Analysis of Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway Essay

Analysis of Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway In â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† Ernest Hemingway relies on symbolism to convey the theme of abortion. The symbolic material objects, as well as the strong symbolic characters, aid the reader’s understanding of the underlying theme. The material objects that Hemingway uses to convey the theme are beer, the good and bad hillsides, and a railroad station between two tracks. The beer represents the couple’s, â€Å"the American† and â€Å"the girl’s†, usual routine activity they do together. This bothers the girl because â€Å"that’s all [they] do †¦ look at things and try new drinks.† This shows that the girl is tired of doing the same thing and wants to do something different, like having a baby and a family, instead of fooling around all the time. She wants to stop being a girl and become a woman. Hemingway then presents the reader with two contrasting hills. One hill on one side of the station is dull, desolate, and barren; â€Å"it had no shade and no trees†, very desert like. However, the other hill on the other side of the station is beautiful, plentiful in nature, and had â€Å"fields of grain and tress along the banks of the Ebro River.† Also on each side of the station where each hill is, there is a train track. These objects are symbolic devices prepare the reader in realizing that the characters are in a place of decision. The railroad station is a place of decision where one must decide to go one way or the other. The t...

Henry James :: essays research papers

Post-Civil War American Literature saw a transition from the prominence of romance to the development of realism. In the late 1800's, the United States was experiencing swift growth and change as a result of a changing economy, society, and culture because of an influx in the number of immigrants into America. (Spiller 35) Whereas authors previously sought to "idealize human beings, fall in love with a dream, and then, reject the real man or woman who had inspired the dream", they now worked to accurately portray life and people as they really were. (Wagenknecht 68) Realists such as Henry James and William Dean Howells, two of the most prolific writers of the nineteenth-century, used typical realistic methods to create an accurate depiction of changing American life 	Henry James was one of five children of affulent, eccentric parents. While his birth in 1843 was in New York City, his parents were purposly rootless, and by the age of eighteen he had already crossed the Atlantic six times. He avoided participation in the Civil War because of a poor back and began a role which he would maintain throughout his life and writings, one of a detached observer rather than participant in the American social scene. (Matthiessen 14) 	The first phase of James' writing begins when he is twenty-one, in 1864 and continues until 1881. He was extremely popular during this time, especially during after publication of a short story Daisy Miller, which is concerned with the destruction of a naive American girl by European mores. James continues the theme of placing Americans without sufficient social experience into the complex society and culture of Europe with The American, which chronicles a man whose finds himself unable to buy his way into French society. (Matthiessen 14) 	For Henry James, the years of 1882 to 1895 brought less success. His novels now took on a more political tone. (Matthiessen 15) In 1886, he published The Bostonians, regarding the feminist movement in New England. Here, "he complained that women who wanted to become just like men were disregarding their own uniqueness." (Norton 616) The Tragic Muse, published in 1890, continues this trend as it contrasts art with politics. After these works failed commerically , James turned to the British stage; he found no greater success there. (Matthiessen 15) 	The period of James' life recognized as the final phase, the one which Matthiessen calls the "Major Phase", revolves around three novels with which James assured himself a place in American Literature.

The Story of Organic Matter Decay in Soils Essay -- Chemistry Chemical

The Story of Organic Matter Decay in Soils To most people, humus is a garlic-y chickpea spread for sandwiches or pita bread. However, to soil scientists, its something entirely different. Soil humus is a mixture of dark, colloidal organic compounds relatively resistant to decomposition. These compounds result from the decay of organic litter and accumulate in the O and A horizons of soils. Soil humus helps glue mineral particals into aggregates, giving structure to the soil and affecting soil stability. There are three main classifications of humus: fulvic acid, humic acid and humin. Humin is insoluble but fulvic and humic acids are soluble in dillute NaOH solution. Humic acids precipitate in acidic solution, but fulvic acids remain soluble. Humic molecules are incredibly varied in composition, but generally are characterized by: 1) many active chemical functional groups exposed to the surrounding solution for reaction with other substances in the solution. 2) a very large cross-linked and "folded" molecule with molecular weights in the hundreds of thousands of grams per molecule" (Miller and Donahue, 1990, p. 185). Humus has a large surface area per unit of mass and is highly charged (similar to clay), and individual humus molecules are dynamic and constantly changing form (but may remain humus for several thousand years). Humus includes sugar amines, nucleic acids, phospholipids, vitamins, sulfolipis, polysaccharides and many other unclassified compounds (Miller and Donahue, 1990). Figure 1 shows a hypothetical structure of a humic acid with many of the characteristic functional groups. Fulvic acid and humin have similar structures. The COOH and phenolic OH groups are weakly acidic, which give humus its pH b... ...II, the environmental conditions alone may determine the rate. (Melillo et al., 1989) Aber et al. supported this conclusion, but measured major differences in the nitrogen content during Phase II, indicating that only the carbon was uniform during this stage (Aber et al, 1990). Other researchers had also separated two stages of decomposition: early decay, when "free" cellulose decomposes quickly, and later decay, when cellulose is shielded by lignin and can be decayed only with the coprocessing of the lignin (Aber et al., 1990). In summary, through a series of complex reactions, microbes mediate the conversion of organic material such as leaves and twigs to the dark humus which colors and glues our soils. Without these processes, the soils would be loose, non-cemented dusts and no life would be able to grow on them, and the world would be a very different place.

Discuss the Notions of Ideology and/or False Consciousnes

â€Å"The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i. e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. † (K. Marx and F. Engels. (1998) â€Å"Ruling Class and Ruling Ideas†. In J. Storey. (ed. ). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader Harlow, Essex: Pearson, 191. ) Discuss the notions of ideology and/or false consciousness. Ideology is something that has and will be always in everyone’s life. This is a part of human life.In my essay about ideology I am going to write about Karl Marx ideas about ideology and also Louise Althusser interpretations about ideology. In my opinion they are the two that explain ideology and false consciousness in the best and most understandable way. I am going to start with Karl Marx and write about his thoughts on ideology, false consciousness and how does it fit in to everyday life. Afterwards how Althusser complicated Marx’s ideas and ex plained how ideology works in people’s lives in his own way.The Expression â€Å"Ideology† was created by Cabanis, Destutt de Tracy and their friends, and they defined it as an object the theory of ideas. Afterwards it was picked up by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and few years latter Louis Althusser (1918-1990) started expanding Marx ides on ideology. Main ideas on ideology by Karl Marx appeared in â€Å"The German Ideology†, that he wrote with Frederick Engels. Althusser wrote about Marx’s ides that (2001) â€Å"Ideology itself represents the â€Å"production of ideas, of conceptions, of consciousness,† all that â€Å"men say, imagine, conceive,† and include such things as â€Å"politics, laws, morality, religion, metaphysics, etc. Ideology functions as the superstructure of a civilization: the conventions and culture that make up the dominant ideas of a society. † Ideology is basically ideas of social groups. People think that something has some kind of purpose to serve them, but really it has a different purpose. For example police, everyone thinks that they are here to protect us, but actually their purpose is to keep us under control. The ideology is based on the ruling class and their ideas. Ruling class tries to keep everything running properly and keep people under control.It is said by Althusser â€Å"Since one goal of ideology is to legitimize those forces in a position of hegemony, it tends to obfuscate the violence and exploitation that often keep a disempowered group in its place. † For masses ideology is as a system of illusory beliefs – False Consciousness. False consciousness is a misrepresentation of different social relations between privet and public. Daniel Little (no date) wrote â€Å"â€Å"False consciousness† is a concept derived from Marxist theory of social class. The concept refers to the systematic misrepresentation of dominant social relations in the consciousness of subordinate classes.Marx himself did not use the phrase â€Å"false consciousness,† but he paid extensive attention to the related concepts of ideology and commodity fetishism. † Marx never said in his work that ideology is false consciousness, but ideology in his work can be interpreted as false consciousness in some ways. Ideology is seen as illusionary beliefs, people see things in one way, helping them, their living conditions and different organisations working for people, for example schools, clothing factories, etc. But in reality all this organisations work for ruling classes to keep masses under ruling classes power.Schools educate people to make them able to work for the ruling class in the future and keep the economy going. Clothing factories create clothes for people, and everybody thinks that their made for them to feel better, so they could go out and buy new clothes and feel happy. In reality clothes are produced to lure people to buy them and spend money , give hardly earned money back to the ruling class and most of the clothes are produced to last for a short time, so people would keep coming back and buying more.Looking through people’s point of view, ideology can be interpreted as false consciousness. Andrew Butler (2009) said in our lecture â€Å"Ideology – people doing what they’re doing without knowing what they’re doing or why. † If people are doing what they are doing without knowing, it can be translated as false consciousness. They think that they know what they are doing and why they are doing it, but actually not. Ideology is false beliefs and ideas, false understanding how world works. Louis Althusser, expanded Karl Marx ideas on ideology.Marx separated everything, he thought that superstructure has a relative autonomy with relation to the base, that superstructure is not influenced by base and other way around as well. But Althusser did not reject these ideas but complicates them, he sees superstructure and base working together, he does not separate them from each other. It was said in our lecture by Andrew Butler (2009) â€Å"Whereas classic Marxism sees the economic base as determining the superstructure Althusser sees them as having a Double function. By double function he meant that there is not a separation between public and private, everything is linked together. A good example was brought in our lecture notes by Andrew Butler (2009) â€Å"Imagine a kind of network where everything impacts on everything else. the feminist slogan the personal is political would be a good way of thinking about this. So the family – something that might seem personal or more specifically say breastfeeding might seem private is in fact linked to the economic base and influenced by the superstructure.Breastfeeding could be part of a medical fad or you might do it because of education but doing it or not impacts on when you go back to work or whether you buy formula milks so it is an economic and political decision as well as a private one. † In Althusser’s opinion ideology treats people as subjects, because ideology has a material existence. Ideology always reveals through human actions and participations. For example art, art is produced for people to buy, to give money back to the country, but art is produced through another person, through hard labour and he also gets paid for it, this is a job for him.David Hawkes (1996, p. 122) said â€Å"an ideology always exists in an apparatus, and its practice, or practices. This existence is material† Ideology is an ideal idea of perfect state; it has a material existence that treats humans as subjects. In our lecture notes by Andrew Butler (2009) Althusser asked â€Å"why subjects are obedient, why people follow the laws and why isn't there a revolt/revolution against capitalism IF IT IS NOT IN THE INTERESTS OF THE LOWER CLASSES† and he explained this through complicating Marx’s ideas by bringing in Repressive State Apparatuses and Ideological State Apparatuses.Repressive State Apparatuses can control people by force so everybody would behave in the way as the ruling class wants; it includes organizations like the police, prisons, security, etc. Ideological State Apparatuses include institutions that create ideologies on what people can act and believe, for example schools, churches, legal systems, radio, press, television, etc. ISAs acts through ideology, they tell people how to think and influence people mentally, not like RSA, which acts through violence. In conclusion I would say that Ideology is a set of ideas of social groups.People think that something has some kind of purpose to serve them, but really it has a different purpose – false consciousness. For masses ideology is as a system of illusory beliefs – False Consciousness. Though Marx never said in his work that ideology is false consciousness, but ideology in his wor k can be interpreted as false consciousness in some ways. Louis Althusser was another ideology theorist and he expanded Karl Marx ideas on ideology. Where Marxism saw the economic base as determining the superstructure Althusser saw them as having a Double function.That they work together, superstructure determines economic base and economic base determines superstructure. He explained this by expanding Marx’s ideas by bringing in Repressive State Apparatuses and Ideological State Apparatuses. That people are seen as subject and state has different associations to keep people under control by force, violence and also by giving people ideas how everything works and it is all meant to be for people, to make their lives better and more organised. Ideology is meant to keep people under ruling class power and order.In my opinion the ideology is working just fine, it keeps the world organised and together. Only it does it through false consciousness, lies. †¢ Hawkes, D. (1996) Ideology. reprint edition. Routledge †¢ Althusser, L. (2001) Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Trans. Ben Brewster. New York: Monthly Review P. Available at: http://www. cla. purdue. edu/English/theory/marxism/modules/marxideology. html (Accessed: 21 April 2009) †¢ Althusser, L. (2001) Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Trans. Ben Brewster. New York: Monthly Review P.Available at: http://www. cla. purdue. edu/English/theory/marxism/modules/marxideology. html (Accessed: 21 April 2009) †¢ Althusser, L. (2001) Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Trans. Ben Brewster. New York: Monthly Review P. Available at: http://www. cla. purdue. edu/English/theory/marxism/modules/marxideology. html (Accessed: 21 April 2009) †¢ Little, D. (no date) False Consciousness, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Available at: http://www-personal. umd. umich. edu/~delittle/iess%20false%20consciousness%20V2. htm (Accessed: 21 April 2009)

Banyan Tree Case Essay

Banyan Tree is founded in 1992 by Ho Kwon Ping.The first Banyan Tree opened in 1994 in Phuket Island.The resorts were designed to blend into the natural environment. Corporate Strategies  K. P. Ho thinks that company should consider the physical and human environment when making business decisions Business Strategies Goals : â€Å"†¦one of the top two or three dominant players in a global space which is very niche but nevertheless very global† K. P. Ho said. Scope : Banyan Tree provides a luxury retreat for guests.The Banyan Tree target market is narrow and affluent. Competitive Advantage : Banyan Tree goes into locations that are not heavily developed and create sustainable resorts. Logic : Banyan Tree intends to expand locate in diverse locations Differentiation : Focus through a differentiation Environmental Analysis Sociocultural Factors Terrorist attacks September 11,2001 and the Bali bombings The SARS outbreak of 2003 Economic and Natural Factors The Asian Financial Crisi of 1997 The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 Porter’s Five Forces Model Customer Buying Power Tends to be moderate Customers are few in number High buying power Few readily avaible Supplier Bargaining Power Tends to be high Due to the unique locations and high quality products Only a limited number of suppliers available to provide these products and services Entry Barriers Tend to be high Large capital requirements and government regulations Substitutes Due to Banyan Tree’s niche market and concept it is important for them to be aware of readily available substitutes Rivalry Among Existing Firms Banyan Tree Competition Aman Resorts Como Hotels Six Senses Hotels One and only Resorts Angsana Competition Four Seasons Shangri-La Hotels Strategic Direction Mission Statement We want to build a globally recognized brand which by inspiring exceptional experiences among our guests,instilling pride and integrity in our associates and enhancing the physical and human environment in which we operate, will deliver attractive returns to our shareholder. Vision Statement To build on its brands, Banyan Tree and Angsana to create a diversified group of niche resorts and hotels in strategic locations throughout the world, which would be complemented by residence and property sales,spa and gallery operations. Organizational Resource Analysis Strengths Well known and reputable brand name Strong brand identity Brand visibility Customer Loyalty Weaknesses Lack of knowledge of target market in global Small talent poot to choose from because properties are in remote locations Organization Resource Analysis Physical Unspoiled,unique locations Outstanding facilities Sustainability Sensitive design Human CEO is a major source of competitive advantage Well trained and motivated employees Corporate Partners such as American Express,Citibank etc. Financial Profits have risen significantly since the 2004 Tsunami High price to cost ratio Strong links to financiers General Organizational Resources Brand and organizational reputation Aspirational brand position Knowledge and Learning Entrepreneurship strategy Diverse culture

Privatization Study Essay

Privatisation can be defined as ‘the partial or total transfer of property of responsibility from the public sector (government) to the private sector (business) or private persons. Privatization can include the transfer of responsibilities and not solely change of ownership. Privatisation consists of simply ‘the transfer of all or any of three kinds of property rights from the state to the private sector; ownership rights, operating rights and development rights since these constitute the most common type of privatisation. In general privatisation has been undertaken as one of the reform measures to reduce government role in the economy and broaden the role of the private sector. Privatization can also be said to be a process of asset divesture. It is seldom asked, what does privatization seeks to accomplish in the Caribbean? It must be understood that privatization is seen as an instrument working towards supply side improvement by the promotion and allocation of more e fficient resources and short term stabilization through expenditure reduction. Privatization initiatives are now a current occurrence in most Caribbean countries such as Belize, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Guyana to name a few. It has shown that most privatization activities took place in Latin America & the Caribbean; between the period 1988 and 1993 this region accounted for more than half the total privatizations in the Third World. Most privatization initiatives take place in the utility companies of the Caribbean. In case of Belize (electricity, water, port authority and the sugar cane factory). Government in many of these Lesser Developed Countries embraces privatization as an attachment to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. These institutions stress and maintain that privatization is the main driving force towards economic liberalization and self-sustained growth. The objectives of Privatisation can happen either directly or indirectly. The main objective of privatization is placing emphasis on improving the efficiency of government owned/ semi-owned establishments, whether retained or divested. Some objectives are to Improve the operational efficiency of enterprises that are currently owned or semi owned by government, and their contribution to the national economy in terms of reliability of delivery,  quality and price; introduce competition in areas under monopoly; Reduce the burden of semi/owned government enterprises on the Government budget (direct) an example is stated in the re- privatization of Air Jamaica by the Government. (The Government of Jamaica initiated re-privatization process due to the airline’s increasing financial losses and the restructuring needed to face the challenges of new market conditions. The privatization of the airline was a top priority and engaged the International Finance Corporation as its Lead Adv isor)(The KED Group Research); raise revenue opposing to increase taxes on citizens (direct);Expand the private sector’s role in the economy, permitting the Government to concentrate more on its public resources and roles; Encourage wider public population in the ownership and management of business; encourage industrial growth; attract foreign investments Some other objectives can be classifies as secondary objectives such as creating a more market-oriented economy; to gain access to the foreign markets and technology while promoting the development of the capital market; and preserving self-reliance. There are said to be three major areas which privatization is expected to impact. Firstly there’s Efficiency, secondly there’s reduction of financial burden of the government and thirdly the ability to enhance private sector growth and activity to promote economic democracy through the participation of national assets ownership. In the Caribbean, privatization is expected to have a positive impact on productive efficiency. This is a result of the in-efficiencies that have plagued the public enterprises. It is said that as a result of non-competitiveness these enterprises misuse production inputs, they enjoy privileges of subsidiary capital and some social welfare. Shareholders do not scrutinize management performance so there is no incentives to maximize profit and minimize cost. Some problems that leads to privatization of government enterprises being in-efficient are over- staffing, management incompetence and low employee productivity. These are made into undesirable situation due to the intervening of government’s non-economic ends such as non-competitive pricing and employment maximization. When privatized efficiency is expected to yield better management operations. In order to meet the other area of maximizing revenue and reducing the financial burden on government enterprises; Privatization is considered one of the most directive and effective ways whereas government sells public enterprises. Not all asset sales is indeed a reduction in budget deficit, it is a short term measure of correction. It was in the early 1980’s in the Caribbean that revealed most countries found it difficult to provide counterpart funding for projects. Due to governments commitment to provide funding for these projects resulted in the economy to fluctuate and cause a burden on government resources. The growth of the expenditure exceeded the growth of revenue resulting in some countries to privatize. Privatization stimulates private sector growth. It seems to be beneficial as the private sector is constantly evolving. Privatization also sparks development of entrepreneurship by promoting economic democracy by participation of ownership of national assets. This can be seen in Belize with the telecommunication provider BTL. This company was bought and shares were sold to the public, giving them some ownership in the company. In the Caribbean, public enterprises were established because the pr ivate sector fell short to supply and demand because they weren’t willing to take the risk of high investment. Privatization of these public assets took place to attract foreign investment, government had to remove the restrictions of market access and the protection of state owned enterprises so that private investors would have been encourage to invest and avoid monopoly. This increased the foreign investment in the Caribbean. In Belize a similar situation of taking a risk and some monopoly to an extent can be seen in the privatization of the water company. CASCAL the foreign investor had problems when government had already invested in the utility company but was said to have not express the overvaluing of the company which yielded a more long term debt. Nevertheless CASCAL invested over $70 million USD into the company. Privatization of an enterprise or government own entity can be done in many ways. Some organizations use not only one method both sometimes several means for privatization. These methods of privatization are adopted based on the objectives of the enterprise such as financial position or the structure of the market. Some forms or methods of privatization can be stated as Sale of Equity, Sale of Assets, Concession/ Lease Agreement, Management Contracts, Franchising. In Belize the most common form is Sales of Equity and Sale of Assets. Sale of Equity refers to the transfer of equity usually done by the selling of shares. The government usually decides on what percentage to keep and what to sell. Once government decides on the  issue, the form of public offering or private placement of these shares can take place. Usually in large financially sound enterprises the public offering method is more attractive to government. The Belize Telecommunication privation is a great example of how g overnment took the public offering method and offered the Belizean public to buy shares into the company. Belize Telecommunication Ltd was the first privatization in Belize 1989 when British Telecom bought 25% of the shares. In 2001 Carlisle Holdings committed and increase BTL shareholdings to 52% with a $50 million investment. In 2004 Carlisle Holdings sold its shares back to the Government, which then resulted in the government to sell its shares plus the shares acquired from Carlisle to Innovative Communication Cooperation. Innovative communication Cooperation couldn’t pay for its share in 2005 which caused the government to take back 52% majority shares and sold it to private entities. In 2007 all rights and assets were transferred to Belize Telemedia Limited and the Government became the owner of majority of shares, the remaining shares were offered to the public which builds up 908 small shareholders. This is one company that basically use the sale of equity method. When using method of sales of assets, the basic concept is the direct sale of a public enterprise’s assets to a private investor or a group of investors. This would occur in a very competitive manner where government would try to receive the best price through an auction or tender process. Belize’s only sugar cane processing facility Belize Sugar Industries Limited was under negotiations for privatization due to BSI running into financial problems following allegations of mismanagement and bad investments in an allied electrical generation project BELCOGEN Ltd. The government first attempted to promote the sale of BSI to Honduras’ Banco Atlà ¡ntida but this failed. A purchase offer was made by the Belize cane farmers, who is the major suppliers of the factory’s sugar cane, was not entertained with much interest by the government. The sale was offered to the U.S. Company American Sugar Refin ery. This privatization was solely the sale of asset; no shares were offered to public and the factory is solely managed by a foreign company but still retains the employees being Belizeans. American Sugar Refinery, assuming the entire debt of BSI, will become the beneficiary of additional shares issued by BSI so that at the end of the day there will be something like 78 to 22 per cent ownership. ASR will in fact hold the  majority shares and the other 22% representing the actual workers of BSI. This act of privatization in Belize was a direct result, as BSI was in debt of 30 million and couldn’t repay. The government was forced to privatize at the same time act in best interest for the 90% of cane farmers that is the driving force for the sugar industry in Belize. There are other methods such as contracting/ franchising. This mostly happens when the government cannot take on the responsibility in services such as road construction and maintenance, machinery repair garbage collection (Belize Waste Control) and health services (such as Belize Dry Cleaners contract to heat wash all hospitals bedding etc.) this relinquishes all duties and services from the public sector to the private sector. This was also evident in The Jamaican privatisation programme which began in the early 1980s with the divestment of public services; which were burdening on fiscal resources of the government. These services were garbage collection services, parks and markets, and public cleansing. There is also the management contract method which solely involves hiring private sector to manage government enterpr ises for a special fee. This method entails the management responsibility only and does not involve the transfer of personnel. The final method is concessions and lease agreement; this method is used when government does not want to transfer complete ownership of an entity. Privatization of enterprises would be mostly natural resources or infrastructural. While government retains ownership, the private operator is responsible for desired improvement and management. Private investors may have an option to purchase the company after the agreements end. Privatization in the Caribbean countries was said to be influenced by the deteriorating financial state of the countries except for Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago which privatized their enterprises to undergo a structural adjustment program with the International lending Institutions. As in example with Grenada and Dominica which privatized for their own structural reform to reverse the deteriorating financial state. In Grenada their reform was organized by the Caribbean Development bank and aim was to privatised state owned enterprises to reduce the arrears of debts and contributions and focus on fiscal reform. In Dominica privatization was through the public sector enterprise reform that was based on the privatization of the Dominica electricity Services. In Jamaica privatization came into act in the 1980’s when the government at  that time, wanted to reduce their role in the economy. On board with privatization efforts were the International Monetary Fund and The World bank which disbursed several loans to the government of Jamaica divestment agenda. Some divestments included cleaning public facilities, operations of public markets which was done through the lease agreement and management contract method which gave private entities control. Privatizati on took flight in 1985 when shares offering was done by the National Commercial Bank acquiring 51 percent of the government’s equity. Privatization in a whole is said to have both positive and negative impacts depending on the way it is carried out and for the purpose the governments seems deemed. Advantages or potential benefits of Privatisation are that it improves efficiency. Private companies have a profit incentive to cut costs and be more efficient. When working for an industry that is managed or run by government, managers do not usually share profits. However, a private firm is interested in making profit and so it is more likely to cut costs and be efficient. A simple example of this is the British Airways have shown degrees of improved efficiency and higher profitability. Privatization also allows for the lack of political interference. It is said that most governments are motivated by political pressures rather than sound economic and business sense. They may employ too many workers which is inefficient and might be government may be reluctant to get rid of the workers because of the negative publicity involved in job losses. Therefore, state owned enterprises often employ too many workers increasing inefficiency. There may be instances when it’s beneficial for government when there just thinking in terms of until the next election. This is called the short term view. Government may be unwilling to invest in infrastr ucture improvements which will benefit the firm in the long term because they are more concerned about projects that give a benefit before the election. Shareholders apply pressure to private entities if they are inefficient. These companies could be threatened by a takeover. Another beneficial aspect is increased competition; privatisation of state owned monopolies allow more firms to enter the industry and increase the competitiveness of the market. One of the major competitions in the Caribbean would be telecommunication. In Belize, the Belize Telecommunication Limited was under monopoly which gave rise to a new competitor namely Speednet (SMART). However, privatisation doesn’t  necessarily increase competition, it depends on the nature of the market. The last advantage is that government will raise revenue from the sale. This could be seen in the water and sewerage authority in Trinidad & Tobago, the flour mills, the steel company and assets of PETROTRIN which raised over $542.4 million USD for the Trinidadian Government in 1999. Also in Trinidad the British West Indian Airline under privatization had a profit of 2.04 million USD as compared to the previous loss of 25.6 million USD. In Jamaica about 50% of public enterprises has gained overall benefits of privatization. According to the National Investment Bank of Jamaica from since the privatization process from 1981, the government proceeds have been over $300 million USD. Privatization also increased the employment in the agricultural field, hotels which have increased by 85% due to aggressive market strategies and telecommunications as a result job losses were le ssened. Also public cleaning and garbage collection has improved. (Stone 1992). This also shown that by 150% employment was increased. In Guyana, the privatization of the Telephone & Telegraph Company Ltd. Has increased the number of subscribers from 21,000 to 53,600 and have improved services and quality. (Tyndall 1995) Privatization may also have its disadvantages which can mostly occur when there is a monopoly in an industrial firm. It is better to have a public monopoly rather than a private monopoly which can exploit the consumer. Some disadvantages are when privatization happens for public interest. Many industries which perform an important public service such as health care, education and public transport is not profit driven. In these industries, the profit motive shouldn’t be the primary objective of firms and the industry. In the case of health care, it is feared privatising health care would mean a greater priority is given to profit rather than patient care. The Problem of regulating private monopolies, such as the water companies and rail companies (as in Jamaica) is another disadvantage of privatization. Regulation is needed to prevent abuse of monopoly power. Therefore, the government still need to have regulatory power or state ownership. As in the advantage of short term view when government is looking only towards the next election and trying to minimize public investment; the private entity can swing this around and do the same. This would be called short termism of firms which would be also a disadvantage. Private owned entities would or may seek to increas e short term profits to shareholders  and avoid long term investment. In privatization of a company it’s not always in the best favour of the public citizens. In some case privatization of a utility company have caused price increase in the service they provide. It is always hard for government to reacquire these companies after privatization. A typical example in Belize of a privatization went wrong was under the PUP government. They privatized the Port of Belize to a so call crony of the party. This was clearly not in best interest of the people or country. Under government ownership the port was serving Belize as well as Southern Mexico. Today not even Belizeans are fund of using the port due to the lower prices and services offered by neighbouring ports as Honduras and Guatemala. Privatization was been around in the Caribbean from the early 1980’s and has gain over ten years solid experience and now evolving as the learning process continues. What is clear is that government has been more interested in the economy rather than letting the private sector take over. Is has shown that through studies in Jamaica and proper consultation, privatization has caused a very beneficial change in the country. A consensus must be must be initiated with the society at large for any privatization program to be successful or beneficial. Privatization has its pros and cons and any government in the Caribbean should consider if privatization is the best option, not just for political gain; but for the benefit of its people. Although sometimes some countries are driven or force into privatization to help the rescue them from the ir financial burdens, there must be a privatization structure and team in place so as to have the government not selling out and causing its people to suffer. With the proper assessment and consulting privatization can be a way forward for developing Caribbean countries. REFERENCES siteresources.worldbank.org richardbernal.net/Privatization_in_the_English-Speaking_Caribbean dbankjm.com/privatisation pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNABL654 ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent. economictimes.indiatimes.com westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/geography www.guardian.bz/index www.belizetelemedia.net www.internationallawoffice.com/newsletters www.caricom.org/jsp/community/donor_conference†¦/preferences.pdf

Challenges in International Business

GunungRapatHiongPiahSdn. Bhd. (579801-M) PHYSICAL CHALLENGES Since the Gunung Rapat Hiong Piah Sdn. Bhd. is responsible for the food manufacturing, wholesale distribution, and export of Yee Hup products, it is facing physical challenges in international business on products, workforce and even physical distribution challenges. For the products challenge, it may face the problem on warranty since there are no warranty available for this products. Everyone is know about the Yee Hup is a local business in Malaysia and it needs to spend certain of time to export such products to oversea such as Southeast Asia, Oceania, Middle East, Eastern Asia and Western Europe. When the products are on the way shipping to the particular country, it may has the probability to encounter damage such as crushes because of the unpredictable cases and it is unrealized since the biscuits are packaging in a package, but even in a carton size. The Yee Hup biscuits are selling to the customers without realized that the products are crushes and the customers are not available to get the warranty or compensation after they bought the products. It considered a challenge of this company because on the customers’perception, no warranty offered is bring the meaning that the company has no confident on their own products. Since the ‘customers are always right’, Yee Hup may lose the sales because of the products deficiency. For the workforce challenge, although the company is almost full automated in the production process, skilled staffs are still needed. For example, retail assistants as Yee Hup required such retail assistant with previous retail experience because the full trainingis not necessary will be provided. In this case, Yee Hup is facing the shortage of workforce although the labor market is enough large. Moreover, the number of R&D staff is merely less than five people. It becomes the stones in designing products since people are more pay attention in packaging nowadays. And lastly is about the physical distribution challenge. It is talking about what transportation is using by the company to move a large volume of products to other countries. It simple means that handling, movement, and storage of goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption or use, via various channels of distribution. Since one of the responsibility of GunungRapatHiongPiahSdn. Bhd. is wholesaledistribution and export of Yee Hup products, if the products failure to reach the destination within a fixed time, the company have to blamed for it. SOCIAL CHALLENGES How Yee Hup going to expand its target market consider as a social challenge. For example, age and gender. Since ‘HiongPiah’ is a famous products of Yee Hup with a long established reputation, majority of youth in local still do not know on this famous products,even thoughin global market. Yee Hup has to solve the problem on difference age group. How Yee Hup is going to change the youth customers’ perception since they feel that‘HiongPiah’ is traditional Chinese snacks, no tasty and the outlooks are not attractive? For the old generation, how Yee Hup is going to attract them to buy such sticky products? COMPETITIVE CHALLENGES Khong Guan and Mr. Christie are the main competitors to Yee Hup. Khong Guan is one of the most well known Malaysian cookie brand in Canada. The Khong Guan organization spans South East Asia and exports its cookies around the world. Khong Guan manufactures a wide range of cookies and as a result its products have become a popular demand in supermarkets. Khong Guan would pose a risk to Yee Hup’s product lines because Khong Guan is a well established brand which means they have established a mass market clientele. Mr. Christie is a well known Western brand in Canada which poses a risk to Yee Hup’s product lines. Many customers might consider eating a Western cookie rather than an Asian cookie since some consumers are not familiar with this type of product and might be hesitant to try something new. This could lead to less sales of the product.