. Corporate social responsibility strategy Scholars like Friedman (1962), and Grossman (2005) maintain that, the traditional view of a company is that, the company has a responsibility to make as much profit as it can for its shareholders. Alternatively, the stakeholder approach suggested by Edward Freeman in 1984 directs organisations to manage the interest of and acknowledge a duty of care to a range of stakeholders. Based on the traditional view of the industry or a limited stakeholder view of the industry, UK tourism board should focus on using corporate social responsibility to increase positive stakeholder benefits whiles eradicating the negative effects of its action. It has been reported that non-governmental organisations have been donating millions to help in various environmental projects. These projects are centered on environmental protection, climate change, and the promotion of renewable energies. Also, VisitBritain should introduce structures that will engage and communicate with UK tourism industry and stakeholders. This will help to provide a coordinated approach to drive forward the implementation of the Strategic Framework for UK Tourism. The structure will give the industry the chance to share innovative and intelligence delivery as well as addressing key issues and challenges affecting the tourism industry. Notwithstanding that, it will acts as a key mechanism for VisitBritain to communicate with the industry and connect effectively with the emerging destinatioons. Strategic Recommendations To overcome the challenges and maximize the benefits of the industry, the industry in collaboration with UK Government should: Tax elimination There should be tax free tourists and ensure that there is no imposition of tax on any food and accommodation. The government should solicit for funds from private enterprises to support the tourism industry. This will help to eradicate if not reduce tax rate to its minimum. Reduction of tourist visa fee to compete with Schengen visa Thus the amount of money taken from tourists as they apply for tourist visa should be reduced to compete with the other competitive countries. Also the UK government should publish a national travel and tourism strategy which will aim at reducing the tourist visa fee and process, border control and issues of image. This will maximize tourism visitation, spend and length of stay. Expansion of local and international sales teams Use the corporate governance strategy to keep the industry accountable. This will help to avoid any sorts of bribery and corruption in the tourism industry. Have a tourism industry which provides affordable quality, which is open to all and which makes the best use of Britains resources. Summary To sum up everything, Marshal (2012) opine that the challenges facing the tourism industry are complex and numerous. However, the two key among all the challenges are; Tax on accommodation and food and how to create a competitive, world-class tourism industry in Britain. Frankly speaking, addressing these challenges will require a high level of coordination and cooperation to marshal resources more effectively. Fiscal pressures and competing priorities among all tourism partners and tourism stakeholders will require new and innovative partnership arrangements to respond to growing competition and global opportunities (Marshal, 2012). Conclusion This report has provided a product and market development strategy for the UK tourism industry. The background history of UK and the overview of the scope are revealed in this study. It also outlined the vision, mission and strategic objectives of the study. Situational analysis of the industry based on the local market, value of tourism and UKs position in the international market has been scholarly presented. The report revealed a summary of the key findings of strategic marketing audit of the UK tourism sector. The findings of the report are used to develop a strategy for increasing the economic benefits of tourism to UK. The strategy for overcoming the challenges in order to increase the number of individuals visiting UK for tourism is disclosed in this report. The report concludes by making strategic recommendations for areas of growth in tourism activities in UK, development of products and resources needed to ensure viability. More so, significant barriers to implementing those recommendations are identified throughout the report to address the concerns of stakeholders of the industry. To amass everything, it is the objective of the Ministry of Tourism and the Government of UK to create the environment where the industry would do not only teach people to smile but give them a reason to smile. The Government should note the above recommendations a point and legislate new tourism policy ( Hon. Harold Lovel, 2012). Annotated Bibliography Vision, mission, aims and objectives In order for an organization to have clear strategic directions, it must first formulate clear vision, mission, aims and objectives. The following books were helpful in discussing the purpose of the vision, mission, aims and objectives; Dale, C. (2012), Strategic Management for Tourism Senior Lecturer in Tourism University of Wolverhampton Evans, N. C. D. and Stonehouse, G (2003) Strategic Management for Travel and Tourism. Oxford Butterworth-Heinemann, 15-20 Understanding Strategic Position and Tourism Strategy and Tourism have myriad of definitions from a different perspective. It is therefore important to open this report with a brief explanation on strategic positioning and tourism. This will help to facilitate better understanding of strategy formulation and implementation. The following books, journals and articles were helpful in capturing the main conceptualization of strategy and tourism. Capon, C. (2008), Understanding Strategic Management, Prentice Hall: Hemel Hempstead. Lovelock, C. H. (1984). Services Marketing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Lovelock, C. H. (1991). Services Marketing. 2nd ed., Prentice- Hall Johnson, G. et al. (2008), Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice Hall: Hemel Hempstead. Porter, M.E., (1980), Competitive Strategy: Techniques for analysing industries and competitors New York: The Free Press Tribe, J, (2010), Strategy for Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers, Oxford Overview of Tourism Industry in UK In order to get broad and comprehensive review of tourism in UK, there was the need to research into several books, journals and articles which helpful to this report. As a matter of fact, the following books and journals were able to give accurate information that the researcher was looking for. Butler, R.W. (2011): Contemporary Tourism Reviews: Tourism Life Cycle Strathclyde Business School, Universiity of Strathclyde Goodfellow Publishers Ltd., Woodeaton, Oxford, OX3 9TJ Website- wwww.goodfellowpublishers.com Shaw, S. (2012): International Hospitality Management Program http://www.sprottshaw.com/programs/tourism-hospitality/international-hospitality-management/ Accessed on December 12, 2012 The Economic Importance of Tourism: UK Tourism Satellite .., http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/tourism/tourism-satellite-account/2009the-economic-importance-of-tourism/rep-2009tsa.html (accessed December 12, 2012). Tribe, J. (2005), The Economics of Recreation, Leisure and Tourism, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford. UNWTO, EUROSTAT, OECD (2008), Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework (TSA:RMF), Madrid, Luxembourg, Paris. UNWTO, EUROSTAT, OECD (2008), International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008(IRTS 2008), New York, Madrid. United Nations, Statistical Office of the European Communities, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Tourism Organization (2008). VisitBritain Consultation Document (2012) Delivering A Golden Legacy: A Grow Strategy for Inbound Tourism to Britain from 2012 to 2020. Website- www.visitbritain.org Key Issues and Challenges This part of the report is very sensitive to the study; therefore there was the need to get books which would give accurate information about the benefits and challenges confronting the tourism industry in UK. The research made reference from the following books and websites; BIS Economic Paper (2012): Industrial Strategy: UK Analysis Department for Business Innovative Skills, No. 18 http://www.bis.gov.uk Business Management and Strategies, http://teeanthony.blogspot.com/ (accessed December 12, 2012). Marshall, C. (2012), Challenges facing the Tourism Industry in Antiqua Barbuda: Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. Office of National Statistics (2012): The Economic Importance of Tourism: UK Tourism Satellite Account 2009 VisitBritain Consultation Document (2012) Delivering A Golden Legacy: A Grow Strategy for Inbound Tourism to Britain from 2012 to 2020. Website- www.visitbritain.org TOMORROWS TOURISM Home Ask, common questions asked of (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.eastriding.gov.uk/corp-tourism/docs/TomorrowsTourism.pdf Strategic Options This section of the report focuses on the Marketing strategy and action plan. There was the need to get frameworks and models to support the work. Therefore made reference from the following books below, because these books give accurate explanations to the various strategic options and marketing models; Buhalis, D., 1999a, Limits of tourism development in peripheral destinations: problems and challenges, Tourism Management, Vol.20(2), pp.183-185. Cooper, C. et al., (1998), Tourism: Principles and Practices, 2nd ed, Addison Wesley Longman, England. Digital Startup and Campaign Marketing station in Hyderabad .., http://browsemasters.com/ (accessed December 12, 2012). French Luxury Vacations, http://frenchluxuryvacations.com/ (accessed December 12, 2012). William, J. (2002): H. Igor Ansoff, 83; education drew worldwide acclaim- San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved (8/12/2012 http://www.mindtools.com/subscribe.htm. Beatty, C. et al., (June, 2010): The Seaside Tourism Industry in England and Wales: Employment, Economic Output, Location and Trend. Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research Sheffield Hallam University Positioning the Destination Product Bournemouth University ..http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/15749/1/Positioning_the_Destination_Product_-_C an_Regional_Tourist_Boards_Learn_from_Private_Sector_Practice_(for_upload to_BURO).pdf (accessed December 12, 2012). Porter M.E. (1996), What is Strategy?| Reflections, http://jensgulich.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/ / (accessed December 12, 2012). Pima Community College : As with other impacts: Directories, http://ecc.pima.edu/~tourism/Negative%20Impact%20of%20Tourism.htm (accessed December 12, 2012) Tugberks Blog TugberkUgurlu.Com, http://www.tugberkugurlu.com/?page=24 (accessed December 12, 2012 What is the difference between the United Kingdom, Great ..? http://geography.about.com/library/faq/blqzuk.htm (accessed December 12, 2012). Appendices appendix 1 (KEY ISSUES FINDINGS) Increase in Price A research conducted by San Francisco State University indicated that, the prices for local goods and services have increased by 8% as a result of tourism development. What it means is that, tourism development has tremendously increased in both building costs and land values. This is because the rich are now using the lands to build and engage in real estate for tourism purpose. This has resulted in difficulty for the indigenous people to meet the basic needs to purchase lands for their own use. Economic Dependence According to Marshall (2012), over-reliance on tourism, especially mass tourism carries significant risks to tourism dependent economies. He argues that economic recession and the impacts of natural calamities such as tropical storms and hurricanes as well as changing tourism patterns can have a devastating effect on the local tourism sector. Reduction of UK Government fund for tourism industry In addition, the reduction of UK Government funding on tourism industry is a factor. Thus, the subsidy given by the UK government as a supporting aid to the tourism industry has dropped by  £48.0m to  £35.9m, which is 25% decrease in 2011. This has Profile Of A Web Designer | Personal Development Profile Of A Web Designer | Personal Development The job of a Web designer is thrilling as well as adventurous because every day there is new task to do. However, every web designer works individually on individual projects, but there is team of designers who work together and bound to collaborate with each other. The team is composed of multiple designers experienced in particular area of designing. However, working with team is considered as tiring and self-pressing but our team is with the potential to work together while enjoying and satisfying the organizational needs. The thing that makes the work enjoyable working with the team is that team leader and other team members are with the clear objectives and agreed goals. Every team member is surely defined his responsibility for which he is responsible to not only team leader but also team members. This is possible due to friendly and open environment which provides the member with the confrontation. However, at some place the role of our leader is authoritative and dominant but the sound procedure of undertaking of work and other duties remain in cooperation. Even though conflicts rise yet they are solved with support and trust provided to team members by team leader. Personal Role and Responsibilities My role in team environment is as team member and team coordinator. Being team coordinator I have to perform double responsibility first is related to web designing and second is as team coordinator. As a team coordinator, I am responsible for motivating team, managing team and report the team performance to team leader. Thus, I am also committed to participate in the team meetings, preheating team results reports on regularly basis and maintain confidentiality which is required for team members for showing trust. Information dissemination is also one of the important responsibilities of mine. Along with all above mentioned task giving and taking suggestion for improvement is a significant job. Personal Reporting Relationship Reporting is mean of communication for the progress and procedure of task assigned to team members. Team maintains reporting strategy as important part of daily working routine. The reporting relationship of the team member is inward which results in collaborative motivation and group norms. Every member of team, responsible for task assigned to them, report for their working function on the task in written to team leader and team leader further report to other higher management. Being team member I am also obliged to report to the team leader and other collaborative member of the team about the work progress. Since, I also possess responsibility of team coordinator so I must report to management for the performance of the team members. Thus, the reporting relationship I endure is both inward and outward. Operational Links with Other Individuals and Departments Our Web designing team performs under the leading Designing department which also operates the Website Development Department and teams of website development. Thus, the major link our web designing team has with website development and with Web Developers who work on the further work of Website to finalize it after Web Designing. Other departments with which the team has linked with is Quality Control department. The Quality Control department maintains the quality of Website designed by the designing teams and assures that designs are to match the requirements of the clients. Links with Other Businesses and External Agencies The team is managed by the outsourced Human Resource Department which is an external agency. Entire company is managed through the HRD and for training and other management issue related to Human Resource, team leader has to contact with the outsourced Human Resource agents. Moreover, team is to travel to the off-site of the external agency for attending training sessions arranged by the company for the employees. As far as link of the team with other business is concerned, IT experts are the main concerns for that. The main clients of the company are IT related businesses that need to have their website designed for online businesses; formal meetings are held between team members and IT businesses people so that they can explain to understand the requirements of their businesses and other specific requirements to be fulfilled. Task 2 2. Personal Development Journal A Brief Version of Personal Profile I am a confident Website Designer with 1 and half years experience in the professional website designating. I have expertise in XHTML / HTML coding and JavaScript while at intermediate level of AJAX. Moreover, I can also work with server side scripting language such as PHP, JSP, ASP or ASP.NET. Other than this, I possess expertise in PHP framework and database skills such as MySQL. At present job, I am responsible for designing Website using XHTML / HTML coding and JavaScript and PHP framework. I have proven my ability in XHTML / HTML coding and JavaScript and database skills as I can also work on the MySQL. Moreover, I have also proven my ability in server side scripting language like PHP and ASP.NET. My Excellent skills are in HTML coding, CSS, Design Sense, Java Script and Ajax, Flash, SEO and Project Management. I am looking for a position in a professional and multinational company where there is number of opportunity to have professional growth. I am looking for position in Web Designing and seeking an opportunity in media web designing with literal opportunity to work on challenging and unique concepts. I am seeking to continue my career as Web Designer with vast experience working on the different server scripts and also wish to continue my learning in the same field. My objective is to develop a career not just a source of income but also make working experience pleasant for lifetime by delivering professional and outstanding work. Progress on the Study Programme Considering the above professional goals and objectives, there is need to identify the skills required and to use them correctly. When I first started my career as Web Designer I had not realized that to be successful in professional life along with making a career do not only require the professional skills in the field but also need other skills such as working in team or group environment, using effective communication with colleagues and managements and work and time management as the most important key skill required to make path for career. Throughout, the professional period I had I understood the significance of these skills however it was difficult to perform all of them without any guidance. I planned to improve my little expertise in those particular areas and started with enhancing the effective communication skills. However, enhancing the skills require the personal assessment and evaluation, I came up with the target to manage conflicts in working environment by communicating with the team members and team leader. Moreover, time management has been the significant component to achieve the career goals as my career depends on the project management. I learned that time management through planning my tasks with the given time, with prioritizing and arranging my dos and donts. The prioritization of task helped to understand the way tasks are prioritized using tags like Important, Urgent or Neither Urgent nor Important. Team Leader / Manager / Operational Workplace Performance After assessing and evaluating the requirements and undertaking the performance my performance improved at workplace in every role. As a team coordinator I learned to manage the time for performing extra responsibility as before I was unable to manage my two working responsibilities. Now I plan my tasks and duties before I initiate any work and prioritize them accordingly. Initially I found it difficult due to inability to realize the importance of right tasks and estimating the time required to finish particular tasks. After some time, I identified the mistakes I was making in prioritizing and then did the practice for not to repeat them. General Workplace Development General workplace development had been the achievement of the project management by managing my time appropriately. By planning my time and tasks together I was able to perform well even in short period of time. Initially, I found it difficult practice to carry out the planning while maintaining the quality and quantity both as I found it challenging to find a way to cope up with the appropriate time and project management. With the constant practice of 3 weeks, I learned to manage the difficulty with the time management but still I have found that more practice is required to meet the career objectives. Progress on Achieving Goals As described above the professional objectives and goals, I needed to know the work management and it is not possible unless I learn time management. I analyzed my progress on the time management along with assessing my professional skills. At first, it was not easy to analyze my personality but then I started with personal and professional weaknesses and strengths. The understanding with personal as well as professional strengths and weaknesses assisted me to comprehend the way I could plan my task with the given time for finishing the work.

Does Congress Have Too Much Power Over Commerce? Essay example -- Cong

Does Congress Have Too Much Power Over Commerce? Works Cited Missing Narrow construction is not found in the Constitution, but the powers granted to Congress to regulate commerce are found. Exactly stated, â€Å"Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.† This clause has no definite interpretation, but has included many aspects of regulating. The word â€Å"commerce† is defined as the exchange or buying and selling of commodities on a large scale involving transportation from place to place (Webster 264). Congress has exercised this delegated power in many cases. The nature and basic guidelines of Congress’ power over commerce is first laid out in the case of Gibbons v. Ogden. In addition, the case United States v. Lopez is a prime example of Congress’ ability to carry out the Commerce Clause to the furthest extent. Lastly, the case National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation brings to light the Wagner Act of 1935. T hrough a review of these three cases, it can be concluded that there are no real limitations on Congress when regulating commerce. The Constitution of the United States explicates the enumerated powers that the people have granted to their public administration. A narrow interpretation of the Constitution would mean denying the government the powers granted to them to keep order, equality, and fairness. An expanded interpretation would â€Å"extend words beyond their natural and obvious import, and we might question the application of the term†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (244). It is the government’s responsibility to exercise powers that cannot be exercised by its governed people. There are no guidelines in the Constitution’s composition that discloses how to interpret the language; therefore, it is in the hands of three federal branches of government to decipher the Constitutions meaning. A historical case that first outlined Congress’ commerce power was Gibbons v. Ogden. The courts acted here, in view of commerce, to stretch the interpretation of what was considered to be within its limits. In 1807, steam navigation became productive way of doing things. Robert Fulton was the first to make the voyage from New York to Albany by steamboat. Fulton and his partner, Robert R. Livingston, were granted special operating rights and a â€Å"five-year extension to his monopoly, wh... ...s on the Government’s power. It is the supreme law and any act that is inconsistent with it is null. The respondent’s argument that the Act â€Å"exceeds the authority of Congress† is a weak argument, which can be disproved by the Constitution, itself. Congress must be able to exercise stretching its powers in order to insure the safety of the economy. According to law, Congress must â€Å"regulate commerce.† Some individuals might feel that the Government possesses too much power, but it is necessary for them to have it. Without it, our Government would be weak and subject to failure. State legislature acts should be unconstitutional if they interfere with interstate commerce. If not, we are giving more power to our states than our Government. Congress’ power to legislate control over public schools is constitutional because it is a power delegated to them. Regulation of activities in and affecting commerce does include carrying a handgun to school. The action of bringing it does directly violate the Gun Free School Zone Act, which the Federal Government made a federal offense. Congress analyzes activities in a broad sense so that in the end, they do what is best for every individual.

Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2004 Essay -- Investment Investor Sarbanes Oxley

Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2004 The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was signed into law on July 30, 2002 by President Bush. The new law came after major corporate scandals involving Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom. Its goals are to protect investors by improving accuracy of and reliability of corporate disclosures and to restore investor confidence. The law is considered the most important change in securities and corporate law since the New Deal. The act is named after Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland and Representative Michael Oxley of Ohio (Wikipedia Online).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sarbanes-Oxley consisted of 11 different titles or sections. Title I is Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. It created a five member panel known as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, overseen and appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (Sarbanes-Oxley). The Board is to consist of two CPAs and three people that are not CPAs, but the chairman must be a CPA. The Board is to provide oversight of auditing of public companies while establishing auditing, quality control, independence, ethical standards (Arens 32-33). Public accounting firms that work on audits must register with the Board and pay a fee. Title I also included new auditing rules. Auditors must now retain paper work for seven years, have a second partner review and approval of audit reports, evaluate whether internal controls accurately show transactions as well as sales of assets, and describe any weaknesses or noncompliant internal controls. Public accou nting firms that issue auditing reports for more than 100 companies are to be inspected every year. Accounting firms that issue audit reports for less than 100 companies must be inspected very three years. The Board can discipline or sanction accounting firms for what it deems to be negligent conduct (Conference of State Bankers Online).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Title II of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is Auditor Independence. It creates new rules that auditors must abide by in order to keep their objectivity and accuracy. Auditors are now banned from performing most non-audit related services like bookkeeping, actuary services, and management consulting. An auditor may no longer be the lead auditor of a firm for more than five consecutive years. Auditors are now required to report all significant accounting policies and practices used in the audit, any different trea... ... GE has said that new compliance costs are about $30 million. AIG has said that Sarbanes-Oxley is costing the company $300 million. Many European companies have also complained because they are forced to comply because they are on American stock exchanges. Surveys have also found that many companies are even thinking about going private to avoid compliance Sarbanes-Oxley (Bartlett 1-3). Works Cited Arens, Alvin, Randal Elder and Mark Beasley. Auditing and Assurance Services: An Integrated Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. Bartlett, Bruce. â€Å"The Crimes of Sarbanes-Oxley.† National Review 25 May 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_bartlett/bartlett200405250811.asp Conference of State Bankers Online. Executive Summary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 10 February 2005. http://www.csbs.org/government/legislative/misc/2002_sarbanes-oxley_summary.htm Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 107 Cong., 2nd sess. 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgibin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_ bills&docid=f:h3763enr.tst.pdf. Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Wikipedia Online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes- Oxley_Act.

What Are The Major Components Of Biological Membranes And How Do They :: essays research papers fc

What Are The Major Components of Biological Membranes And How Do They Contribute To Membrane Function?. Summary. The role of the biological membrane has proved to be vital in countless mechanisms necessary to a cells survival. The phospholipid bilayer performs the simpler functions such as compartmentation, protection and osmoregulation. The proteins perform a wider range of functions such as extracellular interactions and metabolic processes. The carbohydrates are found in conjunction with both the lipids and proteins, and therefore enhance the properties of both. This may vary from recognition to protection. Overall the biological membrane is an extensive, self-sealing, fluid, asymmetric, selectively permeable, compartmental barrier essential for a cell or organelles correct functioning, and thus its survival. Introduction. Biological membranes surround all living cells, and may also be found surrounding many of an eukaryotes organelles. The membrane is essential to the survival of a cell due to its diverse range of functions. There are general functions common to all membranes such as control of permeability, and then there are specialised functions that depend upon the cell type, such as conveyance of an action potential in neurones. However, despite the diversity of function, the structure of membranes is remarkably similar. All membranes are composed of lipid, protein and carbohydrate, but it is the ratio of these components that varies. For example the protein component may be as high as 80% in Erythrocytes, and as low as 18% in myelinated neurones. Alternately, the lipid component may be as high as 80% in myelinated neurones, and as low as 15% in skeletal muscle fibres. The initial model for membrane structure was proposed by Danielli and Davson in the late 1930s. They suggested that the plasma membrane consisted of a lipid bilayer coated on both sides by protein. In 1960, Michael Robertson proposed the Unit Membrane Hypothesis which suggests that all biological membranes -regardless of location- have a similar basic structure. This has been confirmed by research techniques. In the 1970s, Singer and Nicholson announced a modified version of Danielli and Davsons membrane model, which they called the Fluid Mosaic Model. This suggested that the lipid bilayer supplies the backbone of the membrane, and proteins associated with the membrane are not fixed in regular positions. This model has yet to be disproved and will therefore be the basis of this essay. The lipid component. Lipid and protein are the two predominant components of the biological membrane. There are a variety of lipids found in membranes, the majority of which are phospholipids. The phosphate head of a lipid molecule is hydrophilic, while the long fatty acid tails are hydrophobic. This gives the overall molecule an amphipathic nature.

Nutritional Health Essay

Explaining the terms: food, diet, meals and snacks, nutrients Food: Food is a nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink in order to carry on life and growth. Food has been categorised as carbohydrates, including fibre, protein, fat and vitamins and minerals. Food allows us to keep on living. For example bread contains carbohydrate, meat contains protein, milk contains fat but it depends what milk you take, fruit and vegetables both contain vitamin and minerals. Examples of non food are tea, it has no nutritional value. Diet: Diet means the different food types that have been eaten regularly by a person. It doesn’t always mean losing weight. A diet means everything a person has eaten throughout the day. In the UK people might eat 3 meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can also have special diets such as losing weight which means you are reducing your fat on your body. Being more careful with sugar because you are diabetic or because you are anaemic you will need to eat food with iron such as red meat and green vegetables. Meals and snacks: A snack is a portion of food which is smaller than a meal. Snacks are eaten between meals. Snacks designed to be small, quick and enjoyable. For example you have snack and jacks it doesn’t contain fat or fruits such as bananas or apples. You eat a meal 3 times a day which are breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is reasonable amount of food in a day. Nutrients: The process by which people take in food and use it for growth and repair. Examples of nutrients are: protein which you can find in fish, fat which you can find in milk, carbohydrate which you can find in bread or pasta and minerals which you can find in spinach. Malnourished and undernourished: Malnutrition is a serious condition that comes when a person’s diet does not have enough nutrients to meet the expectations of their body. This can affect the growth, your physical health, mood and behaviour. Being malnourished does not always mean that you’re thin or underweight. It is possible to eat a diet which contains high calories but a few vitamins and minerals. This means that you can become malnourished when you are obese or overweight. Symptoms of being malnourished are: Lack of strengths or energy to do activities Lack of energy and breathlessness because of anaemia Changes of your skin and nails Mood changes An increase of illnesses or infections Undernourished is a lack of calories or nutrients from eating not enough food or unable to break down nutrients from the diet because of medical condition such as Marasmus and Kwashiorkor. Marasmus means having problems with: Growing A huge amount of weight loss Muscle wasting Diarrhoea Irritability Kwashiorkor means having problems with: Bad growing Muscle wasting A long time of diarrhoea and infections Deterioration of hair, skin and nails A swollen liver and abdomen Swelling of the face, hands and feet The most common symptoms of being malnourished is unplanned weight loss. If your BMI is lower than 18.5 or you experience the symptoms you will need to contact your GP. To calculate your BMI you can use a chart or you can calculate it like this BMI = weight (kg) height (cm) BMI CHART Young children are taken to the health care centre at least once a week to look at their weight and height. They are looking if the baby is gaining weight in a healthy way or gaining weight too fast and also to check if the baby is growing. The babies are going to be compared to other babies of their age to see if their weight and height is normal. They mostly use growth charts too at the weight and height. GROWTH CHART They also look at someone’s gender and height to see what their weight has to be. For female the weight looking is different than that of a male because a male is builder than a female and also a man needs to take 2500 calories as to which a female has to take 2000 calories a day. Male Female To prevent yourself from getting malnourished and undernourished you will need to have a good diet which has enough vitamins, minerals, fat and carbohydrate. To make sure you take enough and healthy food you can use the eat well plate which shows varieties of food we need to eat and what proportion we should eat it, to have a good and balanced diet. You can also use the five-a-day which means eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. This makes sure you get all the right things your body needs. You can eat sweet things because your body needs fat but you will need to take a small amount. Here are some easy and healthy recipes to give some ideas. A recipe for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks: Breakfast an avocado on toast: INGREDIENTS 2 avocados 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Juice of 1 lime A little splash of Worcestershire sauce 4 slices of sour dough/rye bread Salt and pepper Small bunch of basil, roughly chopped 2 sweet tomatoes, roughly chopped METHOD How to make simple avocado on toast breakfast 1. Mash the avocado with a fork to a rough puree, adding the olive oil, lime juice, and Worcestershire sauce as you go. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 2. Toast the bread, drizzle a little olive oil over each piece then spread over the avocados. Sprinkle with basil and the diced tomatoes. Lunch Italian turkey club sandwich: INGREDIENTS 2 tbsp olive oil 4 turkey breast steaks 3 tbsp fresh red or green pesto 200g carton half-fat crà ¨me fraà ®che 1 baguette, cut into 4 pieces 4 ripe, plum tomatoes, sliced Small bag baby leaf salad METHOD How to make Italian turkey club sandwich 1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a griddle pan. Season the turkey and cook over a medium heat for 8-10 minutes, turning, until lightly charred and cooked through. Set aside. 2. Meanwhile, lightly mix the pesto into the crà ¨me fraà ®che and season to taste. Split each baguette piece in half lengthways, to give 8 halves. Brush the cut-side with the remaining oil, then griddle or toast under a hot grill in batches until golden. 3. Assemble the sandwiches. Spread a little pesto and crà ¨me fraà ®che sauce on 4 baguette halves, then top with sliced tomatoes. Top with a turkey breast, add a handful of salad leaves and another spoonful of the pesto and crà ¨me fraà ®che sauce. Top each sandwich and serve. Dinner chicken pasta soup: INGREDIENTS 5–6 chicken thighs 1 large white onion, sliced 1 tbsp olive oil 4 medium carrots, chopped into small dice 6–8 closed cup mushrooms, quartered  ½ red pepper, seeds removed and chopped into small dice 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes 600ml chicken stock 175ml white wine 100g frozen sweet corn (use tinned if you cannot find any frozen) Salt and freshly ground black pepper 150g pasta shells Handful of fresh coriander, chopped Method 1. Preheat the oven at 190ÚC/gas mark 5. Place the chicken thighs on a baking tray and roast in the oven for about 30–40 minutes, until cooked. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Once cooled, remove the skin and separate the meat from the bones before cutting the meat into pieces. 2. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan over a medium heat, add the onions and fry for a minute or two before adding the carrots. Cook until the carrots and onions start to soften, about 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and red pepper. Mix thoroughly and continue to cook until the mushrooms have shrunk in size and begin to brown. 3. Next, add the can of tomatoes, chicken stock, wine, sweet corn and chicken pieces and season well with salt and pepper. Leave to simmer on a low heat, covered, for about 20 minutes. 4. Add the pasta to the soup and leave to simmer for a further 15 minutes or until the pasta is cooked, stirring occasionally to avoid the pasta sticking to the pan. Once ready, remove from the heat and set aside for half an hour, covered, to allow the flavours to infuse. When you’re ready to serve, reheat the soup, pour into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of fresh coriander. Snacks: You can have snacks such as: Banana Apple Cookie Snack and jack Overweight and obese: Overweight means that you’re BMI is 25 or over 25. If you are overweight you will have a great risk of getting: Arthritis Type 2 diabetes High blood pressure. When people talk about being overweight they mean that the person is not eating enough healthy or they could eat healthy food but they will eat a big portion. It will not only affect somebody health but their self esteem as well. They won’t be able to do activities when people of their same age can do all the things they won’t and wear the clothes they want to wear. Obesity means that your BMI is 30 or over 30. Being obese increases your risk of getting serious and life-threatening diseases such as: Type 2 diabetes Heart disease Some types of cancer, such as breast cancer and colon cancer stroke Obesity can affect your life in a serious way than being overweight it could damage the way life and it often leads to depression. There are simple ways for you can see if you are obese or overweight, for example you could go to the GP or to a dietician, they are able to give you advice at how you could live a healthier life. You could also use a BMI chart or you could look at the weight for height and gender. Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) is something that also could be use to see what you are recommended to take in. The DRVs shows you what your daily intakes should be, they have made charts to show you what you should take in. The charts are: Chart made for age and gender Chart made for ageïÆ'   Reference Nutrient Intakes (RNTs) is part of the DRVs which shows the amount of nutrients each individual is recommended to take in to maintain good health. If you look at the backside of the product it shows you how much nutrients you take in per portion and per 100 g of food. It can help you see if you eat too much. You could also look at your actual food intake which means that you are looking what you eat everyday and compare it to you should have been eating every day. What I would recommended for people who are overweight or obese is to look at the portion of what you eat. Go to your GP or dietist they are able to help you make a diary of you should eat every day. Also eat things of the food groups which are: If you eat at least one of the things in each food group you will be able to stay healthy. Examples of using the different types of the food group are: In the morning drinking milk with bread and peanut butter For lunch eating a fruit salad For dinner eating vegetables with pasta and fish. Also using the right food preparations and processing methods will also make a huge difference in your diet. Example of good preparations and processing methods is using fresh food. If you buy fresh it means that the vitamins and minerals are still in the food but if you buy old food it could be that the vitamins and minerals already left the food. Good ways of cooking your food is grilling and steaming it makes sure that every vitamin and mineral stays in the food. Make sure that there are varieties of colours on your plate which will make it more interesting for you to eat. Eat small portions which will make sure that you ate enough. Use small plates which will make it look like you are eating a lot. Not only eating healthy food is a good thing for you to stay healthy but also doing exercise every day for at least 30 minutes. 30 minutes a day exercise is enough. A few examples of exercises you can do at home are: You can also go to the gym and get a personal trainer who will help you do the right exercise every day. Eating healthy food and doing exercise will make your body stay fit.

Lenin’s View of Economic Policies in Russia Essay

Lenin’s view of economic polices in Russia between 1917 and 1923 was shaped by the factors of War Communism, and the New Economic Plan (NEP). Lenin realized that to have a successful economy and to keep the idea of equality in Communism there had to be a compromise; there needed to be a balance of state control and individual incentive for the economy to prosper. Through the failure of War Communism and the success of the economy and the drift away from Communism with the NEP; Lenin learned the ‘do’s and don’ts’ of a successful economy. Lenin described what the country needed to do to have a successful economy, he said, † We have found that a degree of private commercial interest, with state supervision and control of that interest, is all we actually need†¦ (doc. 5). This shows how both War Communism and the NEP were factors that shaped Lenin’s compromising idea of what a economy needed to be successful. The War Communism policy was adopted to keep the Red Army supplied. During War Communism the government took control of industry, and told factories what to produce; and the government would take any grain that was produced by the farmers. The Cheka would steel the grain that the farmers produced, this made the farmers angry and they no longer had any incentive to grow crops because the crops would just be taken away from them. Also money became worthless, wages were paid in food or other goods, and many people bartered goods instead of using money. The situation for the farmers and the peasants got worse. By 1921 Russia’s economy was shattered. Industrial production had drastically decreased; and the cities were in chaos. Agriculture had been demolished. War Communism was put in affect to increase the productivity of both industrial goods and food, but the workers and farmers saw no point in putting in the effort if in the end it would be taken away from them. War Communism led to the destruction of the economy of Russia. Lenin finally admitted that War Communism was a mistake, he said, â€Å"The small farmer needs a spur, and incentive that accords with his condition†¦ We are very much to blame for having gone to far; we overdid the nationalization of industry and trade, clamping down on the local exchange of commodities. Was that a mistake? It certainly was. (doc. 4)† This quote is an example of how Lenin realized that he had made a mistake and this quote also shows that Lenin understands that the workers and farmers need an incentive to work; with an incentive the economy will grow. Lenin’s view of economic policies was greatly influenced by the failure of War Communism, and by the failure he was able to figure out another system that would revive Russia’s economy. Lenin realized that to have a successful economy the people have to have the incentive to work. Lenin also knew that if he did not improve the economic state of Russia that the Communists would not survive; War Communism took the ‘safety net’ away from the Communists. Lenin had to act quickly to figure out another policy that would make the people want to work, and to revive the economy. In 1921 the NEP was created to fix the economy. Lenin created this new policy to try to burst the morale of the people and make them want to produce more grain or products. The transition form War Communism to the NEP was drastic, the people had to change there lives to fit this new, more capitalists society. Though the change to a more capitalist economy, the NEP was successful in ‘jump starting’ the farming production, for example. Lenin says, â€Å"Release of [surplus goods] into circulation would stimulate small farming, which is in terrible state†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (doc. 4) This is a great example of how Lenin realizes why he needs to change from the War Communism to the NEP, for a least one reason to increase the amount of grain produced. The creation of the NEP changed many laws that were once holding Russia’s economy back. Grain requisitioning was stopped. Grain was no longer taken from the peasants. Also traders could buy and sell goods, which was illegal during War Communism. Smaller factories were returned to their former owners; and they were allowed to sell the goods they made and make a profit from them. Finally larger industries like coal and steel remained under state control; but some larger factories were able to sell their products. These were some of the main differences between War Communism and NEP. During the NEP the economy prospered, because people were now allowed to keep some of the goods they made and then sell them for their own profit. This made the people want to produce more so they could have more for their family. Lenin described some of the good affects that the NEP had, he said, â€Å"We have achieved much with our requisitioning system. Our food policy has made it possible in the second year to acquire three times as much grain as in the first.† (doc. 2) Lenin was talking about the great increase in the production of grain, this great increase was directly related to the NEP; because the peasants could keep some of the grain they made which gave them an incentive to work hard. Communists were angry because they saw the country returning to capitalism. They did not like the fact that bosses of factories called kulacks could hire men to work for them. Also Communists disliked the ‘Nepmen’, because they made a high profit by buying goods cheaply and then selling them for more. Though the NEP revived the economy, people, especially peasants were unhappy with the new capitalist society. Lenin’s view of economic policies was changed through the NEP, he knew that people need the incentive to work, but he also knew he could not give the people to much economic freedom; the idea of balancing the policy of War Communism and NEP was Lenin’s final view of how to keep the people happy and to sustain a great economy.