Is Cell Phone Use The Most Dangerous Distraction

â€Å"Distracted driving refers to any nondriving activity that takes motorists attention away from the safe operation of their vehicles† (Leone). Every time a driver gets in a vehicle and decides to use a cell phone to have a conversation, either talking or texting, they put themselves and others lives in danger. The convenience a cell phone and the capabilities they offer have made them a substantial distraction and a cause of significant source of vehicle accidents and fatalities. There are three different types of distractions: visual, manual and cognitive. Cell phone use is the most dangerous distraction because it involves all three different types of distraction and plays a part in the increasing issue of distracted driving. Even†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The reaction time of a distracted cell phone driver is more than 40% than those of an undistracted driver† (Hague). Is the use of a cell phone worth the risk on the roadway? Cell phones have become an integral part of our daily life. With the increase of technology of cell phones, it makes our daily lives easier and more efficient. Multitasking results in those tasks competing for the driver’s attention, diverting the driver’s attention away from the roadway. The use of cell phones of any kind impairs a driver’s decision-making ability. The driver’s attention and their ability to process anything besides driving are suppressed. Their mind is divided as soon as their attention is focused on the obsession of their cell phone rather than the road. Cell phone drivers are stretched beyond safe limits when multitasking of driving and talking or texting with a cell phone which then becomes unsafe. Most drivers over-estimate their capability to safely multitask and assuming they have this ability is a hazard. Is it really worth it to endanger yourself or others while driving wi th a cell phone? Some people don t realize the danger of this until something happens to them, a family member, or friend of theirs. The evolution of the cell phone and their multiple capabilities has led to distractive driving that

Harrington Cost and Variable Costs Free Essays

Harrington Case Analysis Issue Stagnant sales performance has caused Harrington Collection to explore new avenues for improved performance, including the launch of a new active-wear line. Recognizing an emerging trend of low price and rapid style turnover in the women’s apparel market, along with tremendous growth in the active-wear segment, Harrington needs to work strategically to capture this profitable market opportunity. After careful analysis, it was determined that Harrington should implement a new active-wear line. We will write a custom essay sample on Harrington: Cost and Variable Costs or any similar topic only for you Order Now Financial Analysis While doing the financial analysis it is important to calculate the unit price first. Using the wholesale price rather than the retail price, the calculated unit price is $95. Next, we sum up the start-up costs and operating costs, both fixed and variable, and use these numbers to calculate the breakeven units. After calculation, the breakeven point is 289,846 units. Appendix A shows the details of our process. Active-wear sales are expected to double by 2009, and 40% of those sales are expected to be classified as ‘better’ active-wear. Assuming that Harrington Vigor maintains their 7% market share, we can deduce that Vigor can expect to sell 420,000 units of active-wear in its first year. Over half of all apparel purchased is sold â€Å"on sale. † We accounted for these markdowns by assuming that half the units will be sold for full price, and the other half will be sold at a discount. A sensitivity analysis was conducted by calculating the discount rates at 20%, 40% and 60% separately. From Appendix B, we can see that even for the 60% discount rate, the profit margin is still up to 21%, which is quite attractive. Therefore, Harrington has strong financial forecast to support its new launch in active-wear segment. Market trend After the economic downturn in the early 2000s, the trend of price-sensitive and more than 50% discount sales volume drive the mature market to a low-cost and outsourcing competition area. Thus, majority of apparel companies choose to outsource their production in low-cost labor areas such as China. Another trend is the fast growing needs for the superior styling, fresh, and fashionable active-wears. Quality strengths and Opportunities Having established their brand in the1960s, Harrington became well known for its superior quality, knowledgeable sales staff, and designer styles. With fairly high loyalty customers, Harrington possesses premium brand reputation. In addition, donning Harrington labels represents an instant status upgrade and the cutting edge of fashion. Generally speaking, the active-wear market is a rapid growth field with a relatively small segment in the â€Å"better† category. In order to seize the opportunity for diversity in its marketshare, Harrington should enter the market as soon as possible. Considering its brand influence and exceptional quality and styling, together with its cutting-edge technology, Harrington has a substantial opportunity to become a critical player in this profitable segment. Channel conflicts and Challenges By 2007 specialty stores and department stores are still the main retailing channels in the women’s clothing market. Department stores may benefit by the lucrative inventory turnover rate produced by Harrington’s extensive national advertising. Alternatively, department stores could be weary of stocking the active-wear products since this is a relatively new market and could mean more risk for the retailers. Harrington will need to rely on their relationships with the retailers and expertise in marketing to diminish this potential conflict. From the survey, the possibility to cheapen Harrington’s brand is really trivial by launching a new active-wear line. Recommendation Despite the conflicts and challenges, Harrington has a significant opportunity to advance their business into the active-wear segment. By upscaling the active-wear into the â€Å"better† category, Harrington could apply the comfort and fashion image which the Vigor division has already formed into the new segment. In addition, by outsourcing the production in Mexico, it can not only decrease costs, but also provide the possibility to respond more swiftly to changes in demand. With this in mind, it is strongly suggested that Harrington launches a new active-wear line. Appendix A Start Up Costs:| | | Start-up Costs (Pants Plant)| $ 1,200,000 | | Start-up Costs (Hoodie and Tee-shirt Plant)| $ 2,500,000 | | Equipment (Pants Plant)| $ 2,000,000 | Equipment (Hoodie and Tee-shirt Plant)| $ 2,500,000 | | Launch-PR, Advertising| $ 2,000,000 | | Fixtures for Company Stores| $ 2,500,000 | Total Start-up Costs | $ 12,700,000 | Annual Depreciated Start-up Costs | $ 2,540,000 | | | | Annual Ongoing Operating Costs-Fixed:| | | Overhead (Pants Plant)| $ 3,000,000 | | Overhead (Hoodie and Tee-shirt Plant)| $ 3,500,000 | | Ren t (Pants Plant)| $ 500,000 | | Rent (Hoodie and Tee-shirt Plant)| $ 500,000 | | Management/Support| $ 1,000,000 | | Advertising| $ 3,000,000 | Total Fixed Operating Costs| $ 11,500,000| | | Direct Variable Costs:| Hoodie| Tee-shirt| Pants| | Sew and press| $ 3. 25| $ 2. 00| $ 2. 85| | Cut| $ 1. 15| $ 0. 40| $ 0. 70| | Other variable labor| $ 3. 20| $ 2. 40| $ 3. 05| | Fabric| $ 9. 10| $ 2. 20| $ 7. 50| | Findings| $ 3. 85| $ 0. 50| $ 2. 30| Total Variable Cost| $ 20. 55| $ 7. 50| $ 16. 40| | | | | Direct variable costs translated into â€Å"unit† cost| Hoodie| Tee-shirt| Pants| | Total Variable Cost| $ 20. 55| $ 7. 50| $ 16. 40| | * measure| 0. 5| 1. 5| 1. 0| | Unit Cost| $ 10. 28| $ 11. 25| $ 16. 40| Indirect variable costs:| | | Wholesale â€Å"unit† price| $ 95. 00 | Total variable costs as % of wholesale price| 40%| Indirect variable costs per â€Å"unit†| $ 8. 64 | | | | | Direct variable costs per â€Å"unit†| $ 37. 93 | | Indirect variable costs per â€Å"unit†| $ 8. 64 | Total variable costs per â€Å"unit†| $ 46. 56 | | | | Contribution:| | | Wholesale price per â€Å"unit†| $ 95. 00 | | Less total variable costs per â€Å"unit†| $ 47. 00 | | Contribution per â€Å"unit†| $ 48. 00 | | | | Breakeven:| | | Fixed annual costs(operating and depreciated start up)| $ 14,040,000 | | Contribution per â€Å"unit†| $ 48. 00 | | = Breakeven Units| $ 289,846 | Appendix B Unit Price = $95. 00, Unit Quantity = 210,000 * ((7,500,000 * 2 * 0. 4 * 7%) / 2) Profit Margin*| | | | | Discount Rate (40%)| Discount Rate (20%)| Discount Rate (60%)| Revenue| $ 31,920,000| $ 35,910,000| $ 27,930,000| less fixed annual costs| $ 2,540,000| $ 2,540,000| $ 2,540,000| less total variable costs| $ 19,555,410| $ 19,555,410| $ 19,555,410| Profit before tax| $ 9,824,590| $ 13,814,590| $ 5,834,590| Profit margin before tax| 30. 78%| 38. 47%| 20. 89%| * Assumes half of inventory is sold at full price, and other half is sold at subsequent discount rates. | How to cite Harrington: Cost and Variable Costs, Essay examples

Mark Twain Essays (904 words) - British Films, Cold War Films

Mark Twain Greed for Power, and Cruelty: Making Followers In Animal Farm, George Orwell demonstrates the danger of unquestioning acceptance of ideas and actions that are supposed to represent a better way of life. Throughout the book there are many examples of hatred and evil undermining what sounds like a great utopia when introduced, but not when they are lived. The ideas are very familiar because they are based on those that drove the Russian Revolution, and what went wrong with it. The difference between a nice Utopian idea and what goes wrong in real life has to do with human nature. Greed is real, in that it drives people to do things. There is greed for power, greed for food, and greed for whatever a greedy person might want. While not everyone is greedy, some people are very much so. The very greedy people make life difficult for the rest of us. This is not such a big problem in democracies, which are constructed to balance any action with the ideas of many groups and rights. In a dicta torship, like the Soviet Union, a person like Stalin can determine every key aspect of most individuals lives. The more violent a Stalin is, the more power a Stalin has; and the farther from Utopia are the lives of the common people. Napoleons ideas and actions in Animal Farm were similar to those first of Lenin and later of Stalin during the development of the Soviet Union, which resulted in the deaths and terror that deeply affected the lives of tens of millions of Soviet citizens. For example, Napoleon had made other high-status animals confess to things they had never committed. When the eggs of the three hens were crushed really by Napoleons dog, they were forced to confess, Snowball had appeared to them in a dream and incited them to disobey Napoleons orders (93). The dogs were then murdered, making Napoleon the only ruler. Even though Napoleon clearly killed the hens eggs, they still confessed to something that was untrue, which made Napoleons appearance better to those who h ad no direct knowledge of the incident. Joseph Stalin had appointed government officials, controlling their income, what they said, and often their death. Soon he made them confess to things that were untrue, such as being spies. Government officials were exiled, thrown in jail, or killed. Soon Stalin was the one, true ruler of Russia. The system of making supporters and then destroying them was also dangerous for the common people, who often died or lived in terror because of their dictators unchecked power. This system was guaranteed to make the lower animals in Animal Farm and Soviet citizens hate their single ruler. It also made them so fearful that they were powerless to stop him from ruining their lives. The survival of each person and family depended on appearing to perfectly support this terrible system, not replace it. A second example is by telling nice sounding lies, dictators can become more secure by increasing cruelty. Napoleons idea of keeping all the apples and milk for himself and other high-status animals won him the backing of ruthless supporters. This was acceptable because he cleverly said, Never mind the milk comradesThe harvest is more important, (44). He then made food hard to get for the lower animals, starving many of them, the production of every class of foodstuff had increased by two hundred per cent, three hundred per cent or five hundred per cent, as the case might be, (99). Stalin had taken over all the farms in his country, reserving much of the wheat and other crops for high government officials. Millions of Soviet citizens died of starvation because of Stalins ideas. The pigs of Animal Farm and government officials in the Soviet Union took the food made by those of lower status, increasing their immediate need to appear to support bad leaders. Starvation proved Napoleons and Stalins ideas to be dangerous, yet made them more powerful, which satisfied their greed. A third example had such cruelty, when combined with propaganda and silencing those who interfere with official stories makes dictators even more secure. Napoleon purging and killing Snowball. Snowball created commandments that said

Lyme Disease Essays - Rheumatology, Lyme Disease, RTT, Arthritis

Lyme Disease Essays - Rheumatology, Lyme Disease, RTT, Arthritis Lyme Disease Lyme Arthritis Lyme disease is a tick-transmitted inflammatory disorder characterized by an early focal skin lesion, and subsequently a growing red area on the skin (erythema chronicum migrans or ECM). The disorder may be followed weeks later by neurological, heart or joint abnormalities. Symptomatology The first symptom of Lyme disease is a skin lesion. Known as erythema chronicum migrans, or ECM, this usually begins as a red discoloration (macule) or as an elevated round spot (papule). The skin lesion usually appears on an extremity or on the trunk, especially the thigh, buttock or the under arm. This spot expands, often with central clearing, to a diameter as large as 50 cm (c. 12 in.). Approximately 25% of patients with Lyme disease report having been bitten at that site by a tiny tick 3 to 32 days before onset of ECM. The lesion may be warm to touch. Soon after onset nearly half the patients develop multiple smaller lesions without hardened centers. ECM generally lasts for a few weeks. Other types of lesions may subsequently appear during resolution. Former skin lesions may reappear faintly, sometimes before recurrent attacks of arthritis. Lesions of the mucous membranes do not occur in Lyme disease. The most common symptoms accompanying ECM, or preceding it by a few days, may include malaise, fatigue, chills, fever, headache and stiff neck. Less commonly, backache, muscle aches (myalgias), nausea, vomiting, sore throat, swollen lymph glands, and an enlarged spleen may also be present. Most symptoms are characteristically intermittent and changing, but malaise and fatigue may linger for weeks. Arthritis is present in about half of the patients with ECM, occurring within weeks to months following onset and lasting as long as 2 years. Early in the illness, migratory inflammation of many joints (polyarthritis) without joint swelling may occur. Later, longer attacks of swelling and pain in several large joints, especially the knees, typically recur for several years. The knees commonly are much more swollen than painful; they are often hot, but rarely red. Baker's cysts (a cyst in the knee) may form and rupture. Those symptoms accompanying ECM, especially malaise, fatigue and low-grade fever, may also precede or accompany recurrent attacks of arthritis. About 10% of patients develop chronic knee involvement (i.e. unremittent for 6 months or longer). Neurological abnormalities may develop in about 15% of patients with Lyme disease within weeks to months following onset of ECM, often before arthritis occurs. These abnormalities commonly last for months, and usually resolve completely. They include: 1. lymphocytic meningitis or meningoencephalitis 2. jerky involuntary movements (chorea) 3. failure of muscle coordination due to dysfunction of the cerebellum (cerebellar ataxia) 4. cranial neuritis including Bell's palsy (a form of facial paralysis) 5. motor and sensory radiculo-neuritis (symmetric weakness, pain, strange sensations in the extremities, usually occurring first in the legs) 6. injury to single nerves causing diminished nerve response (mononeuritis multiplex) 7. inflammation of the spinal cord (myelitis). Abnormalities in the heart muscle (myocardium) occur in approximately 8% of patients with Lyme disease within weeks of ECM. They may include fluctuating degrees of atrioventricular block and, less commonly, inflammation of the heart sack and heart muscle (myopericarditis) with reduced blood volume ejected from the left ventricle and an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly). When Lyme Disease is contracted during pregnancy, the fetus may or may not be adversely affected, or may contract congenital Lyme Disease. In a study of nineteen pregnant women with Lyme Disease, fourteen had normal pregnancies and normal babies. If Lyme Disease is contracted during pregnancy, possible fetal abnormalities and premature birth can occur. Etiology Lyme disease is caused by a spirochete bacterium (Borrelia Burgdorferi) transmitted by a small tick called Ixodes dammini. The spirochete is probably injected into the victim's skin or bloodstream at the time of the insect bite. After an incubation period of 3 to 32 days, the organism migrates outward in the skin, is spread through the lymphatic system or is disseminated by the blood to different body organs or other skin sites. Lyme Disease was first described in 1909 in European medical journals. The first outbreak in the United States occurred in the early 1970's in Old lyme, Connecticut. An unusually high incidence of juvenile

The Battle of Bataan - World War II

The Battle of Bataan - World War II Battle of Bataan - Conflict Dates: The Battle of Bataan was fought January 7 to April 9, 1942, during World War II (1939-1945). Forces Commanders Allies General Douglas MacArthurLieutenant General Jonathan WainwrightMajor General Edward King79,500 men Japanese Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma75,000 men Battle of Bataan - Background: Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft began conducting an aerial assault on American forces in the Philippines. In addition, troops moved against Allied positions on Hong Kong and Wake Island. In the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur, commanding United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), began making preparations to defend the archipelago from the inevitable Japanese invasion. This included calling up numerous Filipino reserve divisions. Though MacArthur initially sought to defend the entire island of Luzon, prewar War Plan Orange 3 (WPO-3) called for USAFFE to withdraw to the highly defensible ground of the Bataan Peninsula, west of Manila, where it would hold out until relieved by the US Navy. Due to the losses sustained at Pearl Harbor, this was unlikely to occur. Battle of Bataan - The Japanese Land: On December 12, Japanese forces began landing at Legaspi in southern Luzon. This was followed by a larger effort in the north at Lingayen Gulf on December 22. Coming ashore, elements of Lieutenant General Masaharu Hommas 14th Army began driving south against Major General Jonathan Wainwrights Northern Luzon Force. Two days after the landings at Lingayen commenced, MacArthur invoked WPO-3 and began shifting supplies to Bataan while Major General George M. Parker prepared the peninsulas defenses. Steadily pushed back, Wainwright retreated through a succession of defensive lines over the next week. To the south, Major General Albert Jones Southern Luzon Force fared little better. Concerned about Wainwrights ability to keep the road to Bataan open, MacArthur directed Jones to move around Manila, which had been declared an open city, on December 30. Crossing the Pampanga River on January 1, the SLF moved towards Bataan while Wainwright desperately held a line between Borac and Guagua. On January 4, Wainwright began retreating towards Bataan and three days later USAFFE forces were within the peninsulas defenses. Battle of Bataan - The Allies Prepare: Stretching from north to south, the Bataan Peninsula is mountainous down its spine with Mount Natib in the north and the Mariveles Mountains in the south. Covered in jungle terrain, the peninsulas lowlands stretch to cliffs overlooking the South China Sea in west and beaches in the east along Manila Bay. Due to the topography, the peninsulas only natural harbor is Mariveles at its southern tip. As USAFFE forces assumed their defensive position, roads on the peninsula were limited a perimeter route that ran along the east coast from Abucay to Mariveles and then north up the west coast to Mauban and an east-west route between Pilar and Bagac. Defense of Bataan was divided between two new formations, Wainwrights I Corps in the west and Parkers II Corps in the east. These held a line stretching from Mauban east to Abucay. Due to the open nature of the ground around Abucay, fortifications were stronger in Parkers sector. Both corps commanders anchored their lines on Mount Natib, though th e mountains rugged terrain prevented them from being in direct contact forcing the gap to be covered by patrols. Battle of Bataan - The Japanese Attack: Though the USAFFE was supported by a large amount of artillery, its position was weakened due to a tenuous supply situation. The speed of the Japanese advance had prevented the large scale stockpiling of supplies and the number of troops and civilians on the peninsula exceeded prewar estimates. As Homma prepared to attack, MacArthur repeatedly lobbied leaders in Washington, DC for reinforcements and aid. On January 9, Lieutenant General Akira Nara opened the assault on Bataan when his troops advanced on Parkers lines. Turning back the enemy, II Corps endured heavy attacks for the next five days. By the 15th, Parker, who had committed his reserves, requested assistance from MacArthur. Anticipating this, MacArthur had already put the 31st Division (Philippine Army) and Philippine Division in motion towards II Corps sector. The following day, Parker attempted to counterattack with the 51st Division (PA). Though initially successful, the division later broke allowing the Japanese to threaten II Corps line. On January 17, Parker desperately attempted to restore his position. Mounting a series of attacks over the next five days, he managed to retake much of the lost ground. This success proved brief as intense Japanese air attacks and artillery forced II Corps back. By the 22nd, Parkers left was under threat as enemy forces moved through the rough terrain of Mount Natib. That night, he received orders to retreat south. To the west, Wainwrights corps fared somewhat better against troops led by Major General Naoki Kimura. Holding off the Japanese at first, the situation changed on January 19 when Japanese forces infiltrated behind his lines cutting off supplies to the 1st Regular Division (PA). When efforts to dislodge this force failed, the division was withdrawn and lost most of its artillery in the proces s. Battle of Bataan - Bagac-Orion Line: With the collapse of the Abucay-Mauban Line, USAFFE established a new position running from Bagac to Orion on January 26. A shorter line, it was dwarfed by the heights of Mount Samat which provided the Allies with an observation post overseeing the entire front. Though in a strong position, MacArthurs forces suffered from a lack of capable officers and reserve forces were minimal. As fighting had raged to the north, Kimura dispatched amphibious forces to land on the southwest coast of the peninsula. Coming ashore at Quinauan and Longoskayan Points on the night of January 23, the Japanese were contained but not defeated. Seeking to exploit this, Lieutenant General Susumu Morioka, who had superseded Kimura, dispatched reinforcements to Quinauan on the night of the 26th. Becoming lost, they instead established a foothold on Canas Point. Obtaining additional troops on January 27, Wainwright eliminated the Longoskayan and Quinauan threats. Tenaciously defending Canas Point, the Japanese w ere not expelled until February 13. As the Battle of the Points raged, Morioka and Nara continued assaults on the main USAFFE line. While attacks on Parkers corps were turned back in heavy fighting between January 27 and 31, Japanese forces succeeded in breaching Wainwrights line via the Toul River. Quickly closing this gap, he isolated the attackers into three pockets which were reduced by February 15. As Wainwright was dealing with this threat, a reluctant Homma accepted that he lacked the forces to break MacArthurs defenses. As a result, he ordered his men to fall back to a defensive line on February 8 to await reinforcements. Though a victory that boosted morale, USAFFE continued to suffer from a critical shortage of key supplies. With the situation temporarily stabilized efforts continued to relieve the forces on Bataan and the fortress island of Corregidor to the south. These were largely unsuccessful as only three ships were able to run the Japanese blockade while submarines and aircraft lacked the carrying capa city to bring the needed quantities. Battle of Bataan - Reorganization: In February, the leadership in Washington began to believe that USAFFE was doomed. Unwilling to lose a commander of MacArthurs skill and prominence, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered him to evacuate to Australia. Reluctantly leaving on March 12, MacArthur traveled to Mindanao by PT boat before flying to Australia on a B-17 Flying Fortress. With his departure, USAFFE was reorganized into the United States Forces in the Philippines (USFIP) with Wainwright in overall command. Leadership on Bataan passed to Major General Edward P. King. Though March saw efforts to better train USFIP forces, disease and malnutrition badly depleted the ranks. By April 1, Wainwrights men were living on quarter rations. Battle of Bataan - Fall: To the north, Homma took February and March to refit and reinforce his army. As it regained strength, it began to intensify artillery bombardments of the USFIP lines. On April 3, Japanese artillery unleashed the most intense shelling of the campaign. Later in the day, Homma ordered a massive assault on the 41st Division (PA)s position. Part of II Corps, the 41st was effectively broken by the artillery bombardment and offered little resistance to the Japanese advance. Overestimating Kings strength, Homma moved forward cautiously. Over the next two days, Parker fought desperately to save his crumbling left as King attempted to counterattack north. As II Corps was overwhelmed, I Corps began falling back on the night of April 8. Later that day, seeing that further resistance would be hopeless, King reached out to the Japanese for terms. Meeting with Major General Kameichiro Nagano the next day, he surrendered the forces on Bataan. Battle of Bataan - Aftermath: Though pleased that Bataan had finally fallen, Homma was angry that the surrender did not include the USFIP forces on Corregidor and elsewhere in the Philippines. Massing his troops, he landed on Corregidor on May 5 and captured the island in two days of fighting. With the fall of Corregidor, Wainwright surrendered all remaining forces in the Philippines. In the fighting on Bataan, American and Filipino forces sustained around 10,000 killed and 20,000 wounded while the Japanese sustained approximately 7,000 killed and 12,000 wounded. In addition to the casualties, USFIP lost 12,000 American and 63,000 Filipino soldiers as prisoners. Though suffering from combat wounds, disease, and malnutrition, these prisoners were marched north to prisoner of war camps in what became known as the Bataan Death March. Lacking food and water, prisoners were beaten or bayoneted if they fell behind or were unable to walk. Thousands of USFIP prisoners died before reaching the camps. Following the war, Ho mma was convicted of war crimes relating to the march and was executed on April 3, 1946. Selected Sources: Corregidor Historical Society: BataanHistoryNet: Battle of Bataan - Brigadier General Clyde A. Selleck Commands the Layac LineUS Army: Bataan Death March

Deforestation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Deforestation - Essay Example Also, the reasons for deforestation are largely economic. Softwoods from areas under boreal forest are used in the paper and construction industries, while tropical hardwoods are used in the manufacture of furniture and for construction purposes. In South American countries, forest and woodland areas are also heavily exploited for wood-fuel, which is the main source of energy. Following Ehrhardt-Martinez (1998): "Deforestation in developed countries has reached very low levels, it accounts for the loss of 16.3 million hectares of forest per year in developing countries -- an area approximately twice the size of Portugal. An estimated 15.4 million hectares of forest loss occurs each year in tropical regions, with the worst losses occurring in Latin America and the Caribbean (7.4 million ha) (568) Clearly, the exploitative decline in forest and woodland resources is not sustainable in the long term and a number of environmental problems, including soil erosion and biodiversity losses, have developed as a result. Improved road access into deforested areas is likely to encourage population influx and increased shifting cultivation (Margulis 39). Farmers are then encouraged to trans... These strategies are very successful helping to establish a special culture of forest management and land use (Ehrhardt-Martinez, 569). For the highlands, this meant more emphasis on cattle-ranching, generating meat and dairy products for the growing urban markets, and less importance for traditional subsistence crops like corn, wheat and barley. The establishment of all-weather routes meant that areas which had only been accessible during the dry season could now be used for continuous product extraction, promoting permanent settlement which in turn also increased the demand for local food products. it should be noted that forests, while not the only, are still the main source of 'reserve land areas' to be gradually included in the pool of cultivated areas (WRM 1998). Due to the low commercial scale of remaining valuable timber species, it is usually not worthwhile to open a new road in a mountainous region just for the sake of timber extraction; this thus eliminates any prospective 'indirect' impact. The extraction of logs here may rather be a by-product of forest-clearing implemented for general purposes of colonization (Margulis 89). According to road distance and market requirements, either all types of firewood are cut and used across the board for conversion, or hard species with a high energy content are selected. In the case of across-the-board utilization, charcoal-burning would indeed be a candidate as a cause of deforestation, provided that the once-and-for-all rent from clearing and charcoal conversion is in fact the decisive motivation within the landowner's resource-use strategy. The problem of deforestation needs complex solutions and

Does Being Socially Responsible Impact Corporate Sales Revenue Research Paper

Does Being Socially Responsible Impact Corporate Sales Revenue - Research Paper Example As it has been said that the business has to return something back to the society where it is operating and it is the responsibility of the corporations operating in the society to return back and this has been termed as ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’. The fundamental goal of the business is to provide the shareholders with profits as Milton Friedman wrote in his article â€Å"the only social responsibility of the business is to increase the business profits of the shareholders†, yet CSR has played an important role in influencing the customer to purchase the company’s product (Beurden, and Gossling, 407-408) In recent decades the concept of corporate social responsibility has gained a lot of support from businesses as well as the society as this strategy provides the company to survive and differentiate itself in the market environment. This strategy is aimed to provide the customers with the products according to their need by assuring the eco-friendly environment and the advancement of the society. 1.2. BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH By applying the concept of corporate social responsibility the businesses are said to have higher impact on the sales of the company’s product. It had been noted that the company that implements the social responsibility have higher sales volume than other companies. It has also been found that this emerging trend has gained exceptional popularity with the passage of time as this social responsibility focuses on the economic, ethical and legal components rather than focusing on single idea of profit for the stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility is one of the business strategies that business people have shown their support for as this strategy focuses on responding to the society priorities and expectations with positivity and willingness. The economic component focuses on the profitability of the company. This is the foundation of the business that keeps the business keep going on. The second component of the corporate social responsibility is the ethical which focuses on the commitment to do what is right and to avoid any process that might harm the environment or the society. The last but not the least component of CSR is the legal component which is to obey the laws and regulations of the country and to do what is acceptable by the country and to avoid those procedures that are ignored by the society. 1.3. IMPACT OF CSR ON BUSINESS Corporate social responsibility plays an essential role in the success of the business. It not only retains the employees and the customers of the company due to their higher satisfaction le vel but also helps the company to attain new customers on behalf of their contribution towards the sustainable development of society (Jose and Patrice, 4). Corporate social responsibility helps the company to enjoy many benefits. Some of the benefits that a company enjoys due to such a strategy are strengthened brand positioning,