lilies of the field

The â€Å"lilies of the field† was a 1963 production directed by Ralph Nelson starred by Sydney Poiter. This movie has naturally outlined the basis of modern religious heroism during the 1960’s. Understandably, such movie plot has been created to actually instill values upon the viewers with regards the major implications of religion and beliefs on social development and social values application. The main character, Homer Smith, which is played by Poiter is considered a modern day hero in the film. The approach though is rather different as it points out that the supposed hero of the film is not in the likeness of actually accepting the task. Most likely, he refused to accept the situation that is shown to him by the people as their hero primarily because he does not believe that he has been appointed, whatsoever by God to set a source of inspiration to the people as to how they should believe in God or as to how they should react on the belief that they are portraying as Christians. As a modern day hero though, Poiter’s character showed that heroism in a religious form today is a matter of one’s own choice and not a forced manipulation from the society as a basis of what they believe into. Motivating people to move in a much noble way to assist others or the community towards progress is a matter of self-push. One must be able to believe that he is able to make change to the lives of others, until he could really affect the lives of other people in the society. In the movie of the Lilies of the field, such implication has been given a better light as the main character has been introduced to have lesser interest in the manner by which people aim to treat him. He then left to find the purpose that he is really doing his job as a handyman for. Within a certain span of time, he returns and serves the best way that he could to be able to finish his job of building the church. Although he never expected anything in return, he was given gifts by the people, given a high regard for his reputation as a builder and a rather effective organizer of their community. He might have never realized how much he affected the community that he served, however, he left a legacy of unity and truthfulness among the people of the village as he worked on their church. It is as if he is sending valuable messages to the people although he never says a word to them. His understanding of the fact that he has a job to finish as a handyman likely increased the capability that he has in affecting the people around him through his works. He has been viewed by a nun as the tool used by God to create the church that would likely bring back faith to the people in the community in which she serves. Although Smith was resentful of this responsibility at first, he later on understood why the people termed his situation as something that is God sent to their community. Likely, it was what he was working for that made him a tool for unity, faith and salvation in the community that he served. He did not actually try to do anything than what he knows he is supposed to do in a wholehearted way that he was able to directly affect the lives of those people watching him see the work he does as he tries to accomplish the mission that he knows he accustomed to complete. Reference: Lilies of the Field (1963). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057251/synopsis. (March 20, 2008).

Case Study of Architect Lenny Oh

Introduction Lenny Oh was born in 1979 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His parents are the Straits Peranakan from Melacca and recently travel to Kuala Lumpur before given birth to Lenny. His full childhood was really joyful, he and household are rather frequently visit his grandparents and relation inMelacca. Due to this ground, Lenny has influence by the ThePasss Peranakan Melaka architecturesince he was immature. The long and narrow shop-house with a centre courtyard and air-well is the most important characteristics in Melaka house and was brought him influence when he grew up to be an designer. Lenny received his preparation in Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia. He so joined Arkitek Maju Bina Sdn Bhd after returning to Malaysia in 2003. He involved in legion residential and commercial undertakings as a design designer and undertaking designer. Lenny have 10 old ages working experience at Arkitect Maju Bina Sdn Bhd since twelvemonth 2003. After that, he successfully becomes as a professional enrollment member of Professional architect/Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia ( LAM ) . Then, he establishes CL+O Architects Sdn. Bhd in 2013 together with Ar. Chiam Chin Yong and Ar. Martin Lee Wee Hong and continues to pattern architecture under this new entity. Besides, he has besides been involved in two residential undertakings which have been received Singapore’s BCA Green Mark Awards and the Malayan Green edifice Index Certification. Besides that, Ar. Lenny had besides been involved in legion of residential and commercial development undertakings during his new architecture journey. The edifice that I choose among his art piece to make the analysis is theGrand Villas Bungalowwhich located at Tropicana Indah. Grand Villas is a modern and modern-day residential lodging which suit nowadays modern life manner every bit good to suit a turning three-generation household under one roof. Tropicana Indah is a fast development and up market enclave that is located in the bosom of Petaling Jaya, Tropicana. It surrounded by Tropicana Golf & A ; Country Resort and Seri Selangor Public Golf Resort and these golf classs bring the green exuberant scenery and nature to the Tropicana Indah. Architectural theory Architectural theory is the first factor that I wish to analyze on Grand Villas Bungalow. This cottage has a distinctively modern and modern-day facade which influence byModernism and Minimalism theory. It gives a sense ofOpenness,Minimalism,Elation,Transparency of infiniteandEasy motion in infinite. First, it shows a reallystrong linearsignifierthat takes on a modern design. The additive and horizontal elements are one of the characteristics harmonizing to Walter Gropius modern theory. ( ) This is seemingly shown in the facade lift of Grand Villa Bungalow. The elements as good without ornament and simple stuffs represent a sense of indispensable quality. Besides, it besides possesses the combination of modern-day tropical design. Furthermore, thesimple geometryis evidently reflected on Grand Villa facade. ( ) Minimalistic design is overtones of utmost simpleness and formal cleanliness. Harmonizing to minimal art theory, the design elements should convey the message of simpleness. Pure, simple motivation of denouncement is clearly shown in Grand Villa. ( ) Besides, the thought is without ornaments. However, that all parts and joinery inside informations are considered as reduced to a phase where no 1 can take anything farther to better the design. Theprimary coloring materialis used to accomplish the simpleness. ( ) Following, three of the 5 point architecture theory of Le Cobusier can be seen from the program of Grand Villa. Harmonizing tothe pilotistheory, the back uping reinforced concrete construction had given us the pilotis that steadfastly driven into the land. However, this had been changed and the alteration can be seen in through Grand Villa cottage. From the program, it shows that the pilotis is exposing at the front portion of the edifice, which is at the Entrance on the land degree and the balcony on the first degree of the edifice. Now, this is served for the aesthetic intents for the olympian forepart facade of Grand Villa. Second, harmonizing to the 5 point theory of Le Cobusier, the house should be erected on an independent model, supplying an unfastened program and free facades. However, theunfastened programtheory had been adapted yet remain partly which reflected on the Grand Villa program. In Grand Villa, the large open-concept dry kitchen, life and dining country are most agreeable. The unfastened program means entire freedom in infinites. ( ) It open out to a generous outdoor terrace which provides an overlooks to the infinity-edged lap pool and landscaped garden. Therefore, the moisture kitchen and laundry country separated from it. Theroof top gardenis besides one of the important point of Le Cobusier theory which shows in Grand Villa cottage every bit good. There no more sloping roofs which can non be put to utilize, in contrast, the possibility of puting a gardens on the roof is to counter the effects of enlargement. This pattern is clearly shown in the Grand Villa. Due to the modern evolvement of life style, the excess component of roof top sofa had been promoted to unite with the roof top garden. In add-on, it shows theexact circulationon the program. The running of a place consists of precise maps in a regular order. The regular order of these maps constitutes a phenomenon of circulation. An exact, economic rapid circulation is the key to modern-day architecture. The precise maps of place life require assorted countries whose minimal content can be rather exactly determined. These maps can be diagrammed along a uninterrupted line so the interplay of the necessary countries and their propinquities can be clearly discerned. The facades aresuppliers of visible radiation. The Minimalism province that the considerations for ‘essences’ are light, infinite and human status. This aid simplifies populating infinite to uncover the indispensable quality of edifices and conveys simpleness in attitudes toward life. They require a flow of light which in the daylight can be admitted as there are legion gaps and crystalline elements such as glass in the Grand Villa. This enhances the motion of natural visible radiation in edifices reveals simple and clean infinites. The elation is stressing the fluidness of natural visible radiation throughout the infinites in the Villa. Climate Following, clime is one of the analysis factors every bit good. First, the orientation of the spacial agreement is shown on the Grand Villa program. ( ) All the chief infinites such as life country, dining country, music room and the out-of-door infinites such as out-of-door terrace, deck, pool and verdure landscape are confronting east orientation. ( ) This is because there is a Casa Indah Condominium located east side which helps to test the direct forenoon sunshine. Besides, this is usage to catch the dawn scenery from the chief infinites and the out-of-door relaxation infinites. Furthermore,utilize of natural sunshineis to stress on the usage ofinactive design. Besides, it is besides to heighten the elation within the edifice. The Villa provides assorted big gaps and glass placed confronting east whereas the little gaps and Windowss placed confronting west. This is because there is Casa Indah Condominiums located south east side which helps to test the direct forenoon sunshine. After afternoon, the east portion of the edifice with big opening Windowss will be avoid from direct flushing sunshine yet still holding daylight admit into the edifice. During eventide, the out-of-door infinites can good use without direct eventide blazes. Additionally, the intent is besides to catch the forenoon sunshine which is better for human wellness alternatively of flushing sunshine. Furthermore, theusage of perpendicular shadingcan be clearly seen from the east lift of Grand Villa. The usage of perpendicular louvres is serve as an sunshade to partly test off the sunshine of the 2 chief infinites with excess high ceiling with full and big glass which confronting east way. The shading is good utilised as testing in order to accomplish the thermic comfort of the two chief infinites with big country of glass. Then, the user can bask the daytime within the infinite at a more comfy degree. In add-on, the ceiling tallness of the edifice besides helps better the airing. The Grand Villa possesses the high ceiling between 3.2 m to 4 m. The proviso of thesehigh ceilings and tall infiniteswithin encourage good airing. Theroofof Grand Villa is alone in form. The pitched roof with a larger gap is confronting east and the smaller gap confronting West. The intent is to let more natural visible radiation enter the roof top sofa during forenoon and appropriate degree of twenty-four hours visible radiation during eventide. Next, the back portion of Villa is environing by the river and flora. Thenature contextenhances the Villa from the dorsum which gives a nature background to the Villa. This is really emphasis the calm environment from the dorsum of the Villa every bit good. Personal Cultural Background Influences Last but non least, the personal cultural background influences besides one of the analysis factors.Cultural beliefis one of influence in his design calling. In the spacial planning of Grand Villa, the chief infinites of the Villa are confronting east orientation. In Chinese Feng Shui belief that East orientation is the best as it brings good fortune, wellness and wealth. It besides the orientation which the Sun rise typify a trade name new twenty-four hours with a good start. Besides, the transparence of infinite is besides stressing on the east orientation. In add-on, his design is influence byChinese traditional spatialcharacteristic every bit good. The spatial in Grand Villa shows the layering in infinite which stressing the privacy in spacial agreement from outer to inner. This is clearly reflected from the traditional Chinese brooding spacial layout. The following 1 is the influence on thelocation of the music infinitein the Villa. Ar. Lenny is a music lover as he plays assorted sort of music instruments. He loved to play piano and listen music with his household at place since immature until today. This shows that he is from a music background household every bit good shows that he serves music in a really particular place in his life. This is reflected his taught in his design calling. The arrangement of the music room in the Villa was located at the most interior portion of the edifice which confronting the nature elements such as river and flora. The combination of music with the serene, peace and natural environment is the considerable thought in his design. This may be the best interaction between both music and nature. Theâ€Å"Peranakan† architectureis besides one of his influences. Ar. Lenny is Melacca â€Å"Peranakan† descend. He has influence by the The Straits Peranakan Melaka architecture of the long and narrow shop-house with a centre courtyard and air-well in the Melaka house. The Centre dual volume courtyard is one of the important elements. Therefore, he modifies the thought and applies it into the dining country locate at the Centre which gives a dual volumetric sense of infinite which reflect partly from the Centre courtyard. The alteration is to accommodate the local neoteric modern life manner. Base on the above analysis, Ar. Lenny emphasize in good utilizing natural lighting in his design.

Environmental scanning Essay

â€Å"How can you govern a country which has 245 varieties of cheese? † Charles de Gaulle. This is a term that Francis Aguilar a professor at the University of Harvard came up with in the mid 1960’s to explain the actions of collecting information and watching and monitoring competitor companies and analyzing the external markets. According to Mafrica and Mason (2004), an environmental scan is part of strategic analysis process that has components of both external and internal elements. It is also good to note that all these components and elements interrelate. Basically organizations and companies use environmental scans to project on the future directions, objectives, and both long term and short term trends that will influence the organizations performance. Environmental scans are usually used in product development, market research and competition analysis as a company is planning, expanding or thinking of diversifying its operations portfolio. The below diagram shows the interrelation of the environmental scan to the SWOT analysis of an organization. b. What elements comprise an environmental scan? The elements of an environmental scan include both internal analysis and external analysis which culminate in a SWOT analysis of the organization. Both internal and external analysis are interrelated. In most of the situations organizations take environmental scans to only involve the external analysis (Albright, 2004). But for it to be comprehensive and conclusive enough it has to involve both internal and external analysis. Internal analysis includes an analysis of the internal structures of the company, its policies and operations, employees and abilities while External analysis includes concepts such as the macro economic environment of the area in which the company operates. This includes the government, legislation policies, technology, socio-cultural trends, and shareholders. c. What are eight (8) current socio – cultural trends in the United States that are transforming North America and the rest of the world today? The eight socio-cultural trends in the United states that are transforming North America and the rest of the world today include the following:- Religious affiliations and militant religious movements Consumerism, Environmentalism, Diet and nutrition Housing Social movements, roles of government, family, and collectivism. Materialism Demographics like population size, ethnic origins, education levels, income levels. d. What four (4) questions should the scan answer? The scan should be able to answer trends or projection towards changes in consumerism, which will help an organization in diversifying its products and get to know spending habits of the target market and population (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008). Environmentalism which will help the organization to formulate its public relations policy more so as regards corporate social responsibility, social movements and roles of government, family and collectivism which influences public opinion and public habits, and Demographics that help establish incomes and disposable incomes of the populations, projected population growth, education levels and backgrounds of the target area of expansion or of operation that will help an organization to redefine its operations and strategies. Bibliography Albright. K. (2004, May/June). Environmental scanning: Radar for success. Information Management Journal, 3(38), 38-44. Mafrica. L. & Mason. M. (2003, January). From scan to plan. Association Management, article 14 of 270. Wheelen. T. L. & Hunger. J. D. (2008). Strategic management and business policy (11th Ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Informational Memo Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Informational Memo - Assignment Example There are thousands of small islands surrounding the four main islands. There are a lot of mountainous regions in Japan. The weather in Japan experiences all four seasons with hot humid summers and cold winters. Japan has a high risk to natural disasters including volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis.The official language of Japan is Japanese, but in the business scenes the use of English is common as Japanese include English as part of the secondary education of young students. The two primary religions practiced by Japanese people are Buddhism and Shinto. Shinto stresses a person’s relationship to nature and its many gods (CultureGrams, 2011). The capital city of Japan is Tokyo. The city of Tokyo is considered the most popular metropolis in the world (Japan-guide, 2011). The US Embassy in Japan is located in Tokyo. The embassy’s phone number is 03-3224-5000 and its address is 1-100-5 Akasaka Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8720 Japan (Usembassy, 2011). The official currency of J apan is the yen. The current exchange rate between the US dollar and the Japanese yen is 1 to 78.6 (Xe, 2011). Japan’s has a sound economy that generates for its people a gross domestic product per capita of $32,600. The country is highly dependent on its manufacturing activities. Some of the industries that are thriving Japan’s economy include machinery, textiles, chemicals, and engineering.

Genetically-modified organisms and the environment Essay

Genetically-modified organisms and the environment - Essay Example However, like two sides of a coin every new technology has its drawbacks and genetic modification is not an exception. â€Å"Despite the potential benefits of this new technology to improve the reliability and quality of the world food supply, public and scientific concerns have been raised about the environmental and food safety of GM crops† (Jan-Peter et al,2003). Most impacts of genetically modified plants and animals maybe seen clearly at the environmental even though environmental scientists are yet not sure of what impacts these modifications will have on the environment in the long run. The concept of selective reproduction is not new and has been in use for hundreds of years in both agriculture and animal husbandry. However, this control has today reached the molecular level where it is possible to target particular desirable genes and selected the desired trait. Organisms which include plants, animals and even microbes whose genome has been manipulated to enhance expression of a certain gene or allele primarily for some kind of benefit are known as genetically modified organisms. With the help of genetic engineering researchers can obtain any desired gene expression. Genetically engineered corps or transgenic crops such as cotton, potato and corn were modified such that they could express Bt toxin which diminished the usage of chemical insecticides while being grown. Genetically modified crops can also be used for therapeutic purposes such as Golden rice which was inserted with a gene that could express and help in the production of beta carotene; a source of vitamin A. Microbes mainly bacterial genome has been modified to produce chemicals and enzymes. Larger animals such a fishes, mice and Drosophila have been genetically modified mainly for research purposes. However, each of these modifications mainly that of growing crops which is in direct contact with the natural environment i.e. away from the laboratory setting, has impacts that

SWOT Analysis in Nestle Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

SWOT Analysis in Nestle - Case Study Example In a recent research carried out by the company, almost 60% of the world population must have consumed or benefited from one of the company's brand3. Most of its brands are billion sellers, and some of the brands are popular than the company itself. Some brands are only available in certain parts of the world. The company is one good corporation promoting diversity, the shareholders, and the employees come from different part of the world. The company has millions of undistributed profit, a portfolio balance sheet in billions of dollars4. Through Creating Shared Value, Nestl links its operations to long-term value both for its business and for society as a whole, and defines its success in terms of internal financial returns and external social and economic results. Ultimately, creating shared value acknowledges both the work that corporations need to do to reduce negative impacts on society as well as, and more fundamentally, how they can be part of progress on global challenges5. The SWOT Analysis, or sometimes known as the TOWS Matrix, is a strategic planning, competitive and analytic weapon used to evaluate the S trengths, W eaknesses, O pportunities, and T hreats involved in a project or business venture6. Market analysis of competitors, suppliers, customers and potential opportunities has long been a competitive preparation of the staple firm7. As the struggle for product development and market shar... 1.2 Applying the SWOT Metrix The SWOT Analysis, or sometimes known as the TOWS Matrix, is a strategic planning, competitive and analytic weapon used to evaluate the S trengths, W eaknesses, O pportunities, and T hreats involved in a project or business venture6. Market analysis of competitors, suppliers, customers and potential opportunities has long been a competitive preparation of the staple firm7. As the struggle for product development and market shares continue, firms often perform market analysis of their competitor's strength, opportunities, and weaknesses and threats in order to know how to formulate and implement subsequent strategies8. However, in the theory of perfect competition and major strategic theories it is assume firms know their industry and competitors fairly well. Anderton, (2006) postulated that firms engage in competitive analysis to gain a better understanding of their competitors' resources, capabilities, and strategies. Smith et al. (1992) went further to detail how firms in the airline industry initiate strategies and respond to competitors' strategies. Thomas et al., (1993) went further to illustrate the importance of competitor's analysis.The perception of similarities and differences among competing firms can drastically affect the types of competitive behaviors in which a firm engages9. By doing competitive analysis firms are better placed to do ma rket segmentation, develop their core products and competences and be more opportunistic in their environment. Figure 1., below provide an in-depth analysis of Nestle strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Weaknesses Opportunities Major competitors have strong holding some countries and market segment. Some products have not been quite

Literature Review Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Literature Review - Dissertation Example The massive growth in population applies enormous strain on the local workforce and population on an island that has limited natural resources and space. As stated further, mostly Shiites in Bahrain believe that this population growth is basically to a greater extent as a result of the naturalization of Sunni outlanders, which is certainly at their cost. Since a breakdown by religious camps is unavailable officially, it is usually considered that 70% of the Bahrain’s population consists of Shiites where as the remaining Bahraini population includes Sunnis. Nevertheless, this proportionality might have changed due to the naturalization policy of the regime. Bahrain holds a relatively exceptional position among the GCC countries due to its mass Shiite population, long history of political opposition, liberal social norms and natural resources earning relatively small income. ... After the Sunnis the hawala families, who re-located themselves in Bahrain during the last century from the coast of Iran, declared themselves as of Sunni and Arab origins. The fifth and the biggest tire of the socio-political hierarchy constitutes the indigenous Shiite Arabs known as the Al-Baharina where as bottom most tier include the Persians, both Shiite and Sunni. No to mention that all the Shiites are in favor of the protesters or there is no Shiite elite. However some Shiite families such like the Al-Arrayed and Al-Jishi have turned very rich and are regarded as the allies of the ruling families. MOBILIZATION AND POLITICAL TENSIONS Contemporary education commenced quite early as per regional standards, which is inclined towards a large educated middle class and supports the first liberal organizations, trade unions as well as labor movements. This further stimulated the population during the 1950s as well as prompted a re-known uprising in 1965 against the presence of the Bri tish. As a result of this, an extremely engaged associational life was created. Perhaps Bahrain possesses the dynamic and obtrusive civil society amongst the Arab Gulf states (Fuccaro, 2009). The successors of these groups are yet in function today. Al-Kahlifa endeavored to strengthen their legitimacy, during the late 1960s and early 1970s while they were experiencing an opposition that illustrated sharp class and ideological characteristics, by asking for the development of an assembly assigned to draw up a constitution consensus at which the semi-elected national assembly possessing limited legislative powers would agree upon. In June 1973, the constitution was promulgated where as in the early

Reflection 5 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflection 5 - Research Paper Example There are however industries/businesses that will be immediately and severely affected with this crisis. In particular, banks will be the first hit because they adopt a cautionary stance in lending out money because they are uncertain if borrowers can repay given the current dismal economic condition. Second is the housing industry. A home is the single largest investment that an individual will make and it is very unlikely that an individual will make his or her largest investment during a crisis. Without a market or having a market that is overly cautious, housing industry will surely contract. Third are the manufacturing companies who needs infusion of capital to finance its fix assets for expansion. As lending institutions are in doubt of the economy’s future, they will be heistant to lend money to industries. The manufacturing industry in effect will not have enough funds to finance its expansion resulting for it to contract. 2. Giving the current trend both in the US and Canada where consumers eating habits are changing, both food manufacturers and grocery stores has to adjust. For food manufacturers, they have to realize the increasing preference of consumers towards discounts and buying in scale to save money. Such, they may want to reconsider their packaging that would accommodate the increasing preference for scale and value. For grocery stores, they now have to reconfigure their service to include delivery as consumers now are preferring to have their groceries delivered to save on gas. 3. There is an increasing trend for consumers to use social media. Research showed that adults spend at least six hours per week in social media and this would continue in the future. Such, marketers may want to adjust their marketing plans and diversify to non-traditional media such as social media (facebook, twitter, etch) to capture the market to are frequenting these sites. Also the trend in technology purchases such as smartphones may

European Illegal Immigration Crisis Research Paper

European Illegal Immigration Crisis - Research Paper Example It must be noted that there is a completely different point of view when it comes to determining whether the current European illegal immigrant crisis is likely to end any time soon. Even though ISIS can be defeated, the legitimacy of Al Assad’s presidency is quite debatable and the key geopolitical players can hardly agree on it . What is more important is that the more illegal immigrants enter Europe, the more people outside of this region learn about secret routes that can be used to enter the European countries . The longer the illegal immigration exists, the more developed it becomes and more and more people might choose to enter the country illegally which causes a significant security dilemma. What is more important is that some countries do not treat the contemporary situation as a crisis. E.g. Germany sees the increasing number of people who are willing to seek refuge in it, but instead of regulating this influx, the government says that there will be no cap on the to tal number of immigrants . Furthermore, the involvement of the Russian Federation might have had positive consequences at first, but in the long run it will contribute to the political instability in Syria . Since there is one more significant political power to be taken into account, the peaceful resolution of the armed conflict and, consequentially, illegal immigrant crisis is not likely to be achieved any time soon. One immigrant should keep in mind that while the majority of them come of Syria, there are other countries involved as well .

Accounting in Society Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Accounting in Society - Case Study Example There comes the question of consideration whether the presence of the accounting standards is a good or bad thing. There have been several arguments, in though of Baxter, regarding the presence of the accounting standards because there can be commands as well as regulations which help to run life more smoothly while there is the requirement of flexibility in dealing with certain aspects. It should be considered about the benefits that prevail through the presence of the accounting standards because the standards lay emphasis on what should be done rather than why and how it should be done. Therefore, it is quite important to consider whether having the accounting standards is good or bad because at one side they may make life easy by providing a set of rules and on the other hand it may create life difficult by taking away the flexibility of an accountant. The history of the accounting standards began in the late 1930’s when the idea of accounting based on the standard came to light. United States and the United Kingdom were among the countries which were thoroughly involved in the development of the accounting standards at the start and gave the accounting standards some initial touches. The history of both the countries which brought us the accounting standards today is outlined below with their levels of development in both the United States and United Kingdom. The US based standards took a series of stages to develop and come into a shape. In the beginning, the process was initiated by the committee on accounting procedures in 1939 who issued Accounting research bulletins. The committee worked for around 20 years and issued 50 Accounting Research Bulletins. There was a lot of criticism on that committee and their work because they were accused of not relying on the research that much. Therefore, in its place an Accounting Principles Board came in

The Three Important Benefits That IBM Will Receive From Outsourcing Essay

The Three Important Benefits That IBM Will Receive From Outsourcing Their HR Functions To Fidelity - Essay Example This is called outsourcing. Many large companies now outsource jobs such as call center services, e-mail services, and payroll. These jobs are handled by separate companies that specialize in each of the services by means of contracts. Today more and more companies are resorting to outsourcing. This is attributed mainly to the increased efficiency and cost cuts. Earlier small companies and companies which were newly established would resort to outsourcing, but today even giants like IBM are making use of it. In July 2002, a deal was negotiated between International Business Machines Corp. and Fidelity's Employer Service Co. According to the deal, Fidelity's Employer Services Co. unit was to take over key human-resources functions for 260,000 IBM employees and retirees. Fidelity was to hire 450 of IBM's 1,200 U.S. human-resources employees. Among the jobs Fidelity would handle for IBM were health-plan administration, career services and pension administration. IBM would continue to provide other functions in house, including payroll (Johannes L. and Armstrong D. 2002). According to the article "The benefits of outsourcing for small businesses (n. d)", "Though reducing expenditure is not the prime reason for outsourcing, it is certainly a major factor. Outsourcing converts fixed costs into variable costs and releases capital for investment elsewhere in the business. Outsourcing makes the firm more attractive to investors, since of the ability to pump more capital directly into revenue-producing activities." Though true for small companies, it applies equally well for giants like IBM. In the case of IBM this is exemplified by the fact that the human resource functions of 260,000 workers and retirees have been taken over by Fidelity which has specialization in the field. If the former were to do the same job, it would certainly prove more costly than that of the latter. The funds saved, if invested elsewhere in the company would improve revenues. Also this would make IBM more attractive to investors, as the saved capital can be invested in the revenue generating areas and core fields. Increase in efficiency: As IBM is a research oriented company specializing in manufacturing computers, it has a high research and development expenditure. Fidelity's cost structure and economy of scale can give IBM Corp an important and strategic advantage. This would help in decreasing the labor costs. The success of IBM depends upon short term projects that it undertakes. Hiring and training workers for short-term projects can be very expensive and short term employees don't always live up to the desired expectations (The benefits of outsourcing for small businesses). IBM's deal with fidelity will play a leading role in improving overall efficiency by decreasing labor costs. About 450 workers in IBM Corp.'s Raleigh employee service center will transfer to Fidelity Investments beginning Aug. 1, as part of an agreement that allows Boston-based Fidelity to administer IBM's pension plan, the 12th largest in the United States (450 IBM employees to transfer to Fidelity. July 2002). The transfer of 450 out of 12 00 members in the human resource division would certainly decrease the labor costs by more than one third in that particular division. Also as the number of employees is decreased, it increases the scope for other employees to make their jobs secure. More security means more productivity which in turn means more efficiency. Focus on core businesses. IBM, too, like any other company has

The representation of Gender roles Essay Example for Free

The representation of Gender roles Essay The representation of Gender roles is an issue expressed in The Penguin best Australian Short stories collection. The issues of gender are expressed through gender inequality, stereotypical gender roles, the economic basis of marriage, and the expectations of women. These beliefs and their changes as the stories became more modern are presented through the stories, Monsieur Caloche, The Lottery and A Gentlemans Agreement. The representation of gender inequality is expressed in the story Monsieur Caloche (1889) through a satirical point of view. This story represents the workplace and throughout most of the story the readers notice that there was a deficiency of female characters. The irony is that at the end of the stories the readers find out that the main character Monsieur Caloche is in fact a young girl, who had lost her beauty after suffering from smallpox, and resorted to looking for a job as a boy. Hiding the loss which had deprived her of all the glory of her sex. Beauty is more than skin deep, however Monsieur Caloche had not known it. This is an example of gender inequality in Australia during the 19th century. The story The Lottery (1943) represents the stereotypes of the gender roles through the view of Ted, the husband. Ted had strong opinion about what men and women were supposed to act and about what a good husband and a good wife did. All she had to do was stay at home and look after the children. he had a vision of his washed cream trousers, the childrens neatness, the tidy house. That was being a good wifeand he has always been a good husband, always brought his money home, never looked at another woman. This shows that the genders were stereotyped in Australia in the 1940s. Another gender issue brought up in the story The Lottery is the economic basis of marriage. The man was the economic base of the family and everyone in the story assumes that a wifes money is her husbands to dispose of. He could do almost anything he could think of with five thousand pounds. This shows that Ted was already assuming the money was his, as does his neighbour who had money problems. Ted says confidently to him I wont see you stuck, old man. The Lottery also brings up an issue of expectations and changes of the women in the 1940s. Ted had expected Grace to call him to tell him the news of the Lottery and to tell him about everything she does. The readers notice that he was more critical of Grace than affectionate. He was more concerned about where Grace got the money to buy the Lottery ticket. It seems that she had no right to spend his money on something other than the basic needs of the family. He mustve been paying her too much for housekeeping. This shows that there were high expectations of Australian women during that period of time from their husbands. The women were expected to do as if the husband owned them and their sole role was to look after the family. At end of the Lottery we learn that Grace as a woman was able to take a stand for what she wanted and to go against her husband, which shows that the gender roles were changing. The gender roles in the Australian short stories seem to shift as they become more recent. In the later story, A Gentlemans Agreement (1974) , there were no strong male characters at all. The mother was able to look after the family and was able to outsmart a man in order to do so. She tricks the buyer of the farm into a Gentlemans Agreement and when questioned by her children she says confidently, Well he can come on his land at any time, there is nothing in the gentlemans agreement that says he cant. This shows dramatic change of the female role in comparison to the earlier story Monsieur Caloche which presents women as the oppressed. The mother in the Gentlemans Agreement was dominant. However she still followed the expectations of looking after her family, yet she was also able to support her family economically. The Variation of gender roles over time can be seen to the representations of women in the stories, Monsieur Caloche, the lottery and A gentlemans Agreement. These variations can be seen through the presentation of gender inequality, stereotypical gender roles, the economic basis of a family and the expectations of women. The change in female characters from the oppressed in Monsieur Caloche to the more dominant in A gentlemans agreement explains that there was a variation of gender roles for the  characters, especially female characters, who not only fulfil their own roles but the roles of a stereotypical male as the stories became more modern.

Marketing Processes at Marks and Spencer

Marketing Processes at Marks and Spencer The organization Ill be concentrating on will be Tesco Store and Marks and Spencer. I chose to study organisation behaviour in Tesco and Marks Spencer due to having communication access. I would comfortably get information about these organizations. Tesco plc is an UK- based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. It is the largest British retailer by both global sales and domestic market share, is the worlds third-largest grocery retailer, and is the fourth- largest retailer behind Wal-Mart of the United States, Carrefour of France, and the home depot of the United States. MS is an international company, which spreads through Europe, North America and Asia. MS is the largest and the leading variety store retailer in the UK. New brand and product development over the last ten years in fast-moving consumer goods sectors in the UK is that many of the most original and successful initiatives have been taken not by manufacturers but by retailers. The aim of this report is to examine organisation behaviour in concern with the understanding of those factors that influence peoples behaviour in the workplace. 2.1Different organisational structures Every organisation with more than one person needs a structure so that workers have clearly defined roles and are clear about the roles of others. An organisations structure is often presented as an organisational chart which will show how management is organised vertically with layers of hierarchy and horizontally by function, product or division. The chart will make clear who is responsible for what, who is responsible to who and who to go with problems and queries. There are three main types of organisational structure: tall hierarchical, flat and matrix hierarchical. Tall this type of structure will have more than 4 levels of structures and span of control is average of 6 people reporting. This causes a distraction in communicating because there are a few people in charge in this long stretching triangle. Bureaucracy has control in this type of organisation. Role culture is the way they work, good promotional aspects. Example of Tall Structure Flat this type of structure will have less than 4 levels and spam of control is about 25 people, usually higher. They have a good level of communication because they have only one or two people in charge that they can report to. Use power culture type of team work structure, have less promotional aspects. Wide and short triangle appears if drawn. Example of Flat Structure Matrix Matrix type of structure is when the work is spread out to other employees. They usually work in teams so their culture is task. Advantages are they can work more efficiently and focused Example of Matrix structure Project 1 Project 2 Project 3 Project 4 Project 5 Project 6 Project 7 Project 8 Employee 1 à ¢-  à ¢-  Employee 2 à ¢-  à ¢-  Employee 3 à ¢-  à ¢-  Employee 4 à ¢-  à ¢-  Network Autonomy (doctors, lawyers, dentists etc). Everyone has equal power so clash of powers and conflicts can happen. Organisational Culture Organisational culture is complex and multi-faceted. Culture is intangible and imprecise. It also changes over time. Culture encompasses standard patterns of behaviour and plays an important role in shaping our purchasing patterns. It stems from traditions, beliefs and values of the community in which people live. It is the complex of values, ideas, attitudes and other meaningful symbols that serves humans to communicate, interpret, and evaluate as members of society. There are four types of organisation culture role, power, and task and person culture. Role culture is known as a bureaucracy. In role culture job comes first so it creates a highly structured, stable company. Power culture is like the spiders web. One individual is in charge of the organisation in the centre surrounded by others involved. Task culture is job or project orientated. Individuals empowered with discretion and control over their work, is flexible and adaptable. Person culture is where the individual is the focus of the organisation. Examples are doctors , solicitors and dentists. Tesco structure Tesco structure seems to be a tall structure. There are six work levels within the organisation. This gives a clear structure for managing and controlling the organisation. Each level requires particular skills and behaviours. Work level 1 frontline jobs staff who works directly with customers doing various tasks in store, such as filling shelves with stock. They require the ability to work accurately and with enthusiasm and to interact well with others. Work level 2 lead a team of employees who deal directly with customers. They require the ability to manage resources, to set targets, to manage and motivate others. Work level 3 running and operating unit. They requires management skills, including: Planning, Target setting and Reporting Work level 4 supporting operating units and recommending strategic change. They require good knowledge of the business, the skills to analyze information and to make decisions, and the ability to lead others. Work level 5 responsible for the performance of Tesco as a whole. They require the ability to lead and direct others, and to make major decisions. Work level 6 creating the purpose, values and goals for Tesco plc. Responsibility for Tescos performance. They require a good overview of retailing, and the ability to build a vision for the future and lead the whole Organization. Marks and Spencer has a flat organisational structure. The business lost a number of layers of authority through delayering which means that employees throughout the business have more responsibility. This enables them to make quick decisions and justifying actions that have been taken. The organisational structure of MS means that most employees had to account for the decision made. Besides this, it is also necessary to make those decisions quickly since there is a lot that one single employee was expected to do. Training and development is therefore necessary to ensure that these employees. It should be noted that most of the roles taken up within MS are specialised. Therefore, employees need to be empowered by teaching them new skills in their new area or career. First of best practice requires that there should be lean organisation structures within the company in order to encourage team work. This is exactly what MS has done; it has included this as part of its strategy. Decision making is not as centralised as it used to be before thus necessitating the need for training and development. Summary Here as we can see Tesco has a tall structure and role culture is the way they work whereas MS has a flat structure and power culture team work. Both organisation structure and culture are different. Relationship between organisations structure and culture and the effects on business performance Organisations must have a formal structure in order for work to be carried out efficiently. It is necessary to divide work into groups or sections into a particular function to prevent duplication of efforts in order to maximise their limited resources. Because an organisation compromises of people there is also an informal organisation with different interlocking relationships, which gives rise to different behaviours, attitudes, individual perceptions and level of ability and aptitude. When people deliberately come together to fulfil a specific goal there are particular accepted ways to behave, speak and interact. This gives rise to organisational culture where it may be formed intentionally or unknowingly to its members by the behaviours of influential members, not necessarily personnel high up the hierarchy but by members who exercise different forms of power within the organisation. This relationship will now be individually examined in the different types of organisational stru cture associated culture and their influence on their employees resulting in their level of business performance. Business performance in a tall organisation structure can be affected by the length of time it takes for the flow of information through the levels of hierarchy making the organisation inflexible slow to adapt to the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental and legal factors. It has a narrow span of control causing tight control restricting freedom and empowerment which affects motivation. The level of motivation employees possesses affects their output affecting business performance. Employees do not have a clear idea of the big picture. Its highly bureaucratic nature influence role culture. In contrast a flat organisational structure possesses greater flexibility to the PESTLE factors due to its reduce levels of management, ensuring greater survival. The wider the span of control and greater levels of communication may encourage creativity, initiative and ability to make decisions giving the feeling of empowerment, resulting in motivated workers, which affects business performance. This is also dependent upon the individuals personalities and networking relationships within the organisation. If people refuse to work together or perceive what others say it could affect employee relations and output affecting business performance. The culture found in flat organisation structure is that of power culture. The relationship between culture and business performance depend on how strong culture firms learn from and react both their own experiences and changes in their environment. It also confirms behavioural consistency so that there is less room for debate between different groups about the organisation goals. Factors that influence individual behaviour at work The ability to learn from experience will affect individual at work, other factors that affect an individual behaviour at work including ability and aptitude, abilities are things that people can do, or are good at, and this is believed to be inherited. Aptitude is the capacity to learn and develop abilities or skill. Another factor is the individual attitude. Firstly individual to work that is their perspective on working, management, acquaintances and the organisation and the organisation and their attitude at work which is their stance or standpoint about politics, religion, education, and whether they choose to agree or disagree. Perception is the way an individual mentally sees things and this explains why people have different views because they perceive things differently. This is why communication within the organisation has to clear so that one receives the same core intent of the message. The last factor is the individual personality. Personality is the total pattern of characteristic ways of thinking; feeling and behaving that constitute the individual distinctive method of relating to the environment. Approaches to management and leadership One of the most important functions of an organisation is the management. Without this function or department there will be no rules, procedures, discipline, motivation, culture and so on. The principles of management and leadership will be divided into a number of sections to be analysed in detail. Most of these theories and styles will be related to TESCO and MARKS AND SPENCER for a wider discussion and explanation. Management Styles Managers have to perform many roles in an organisation and how they handle various situations will depend on their style of management. A management style is an overall method of leadership used by a manager. The most common style theories are grouped under the classification: autocratic style , democratic style and laissez faire style. Autocratic style is sometime known as exploitative, authoritative or military style. Autocratic style is the type of management where there is only one person in charge that has total control. Under this style of leadership all policies and decisions are laid down by the leaders. Subordinates have just to put into practice. They are not allowed to give their opinion or suggestion thus the leader is expected to do everything in terms of decision making. A democratic style of management has many advantages as it motivates employees through job satisfaction and team spirit. It makes them feel valued if they are taking part in decision-making, and this will help the organisation to achieve its objectives. There is more contact between managers and its workforce. They will be able to get to know each other and this could lead to them being able to work better together if they socialise. However, there are disadvantages to this type of management style. Consulting the workforce can be time consuming which will slow down decision-making. Laissez-faire style is a style where most of the decision and policies are decided by subordinates. Managers intervene very rarely in emergency cases. Almost everything is left upon subordinates. Every member of the organisation opinion is taken into account when making decision. Different motivational theories Motivation is a process in which people between alternative behaviour in order to achieve personal goal.Motivation is the result of an interaction between the person and a situation; it is not a personal trait. Its the process by which a persons efforts are energized, directed, and sustained towards attaining a goal. Energy: a measure of intensity or drive. Direction: toward organizational goals Persistence: exerting effort to achieve goals. Motivation works best when individual needs are compatible with organizational goals. THEORIES OF MOTIVATION There are many motivation theories that attempt to explain the nature of motivation. Some of the theories may be partially true and help to explain the behaviour of certain people at certain times. The motivational theorists focus on examining human needs considering how the needs are met and can be better met in work. It may be defined as the processes that accounts for an individuals intensity, direction and persistence of effort towards attaining a goal. Organisational behaviour (9th edition) by Stephen P Robbins pg 155 Among various behavioral theories embraced by American business are those of Frederick Herzberg and Abraham Maslow. Herzberg, a psychologist, proposed a theory about job factors that motivate employees. Maslow, a behavioral scientist and contemporary of Herzbergs, developed a theory about the rank and satisfaction of various human needs and how people pursue these needs. These theories are widely cited in the business literature. MASLOWS MOTIVATION Abraham Maslow suggested that human needs operate at a number of different levels. In fact he classified human need under five different levels namely: physiological needs, security needs. Social needs, esteem needs and self realisation/actualisation. This different of need can be presented as follows: Physiological needs: For Maslow this is the first level of needs that individuals have to satisfy because these needs are primary / basic. Physiological needs are those required to sustain life, such as: Air, Water, Food, and Sleep. Safety/Security Needs: Provided that physiological are adequately satisfied that security needs will influence on behaviour. Security needs include protection against physical and physiological harm. Such needs include the need for job security, age, industrial accidents, and illness. Many organisations try to satisfy these needs by providing a desire for steady employment, health insurance, safe neighbourhoods and shelter from the environment. Social needs: This level of needs is concerned with mans need for love, friendship; acceptance, attachments and families help fulfil this need for companionship and acceptance, as does involvement in social, community or religious groups. In organizations people tend to join different groups to satisfy their social needs. By forming groups and encouraging sufficient interaction among employees. Managers can make sure that their subordinates social needs are satisfied. Esteem needs: -. This level represents peoples higher order needs that is man needs for self respect, and recognition by others. The need for success self confidence, recognition and appreciation of achievement are all examples of esteem needs. It is this area in particular that managers can play a significant role in satisfying the needs of their employees, namely by rewarding high achievement with recognition and appreciation. Self actualisation needs: The highest of Maslows hierarchy of needs is the need for self actualisation. This represents the apex of all men needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of others and interested fulfilling their potential. Maslow describes the self actualisation needs as follows a musician must make music and at least must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy. The self actualisation need is the most difficult to address. In an organisation context, a manager can help by impressing and challenging job to master so that they can in their work. Criticism of Maslows theory Maslow theory is too rigid, that is it is assume all individuals have five level of need and all of them follow the same order. It is not a complete theory of motivation, because it only explains motivation of human needs. 3.7 FREDERICK HERZBERGS MOTIVATION AND HYGIENE FACTORS Frederick Herzberg examined motivation in the light of job content and contest. His dual process theory is a job enrichment theory of motivation. It describes needs in terms of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. It is a two-step process. First provide hygienes and then motivators. One time ranges from no satisfaction to satisfaction. The other time ranges from dissatisfaction to no dissatisfaction. (Buelens M., Broeck H., Vanderheyden K., Kreitner R. Kinicki A., 2006, p: 186). Therefore, Herzbergs theory is also known as two-factor motivation theory. Hygiene factors According to Herzberg hygiene are those which do not lead to motivation but these factors prevent de-motivation. At a more simple level firm managers should make sure that the employees have the necessary hygiene factors so that there wont be any dissatisfaction at work resulting to a decrease in motivation. His study reveals the following as hygiene factors: Company policy and administration Supervision Relation with supervisor Working conditions Salary Personal life Relation with subordinates Status Security Motivators According to Herzberg motivators are those factors which lead to satisfaction and hence can motivate employees at work. When employees are deprived of these factors there will be dissatisfaction leading to reduction to motivation. However if employees are provided with these factors, they will surely be motivated. The main motivators are Achievement Recognition The work itself Responsibility Advancement Growth Criticism of Herzberg theory The conclusion about factors that caused unhappiness and motivators are not totally acceptable. According to critics the difference in sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction are the result of intrinsic defence mechanism. People are inclined to seek their own achievements and to ascribe their dissatisfaction more to obstacle on the part of management. Relationship between motivational theories and the practice of management Maslow theory does not fully explain motivation his hierarchy of needs is generally accepted and applied in practice mainly for the following reasons: The hierarchy is easy to understand and make sense. The theory highlights important category of needs. The distinction is made between higher and lower needs. The importance of personal growth and self-actualisation in the work context is impressing upon managers. In most countries organisation are extremely successful in satisfying employer lower order needs. Physiological are satisfied by paying salary and providing fringe benefit, social needs are satisfied by allowing employees to interact and associate with one another. Esteem needs is of giving responsibility a title that commands respect, meaningful work, activities, recognition at high achievement.

Test case prioritization and regression test selection

Test case prioritization and regression test selection 1. introduction The significance of software testing process and its affects on software quality cannot be taken too lightly. Software testing is a fundamental component of software quality assurance and represents a review of specification, design and coding. The greater visibility of software systems and the cost associated with software failure are motivating factors for planning, through testing. A number of rules that act as testing objectives are: * Testing is a process of executing a program with the aim of finding errors. * A good test case will have a good chance of finding an undiscovered error. * A successful test case uncovers a new error. Software maintenance is an activity, which includes enhancements, error corrections, optimization and deletion of obsolete capabilities. These modifications in the software may cause the software to work incorrectly and may affect the other parts of the software, as developers maintain a software system, they periodically regression test it, hoping to find errors caused by their changes. To do this, developers often create an initial test suite, and then reuse it for regression testing. Regression testing is an expensive maintenance process directed at validating modified software. Regression Test Selection techniques attempt to reduce the cost of regression testing by selecting tests from a programs existing test suite. The simplest regression testing method, retest all, it is one of the conventional methods for regression testing in which all the tests in the existing test suite are re-run. This method, however, is very expensive and may require an unacceptable amount of time to execute all tests in test suite. An alternative method, regression test selection, reruns only a subset of the initial test suite. In this technique instead of rerunning the whole test suite, we select a part of test suite to rerun if the cost of selecting a part of test suite is less than the cost of running the tests that regression test selection allows us to exclude. Of course, this approach is unsatisfactory as well test selection techniques can have significant costs, and can abandon tests that could disclose faults, possibly reducing fault detection effectiveness. [1] To reduce the time and cost during on testing process, another approach, Test Cases Prioritization in a testing procedure can be favorable for engineers and customers. In Test Case Prioritization techniques, test cases are executed in such a way, that maximum objective function like rate of fault detection can be achieved. In section 2 of this paper, we have described different types of Regression Test Selection techniques and we discussed various categories of these types point out by various authors then moving into the details of selective and prioritizing test cases for regression testing. In this section, we also describe several techniques for prioritizing test cases and we evaluate their ability to improve rate of fault detection, according to various authors. In the next section, we in particular describe the Regression Test Selection techniques and Test Case Prioritization problems. Subsequent sections present our analysis and conclusions 2. Regression testing During a software development life cycle, regression testing may start in development phase of system after the detection and correction of errors in a program. Many modifications may occur during the maintenance phase where the software system is corrected, updated and fine-tuned. There are three types of modifications, each arising from different types of maintenance. According to [2], corrective maintenance, commonly called fixes, involves correcting software failures, performance failures, and implementation failures in order to keep the system working properly. Adapting the system in response to changing data requirements or processing environments constitutes adaptive maintenance. Finally, perfective maintenance covers any enhancements to improve the system processing efficiency or maintainability. Based on of modification of specification authors identify two type of regression testing, Progressive regression testing involves a modified specification. In corrective regression testing, the specification does not change. Corrective regression testing Progressive regression testing * Specification is not changed * Involves minor modification to code (e.g., adding and deleting statements) * Usually done during development and corrective maintenance * Many test cases can be reused * Invoked at irregular intervals * Specification is changed * Involves major modification (e.g., adding and deleting modules) * Usually done during adaptive and perfective maintenance * Fewer test cases can be reused * Invoked at regular intervals Table 1: Differences between Corrective and Progressive Regression Testing According to [2], table 1 lists the major differences between corrective and progressive regression testing. Regression testing is defined [3] as the process of retesting the modified parts of the software and ensuring that no new errors have been introduced into previously tested code. There are various regression testing techniques as given by various researchers are: (I) Retest all, (II) Regression Test Selection and (III) Test Case Prioritization. Retest-All Technique reuses all tests existing in test suite. It is very expensive as compared to other techniques. In this report our main focus on Regression Test Selection and Test Case Prioritization. Let P be a procedure or program, let P be a modified version of P, and let T be a test suite for P. A typical regression test proceeds as follows: 1. Select T C T, a set of tests to execute on P. 2. Test P with T, establishing Ps correctness with respect to T. 3. If necessary, create T, a set of new functional or structural tests for P. 4. Test P with T, establishing Ps correctness with respect to T. 5. Create T, a new test suite and test history for P, from T, T, and T. Although each of these steps involves important problems, in this report we restrict our attention to step 1 which involves the Regression Test Selection problem. 2.1. REGRESSION TEST SELECTION Regression Test Selection technique is less expensive as compare to retest all technique. Regression Test Selection techniques reduce the cost of regression testing by selecting a subset of an existing test suite to use in retesting a modified program. A variety of regression test selection techniques have been describing in the research literature. Authors [1] describe several families of techniques; we consider five most common approaches often used in practice. 1) Minimization Techniques: These techniques attempt to select minimal sets of tests from T that yield coverage of modified or affected portions of P. One such technique requires that every program statement added to or modified for P be executed (if possible) by at least one test in T. 2) Safe Techniques: These techniques select, under certain conditions, every test in T that can expose one or more faults in P. One such technique selects every test in T that, when executed on P, exercised at least one statement that has been deleted from P, or at least one statement that is new in or modified for P. 3) Dataflow-Coverage-Based Techniques: These techniques select tests that exercise data interactions that have been affected by modifications. One such technique selects every test in T that, when executed on P, exercised at least one definition use pair that has been deleted from P, or at least one definition-use pair that has been modified for P. 4) Ad Hoc / Random Techniques: When time constraints prohibit the use of a retest-all approach, but no test selection tool is available, developers often select tests based on hunches, or loose associations of tests with functionality. One simple technique randomly selects a predetermined number of tests from T. 5) Retest-All Technique: This technique reuses all existing tests. To test P, the technique selects all tests in T. According to [3], Test Selection techniques are broadly classified into three categories. 1) Coverage techniques: These consider the test coverage criteria. These find coverable program parts that have been modified and select test cases that work on these parts. 2) Minimization techniques: These are similar to coverage techniques except that they select minimum set of test cases. 3) Safe techniques: These do not focus on criteria of coverage, in contrast they select all those test cases that produce different output with a modified program as compared to its original version. Regression test selection identifies the negative impact of modifications applied to software artifacts throughout their life cycle. In traditional approaches, code is modified directly, so code-based selective regression testing is used to identify negative impact of modifications. In model-centric approaches, modifications are first done to models, rather than to code. Consequently, the negative impact to software quality should be identified by means of selective model-based regression testing. To date, most automated model based testing approaches focus primarily on automating test generation, execution, and evaluation, while support for model-based regression test selection is limited [4]. Code-based regression test selection techniques assume specification immutability, while model-based techniques select abstract test cases based on models modifications. Thus, in model based Regression Test Selection techniques, the existing test suite can be classified into following three main types: 1) Reusable test cases: Reusable test cases are test cases from the original test suite that are not obsolete or re-testable. Hence, these test cases do not need to be re-executed. 2) Re-testable test cases: Test cases are re-testable if they are non-obsolete (model-based) test case and they traverse modified model elements. 3) Obsolete test cases: Test cases are obsolete if their input had been modified. Regression Test Selection techniques may create new test cases that test the program for areas which are not covered by the existing test cases. Model based Regression test suite selection that utilizes Unified Modeling Language (UML) based Use Case Activity Diagrams (UCAD). The activity diagrams are commonly employed as a graphical representation of the behavioral activities of a software system. It represents the functional behavior of a given use case. With behavior slicing we can built our activity diagram. This diagram gives us qualitative regression tests. Using behavior slicing each use case divided into a set of unit of behavior where each unit of behavior represents a user action.[5] An activity diagram has mostly six nodes: 1. Initial node 2. User Action node 3. System Processing node 4. System Output node 5. Condition node 6. Final node 2.3. TEST CASE PRIORITIZATION The main purpose of test case prioritization is to rank test cases execution order to detect fault as early as possible. There are two benefits brought by prioritization technique. First, it provides a way to find more bugs under resource constraint condition and thus improves the revealed earlier; engineers have more time to fix these bugs [6]. Zengkai Ma and Jianjun Zhao [6] propose a new prioritization index called testing-importance of module (TIM), which combines two prioritization factors: fault proneness and importance of module. The main advantages of this prioritization approach are twofold. First, the TIM value can be evaluated by analyzing program structure (e.g., call graph) alone and it also can be evaluated by incorporating program structure information and other available data (e.g., source code changes). Therefore, this approach can be applied to not only regression testing but also non-regression testing. Second, through analyzing program structure, we can build a mapping between fault severity and fault location. Those test cases covering important part of system will be assigned high priority and executed first. As a result, the severe faults are revealed earlier and the system becomes reliable at fast rate. The main contributions of authors [6] are: * They propose a new approach to evaluate the testing importance for modules in system by combining analysis of fault proneness and module importance. * They develop a test case prioritization technique, which can provide test cases priority result by handling multiple information (e.g., program structure information, source code changes) and can be applied to both new developed software testing and regression testing. * They implement Apros, a tool for test case prioritization based on the proposed technique, and perform an experimental study on their approach. The result suggests that Apros is a promising solution to improve the rate of severe faults detection. Authors consider a sample system, which consists of six modules: M1-M6 and there exist some call relationships between each module. A test suite includes six test cases T1-T6 that covers the M1-M6 respectively. Some modules are dependent on each other. They are finding fault proneness and fault severity by using TIM from this system. They conclude the prioritization result (T3, T6, T4, T2, T5, and T1) on the bases of analyzing structure of system. For calculating this result they had developed some formulas and equation. [6] They also did some experiment with two Java programs along JUnit test cases: xml-security and jtopas. They select three sequential versions of the two java programs and apply newly developed software testing and the regression testing. They perform some experiment for finding fault proneness and severe fault. They also introduce the importance of any module using weight fact. Authors [7] explore value-driven approach to prioritizing software system test with the objective of improving user-perceived software quality. Software testing is a strenuous and expensive process. Research has shown that at least 50% of the total software cost is comprised of testing activities.They conclude that, their approach of prioritization of test cases is work effectively with regression and non-regression testing by analyzing the program structure. They make a reach on prior TCP which have two goals: (1) to improve customer confidence on software quality in a cost effective way and (2) to improve the rate of detection of severe faults during system-level testing of new code and regression testing of existing code. They present a value-driven approach to system-level test case prioritization called the Prioritization of Requirements for Test (PORT). PORT based on following four factors. 1) Requirements volatility Is based on the number of times a requirement has been changed during the development cycle. 2) Customer priority Is a measure of the importance of a requirement to the customer? 3) Implementation complexity Is a subjective measure of how difficult the development team perceives the implementation of requirement to be. 4) Fault proneness Of requirements (FP) allows the development team to identify the requirements which have had customer-reported failures. They claim in research paper, Prioritization of Requirement Test (PORT) has great impact on finding severe fault at system level. They are emphasis on Customer priority in TCP for improve the fault detection. Today software industries are working on neutral manner. They set neutral value to all requirements use cases, test cases and defects. To improve the customer satisfactions in software engineering world they are presenting a value-driven approach for system level testing. In these days Regression Test Case Prioritization techniques use structural coverage criteria to select the test cases. They are leading their ideas from structure level to code level TCP for both new and Regression tests. This Paper has two main objectives: 1). Find severe faults earlier 2). Improve customer confidence on particular system. Researchers describe several techniques [8] for prioritizing test cases and they empirically evaluate their ability to improve rate of fault detectionà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬a measure of how quickly faults are detected within the testing process. An improved rate of fault detection during regression testing can provide earlier feedback on a system under regression test and let developers begin debugging and correcting faults earlier than might otherwise is possible. Their results indicate that test case prioritization can significantly improve the rate of fault detection of test suites. Furthermore, their results highlight tradeoffs between various prioritization techniques. Test case prioritization can address a wide variety of objectives. In practice, and depending upon the choice of objective, the test case prioritization problem may be intractable: objectives, an efficient solution to the problem would provide an efficient solution to the knapsack problem [8]. Authors consider nine different test case prioritization techniques. T1: No prioritization One prioritization technique that authors consider is simply the application of no technique; this lets us consider untreated test suites. T2: Random prioritization Random prioritization in which authors randomly order the tests in a test suite. T3: Optimal prioritization An optimal ordering of test cases in a test suite for maximizing that suites rate of fault detection. In practice, of course, this is not a practical technique, as it requires knowledge of which test cases will expose which faults. T4: Total branch coverage prioritization We can determine, for any test case, the number of decisions (branches) in that program that were exercised by that test case. We can prioritize these test cases according to the total number of branches they cover simply by sorting them in order of total branch coverage achieved. T5: Additional branch coverage prioritization Total branch coverage prioritization schedules test cases in the order of total coverage achieved. However, having executed a test case and covered certain branches, more may be gained in subsequent test cases by covering branches that have not yet been covered. Additional branch coverage prioritization iteratively selects a test case that yields the greatest branch coverage. T6: Total fault-exposing-potential prioritization Statement- and branch-coverage-based prioritization consider only whether a statement or branch has been exercised by a test case. This consideration may mask a fact about test cases and faults: the ability of a fault to be exposed by a test case depends not only on whether the test case reaches (executes) a faulty statement, but also, on the probability that a fault in that statement will cause a failure for that test case. Although any practical determination of this probability must be an approximation, we wished to determine whether the use of such an approximation could yield a prioritization technique superior in terms of rate of fault detection than techniques based on simple code coverage. T7:Additional fault-exposing-potential (FEP) prioritization Analogous to the extensions made to total branch (or statement) coverage prioritization to additional branch (or statement) coverage prioritization, we extend total FEP prioritization to create additional fault-exposing-potential (FEP) prioritization. This lets us account for the fact that additional executions of a statement may be less valuable than initial executions. In additional FEP prioritization, after selecting a test case t, we lower the award values for all other test cases that exercise statements exercised by t. T8: Total statement coverage prioritization Total statement coverage prioritization is the same as total branch coverage prioritization, except that test coverage is measured in terms of program statements rather than decisions. T9: Additional statement coverage prioritization Additional statement coverage prioritization is the same as additional branch coverage prioritization, except that test coverage is measured in terms of program statements rather than decisions. With this technique too, we require a method for prioritizing the remaining test cases after complete coverage has been achieved, and in this work, we do this using total statement coverage prioritization. 2.3.1. Search Algorithms for Test Case Prioritization There are many search techniques for test case prioritization, which are being developed and unfolded by various researchers in the field. 1) Greedy algorithm: Works on the next best search philosophy. It [9] minimizes the estimated cost to reach a particular goal. Its advantage is that it is cheap in both execution time and implementation. The cost of this prioritization is O(mn) for program containing m statements and test suite containing n test cases. 2) Additional Greedy algorithm: This algorithm [9] uses the feedback from previous selections. It selects the maximum weight element from the part that is not already consumed by previously selected elements. Once the complete coverage is achieved, the remaining test cases are prioritized by reapplying the Additional Greedy algorithm. The cost of this prioritization is O(mn2) for program containing m statements and test suite containing n test cases. 3) Hill Climbing: It is one of the popular local search algorithms with two variations; steepest ascent and next best ascent. It is very easy and inexpensive to execute. However, this has cons of dividing O(n2) neighbors and is unlikely to scale. Steps of algorithm are explained in [9]. 4) Genetic Algorithms (GAs): Is a search technique [9] based on the Darwins theory of survival of the fit test? The population is a set of randomly generated individuals. Each individual is representing by variables/parameters called genes or chromosomes. The basic steps of Genetic Algorithm are (1) Encoding (2) Selection (3) Cross over (4) Mutation. 3. CONCLUSION In this paper we discussed about Regression test selection and Test Case Prioritization Selection. Regression testing is a style of testing that focuses on retesting after changes are made. In traditional regression testing, we reuse the same tests (the regression tests). In risk-oriented regression testing, we check the same module functionality as before, but we use different tests. Any test can be reused, and so any test can become a regression test. Regression testing naturally combines with all other test techniques. Therefore we use Test Case Prioritization technique inside Regression Testing. Test prioritization makes strengthen our regression testing for finding more severe fault in earlier stages. In this paper we discussed about different factor of prioritization. Customer priority has a great impact on PORT. Our view about both test case selection is, First version of test suite which developed by developer should have concrete test cases. Also at the same stage we should perform some prioritization. With earlier prioritization of test cases we can reduce our cost, time, effort and maximize customer satisfaction 4. References [1] Todd L. Graves, Mary Jean Harrold, Jung-Min Kim, Adam Porters, Gregg Rothermel, An Empirical Study of Regression Test Selection Techniques, Proceedings of the 1998 (20th) International Conference on Software Engineering, 19-25 April 1998 Page(s):188 197. [2] Leung, H.K.N., White, L., Insights into Regression Testing, Proceedings., Conference on Software Maintenance, 16-19 Oct. 1989 Page(s):60 69. [3] K.K.Aggarwal Yogesh Singh, Software Engineering Programs Documentation, Operating Procedures, New Age International Publishers, Revised Second Edition 2005. [4] Naslavsky L., Ziv H., Richardson D.J., A Model-Based Regression Test Selection Technique, ICSM 2009. IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance, 20-26 Sept. 2009 Page(s):515 518. [5] Gorthi R.P., Pasala A., Chanduka K.K.P., Leong, B., Specification-Based Approach to Select Regression Test Suite to Validate [6] Changed Software, APSEC 08. 15th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference, 3-5 Dec. 2008, Page(s):153 160 [7] Zengkai Ma, Jianjun Zhao, Test Case Prioritization based on Analysis of Program Structure, APSEC 08. 15th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference, 3-5 Dec. 2008, Page(s):471 478 [8] Srikanth H., Williams L., Osborne J., System Test Case Prioritization of New and Regression Test Cases, 2005 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, 17-18 Nov. 2005, Page(s):10 pp. [9] Rothermel G., Untch R.H., Chengyun Chu, Harrold M.J., Test Case Prioritization: An Empirical Study, (ICSM 99) Proceedings. IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance, 30 Aug.-3 Sept. 1999, Page(s):179 188 [10] Zheng Li, Mark Harman, and Robert M. Hierons, Search algorithms for regression test case prioritization, IEEE Trans. On Software Engineering, vol 33, no.4, April 2007.

Religious Figures Who Defied Reason Through Faith: Saint Bernadette of Lourdes :: Essays Papers

Religious Figures Who Defied Reason Through Faith: Saint Bernadette of Lourdes Saint Bernadette of Lourdes is not originally one whom the people of her time would expect to become a religious figure that could see holy apparitions and guide others into miraculous experiences. Contrarily, she was born to a family that experiences hardships and a great deal of misfortunes. Her family loses their money through bad investments and kind-heartedness, three of her siblings die at birth, and her father passes away leaving the family to fend for themselves. It almost seems as if the family is "destined to relive the fate of Job".1 Like Job in the bible, they experience many trials and tribulations, but hold steadfast to their beliefs. Little did the Soubouris family know that Bernadette would become a saint loved and revered by thousands in the Catholic Church. Bernadette will become a subject of controversy to some, being tested by powers of authority in the church and community, but is able to prove herself true and sane through her unyielding faith. The apparitions that would change Bernadette’s life and cause others to question her integrity and sanity first appear to her on February of 1858. Bernadette, her sister Toinette, and a friend, Jeanne Abadie go out to find wood the grotto. Although Bernadette’s mother objects to her going out in the cold weather due to her asthma, Bernadette pleads and wins her way. While out searching for wood in the grotto, Bernadette hears a gust of wind but nothing is moving. She goes to investigate and reports seeing a "gentle light" which continues to brighten.2 Next, she sees an apparition of a girl or young lady dressed in white smiling at her. The apparition first causes Bernadette to doubt what she is seeing is real, but she soon realizes that it is. When that apparition ends, she has a feeling of happiness and continues about the task, perplexed to what she has just experienced. Bernadette later confides the secret of the apparition to Toinette, but Toinette betrays her and tells their mother of what Bernadette had witnessed. The mother is disturbed and doubtful of Bernadette’s vision, and forbids her to go back to the grotto again. The father feels the same, but also feels that the family, which is already experiencing a time of hardship, would be vulnerable to ridicule if Bernadette’s story were to get out.

Anti-Defamation League Essay -- Race Racial Ethnicity Essays

Anti-Defamation League Lawyer Sigmund Livingston in Chicago, IL started the ADL in 1913, with the mission: "to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience, and if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. . . to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike. . . put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens." The ADL has gone from having a small office in Chicago to 30 regional offices as well as international offices in Moscow, Jerusalem, and Vienna. The ADL, as a well-respected political interest group, has been active in influencing United States foreign policy in Middle East countries, such as Israel. Today, under the leadership of National Chair, Howard P. Berkowitz and National Director Abraham Foxman, the ADL remains as the leading opponent of anti-Semitism and they continue to expose all forms of injustice, prejudice, and bigotry. ADL’s primary goals as a religious organization are to bring about social change through the elimination of bigotry and hatred by influencing government legislation. Specifically, one piece of legislation the ADL is working against is the implementation of school vouchers. It is ADL’s position that by using government funds to support vouchers, the quality of education at the public schools will decrease. I completely agree with this position. Education reform doesn’t mean destroying one institution that helps a large majority to promote elitist institutions that only benefit a small minority. The ADL is very large organization with vast influence benefiting millions of people around the globe, and according to Olson’s collective action problem members could be dissuaded from parti... ...ias. The ADL’s religious interests are mainly to promote the interest and betterment of Jews. So to listen to ADL and make legislative changes accordingly is to create a hierarchy among religions that shouldn’t be a part of the government. Even though, I may not agree with everything the ADL says, I think that what they are trying to do is incremental in bringing about the change necessary to improve our society. Works Cited: Bahrampour, Tara & Anthony Ramirez (2001). New Monitor For Hate Groups [Electronic version]. New York Times, B5.1. Falconer, Matthew (1999). Filter blocks hate-promoting Web sites [Electronic Version]. Boston Globe, A40. Olson, Mancur (1965) from Nivola, Pietro S. and David H. Rosenbloom (1990), Classic Readings in American Politics, 2nd Edition, pages 225-240. New York: St. Martin’s Press, Inc.

Blackstone Group Essay

The Blackstone Group (Blackstone) is a private equity firm founded in 1985 by two former employees of Lehman Brothers. In May 2007 the firm had $88.4 billion under management and had grown 41% annually since 2001. The firm operated in several business groups but distinguished itself from other firms by extensive collaboration across divisions. It was divided into Corporate Private Equity, Real Estate Funds, Marketable Alternative Asset Management, Corporate Debt Funds, and Advisory Services. In 2007 Blackstone started to evaluate the option of taking the firm public. Reasons why the firm should do an IPO, outlined by the firm’s internal project group, included: †¢Permanent pool of inexpensive capital and a wider group of investors †¢Long-term orientation in compensation package to employees †¢Shares could be used as currency in transactions †¢The firm would become more reputable †¢Partners could monetize their ownership in the firm The firm also identified several drawbacks with going public, including: †¢Quarterly reporting requirements leading to higher costs and more insights in the firm from the market †¢Risk that the market is unable to tolerate the variation of earnings in the firm due to long-term focused investments †¢Changing the firm’s structure and compensation system from a partnership to a corporation includes several challenges In 2007 the firm announced that it will go public and I will in the following five sections elaborate on some of the challenges the firm has to overcome and other implications following the IPO. 1.What are the built-in tensions with a public private equity firm? How does Black Stone’s structure attempt to reconcile them? Openness vs. private governance A challenge for private equity firm when going public is that it looses the benefits associated with being private. In the case of Blackstone, the firm’s management mainly described the need for maintaining the current governance, where the partners manage the firm, in order to ensure the firm operates in the interest of its limited partners. To handle the tension between maintaining governance and comply with the rules for listed companies the firm chose to adopt a Master Limited Partnership (MLP). Fortress Investment Group, that went public during 2006, has used this structure and considering the share price of that firm, it seemed like the investors appreciated the structure. MLP is a limited liability company with units of the firm that can be traded on the stock market. The structure allows the firm to retain the limited partnership form of governance and hence, allow the management team to continue manage the firm. The unit holders (share holders) only have limited voting rights and cannot influence the management team in the firm. By choosing this structure the firm can maintain the decision power in the same way as when being a private company. There is however a risk that the firm should be aware of, the investors can use other form of pressure (media, etc.) to influence the managing partners. Short-term vs. Long-term perspective One of the advantages of being a private firm is that the firm only has to disclose limited information about its operations. Blackstone operates its investment on a long-term basis why the firm has a lot of variability in its earnings. As an example, a fund usually has a return that can be visualized in a â€Å"J-curve†, meaning that the fund is basically loosing money in the beginning due to management fees but catches up in the long run. The stock market is known to be short-term focused and may interpret the fluctuation as negative news and therefore causing a fluctuation in the stock price or an undervaluation. Blackstone is basically using two ways to approach the problem. First, they are aligning the compensation to its employees so it serves the interest of both the limited partners (long-term) and the stock market (short-term). This is further elaborated in the fourth question in this paper. Second,  they are informing the potential investors through a prospect that holding a Blackstone unit (share) is different from other shares in the market. Third, to further smooth out potential fluctuations in the share price the firm guarantees a dividend during the first years after listing. The fact that the stock market tends to be short-term focused further shows the importance of having the MLP structure. To maintain the long-term focus on investments the firm needs to separate the governance of the firm from the shareholders and the limited voting rights will ensure this. 2.If you were a limited partner in Blackstone, how would you view the structure Blackstone has put in place to go public? As a limited partner in Blackstone I would consider the structure as chosen to ensure my interests. Given the fact that the firm chose to go public for the opportunities that a listing brings, it seems to be the best way of doing it. I would be most worried about that the firm would try too much to stabilize the share price and fulfil the interest of the shareholders by focusing on short-term profits. Many of the limited partners in a private equity fund are pensions funds or similar and do not mind to lock their money over a longer time period and, by doing so, seek the long-term profit that the private equity firm can offer. I will highlight the two things that make me confident that my interests as a limited partner will be maintained with the structure that the firm is implementing. First, the structure allows the governing rights of the firm to remain with the partners and therefore the firm avoids that the short-term oriented market gets direct influence over decisions. Second, according to the firm, the suggested compensation package should align the interest of the managers in the firm with the limited partners, or at least maintain it similar to before. However, I am slightly sceptical to this since the only thing that seems to change for them is that a part of their compensation comes in shares. Depending on how the stock market will turn out to react to news from the firm it might be so that the managers realize that they can earn more money by being short-term  focused and that would not be aligned with my interests. In addition, there are a few things that I am worried about as a limited partner despite the measures the firm has taken. The fact that the firm is a public firm is probably more prestigious for the managers than being private. Therefore I am afraid that the focus will gradually turn towards the interest of the shareholders. The firm does not want to have an underperforming or fluctuating stock in the long run and, if this seems to be the case, I am afraid that the limited partners long-term interest may be down prioritized. Another thing that is also worrying is the risk of losing competent people due to the changed compensation package. 3.Would you rather be a unit-holder in Blackstone or a limited partner? Everything taken into account I would rather be a limited partner in Blackstone. If the structure turns out to work the way that Blackstone says it will, the limited partner will be better off. From its history the firm has the competence and procedures to operate in the interest of the limited partner, i.e. long-term focused. Being a shareholder does in general include some aspects that should be considered. The stock price may fluctuate due to information, lack of information, and speculation. Therefore the market may act inefficient and in worst case it can destroy the value of the stock. In the case of Blackstone, where the firm intends to leave less information to the market than a normal firm, the risk of under- or overvaluation of the stock is even higher. By being the limited partner you avoid the fluctuations in share price and if the firm manage to keep its focus and strategy, you can continue to expect a good return. The main problem, which is outlined above, is that there is a risk the managing partners will gradually become more short-term focused so it is good as a limited partner to follow the development of the firm closely. 4.As a potential employee, how would you evaluate the Blackstone compensation package against a commensurate offer from a similar large-scale PE firm that was not public? The suggested compensation package from Blackstone has several intentions behind it. Some of the concerns that are mentioned in the case: †¢The employees should not be worse of than before †¢Their interests should be aligned with both the limited partners and the shareholders †¢Partners and managers ownership should not be too monetized in order to retain competence in the firm The firm therefore decided on multi-phase approach where the compensation includes a combination the management fee, the carry interest, and a number of units (shares). If I would consider starting working for Blackstone after the IPO, i.e. I would not receive any of the shares that the firm initially planned to give to its employees; I would prefer an offer from a non-public firm. The reason is mainly that a part of the salary comes in shares. There are several drawbacks with this. First, a part of your salary will be exposed to fluctuations in the stock market and as outlined in the previous question, these fluctuations may not always be justified. Therefore, since part of the salary will be exposed to risk an employee should request a higher salary compared to if he/she would get it in cash. Second, even though I would, as a private person, want to hold a part of my capital in stocks, I would prefer something else than the firm that I am working for. By having the same shares I am exposed to the success of the firm not only with my salary (risk of losing my job), but also with my savings. I would as a private person prefer to have most of my savings at least in another firm and even better, in another industry. If I would considering becoming an employee before the IPO I might reconsider my decision above depending on how much extra shares I would get initially and see if that outweigh the risk I see with being paid in shares. 5.The question outlined in the case Even though it is not part of the assignment I would shortly like to comment  on the offer Blackstone receives from China where they express interest in buying $3 billion of the offering. As Schwarzman outlines in the case, it would give Blackstone a great advantage if the firm whish to expand its business to China. In today’s more global world this could be a strategic important move and even if the firm does not buy a Chinese firm, it can establish local knowledge and through that better handle deals involving U.S. firms with operations in China. However, by selling 75% of the initial IPO offering to China they may not satisfy the U.S. stock market. Schwarzman therefore considered increasing the offering to 20% of the firm. This would have implications on several levels. The firm would experience an even higher pressure to give out information and it is likely that the managing partners will be influenced by the more involved stock market. Also the suggested compensation package would likely change to a situation where a bigger share of managers’ salary is coming in units (stocks). The risk with this is that the limited partners’ interests will be seen as less important and the firm might become more short-term focused than it is today.