Mc Donalds free essay sample

What tactics did the activist investor William Ackman (Pershing Capital) pursue in his campaigns against Wendys and McDonalds? Briefly describe each tactic used and the way in which each tactic might help Ackman to achieve his goals. We will write a custom essay sample on Mc Donalds or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page What other tactics could Ackman have employed to achieve his goals? B. What did Ackman ultimately hope to achieve through his activism? What role, if any, did corporate governance issues play in Ackmans activist campaigns? C. With the benefit of hindsight, describe the alternative tactics that McDonalds management could have pursued in response to Ackmans display of activism? Would it have been possible for McDonalds management to maintain its resistance at any cost? D. In you view, who emerged as the winner in this activist standoff between Ackman and McDonalds? Explain why (supplying evidence in support of your arguments). A. What tactics did the activist investor William Ackman (Pershing Capital) pursue in his campaigns against Wendys and McDonalds? Briefly describe each tactic used and the way in which each tactic might help Ackman to achieve his goals. What other tactics could Ackman have employed to achieve his goals? Spin off A situation in which a company offers stock in one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries or dependent divisions such that subsidiary or division becomes an independent company. The parent company may or may not maintain a portion of ownership in the newly spun-off company. A company may conduct a spin-off for any number of reasons. For example, it may wish to divest itself of one industry so it can expand into another. It may also simply wish to profit from the sale of the subsidiary. A spin off should not be confused with a split off. | With implementing spin off, Wendy would be able to get independent from its parent operation chain Tim Horton’s dog nut. Even when Tim Horton’s Dog nut was a growth driver, representing 50 % of overall operating profits, the spinoff would promote tangible stock raising price. IPO will provide Horton’s value up to 4,48 billion. | Autonomous Operations from its subsidiary (Tim Horton’s)+ Confidence to Joint venture capital. Tax free transactionUnlock of Shareholder value. 72 M in equity , for 15% of Horton’s total shares. 15 % stock value increase after spinoff. | Being Tim Hortons the major growth agent of Wendy’s, and despite the sudden increase on stock value, the spin off revealed the not satisfactory long term value of Wendy’s , which leaded to a long term price decrease. Sale of large portion of the company’s restaurant to franchisees. | Ackman initiative included to sell more than 200 real estate sites, close 60 poorly performing stores and sale of hundreds of company owned restaurants. Profit increase of 25 %Reduction of debt by 100 mIncrease on equity and long term profits+ Funds to invest in growth and unexplored markets. + steady cash flow from franchisee fees. | Loss of potential plus value added equity: Real Estate. Lack of confidence on franchisees for the management of a solely entity with no company owned restaurants. | Share repurchases. A program by which a company buys back its own shares from the marketplace, reducing the number of outstanding shares. Share repurchase is usually an indication that the companys management thinks the shares are undervalued. The company can buy shares directly from the market or offer its shareholder the option to tender their shares directly to the company at a fixed price. | With the Horton’s spin off the appreciation of tangible benefits to shareholders’ dividends would be finally accountable in Wendy’s equity interest to shareholders. | Reduce the number of outstanding shares. + earnings / share+ price of Wendy’s shares. | Dependability of the dividend for investors: More important. As such, investors may invest more heavily in a stock with a dependable dividend than in a stock with less dependable repurchases. Asymmetric information on transaction details. | Avoidance of large acquisitions. | The strategy includes this provision to state the level of certainty for investors in Wendy’s transaction as a complementary key of the probable long term stock price decrease due to the spin off strategy, the reliability on stable company with long term outlook of growth will provide such a reflection in stock price. | + initiative for investors to keep its equity level I the company+ Increase on stock price. | Limitation for expansion in short term.

Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin Free Online Research Papers Irving Berlin was born in the poverty stricken town of Tyumen, Russia. He was born on May 11th, 1988 and his birth name was Israel Baline. He was the youngest of 9 children born to Moses and Leah (Lena) Baline. In 1893, escaping Russian persecution, the Baline’s fled to America and settled in the lower East side of New York. Baline’s father was a shochel for the Jewish synagogue in Russia and after arriving in New York he was forced to work in local markets. The Baline children had to work selling newspapers to help the family, like so many other immigrated families had to do. Shortly after his fathers death in 1896, Baline ran away from home. After leaving home, Baline earned money by singing at popular cafes and restaurants in the Bowery. Baline was hired as a singing waiter at Pelham’s in 1906. There he met a co-worker by the name of â€Å"Nick† Nicholson. Pelham asked Nick to write a song and Baline to write the lyrics to outdo to employees at a rival cafà © that had written and published a song. The two of them titled the song Marie of Sunny Italy. To introduce the song, Baline often sang the song while working. It quickly became popular with the customers in Pelham’s. Stern had decided to publish the song and when they read the cover they noticed a printing error that had changed Baline’s name to Irving Berlin. Not wanting to cause any more confusion than necessary, Baline stuck with the error and from that moment on was known to the world as Irving Berlin. To have had no formal musical education in his life, his musical career was becoming successful. He earned thirty-seven cents in royalties for the song Marie of Sunny Italy. In 1908, Berlin accidentally wrote a melody for a potent al song, which was later called Dorando. Berlin was offered 25 dollars for a completed copy of the song. Since he did not know how to write or play music, he hired an arranger to compose to melody for the lyrics. Using the same arranger he had hired, he also completed the song The Best of Friends Must Part. Berlins lyrics were becoming so famous that the New York Journal hired him to write some verses. He wrote the lyrics to many of Americas most patriotic songs. One which was dedicated as our country national anthem, God Bless America. Berlin’s music was starting to boom and his life was now something different from what he had known as a child, Berlin had money and lots of it. Though he had money and fame something was missing from his life that he wasn’t aware was missing, love. A young woman by the name of Dorthy Goetz had come to his office one day begging for a copy of any one of Berlins songs for her to sing. Before Goetz could get all the words out of her mouth, another woman came into Berlins office begging for a song as well. Goetz was a quiet and shy woman but after seeing the desperate woman pleading for a song that all changed. Afraid that she wouldn’t get the copy she so desperately wanted, she grabbed the other woman by the hair and they began to fight. Shocked by what was happening in his office, Berlin attempted to break up the two young women but was unsuccessful. When the fighting finally ended, he gave the copy to the other woman and asked Dorthy out on a date. After what w as a short courtship, the two got married in February, 1913. The spent their honeymoon in Cuba which would later yield a terrible mistake. At the time of their honeymoon, a horrible case of typhoid had spread throughout Cube. Immediately after returning from the honeymoon, Dorthy became ill. Deep in love with his new bride, Berlin tried desperately to get his wife better. He had 2 full time doctors in the home caring for Dorthy; however, in a time when antibiotics didn’t exist there was nothing they could do to save her. Dorthy passed away in July of 1913. Berlin feel into a deep depression. While he was mourning the lose of his wife, he wrote one of his biggest hits When I Lost You. Berlin would wait many years before we would marry again, twelve to be exact. In 1926 Berlin married Ellin Mackay, the daughter of Postal Telegraph Company CEO, Clarence Mackay. Ellins father contested the marriage which was publicly announced often. Despite his disapproval the two secretly marri ed. They had 4 children throughout their marriage, Irving Jr., Linda Louise, Mary Ellin and Elizabeth Iris. Berlins fame soared with his first complete score Watch Your Step, in 1914. During WW II, he felt that it was important to show first hand the lives of the soldiers so he wrote This is the Army. The show raised $10 million and all of the proceeds went to the Army Emergency Relief fund. Following the war, Berlin wrote numerous songs for the American Red Cross. February 18, 1955, President Eisenhower presented Berlin with a gold medal for composing so many of Americas patriotic songs. Berlin also assigned the copyright for â€Å"God Bless America† to the God Bless America fund, which raises money for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts throughout America. In a biography published in 1924, songwriter Jerome Kern stated â€Å" Irving Berlin had no place in American music. He is American music†. Irving Berlin died on September 22, 1989 at the age of 101. Citation Page Parlorsongs.com, Richard Reublin, Feb 2003 Answers.com, Biography Jewishvirtuallibrary.com â€Å"As Thousands Cheer†, Laurence Bergreen Research Papers on Irving BerlinHip-Hop is ArtWhere Wild and West MeetNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationThe Spring and AutumnThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into Asia

Research proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Research proposal - Essay Example Lesser and lesser number of people are willing to spare a dime or a penny for them as days go by. Business establishments frown at the sight of them near their front doors. While there have been scientific studies focusing on beggary and their activities, beggars are generally misunderstood. Amidst, their seeming oblivious perception of the world turning either indifferent or hostile to their plight, beggars have their own untold stories, which this research will attempt to unfold before the world. A better awareness of beggars and their fight for survival, may rally people and organizations to their cause, thus, lesser hostility and greater sympathy, empathy and respect. The eleventh edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defined the noun beggar as â€Å"a person who lives by asking for gifts† (Mish 110). From the early goings of the survey of existing literature, much of the literature and studies on beggary were more of decade-old legal reviews into the unconstitutionality of prohibiting panhandling in cities or states of the US from the New York Law School (Mitchell 697-717), University of Baltimore (Mitchell 291) and other institutions for law studies. One literature investigated the constitutional implications of the ban on begging in the state of California (Walston 547). There were also found substantial and recent scientific literature dealing with beggars. Three of these works are discussed in this proposal. Lee and Farrell (299-324), Smith (par. 1-8) and Lankenau (288-318 ). Lee and Farrell utilized data from two American national surveys to gather information homeless pan-handlers and non-panhandlers and the public perception on pandhandling activities. Findings revealed that the homeless panhandlers are â€Å"more isolated, troubled and disadvantaged† than the homeless non-panhandlers. The study also disclosed that although minority of the homeless

Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 12

Personal Statement Example This is what I would like to be able to do. I consider myself to be highly competitive, always wanting to surpass what I have already achieved. I engage in healthy competition with my colleagues, but I am more focused on outdoing myself. I consider myself my toughest competition. During my early years in school and up to middle school, I have been an active student leader, working hard on my academics as well as the extracurricular activities. I desired not only to hit high marks in my subjects, but also be able to participate in school activities and hone my other skills. My participation in school organizations has helped me to become a real team player, knowing where and how to make a group of people maximize their potentials to reach common objectives. I have brought this skill even during my college and early years as a professional, and it is one of my personality traits that I consider useful as I carve my career path. Being my biggest critic, I also had to conquer other grounds as I moved to places. I took an Intensive English course so I could learn to effectively communicate in writing and speech on top of my native language. I know that having the right communications skills will put me ahead of the others, and so I focused on learning not only the language, but more importantly, on achieving the right amount of self confidence to actually communicate and speak in public. This is one of the best decisions I have made because it has enabled me to interact more effectively with people from other cultures, in the workplace and beyond. Most of my career life has been focused on being involved in business analytics, studying performances of partner suppliers and making appropriate recommendations. During my three and a half years of stay with the company Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), I was able to enhance my

Case essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case - Essay Example Jill deciding not to take this particular job causes her to be fired from the contract without the terms and conditions of the contract being fulfilled over the five year period. The actions taken by the firm break specific laws and carry elements of proof in regards to the lack of creating the correct approach to the job fulfillment specifications. The laws based on job descriptions and legal requirements is based on the necessity of listing any and all duties which are expected to be fulfilled by the employee before hiring the individual. This has to be specified with a contractual agreement that is filled by both the employee and employer. When Jill was asked to not take part in the escort service, she then proceeded to take the problem to a legal entity, specifically because the service was one which is not considered legal. The whistle blowing action which Jill took part in furthered the problem. According to current movements against discrimination, one cannot be unlawfully terminated for whistle blowing against problems within the workspace or from complaints over potentially illegal activities which are in the workspace. If one decides to freely participate in acts that are considered illegal then any firing process is considered discriminatory and is not lawful. There are two areas which Jill has the right to file against in this specific case. The first is based on the written employee agreement. This has blanket statements based on the claim of allowing each individual to have the right to fair and equal treatment while expressing and acting upon any religious or personal beliefs. If the job description is not one which claims the escort services and if Jill opposes this religiously and legally, then it is her right to act upon this within her own manner while being protected by the law. If this was stated in the contract than Jill remains protected from being fired. The second area which

Physical Surveillance Essay Example for Free

Physical Surveillance Essay The act of surveillance is designed to observe individuals, areas or objects that are of particular interest to an investigator in order to collect information and evidence that may be associated with a suspect and his related criminal activities. Physical surveillance is a method of examination of a particular area that is linked to a crime scene or a suspect. This may include inspecting the area when the crime took place, as well as the victim’s and suspect’s homes, vehicles and paraphernalia. Examination will cover both the conditions of the places and items, as well as the position of the places and items in the particular areas. Physical surveillance is important in a crime scene investigation because it provides a way for the investigator to reconstruct the scene and make inferences on what actually happened during the incident (Gardner, 2005). Any area that is associated with a crime is identified as soon as a crime has been established or reported. In addition, these particular areas are protected from any type of disruption by putting a crime scene tape along the perimeter of the area concerned. It has been reported that the most complicate part of an investigation is the establishment and protection of the boundaries of a crime scene because the signs related to a scene are often elusive to an investigator. Other investigators employ search dogs to facilitate the establishment and tracking of a crime scene. Photography is commonly employed in the physical surveillance of a crime scene. This visual documentation of an area is very helpful to an investigator because it physically records the features of the area before any other activity is performed to the crime scene. Physical surveillance also involves marking all potential evidences to the crime. In addition to photographs, sketches of the crime scene are also important in physical surveillance of a specific area. Sketches are generally considered as essential information of crime scenes because these serve as detailed notes of the investigation, although the diagrammatic representation is of less quality than a simple photograph. Sketches provide measurements of the crime scene, including distances between two points of interest that are located within the area under investigation. An investigator often starts with a rough sketch and eventually moves on to a final sketch that is drawn to scale. These sketches are commonly employed as models during court hearings and trials because these provide the floor-plan of an area of interest, the elevation of the area and its details and other critical dimensions that may be helpful in the analysis of a crime scene. Physical surveillance serves more purposes in a crime scene investigation than a technical surveillance because it provides the investigator with sufficient evidence that may be important in linking a specific suspect to a particular crime. Technical surveillance does not provide the specific details that physical surveillance provides because it does not provide any associative details that are critical to an investigation. In addition, physical surveillance provides a view of the crime scene through an observer’s eyes and this usually provides a neutral view of the area, removing any biases and discrimination of certain items and areas. Physical surveillance also provides a better understanding of a crime incident through the note-taking that is performed on the area, including any traces of struggle or bullet holes. It also assists the investigator in reconstructing the sequence of events that are related to the crime, including the initial moments of what was said, done or executed by the victim and the suspect.

Love Is Blind Essays -- Love Relationships Short Story

Do you remember your first kiss? Did you keep your eyes open or closed? I bet you closed your eyes. Isn’t this the essence of â€Å"love is blind?† You kiss them without fear, and without any sense of danger. You do not have to see the one you love to know you love them. You accept love on blind faith. Love is blind and for a moment we use this phrase to justify the obvious flaws we do not recognize in the people. Lovers are oblivious to the truth and therefore unable to be clear-sighted. My perspective is that we are blinded by love and we act carelessly without assessing any of our actions, thus we have regret for any mistakes later on. My latest experience where love is blind has to do with a friend that I know for a little over six months now, but I could say that I can feel her profound misery every time she spills her disappointment on her love matter with her long-distance boyfriend. He had to relocate to china because he received well-paid career there. Sharon would spend hours talking to him online and via phone even in the early hour of morning. They have experienced love even before they have seen each other in person; it was about a year ago when they have met online and developed an exigent relationship. She would always cry all day and night because of a terrible fight. She attacks me with complaints every single day uttering in hatred of how selfish he is. I would ask her, â€Å"if that is the situation, why are you still with him†; and she would mumble â€Å"I love him.† On the tenth months of their relationship, they have decided to finally meet each other. She flew to Singapore to meet him there. They spent about a week together and that one week is the happiest and the sweetest moment of her life as she described... ...In a drunken state or bad mood, he would beat her severely without a reason. Everyday she suffered verbal and emotional abuse by her boyfriend but yet she takes no action in correcting. In the song, Eve was trying to save her from her abusive boyfriend, but she was blinded by love and refused to take her advice. At the end of the song, her best friend died because she was severely beaten by her boyfriend. Therefore, love makes people ignorant to reality and lose sight of their self-confidence and self-respect. Love has caused many people all over the world to be blind. From having an affair with a married man to neglecting physical and emotional abuse from a loved one, love has shielded many people from making good judgments and decisions. In the end, love is a powerful emotion that can fool us all whether we are aware of it or not.

Over-dependence on technology Essay

Over-dependence on technology The reliance on technology is expected and necessary because the technology is designed to be a flexible tool supporting work activities. This reliance is expected and necessary if the technology is to realize the potential for which it is designed. This fundamentally differs from over dependence on technology, in which those using technological innovations no longer treat them as flexible tools to support work activities, but instead make incorrect assumptions about how these systems work, and begin to rely on them, without question or skepticism, to manage critical work activities. he theory of technological determinism holds that technology is the prime force in initiating social change, and that the introduction of new technology fundamentally shifts work activities, resulting in transformations of individuals and their social interactions as well as the organizations in which they work. 3 In contrast to this deterministic approach, the theory of social construction of technology posits that technology does not directly shape society; instead, the social context in which the technology is used determines how it is created, diffuses, and becomes part of the organization. 4 Both theories imply that the introduction of technology is associated with significant change; they differ in whether the change is initiated by the technology or the social context in which it is used. Regardless of the theoretical basis for understanding the change, it is reasonable to assume that some degree of dependence on any technological innovation will inevitably occur if the technology provides users with some perceived, relative advantage over whatever system it supersedes. 5 This reliance is expected and necessary if the technology is to realize the potential for which it is designed. This fundamentally differs from overdependence on technology, in which those using technological innovations no longer treat them as flexible tools to support work activities, but instead make incorrect assumptions about how these systems work, and begin to rely on them, without question or skepticism, to manage critical work activities. To answer the question â€Å"How does the introduction of CPOE create the potential for overdependence on technology in healthcare organizations?† we conducted a detailed analysis of  all references to overdependence on technology in our data. The results are presented here. However, some people are concerned by these developments. They point out all the failures made by computers that have done a lot of harm to people. Scientists fear that the vital skills can be lost by next generations as computer technology replaces traditional ways of working. Moreover, they predict the chaos that can occur when suddenly the systems fail to work or, what is worse, refuse to listen to people’s orders. That is why in my opinion, computers and other developments of technology are useful and there is no possibility to live without them nowadays, as we got to much used to them. However, we should also work to find the ways of making our dependence on technology less dangerous for us. New developments should appear only when really important and helpful for people.

Doctor Patient Communication Essay

This is the adopted mode of communication with the patient aiming at firstly, getting enough history or information towards diagnosing the patient presenting complaint and equally ensuring that the patient’s right to privacy, good health, and permission as the need arises, is not compromised during the process. â€Å"When communication and rapport is poor, patients are at risk of distressed and doubt doctor’s competence† (Allen, 2000). Research reports that patients often wrongly base clinical skills on communication effectiveness. Patient with this bias mind eventually shows poor cooperation with treatments. This is more reason why it is an ethical issue. The present state of the patient’s psychological state is important. A depressed patient would prefer less talk than a patient who is worried to get fast cure and some times talk out of points if unguided by an experience doctor. Due to diverse understanding from multicultural views, it is necessary to understand the biological ethnicity of each patient through a ‘biodata’ aspect of the history. From the biodata, the religious denomination is noted. The occupation, family and social histories also reveal the mental state. Doctor’s adoption of line of thought would be of help. For example, a friendly way of approach gives the patients sense of worth and avoids any feelings of inferiority complex that may hinder patient’s opening up in detail. The doctor also needs not unnecessarily friendly, this could denote carefree attitude at times. 80% of the treatment receives is dependent of how elaborate is the history taken by the doctor. An understanding of introversion and extroversion communication type equally helps. It is necessary to carry the patient along, after the knowledge about the patient’s present state, preempt the patients’ worry and briefly explain why the next question is necessary.

Buonaparte - Relationship of Bonaparte and Buonaparte

Buonaparte - Relationship of Bonaparte and Buonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte was born as Napoleone Buonaparte, the second son of a Corsican family with dual Italian heritage: his father Carlo descended from Francesco Buonaparte, a Florentine who had emigrated in the mid-sixteenth century. Napoleons mother was a Ramolino, a family who arrived in Corsica c. 1500. For a while, Carlo, his wife, and their children were all Buonapartes, but history records the great emperor as being Bonaparte. Why? A growing French influence on both Corsica and the family caused them to adopt the French version of their name: Bonaparte. The future emperor changed his first name too, to just Napoleon. French Influence France gained control of Corsica in 1768, sending an army and a governor who would both play key roles in Napoleons life. Carlo certainly became close friends with the Comte de Marbeuf, the French ruler of Corsica, and fought to send the elder children to be educated in France so they could rise up the ranks of the much larger, richer and more powerful French world; however, their surnames remained almost wholly Buonaparte. It was only in 1793 that the use of Bonaparte begins to grow in frequency, thanks largely to Napoleons failure in Corsican politics and the familys consequent flight to France, where they initially lived in poverty. Napoleon was now a member of the French military, but had managed to a return to Corsica and involved himself in the power struggles of the area. Unlike his later career, things went badly, and the French army (and the French mainland) were soon their new home. Napoleon soon found success, first as an artillery commander in the siege of Toulon and the creation of the ruling Directory, and then in the triumphant Italian Campaign of 1795-6, whereupon he changed almost permanently to Bonaparte. It was clear at this point that the French military was his future, if not the government of France, and a French name would aid this: people could still be suspicious of foreigners (as they still tend to be.) Other members of his family followed as their lives became intertwined with the high-politics of France, and soon the newly named Bonaparte family ruled vast areas of Europe. Political Motivations The changing of the family name from Italian to French seems clearly political in retrospect: as members of an up-and-coming dynasty who ruled France, it made perfect sense to appear French and adopt French affectations. However, theres debate over the scant evidence, and its possible there wasnt a deliberate, family-wide, decision to rename themselves, just the constant and subversive effects of living among French culture working to lead them all to change. Carlos death in 1785, well before the use of Bonaparte became even remotely common, may also have been an enabling factor: they could well have stayed Buonaparte if he had still been alive.​ Readers may wish to note that a similar process happened to the Buonaparte childrens first names: Joseph was born Giuseppe, Napoleon was Napoleone and so on.

Capstone introduction Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Capstone introduction - Research Paper Example There are a number of factors which have affected Africa’s growth and caused it to remain behind. These are as follows; Education Education is the edification of one’s mind with knowledge, skills and even wisdom. In the modern world, education usually takes both formal and informal formats with formal education being the main form of education in today’s world. Despite Africa having a great number of people, most of them young, most of these are not educated. Africa has some of the highest numbers of uneducated and completely illiterate people (Bridges, 2007). Even most of multinational businesses corporations in Africa have to depend on outside countries for experts in different countries. According to Benson, Gospel and Zhu (2013), education is an integral and vital part of the development process. Africa remain the least educated continent, even after the massive missionary work in the previous hundred years which focused on delivering education, healthcare an d religions. Education in Africa is linked with economic prosperity. Only the wealthy can access useful education and only the educated can access wealth. This has left the continent being a continent of one billion extremely poor people and ten thousand billionaires. While the gap between the wealthy and the people is a major concern in almost any economy even in developed countries such as USA and United Kingdom, Africa has the greatest rift between the rich and the poor and this gap has been caused by the education Gap (Curaj, 2012). Most rich people in Africa are those whose families were lucky enough to access education in the pre-colonial era. These were mainly families which sided with colonial masters while the freedom fighters were in the forest fighting for the emancipation of their countries. Freedom fighters and their families never had an opportunity to get education and the wealth-education-wealth cycle never got to them. This has affected the continent ever since. Pol itics Political affects the way a country develops. Good democratic structures help a country to be able to take advantage of its resources and also to be able to help in overcoming its challenges. This is why politics is directly attached to leadership structures. Politicians are at the forefronts of a country’s leadership and therefore affect the way that country is going to develop, or not develop. It goes without saying that Africa is one of the youngest, or constitutes some of the youngest democracies in the world (Obiyan & Amuwo, 2012). In fact, most countries in the African continent can rarely be regarded as democracies. This lack of good political structures perpetuates the issues discussed above. Poor politics means corruption, which will prevent the poor from being able to access resources such as education (Obiyan & Amuwo, 2012). Poor political therefore has helped in maintaining the status quo, which means the maintenance or even expansion of the gap between the rich and the poor in Africa. As Faringer (1991) argues, corruption in many governments in Africa has meant that a few African leaders are prostituting African resources to other countries which mean that African resources only benefit a few already rich African people while the majority continue to suffer. These resources are then exported to other countries where they are used to benefit foreigners. Neo-colonialism Neo-colonialism is termed as a

Globalization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Globalization - Research Paper Example It would be useful to try and analyze the problem of globalization from the viewpoint of different scientific currents that may enable us to better understand the thing. In this essay, three theoretical approaches will be used and compared: Symbolic Interaction theory, functionalism, and conflict theory. The preference should be given to the one of them which may allow better grasp of the problems of globalization. A Symbolic Interaction theory is a sociological approach based on the principle of the primacy of semiotic interactions between individuals and their groups in an analysis of social relations. Symbolic interactionists usually claim that it is semiotics (i.e. the ability to form symbolic images of surrounding reality) that really distinguishes human beings from other animals, and that it is the specific ways of creating such symbolic meanings that define both human conscience and social order at large (Plummer 195). That said, symbolic interactionists aim to use as much emp irical data for their scholarly arguments as possible, because the supporters of this approach believe that an analysis of social life should be grounded in strong empirical foundations (Blumer 47). With respect to globalization, the symbolic interactionist approach to this phenomenon rests on the assumption that globalization is the direct result of growing rates of social interaction across cultures. The globalized world is held together by the natural tendency of humans to communicate and share information with each other, so that the results of these interactions gradually come to shape their participants’ cultural conventions themselves (Dolgon and Baker 376). Thus globalization is a final result of the millennia-old process of growth in inter-community ties that led firstly to the emergence of different nations, and then to the gradual blurring of most important distinctions among them. The symbolic interactionist perspective allows for deeper understanding of socio-psy chological aspects of globalization and their consequences. If one takes into account the impact globalization had on collective action networks and symbolic structures in general, one may observe that a globalizing world enabled the emergence of vastly different networks of meaning and action – from the development of a type of a ‘globalized’ consumer as a new point of reference to the steady growth of movements and attitudes that proceed from typically ‘global’ point of view. It does not matter whether such movements are pro- or anti-globalization and which symbolic structures they use to refer to themselves – all of them operate within the structure of meanings that was formed in the course of globalization processes. A functionalist approach to globalization is fundamentally political, in a sense that its supporters pay the closest attention to the functional aspects of interactions between different political actors that comprise an inter national political scene. The core idea beyond functionalist framework is that a growth in complexity of various functions executed by the state gradually gives rise to a need to cooperate with the other similar states, so that the execution of these functions may be more effective. The spheres of cooperation need not be ‘political’ in the narrow sense of the term; they might include purely technical or cultural interaction.