Differences Between Parameters and Statistics

Differences Between Parameters and Statistics In several disciplines, the goal is to study a large group of individuals. These groups could be as varied as a species of bird, college freshmen in the U.S. or cars driven around the world. Statistics are used in all of these studies when it is infeasible or even impossible to study each and every member of the group of interest. Rather than measuring the wingspan of every bird of a species, asking survey questions to every college freshman, or measuring the fuel economy of every car in the world, we instead study and measure a subset of the group. The collection of everyone or everything that is to be analyzed in a study is called a population. As we have seen in the examples above, the population could be enormous in size. There could be millions or even billions of individuals in the population. But we must not think that the population has to be large. If our group being studied is fourth graders in a particular school, then the population consists only of these students. Depending on the school size, this could be less than a hundred students in our population. To make our study less expensive in terms of time and resources, we only study a subset of the population. This subset is called a sample. Samples can be quite large or quite small. In theory, one individual from a population constitutes a sample. Many applications of statistics require that a sample has at least 30 individuals. Parameters and Statistics What we are typically after in a study is the parameter. A parameter is a numerical value that states something about the entire population being studied. For example, we may want to know the mean wingspan of the American bald eagle. This is a parameter because it is describing all of the population. Parameters are difficult if not impossible to obtain exactly. On the other hand, each parameter has a corresponding statistic that can be measured exactly. A statistic is a numerical value that states something about a sample. To extend the example above, we could catch 100 bald eagles and then measure the wingspan of each of these. The mean wingspan of the 100 eagles that we caught is a statistic. The value of a parameter is a fixed number. In contrast to this, since a statistic depends upon a sample, the value of a statistic can vary from sample to sample. Suppose our population parameter has a value, unknown to us, of 10. One sample of size 50 has the corresponding statistic with value 9.5. Another sample of size 50 from the same population has the corresponding statistic with value 11.1. The ultimate goal of the field of statistics is to estimate a population parameter by use of sample statistics. Mnemonic Device There is a simple and straightforward way to remember what a parameter and statistic are measuring. All that we must do is look at the first letter of each word. A parameter measures something in a population, and a statistic measures something in a sample. Examples of Parameters and Statistics Below are some more example of parameters and statistics: Suppose we study the population of dogs in Kansas City. A parameter of this population would be the mean height of all dogs in the city. A statistic would be the mean height of 50 of these dogs.We will consider a study of high school seniors in the United States. A parameter of this population is the standard deviation of grade point averages of all high school seniors. A statistic is the standard deviation of the grade point averages of a sample of 1000 high school seniors.We consider all of the likely voters for an upcoming election. There will be a ballot initiative to change the state constitution.  We wish to determine the level of support for this ballot initiative.  A parameter, in this case, is the proportion of the population of likely voters that support the ballot initiative.  A related statistic is the corresponding proportion of a sample of likely voters.

Matter of Childhood Obesity

Matter of Childhood Obesity Introduction The matter of childhood obesity and poor nutrition are some of the catastrophic issues that bedevil the American society today and who should take the responsibility in eradicating it has been the subject of debate since governments, parents, schools and the media carry substantial blame.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Matter of Childhood Obesity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Statistics in America indicate that the cases of children suffering obesity have spiraled and for the last thirty years, the cases of obesity have increased by fifteen percent (Child Obesity, n.d.). Many reasons have been put forward to justify why obesity cases are on the rise: Doctors associate obesity cases with the fact that children are not consuming the exact type of foods required as a balanced diet and secondly, the American children are getting exposed to less physical exercises everyday. It is argued that eliminating t he cases of obesity in America will be hard unless parents are willing to accept the responsibility to inform their children about healthy lifestyles. There has been a strong debate about the party that should be held responsible for these rising cases of obesity. There are those who argue that it is the responsibility of the government to eliminate it while others argue that it is the responsibility of the parent and the family at large to eradicate it though it is conventional that a child is charged with the responsibility to manage his/her body. It has been turned into a blame game where the parents blame the government and on the other hand the government blames the parents. Main Analysis Educating children about good and healthy eating decisions can assist in reducing cases of obesity among them. This can be achieved through the institution and formulation of laws by the government. The rising cases of obesity is slowly getting out of hand, whereas many believe that the govern ment is to save the country from obesity; the available government policy is not well formulated to solve the problem hence the need for parents to encourage their children to adopt better and healthy eating habits. To encourage healthy lifestyle and good eating habits, the government should raise the health care charges for people who are obese. Although this policy can be argued to be bad, it will motivate those who are obese to adopt health lifestyles while rewarding those who practice good healthy habits. Consequently, despite the fact that such a policy will increase the costs of health care, it will end up promoting healthy eating and encourage body exercise habits but this also depends on the examples set by the parents in their homes (Murtagh, 2011).Advertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Those who argue that it is the responsibility of the parents to control childre n obesity put forward such points as the need of the parents to teach their children about good healthy habits and inculcating them to programs like weight watchers and girls on-the run which are vital in promoting healthy lifestyles. Parents also need to teach healthy routines in their homes and they should inform their children the benefits of body exercises and also well rounded diet, which can as well be passed from one generation to another. It is argued that children who live with parents who promote healthy lifestyle will likely promote healthy lifestyle and good eating habits when they grow up. Parents also argue that it is a mistake by the government since they are in position and they have the power to introduce some bans and also restrictions on the availability of fast foods and also to some extend prohibit some adverts that may be seen to be promoting unhealthy foods and eating lifestyles. Though these measures cannot completely curb the cases of obesity, they will grea tly reduce obesity cases. Although the government and those who advocate for the curbing of childhood obesity agree that the government should be responsible in eradicating it, they disagree with the government’s argument that parents should teach their children good eating habits and instead, to them, it is the teacher who should be the one to teach the children about the dangers of childhood obesity. Parents also argue that the government should instead operate some classes that offer lessons on obesity to the children. It is argued by the proponents that the parents will not mind paying for the classes since it is in their interest to eliminate childhood obesity (Public Health, 2011). Conclusion Since the elimination of childhood obesity cases rests with two main measures: first, the promotion of physical exercises and two, the promotion of good and health eating habits, the debate on who should take the task of eradicating it should not be a matter of concern since it wil l not in any way solve the problem at hand. It only requires good will and taking of action collectively by all the stakeholders. Government has taken the responsibility to prevent obesity. This has been prompted by the fact that the prevalence of obesity increases the chances of people contracting other lifestyle diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes and also cancer.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Matter of Childhood Obesity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is a need for a collective action if childhood obesity is to be defeated; parents need to teach their children better eating styles and above that they should actually act as their children’s role models on matters of better eating habits. The government should also enact necessary laws to govern the sale of fast foods to children. References Child Obesity. (n.d.). Child obesity in America: taking care of our children. Help Cure Child Obesity . Web. Murtagh, L. (2011). State Intervention in Life-Threatening Childhood Obesity. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 306(2), 206-207. Public Health. (2011). News Release. Department of Public Health. Web.

Enterprise Architecture Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Enterprise Architecture Principles - Essay Example EA principles can be employed to precisely meet the needs of propagating enterprise transformation because they decrease the risk of being trapped in over-specification. Since EA principles offer guidance relating to efforts in architecture, their application ought to reflect a degree of consensus across the enterprise while at the same time embodying EA thinking. Therefore, application of EA principles needs to focus on not only the architecture-level issues but also restate and embody a set of business principles. Hence, application of these EA principles supports business principles, goals and strategic drivers since architects have to ensure the current definition of business principles and clarify areas of ambiguity.General principles like business continuity together with information principles such as treating information as asset seem to be essential principles in any company. Moreover, application principles like easy-to-use applications as well as technological principles t hat ensure changes are made based on requirements are critical to my company. All these principles embody every aspect of enterprise architecture since they consider crucial aspects in EA like business, application and technological principles. To a colleague, EA principles form the basic reference for all IT projects and initiatives since they propel governance of EA. Illustration of the usefulness of the EA principles relies on fact that principles form the foundation of EA because they embody rules and guidelines for the EA.

'Government by oligarchy and corruption'. Is this a fair description Essay

'Government by oligarchy and corruption'. Is this a fair description of politics under Walpole - Essay Example After the retirement of Lord Townshend, he turned into the only undisputed leader of Cabinet. Although Walpole is charges with turning corruption into a public company with a systematic rottenness, it was under his reign when the country was able to manage the financial crisis in a systematic way. Walpole’s reign continued to 17421. First of all, let us concentrate on the issue of oligarchy and corruption that the political era of Walpole was charged with. Before proceeding further, it is necessary to look at what oligarchy actually refers to. Oligarchy can be described as a government which is governed only by a few. During the mid of seventeenth century, when the parliament won the contest for power with monarch, the lawyer-politicians were very much prominent in the political arena of Great Britain. It can therefore be said that at the start of eighteenth century there existed two great power blocks – politics and the law, and the interesting thing to be noted was that the cartel straddled both. During eighteenth century, England was being reined by the Whig oligarchs. The interesting feature of the government ran by Whig oligarchs was that they started to use the method of an all-encompassing corruption. To be more specific, the politicians used to buy their seats and sell their votes in parliament. The Whigs therefore introduced corruption in parliament, and Walpole, being a Whig, followed this tradition and took it forward to an intense level. Walpole’s era of Whig oligarchy ran from 1721 to 1742. It is found that during the last 10 years of his reign, he paid bribes of around 50,000 pound to newspaper proprietors. In this context, there is one thing worth mentioning. Although, parliamentary corruption took a very bad shape during the period of Walpole, it would not be right to say that corruption finds its origin in this period only. To trace the origin of corruption one needs to look far back. Parliamentary corruption

Clinical Experience of Student Essay Example for Free

Clinical Experience of Student Essay My learning throughout the first year has been helped by an unerring optimism in the value of nursing, and an appreciation that each and every daily interaction augments my experience. This enthusiasm, however, has caused an inhibitory effect on my self-directed researching, and created conflict in some placement areas. While developing my role as a nurse, my activities as a person at home and beyond have diminished, as I attempt to adjust to the demands of both domains (Spouse 2003:109). I resent distracting influences, and frequently domestic pressures restrain my desired pace to accumulate factual knowledge. As described by Palmer et al. (1994:40), my learning can oscillate between two extremes, â€Å"all or nothing†. Spouse (2003) depicts the student nurses’ need to develop multi-tasking skills emotionally, mentally and physically as they are caught between the cultures of clinical areas, peer-driven University life and home. The conflicts arising from these settings create a disharmony, which I believe for some, may undermine nursing as a career choice. The competence of a future nurse is evaluated by evidence-based documents, instructors, mentors assignment and examination results and is based on a continuum of regular assessments. The learning experience of a student nurse remarkably influences own practice in clinical areas, as well as the performance level of the student in academic matters. First timers in clinical rotation engage themselves in the initial stage of familiarizing and accustoming one’s self to the practice becomes crucial. This is the point when printed theories in books and hand outs are recalled nd reshuffled in the mind in order to carry out the best intervention suited for a particular situation. It was never easy for the a novice student nurse to be assigned in the OB ward or in the emergency room without sufficient knowledge about postpartum care or familiarity with the basic instrument used in minor surgeries. Also, inadequate and ineffective education influences the manner that one gains necessary principles and skills needed in actual and assisted delivery cases. This has affected the coping strategies of the trainees to different problems arising in the clinical settings. In reality, some just performed as assistants instead of handling actual deliveries—this is also dependent to the hospital protocols—and some were just given free cases. This fact has urged others’ curiosity to get a hasty view of the first learning experiences of the other nursing students who are also in the same level. Some people ought to assess the level of students’ adjustment with the respect to different conflicts they have encountered so that appropriate improvements in nursing education programs will be obtained. The trend to commit oneself to healthcare field has not yet wiped out especially in nursing profession. Students seem to be devotedly engaging themselves into this line as seen with continuous enrollment of freshmen students and transferees, may it be influenced by financial demands, personal preferences, or just by current blooms. The Professional Regulation Commission reported that the country has an oversupply of 400,000 licensed nurses (Porcalla, 2008). With this fact that there are still thousands of nursing graduates in the country who are either unemployed or working as call center agents, clerks, salesladies or salesmen, discouragement in the part of the fresh high school graduates is still invincible. Though many say that those temporary jobs are just their means of earning money while waiting for the board examination, individual encounters prove that a significant percentage of those graduates would just end up working in the same condition; others fortunately have passed the board and served as volunteer nurses to gain experience during the initial years of the profession; and some might have dealt with hard life or just settled down rearing families. For so many reasons, nursing career—for some—terminates there, which should not be. Why is it that even universities have started to limit accepting nursing enrollees due to overpopulation of out-of-work nursing graduates, the governments need for ideal healthcare system is still unmet? The answer would be—it is a matter of competition! In the Filipino context, it goes, Matira ang matibay. As with the student admission criteria of one hundred eleven medical schools in the United States, education programs and requirements filter nursing students meticulously (Reynolds, W. Scott, P. A. , Austin W. , 2000). Spouse (2003:42) depicts the student nurses’ need to develop multi-tasking skills emotionally, mentally, and physically as they are caught between the cultures of clinical areas, peer driven university life and home. The conflicts arising from these settings create a disharmony, which Greenwood (2003) believes for some, may undermine nursing as a career choice. Aside from it, it is not new to hear stories about taking the course with the dictate of the mother in exchange for the big Dollar sign neither a complaint for expensive matriculations and a shelf of three-kilogram-books. According to Rep. Satur Ocampo, â€Å"Low and inappropriate budget of DOH for 2009 now pegged at 28. 9 billion still does not address the problem of the exodus of nurses in the country†(Porcalla, 2008). It is one of the major sicknesses of the country’s healthcare system which puts down the field. But with the growing population and high expectancies of quality care and competence, nurses should be skillful in integrating theoretical frameworks, as well as nursing philosophy, into real life situations so that high quality care can be delivered and optimal health will be met and promoted. Nursing is an art, an art of caring. Nurses are much involved in lots of health teachings and interventions; and are expected to portray a variety of roles. Be it as an educator, communicator, caregiver, counselor, advocate or as a leader, a nurse should possess a well-defined body of knowledge and expertise in the field especially on actual scenarios (Kozier et. al. ,2008). Student nurses may be perceived as trainees, yet it is far apart from that thought. It is incorporating oneself to and embracing the vocation of helping and providing care in order for mastery and dedication to be more likely. The developmental educative process in nursing is a sophisticated and complex combination of scientific, logical, humanitarian, communicative, experiences and psychomotor skills, designed to consolidate abilities to produce â€Å"knowledgeable doers† (Greenwood 2003, Sajiwandani 2000, Slevin 1992, Cheung 1992). Nursing students at this point of time should be cautious whether they have delivered or could deliver appropriate care. They have to be very vigilant because they deal with a lot of toxic things every single day (Tacdol, 2008). It is not anymore in a classroom setting, it is more of real life situations. When at the area, there is no room for mistakes. No more dummies. No more trials. The reflective process enables the students to gain a sense of proportion. While researched academic study underpins practice, there are frequently qualifications made by nursing staff about ward performed procedures, stating â€Å"real-life† situations employ differing methods to those taught in the class room. These instances challenge student’s assumptions and provide impetus for further clinical reflective investigation (Spouse 2003, cited by Greenwood 2003). They also serve to demonstrate the existence of multiple methods of care delivery, attuning them to motives and perspectives of other practitioners in the healthcare team, indicating that others have legitimate reasoning (Palmer et. al 1994 cited by Greenwood, 2003) The performance of students in the clinical area is greatly affected by difficulties they encounter especially in their first clinical duty. Factors include relationship with clinical instructors, misunderstandings arising from group works, hospital policies and requirements, alterations in contingencies when handling patients and so on. As new members of the healthcare team, adjustment to different stressors seems to be crucial. It is an undeniable fact that problems with the clinical instructor top all. Many claim that superiors sometimes do not provide favorable atmosphere for learning. Using negative reinforcement is one of the examples. Others found this as beneficial since it helps the students to ask questions, enhances perception, and inhibits recurring of errors. But many negate this assertion. Embarrassment, comparison to other schools, and stickling behavior of the superior notably outweigh the benefits it should have made. Although many have agreed that the student nurses are very effective in delivering their duties and responsibilities in the clinical areas, there should still be improvement in the learning scheme of the education provider because there is no room for mistakes in the medical profession because it deals with a very fragile thing-life- and a single mistake may cause an enormous damage which is death. The students must be prepared and trained well before their exposure in the clinical areas so as not to commit error (Babula et. al. , 2006). Group conflicts such as lack of teamwork have something to do in accomplishing case studies. Hospital policies and protocols may at times become annoying and confusing. Different shifts and location of clinical duties tend to be the second in the list. Personal moods and anxieties affect functioning of the whole personality which may result to unproductive planning and ineffective nursing interventions (Abaravar et. al. , 2006). Moreover, unexpected problems arising when handling patients are to be aided with harmonious interaction between the instructor and the students while correction and giving of remedies are done (Amania et. al. , 2008). The identification of these common conflicts that are actually the factors which affect the level of performance of nursing students in clinical duties extensively bring up good adaptation behaviors and ease up finding solutions to the mentioned conflicts. Because of the continuous efforts made by some concerned people behind the nursing education? students, educators, and also the registered nurses in the profession? improvements in nursing curriculum has been made. Though distinction between the old and new curriculum of the program have been clearly identified, effectiveness of each are still debated and talked about more often. For nursing education and nursing career does not end in passing all the academic subjects and completion of the PRC forms, one has to subject himself in difficult situations when nursing judgment becomes a necessity. As nursing student begins on the path of career, he or she finds new opportunities unfolding as from within which brighten the path ahead. The kaleidoscope image used on the cover of the 7th edition of Fundamentals of Nursing by Kozier and Erb is an everchanging piece of art with its colors, light and form. As it turns, it represents new opportunities for beautiful new designs. Seeking light and reflections to form new shapes allows one to open one’s mind to all possibilities a kaleidoscope has to offer (Kozier et. al. ,2007). Same with the field of nursing, there are many areas that a nursing student may have never imagined at the beginning of his or her journey. As nursing students open their minds and eyes to these wonderful chances, a good experience they had gained when they were still first timers would be a pertinent tool and inspiration in attuning upcoming difficulties and developing passion in the career. These would let them not to desist from this world of struggles. Conclusion A qualified nursing practitioner is a professionally trained integrated member of the health-care team. This professional education should be life-long, beginning with three years pre-registration factual knowledge and skill acquisition. As previously described there is a symbiotic relationship between nursing’s craft and nursing wisdom, and they are required in practice simultaneously. Despite the apparent impression given by traditional methods of education that these categories exist seperately, for nursing they are fluidly cohesive, one informing the other, through reflective analysis (Watts 1992:). The elements experienced by nursing students during their training are bonded internally together to authenticate their practice, by unleashing possibilities inherent in the situation between patient and the therapeutic self (Kirby and Slevin 1992). The following guidelines are intended to promote improvements in the student’s learning experience. Qualified staffs that direct pace and direction of study need to encourage students in imaginative and innovative ways to prepare them for adoption of new concepts and the flood of changes and that they will need to make in all aspects of their life. Support such as this will guide them through the vulnerable initial stages of their steep learning curve of level one, as echoed by the dissonance described in the first paragraph of the essay. Guidelines I would like to see better preparation of mentors by lecturer-practitioners within clinical placements, in order to foster environments of positive, constructively planned activities. From this, students can gain insight to challenge their assumptions and lay-view of nursing. In this respect, I would like those in the clinical settings to be encouraging students rather than attempting to degrade their efforts by dismissing their academic research based interest in the subject of nursing. I would like access to professional teaching staff in-college at all times, especially immediately prior to and post placement. I hope for tutor liaison with mentors more regularly within the clinical settings, serving to remind mentoring nurses that their duty to support students is real, and linked with Higher Education Establishments. I would like to see in-college mentors giving better, basic and consistent guidance while initially developing the concepts of critical reflective consciousness and the production of an evidence-base of knowledge thus strengthening the intellectual and practical growth of students.

Use of Symbolism In Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man Essay -- Ralph Ellis

Ralph Ellison uses several symbols to emphasize the narrator’s attempt to escape from stereotypes and his theme of racial inequalities in his novel, Invisible Man. In particular, the symbolism of the cast-iron is one that haunts the narrator throughout the book. Ellison’s character discovers a small, cast-iron bank that implies the derogatory stereotypes of a black man in society at the time. From its â€Å"wide-mouthed, red-lipped, and very black† features, to its suggestion of a black man entertaining for trivial rewards, this ignites anger in Ellison’s narrator. The cast-iron bank represents the continuous struggle with the power of stereotypes, which is a significant theme throughout the novel.1 The bank plays a significant role in the book by aiding to the author’s message of stereotypes, the narrator’s search for an individual identity, and his languished desire for equality. The narrator is constantly attempting to escape the racial profiling by everyone around him. The failure of this attempt is apparent by the inability to get rid of the broken pieces of the bank, which represents the inability to escape from the stereotypes he is affiliated with. The narrator repeatedly alludes to the fact that he is generalized because of his black heritage and therefore, invisible to society. This is especially clear when he finds the cast-iron bank. The bank is in the shape of a black slave with stereotyped features. The fact that it was a slave with a generous grin, eating coins, was demeaning. It frustrated the narrator that this was a comedic object, plainly made for the entertainment of white society at the expense of the black people. The fact that the bank is â€Å"a very black, red-lipped and wide mouthed negro† (Ralph Ellison, 319), ... ... the book, and when he is living in Harlem. Even though he has escaped the immediate and blatant prejudice that overwhelms Southern society, he constantly faces subtle reminders of the prejudice that still exists in society at this time. Even if they are not as extreme as the coin-eating bank. A major reason the Invisible man remains invisible to society is because he is unable to escape this bigotry that exists even where it is not supposed to. In this novel, Ralph Ellison uses the symbol of the cast iron bank to emphasize his feelings of sadness and frustration over the long standing bigotry that black Americans face. By having it appear at the end of the novel when he is in Harlem, where there should be less prejudice, and by his not being able to get rid of the pieces, he is stating that there is still a long process in America to erase stereotypes and bigotry.

Motivation to Pursue a Healthcare MBA program Essay

Early in life, my family taught me the value of work, the importance of managing, respecting, gratifying the needs of the employees satisfactorily and the rigors of establishing and maintaining a business. For over 20 years, my family has owned and operated a chain of 11 convenient stores and other small businesses. Surrounded and influenced by the ups and downs of daily business life I developed the impetus to succeed in a business setting. With this business experience, the compilation of science courses taken throughout college and the experience gained in the industry, I am determined to further develop my stance on how I could be most valuable in the society; as a healthcare administrator or hospital CEO. Throughout the years I have acquired the basics of understanding the health care set up, but a Healthcare MBA from George Washington University is thus the master key to give me the knowledge and skills necessary to conscientiously and professionally execute the responsibilities of hospital CEO. During my time whilst at UNC, I was involved with the agency, Communities in Schools, whereby I offered to mentor and/or tutor high school students. A particular experience I cherish is when I helped a certain weak student, who had lost hope in school, to build confidence and motivation to study hard and pass his exams. The student is now attending college and attributes his success to my helping him discover his own potential. These endeavors have allowed me to assume the role of a mentor and an instructor, and have further taught me to become a communicative leader who can guide others in their development. Moreover, the sheer amount of pleasure I received from aiding the students in achieving their goals reflects my commitment to a career of service, which your program will steer me towards perfecting. I have perfected my abilities to work well under pressure with minimum supervision throughout the years; the necessary virtues of a good administrator. Perhaps even more important, throughout my experience, I have discovered the importance of sharing and accepting criticism. I understand how to deliver feedback without judging or discouraging others, and I use the advice of others to improve my own behavior. I admit that throughout my college education, my academic performance was sub-par; however, I attribute this to spending ample time participating in various non-academic activities. I was pushed to my limit as I was compelled to balance my time between studying and maintaining involvement in other aspects of my life that I am passionate, serving others and dancing. Although being an active person affected my scholastic performance, it was my involvement in those activities that stimulated my leadership potential, trained me to network with various agencies, and allowed me to give something small back to my community. It takes perseverance, drive and passion to rise above set-backs that we create for ourselves along the way and my long-term goal has served as the light at the end of the tunnel. My goal is simple: intellectual enrichment and to use my knowledge to help build a better society. The experience, knowledge and skills I have accumulated this far, put me in a position to successfully embark on new challenges. I want to pursue a higher degree because I know I have the potential to achieve academic success and thus redeem my undergraduate academic experience. It is my belief and conviction that a person is educated if they constantly strive to attain knowledge while simultaneously recognizing the usefulness of this knowledge towards society. Confident in my ability to adapt well and learn new techniques, I am ready to commit and follow the advice of my mentors; pursue a Healthcare MBA from George Washington University.

Accounting Data in Productivity Measurement and Strategic Decision-Making

Table of content: Page number Executive Summary—————————————————- 2 Introduction —————————————————– 3 What is Cost Accounting? ——————————————- 5 Importance of data collection —————————————- 6 Accounting data for productivity measurement —————– 7 Accounting data for decision making ——————————- 9 Identifying profitable segment’s using accounting————— 11 Managerial Accounting changes———â⠂¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 13 Conclusion —————————————————————- 14 Reference —————————————————————- 15 Executive summary:The report titled ‘Accounting Data in Productivity Measurement and Strategic Decision-Making’ provides an analysis and evaluation of how accounting data is used by companies to promote their profitability and to improve their productivity. Most of the data and information has been collected from online journals. The journals collected were written by renowned professors and researchers from established universities. The journals dealt with not only the importance of data collection for promoting profitable segmen ts but also on the recent change in accounting practices around the world with primary focus on developing countries.Results of the report suggest that data mining is an essential activity for firms who are committed to advance their productivity. The findings also suggest that such information allows for firms to obey their budgets. The report finds that more and more firms have recognized the importance of data collection for their organization and are finding new ways to promote efficient accounting practices. The report also investigates certain limitations of the journals used. The journals are often much generalized rather than using information about a certain organization.Moreover the data provided in the journals ranges over long periods of time through many different firms in many nations. Thus the findings may not be applicable for all firms. Introduction What is managerial accounting? Managerial accounting  is concerned with the provisions and use of  accounting info rmation to managers within organizations, to provide them with the basis to make informed business decisions that will allow them to be better equipped in their management and control functions. In contrast to  financial accountancy  information, management accounting information is: * primarily forward-looking, instead of historical model based with a degree of abstraction to support decision making generically, instead of case based * designed and intended for use by managers within the organization, instead of being intended for use by shareholders, creditors, and public regulators * usually confidential and used by management, instead of publicly reported * Computed by reference to the needs of managers, often using  management information systems, instead of by reference to general financial accounting standards.According to the  Institute of Management Accountants  (IMA)-Management accounting is a profession that involves partnering in management decision making, dev ising planning and performance management systems, and providing expertise in financial reporting and control to assist management in the formulation and implementation of an organization's strategy.Managerial accounting as practice extends to the following three areas: * Strategic management—advancing the role of the management accountant as a strategic partner in the organization. * Performance management—developing the practice of business decision-making and managing the performance of the organization. * Risk management—contributing to frameworks and practices for identifying, measuring, managing and reporting risks to the achievement of the objectives of the organization.The Institute of Certified Managerial Accountants (ICMA), states  Ã¢â‚¬Å"A managerial accountant applies his or her professional knowledge and skill in the preparation and presentation of financial and other decision oriented information in such a way as to assist management in the formu lation of policies and in the planning and control of the operation of the undertaking†. Managerial accountants therefore are seen as the value-creators amongst the accountants.They are much more interested in forward looking and taking decisions that will affect the future of the organization, than in the historical recording and compliance aspects of the profession. Managerial accounting knowledge and experience can therefore be obtained from varied fields and functions within an organization, such as information management, treasury, efficiency auditing, marketing, valuation, pricing, logistics, etc. (Managerial Accounting,2011, para:1-2) Importance of Managerial accounting for firms in generalManagerial accountants record financial information for their companies that is used by the organization’s management team to aid in the decision-making process. Managerial accountants develop budgets, perform asset and cost management, and create important reports used by the management team. Managers depend greatly on the information provided by managerial accountants to develop effective business strategies. Small business owners make most of the decisions within their company.The information presented by managerial accountants affects the owner’s ability to make sound business decisions. The two primary functions of managerial accounting in a firm are planning and controlling. Both of these help managers accomplish decision making. Managerial accountants have a dual reporting relationship. As a strategic partner and provider of decision based financial and operational information, managerial accountants are responsible for managing the business team and at the same time having to report relationships and responsibilities to the corporation's finance organization.The activities managerial accountants provide inclusive of forecasting and planning, performing variance analysis, reviewing and monitoring costs inherent in the business are ones that have dual accountability to both finance and the business team. Examples of tasks where accountability may be more meaningful to the business management team vs. the corporate finance department are the development of new product costing,  operations research, business driver metrics, sales management score carding, and client profitability analysis.Conversely, the preparation of certain financial reports, reconciliations of the financial data to source systems, risk and regulatory reporting will be more useful to the corporate finance team as they are charged with aggregating certain financial information from all segments of the corporation. In corporations that derive much of their profits from the information economy, such as banks, publishing houses, telecommunications companies and defense contractors, IT costs are a significant source of uncontrollable spending, which in size is often the greatest corporate cost after total compensation costs and property related costs.A fu nction of management accounting in such organizations is to work closely with the IT department to provide  IT cost transparency. Managerial accountants help drive the success of the business while strict financial accounting is more of a compliance and historical endeavor. The goal of managerial accounting in a firm is to provide information for internal decision making, primarily for planning and control purposes. The types of decisions made by managers rely substantially on accounting information.Because financial accounting information does not provide enough detail for internal decisions, it must be broken into more detail of the individual products or services provided by a company. Not only do managers need to know the cost of a product or service, they need the costs broken into smaller components so they are able to perform what-if analyses and forecasts for the future. Some types of decisions that managers often make include pricing products, dropping a product or produc t line, buying new equipment to replace old, evaluating the performance of managers or divisions of a company, or making rather than buying a part or product.What is Cost Accounting? Cost accounting  is a process of collecting, analyzing, summarizing and evaluating various alternative courses of action (Wikipedia, March 23, 2013, Revised Standard Version). It helps to find out the detailed information to the manager to control operation based on cost efficiency and capability. Managers made decisions for their own firm. So they need to manage the cost regarding productivity and strategic decision making. Cost accounting helps managers to control and manage resources.Strategic decisions based on cost reduction and rising costs are based on cost accounting. Basically the information is designed for managers as they take all the decisions for the organization. Important strategic decision making are made depending on the costs that the company can manage to pay for. Thus cost account ing is an important tool for the managers for productivity management and strategic decision making. Importance of data mining: Data mining is primarily used today by companies with a strong consumer focus.The application of data mining is ever-increasing in today’s business as in enables business to pull out hidden information from huge amount of data for better understanding of the consumers (Chopoorian et al. , 2001). The information is analyzed based on different perspective and summarize into useful data that can be used to increase revenue or cut costs. Although data mining is a relatively new term, but large companies are using it to find co-relation among huge amount of data in large database. The importance’s of data mining for modern business are given below: Data mining is used in restoration of hidden data which helps to extract the valuable information and construct practical analysis for decision making. * Data mining gives financial institutions informat ion about loan and credit reporting (â€Å"Zentut†, â€Å"n. d. †). * It also helps banks detect fraudulent credit card transactions to protect credit card’s owner (â€Å"Zentut†, â€Å"n. d. †). * It is being used ever more for understanding and forecasting consumer buying actions, buying tendency, customer profile and industry analysis (â€Å"Articlebase†, July 18, 2009). Data mining can be used as decision making tools in market research, industry research and competitor analysis which made it more beneficiary for the business industry. * It can manipulate large database swiftly and effectively accomplishes entire data analysis process. * Data mining helps government agency by excavating and scrutinizing records of financial transaction to build molds that can identify money laundering or criminal activities (â€Å"Wordpress†, December 5, 2006). * It can be used in every sector like science, business and others and it is cost effec tive.Limitation: Data mining has uncountable benefits and importance in today’s modern business but it has some limitations. Most of them are based on technological advancement, which is considered as the foremost advantage of data mining. Additional limitations are discussed below: * Security concern: One of the major limitations of data mining is the security issue. Most of the businesses accumulate their customers’ social security number, payroll etc. Hackers can easily go across their accounts and steal such sensitive data of the customers (â€Å"Zentut†, â€Å"n. . †). Thus customers do not feel safe to share information through data mining. To avoid the unwanted security concern, companies ought to take several crucial precautions so that the customers can trust them with no trouble. * Privacy concern: The misuse of internet has threatened the privacy concern among its users. People are afraid to share any of their personal information as it can be collected and used in unethical ways. Customers’ do not prefer to buy goods online in apprehension of getting any information revealed (â€Å"IT Law WIKI†, â€Å"n. . †). As business has to collect many of the information, they must take care about the privacy policy so that the information cannot easily disclose. * Inaccurate information: Unethical businesses or people might use information that is given in data mining for some other purposes or can inequity against some other people. Moreover the information or the assessment published in data mining is not absolutely accurate if the data has been entered wrong. Thus people cannot reliance completely on data mining. Possible benefits:Data mining is useful for modern business today as particular user will be looking for a pattern not for complete data in the database, it is better to read wanted data than unwanted data. There are some other benefits. They are: * Data mining technique is required pattern will be drawn from database with in short time * Data mining software is easy to use and does not require complicated statistical acquaintance and data preprocessing (Chen and Sakaguchi, 2000) * Data mining tools are programmed in such ways, it automatically present data analysis with visual charts and table to assist understandingImportance of Accounting Data in Productivity Measurement: According to Kaydos (1991), â€Å"Productivity and subsequently performance measurement has become more important and has been regarded as a prerequisite for continuous improvement† (as cited in Phusavat & Photaranon, 2006). Accounting data is important for measuring productivity to provide a systematic and comprehensive explanation of changes in profitability. Productivity measurement is one of the criterions for performance analysis of a firm.According to Sink (1985), â€Å"Productivity is simply the relationship between the outputs (goods and services) generated from a system and the inputs pro vided to create those outputs† (as cited in Phusavat & Photaranon, 2006). It is very important that accounting data collected should be correct and reliable otherwise productivity measurement would be inaccurate which will lead to incorrect forecast of cost and profitability data. Both technical and managerial aspects should be recognized in order to ensure successful and sustainable productivity measurement.For this purpose, strong database management is essential in order to ensure timely provision of accounting data for productivity measurement. It is essential to timely collect production-related data and report performance information by the database management to ensure better performance-analysis. According to Harper (1984), â€Å"It is vital for an organization to become continuously more productive in order to sustain its growth† (as cited in Phusavat & Photaranon, 2006). The productivity measurement based on accounting data divides production inputs into five categories such as capital, labour, energy, materials, and services.Productivity also includes unit cost, price, factor proportion, cost proportion, product mix, and input allocation (Phusavat & Photaranon, 2006). Accounting data consisting of integration between productivity, financial performance (i. e. profitability) at the operational level, and features such as opportunity gain/loss is used for productivity and performance measurement. Management report on opportunity gain/loss is useful for future monitoring and evaluation. Accounting data such as concepts of the opportunity gain/loss and the dynamic/static ratios in both single and partial formats are essential for performance measurement.Accounting information such as value-added labor productivity and ROA are also included in measurement technique. More comprehensive analysis of entity by measurements requires more accounting data to be aggregated (Phusavat & Photaranon, 2006). Importance of Accounting in Strategic Decision making: Accounting is essential in managing business performance and the accountants helps to improve decision making by offering strategic and practical advice, by managing risk, and by supporting key decisions at all stages of the decision making process for enhanced productivity and profitability measurements.An accountant can help significantly in the areas of budgeting, investigating, interpreting and communicating results for use by both internal and external decision makers. For example, at the problem recognition stage, they may be the first to detect an opportunity or approaching threat. At the ideas stage, they can help to provide creative solutions (â€Å"Improving strategic decision making†, n. d. ). Profitability is consequence of adopting a market orientation and plays important role in decision making (as cited in Inglis & Clift, 2008).Market orientations is composed of three behavioral components, such as customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter functional coordination, and two decision criteria, long-term focus and profitability (Narver and Slater, 1990). Customer orientation component of a market orientation and profitability acts as decision criterion (Inglis and Clift, 2008). There is an identified requirement for accounting information about the costs involved in providing a range of customer product-attributes which help businesses to choose most profitable market segment.According to Gray and Hooley (2002), within the market-orientation, customer value, customer product-attribute needs and accounting information are interrelated conceptually from a managerial and economic perspective (Gray and Hooley, 2002). McNaughton et al. (2002) stated that accounting function develops a sense of those attributes of greatest value to customers and in this way they may provide link between customers, value and profitability (as cited in Inglis and Clift, 2008). According to Inglis and Clift (2008), creating value for customer thr ough product attributes requires accounting information very much for decision making.Function cost analysis and interrelated techniques of value analysis are integral to target costing (TC) which seeks to reduce the life-cycle costs of products while ensuring all customer requirements are met (Shillito and De Marle, 1992; Kato, 1993). According to Inglis and Clift (2008), the accounting function may interact with customers in managing payment procedures and terms for a richer understanding of how to differentiate its business in the market place and assist in creating value for the customer (Inglis and Clift, 2008).Importance of using ABC Method to avoid the problems faced by firms providing financial services According to Hussain and Gunasekaran (2001), activity based costing (ABC) has become highly essential to overcome shortcomings faced by traditional accounting method, in terms of validity, accuracy, completeness, consistency, understanding and relevance. It helps management t o make internal decisions and formulate plans to provide new services, improve existing services and measure performances in order to achieve overall competitive strategies and advantages of organizations.The approach further provides a more factual basis for decisions by identifying truly profitable and truly unprofitable products, eliminating unnecessary costs, identifying and distinguishing between true value-add activities and non-value add activities, and pricing products so as to achieve acceptable margins. It is a powerful tool in achieving competitive advantages and in providing operational and discretionary project cost data (Hussain and Gunasekaran, 2001).Activity based costing in service costs in bank demonstrated by Hussain and Kock (1994) showed unit time is a more complex calculation involving work measurement processes (as cited in Hussain and Gunasekaran, 2001). Once information obtained the bank can calculate the profitability of various segments, retain highly prof itable segments and transform unprofitable segments into profitable ones through actions on pricing, product features, operating improvements and technology introduction (as cited in Hussain and Gunasekaran, 2001).West and West (1997) demonstrated the need of activity-based costing implementation in services . . . for financial survival without which managers cannot make effective decisions involving long-term captivated contract profitability (as cited in Hussain and Gunasekaran, 2001). Harr (1990) reports activity-based accounting approach for budgeting and financial performance reduces the costs without losing either the timeliness or the quality of its services.In spite of the advantages, however, ABC costing does not solve all the problems involved in decision making as management might overlook basic analysis needed for customer adaptation, flexibility and economies of scope (Hussain and Gunasekaran, 2001). It is important to constantly focus upon customers' total perceived se rvice quality and to maintain relationships to profitable customers. ABCM can then be accepted as a real tool for management to make strategic decision, formulate plan and operate control (Hussain and Gunasekaran, 2001)Using Target costing to identify profitable segments and maintaining productivity: In the journal ‘Target Costing’ (1995) the authors have stated that ‘product innovation is one of the keys to a company’s survival and competitiveness’ (p. 1). Thus Management accounting and cost accounting play an important role as they help in the creation of new products which attracts customers while maintaining low costs and ensuring profitability. As the effects of globalisation becomes more apparent companies are forced to reconsider their accounting practices, more specifically there management accounting practices.This is where target costing comes in. Target costing has been defined in the book Managerial Accounting (2012) ‘the process of determining the maximum allowable cost for a new product and then developing a prototype that can be profitably made for that maximum target cost figure’ (p. 763). In other words a desired profit margin is deducted from the selling price and a new target cost is determined for the new product. Implementing Target Costing: The different departments of the firm run a cost analysis to develop a target cost for the new product.If the manufacturing cost for the new product is equal or below the target cost then the product can be introduced in the market. Finally the target cost is deducted from the selling price. Thus target costing not only helps find a profitable segment in the market but also makes sure that product is being produce in its most productive capacity. The target profit process has been summarised in Figure 1 (see appendix). The journal further states that the companies that benefit the most from Target costing (p. 6) are: 1. Firms involved in assembly production style. 2.Firms involved in product diversification thus need target costing to determine a profitable market segment. 3. Firms whose product life cycle is relatively short (less than 3 years). 4. Firms wanting to reducing costs during the planning, design and development stages of a product’s life cycle. Managerial Accounting Changes: Research shows that Managerial Accounting has under gone changes in the last decade. According to the journal ‘Managerial Accounting Change in South Africa’ (Waweru, Jan 2004) this is especially true for developing nations. The case study considers four retail firms in South Africa.This helped them to find out the exact changes in Management Accounting Practices and the reasoning behind such changes. The journal reports that the main reason for such transformations can mainly be attributed to three main reasons. They are: 1. Increased Globalisation-This has made sure there is increased competition between the countries of the world . Thus necessitating for changes to take place in the managerial accounting world. 2. Huge variations in Information Technology-Technological advancements in the last decade has revolutionized the way world does business.The introduction of supercomputers has made sure that decision making process is faster and also made information more freely available. 3. Recent economic recession-The recession which has gripped the world since 2007 has made businesses reassess their managerial practices. Thus the journal has found that in order to deal with such challenges the businesses have evolved and so has their accounting practice. In developed nations more and more firms are now involved in Target Costing, Activity Based Costing (ABC), Product Life-cycle costing and finally Quality Costing.It should again be mentioned that these changes has only been noticed in developing nations and not so much in developed nations around the world. However the paper cautions regarding such changes by st ating that no one accounting system is universally appropriate for all firms. But rather that it varies from company to company. Thus the factors a firm should consider are (Waweru, 2004): 1. Size and type of the firm 2. Foreign competition 3. Economic restrictions 4. Technological advancements 5. Political and Social ConsiderationsHence we can conclude from this journal that Management practices evolves slowly in developing countries where it is greatly aided by government reforms/deregulations and globalisations and technological improvements. Conclusion: Thus we can say that accounting data has a strong effect on productivity and strategic decision making for firms. Since the data’s collected, both time series and cross sectional data, provides an insight into what has increased output for firms over the years and all the possible actions firms can make to engage in efficient production. Data’s are also used to make important decision.Time series accounting data giv es a good understanding of the profitable segments of the firms and the different sectors the firm can further expand into. Hence we can conclude by saying that accounting data are extremely vital for management accounting practices. Reference: 1. So,S and Smith,M. (2003). Managerial Auditing Journal. The impact of presentation format and individual differences on the communication of information for management decision making. 18 (1), p1-3. 2. Farag,M and Elias,R. (2012). Public Accounting Firms' mix of service revenue and average productivity. Evidence using revenue per person. 7 (8), p1-5. 3. Phusavat,K and Photaranon,W. (2006). Productivity/Performance measurement. Case application at the government pharmacuetical organisation. 106 (9), p1-16. 4. Waweru,N and Hoque,Z. (2004). Management Accounting Change in South Africa. Case studies from retail services. 17 (5), p1-30. 5. Inglis,R and Clift,R. (2008). Market Oriented accounting:information for product level decision. Market ori ented accounting. 23 (3), pg1-15. 6. Liu,s and Chen,J. (2009). Using data mining to segment healthcare markets from patients’ preference perspectives. Using data mining to segment markets. 22 (2), p1-18. . Hussain,M and Gunasekaran,A. (2001). Activity-based cost management in financial services industry. Managing service quality. 11 (3), p1-11. 8. Gagne,M and Discenza,R. (1995). Target Costing. JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & INDUSTRIAL MARKETING. 10 (1), p1-7. 9. None. (2012). Management Accounting. Available: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Management_accounting. Last accessed 12th April 2013. 10. None. (2009). Improving strategic decision making. Available: 10. http://businesscasestudies. co. uk/cima/improving-strategic-decision-making/introduction. html#axzz2QEPImiLQ . Last accessed 12th April 2013.

Free Essays on The Japanese Quince

Symbolic Sapling Literature is a wonderful form of escape from our daily stresses, but not every book on the shelf should be taken at face value. In John Galsworthy’s â€Å"The Japanese Quince,† a small ornamental Oriental tree in the heart of a nearby public park plays a powerful role and is an important symbol in the life of the â€Å"well known† Mr. Nilson. The quince tree represents life, growth, freedom and joy, all of which Mr. Nilson is lacking in his daily schedule. Mr. Nilson is a well-to-do London businessman who follows the patterns of the wealthy and takes advantage of its benefits, yet Mr. Nilson is far more unfortunate than the classification he looks down upon. Mr. Nilson may have the life of the wealthy, but he does not live a rich life. An average day in the life of Mr. Nilson consists mainly of schedule and order, to everything its own place and time. As mentioned before, his breakfast is served to him at precisely eight-thirty each morning. On one specific morning, Mr. Nilson feels an uncomfortable sensation â€Å"just under his fifth rib† (73), and proceeds to exit out his French window in his black frock coat and descend the â€Å"scrolled iron steps into the fresh air† (73). As he reaches the bottom of the staircase and enters the public garden, he notes that his â€Å"feeling of emptiness† (73), as he describes it, essentially has not diminished but in fact had increased in the morning air. As he enters into the garden, a little bl! ackbird lures him toward a glistening, lively, pretty, yet unfamiliar tree whose â€Å"leaves the sunlight glistened† (74), located in the heart of the park. He studies the tree and its features as its warmth and happiness seem to draw him closer and entrance him further in the tree, making the queer feeling in his chest fade away unnoticed. Mr. Nilson slowly withdraws his fascination from the sapling only to be startled by the presence of his neighbor, Mr. Tandram, who is a... Free Essays on The Japanese Quince Free Essays on The Japanese Quince Symbolic Sapling Literature is a wonderful form of escape from our daily stresses, but not every book on the shelf should be taken at face value. In John Galsworthy’s â€Å"The Japanese Quince,† a small ornamental Oriental tree in the heart of a nearby public park plays a powerful role and is an important symbol in the life of the â€Å"well known† Mr. Nilson. The quince tree represents life, growth, freedom and joy, all of which Mr. Nilson is lacking in his daily schedule. Mr. Nilson is a well-to-do London businessman who follows the patterns of the wealthy and takes advantage of its benefits, yet Mr. Nilson is far more unfortunate than the classification he looks down upon. Mr. Nilson may have the life of the wealthy, but he does not live a rich life. An average day in the life of Mr. Nilson consists mainly of schedule and order, to everything its own place and time. As mentioned before, his breakfast is served to him at precisely eight-thirty each morning. On one specific morning, Mr. Nilson feels an uncomfortable sensation â€Å"just under his fifth rib† (73), and proceeds to exit out his French window in his black frock coat and descend the â€Å"scrolled iron steps into the fresh air† (73). As he reaches the bottom of the staircase and enters the public garden, he notes that his â€Å"feeling of emptiness† (73), as he describes it, essentially has not diminished but in fact had increased in the morning air. As he enters into the garden, a little bl! ackbird lures him toward a glistening, lively, pretty, yet unfamiliar tree whose â€Å"leaves the sunlight glistened† (74), located in the heart of the park. He studies the tree and its features as its warmth and happiness seem to draw him closer and entrance him further in the tree, making the queer feeling in his chest fade away unnoticed. Mr. Nilson slowly withdraws his fascination from the sapling only to be startled by the presence of his neighbor, Mr. Tandram, who is a...

Henry VIII persue new foreign policies Essay Example

Henry VIII persue new foreign policies Essay Example Henry VIII persue new foreign policies Paper Henry VIII persue new foreign policies Paper Essay Topic: History When accessing how far Henry VIII pursued new foreign policies in the period 1509-1514, it is important to take into account the idea of change and continuity. Henry VII established some very strong and clear foreign policies, however Henry VIII wanted to very much distance himself from his fathers work and ethos. It is essential to look at the policies that Henry VIII changed and the reasons behind this, but also whether he kept any of his fathers strategies. It is vital to remember that many factors contributed to the characters of both Henry VII and Henry VIII. I will continuously focus on the theme of their childhood and upbringing, and how these factors may have contributed to their behaviour in adulthood, and how well they were prepared for the role of a king. Henry VII was perceived as a miserly character, whose enigmatic and distant nature caused him to be disliked by many. He was, however, very independent and was governed by none, which ensured that everything was overlooked by him. Similarities between Henry VIII and his father were that they were both good at networking and highly intelligent. On the other hand, Henry VIII enjoyed spending his money on the nobility and lavishing himself with a hedonistic lifestyle. In my opinion, this major difference stemmed from the fact that their upbringing was so different. Henry VII grew up and gained training as a king not only in a studious way, but he also had the chance to experience court politics and learn through gossip and observations. His mother was a great influence over him, and she fully supported her sons political interests. Henrys uncle, Jasper Tudor, was the only constant figure in his life, and always gave Henry stability, loyalty and a political role model. Henry VII fought for the crown, against the Yorkist king Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth. He had a fierce determination to become king, and become secure dynastically. Henry VIII on the other hand, was guarded against the exposure of having to take responsibility. His older brother Arthur was expected to be heir to the throne, and therefore Henry was untrained as king and left to enjoy his youth. I believe that this is very influential over the methods in which Henry VIII dealt with the decisions of a king, especially when concerning foreign policies. Henry VII believed that securing the throne was the most important contribution that he could make, as did Henry VIII. However the way in which they went about doing this differed. Henry VII always maintained a peace policy. He realised quite rightly that foreign relationships had to be secure, in order to decrease the chances of being attacked and overthrown. Henry VII used peace treaties to his advantage. He ensured that Britain became a nuisance to France, and so France was forced into having to sign the Treaty of Etaples, if they wanted to get rid of Henry and his army. This helped Henry greatly, as the treaty meant that war was avoided with one of Englands closest neighbours. Henry also signed the Treaty of Medina del Campo, which promoted peace between England and Spain. Henry was very much aware of the importance of these treaties, as they encouraged trade, protected pretenders and most importantly, improved the relations between foreign countries. Henry VII realised that a strong king coincided with the idea of a rich king, and so a peace policy meant a cutting down on the expenses of war. Henry VIII was opposed to his fathers idealistic view on foreign policy. Even though Henry VIII wanted to secure the throne to provide a reassuring and safe life for his heirs, he went about seeking to provide this in a different manner. He wanted glory. He wanted to be seen as the warrior king. I believe that this is where the influence of his childhood is most significant. Henry VIII was brought up with the idea that past family members, in particular Henry V, were extremely victorious in wars. This affected Henry so much, that not only did he want a parallel glory to Henry V, but he also commissioned a translation of a book about Henry Vs early life. Henry VIII was also made aware of the fact that it was only 80 years since Henry VI had been crowned king of France, which meant that according to him, he rightfully inherited the French crown. Unlike his fathers peace policy, Henry believed in a more traditional interventionist policy. Henry wanted prestige and military glory, which he gained when winning the battle of the spurs. This was very successful through Henrys eyes, as it was the first territorial gain in France for 75 years, and did much to heighten his popularity. Henry persued this idea of being militarily successful, but I do not believe he achieved this. Henry was in France whilst James IV was victorious at Flodden, which made Henrys gains become overshadowed by James IV victory in England. Even though this was a victory for England, it is questionable as to whether it was a victory for Henry. The treasury became bankrupt and to maintain territorial gains would result in great financial cost. However, Henry was mainly concerned about his reputation, and instead of being cautious with finance, spent his money lavishly. In fact, the war with France (1512-1524) cost i 892,000, a startlingly large amount during the Tudor period. This clearly shows how determined he was to persue a new foreign policy of military power a foreign policy that was completely set apart from his fathers. To ensure the throne was as protected as possible, Henry VII was very adamant that it would be arranged for his son, Prince Arthur, to marry the king of Spains daughter. Henrys eldest daughter, Margaret, married James IV of Scotland, which was intended to bring future peace between Scotland and England, both renowned for being traditional enemies. Henry himself also married Elizabeth of York, a woman who was a Yorkist. This enabled him to reduce the possibility of future Yorkist claims to the throne, which was significantly important after the War of Roses. Henry VIII was slightly more reckless with his heart. Even though he aimed to carry on his legacy, he had in total six wives. He viewed the point of marriage as being able to produce legitimate heirs to the throne, however unlike his father, he enjoyed courting and charming the women in his life. This could possibly be because not only did women constantly surround him, but also his bedroom was also next to his fathers and 100 servants. This undoubtedly allowed him to witness many things and possibly shape his strange outlook on women, as well as put his own interests first, above the idea of marrying for dynastic security. On the other hand, he did marry Catherine of Aragon (though this was his fathers idea) which he understood was necessary. I believe in this way he persued and maintained this element of foreign policy, and continued his fathers ideas on the importance of international relations through marriage. The nobility affected Henry VIIIs decisions towards foreign policy. They supported his policy of aggression, and were determined to go to war. Henry was generous with patronage, and gained the nobilitys support through a subtle form of bribery. The nobility welcomed this, as it was a large difference to the way that Henry VII treated them. Henry VII through the learned council was very harsh with bonds and recognaisances. He did not want the nobility becoming strengthened, and so held back with patronage. He used Empson and Dudley to collect taxes from the nobility. Henry VIII changed this policy by executing Empson and Dudley, the two men that worked so closely with his father. This gained a lot of respect with the nobility and clearly signified the fact that his way of ruling, and deciding upon policies was opposite to his father. Henry VIIIs need to persue new foreign policies, and in fact domestic policies, stem from the fact that he could see how unpopular his fathers way of ruling was. It is thought that Henry VII was hanging by a thread, and by the end of his rule was not at all secure. Henry VIII wanted to distance himself from this, and expectations were upon him to act differently to his father. He persued foreign polices that were dissimilar to Henry VIIs, and, apart from the idea of continuing and securing the Tudor dynasty through arranged marriages, every other policy was a contrast. I believe that this is due not only to society expectations at the time, but also Henry VIII had clear expectations for himself from an early age. Growing up in the shadow of his older brothers legacy may have been difficult for Henry, and so when he was given the power, he used it to the maximum, always with full determination, sometimes with naivety. As a child, he was constantly thinking of the past generations, and their glory and patriotism, and how they were respected and adored, usually due to their military connections. It is no surprise that Henry VIII persued the foreign policies that he did. Regardless of whether they were successful or not, he did everything in his power to follow his own path, and neglect his fathers legacy.

The Debate on the Presidency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The Debate on the Presidency - Essay Example From the creation of this legal document, and including today, there has always been squabbling between the branches of power as to who has more authority, thus entitling them as they saw it to greater political recognition and distinction. That has most definitely been the case with the discussion over the role of the Presidency, or otherwise referred to as the Executive Branch of power. In his text â€Å"American Government: Brief Version†, James Wilson writes that such instrumental leaders from the Revolution like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton had decided that as far as they were concerned, the nation was in need of a strong governmental system. The first talks, Wilson says, began in 1785 in Mt. Vernon, and it would be at this meeting that a later meeting would be scheduled. Wilson explains this by writing that, â€Å"A small group, conferring at Washington’s home at Mount Vernon in 1785, decided to call a meeting to discuss trade regulation, one of the many seemingly insoluble problems facing Congress,† Further elaborating that, â€Å"That meeting, held at Annapolis, Maryland, in September 1786, was not well attended, so another meeting was called for May 1787 in Philadelphia- this time for the more general purpose of considering ways to remedy the defects of the Confederation,† (Wilson p.12). The Articles of Confederation were the governing documents used until the creation of the Constitution. Like present day, the political system of the 18th century, while in its infancy, was still in constant formulation and change. The steps taken towards the forming of such a document(s) is never without argument or heated discussion. As for the intentions, as well as the desires of the signers, Wilson explains that, â€Å"As in 1776, their objectives were still the protection of life, liberty, and property, but they had no accepted political theory that

International trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

International trade - Essay Example The theory of comparative advantage insinuates that reducing trade limits (trade liberalization) and opening up global markets would lead to benefits from trade for all parties concerned. However, the theory is one thing, getting nations to agree to break down complex trade obstacles they have put up over the years is another thing altogether. Taking this complexity into account, how is it possible to know that countries that claim to have relaxed their trade restrictions actually have? Even if it is possible to confirm that this has happened, is there any evidence to ascertain that trade liberalization actually brings benefits to the developing world, where problems arising from the difficulty of penetrating the markets of the developed world are very grave? This paper aims to answer this question and more. Key words Trade liberalization, protectionism, trade barriers, tariffs, quotas, comparative advantage Most studies (extensive and comprehensive studies going back as far as the 7 0s and 80s, and more recent (though less reliable) ones conducted using cross-country regression analysis) strongly indicate that countries that have more liberal trade laws grow faster and have more open economies compared to those that have more protectionist policies (Buffie 2001, pg. 15). Since 1980, the PCIs of third world countries that have a combined population of over 3 billion people have doubled; this is according to figures released by the OECD and the World Bank. In addition to this, they have managed to slash, by more than 30%, their mean import tariffs, as well as almost tripling their ratios of trade-to-GDP. This means that only third world countries that are less developed, have combined populations of less than 2 billion, whose trade-to-GDP ratios and PCIs are stagnant, and who have insignificant decline in mean import tariffs, are left. Unlike the rest, the new globalizers have also witnessed dramatic improvements in welfare indicators and significant reductions i n poverty. A lot has been made of the World’s Bank’s decision to revise its approximations of future effects of trade liberalization. They are not unimportant. However, trade liberalization only is not a panacea (Okamoto 2004, pg. 46). In order to fully realize productivity benefits, external liberalization should be integrated into comprehensive market-based reforms and be supported by institutional reforms that buttress markets – just like David Hume and Adam Smith indicated more than 2 centuries ago. The main point however remains that richer developing countries are those that have carried out massive liberalization of foreign direct investment (FDI) and external trade as a part of a broader move towards market economies (Vietnam and China are the perfect examples). So much for the very fallacious view that high protection in Vietnam and China has not stifled fast growth and has in fact triggered it. Should only developed countries liberalize trade during th e Doha round? Northern trade limits suppress exports from labor-intensive developing countries, and are therefore very iniquitous. However, what groups like Oxfam do not say is that the protectionist policies of developing countries hurt them even more (Rogowsky & Linkins 2001, pg. 37). Such liberalization would benefit unskilled rural labor