Analysis of the Combined Code of Corporate Governance

Analysis of the Combined Code of Corporate Governance Corporate governance is the system or process by which companies are directed and controlled (Cadbury,1992,p.2) Good corporate governance should contribute to better company performance by helping a board discharge its duties in the best interests of shareholders; if it is ignored, the consequence may well be vulnerability or poor performance. Good governance should facilitate efficient, effective and entrepreneurial management that can deliver shareholder value over the longer term. The Combined Code on Corporate Governance (the Code) is published by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to support these outcomes and promote confidence in corporate reporting and  governance The Code is not a firm set of rules. Rather, it is a guide to the components of good board practice distilled from consultation and widespread  experience over many years. While it is expected that companies will comply wholly or substantially with its provisions, it is recognised that noncompliance may be justified in particular circumstances if good governance can be achieved by other means. A condition of noncompliance is that the reasons for it should be explained to shareholders, who may wish to discuss the position with the company and whose voting intentions may be influenced as a result. This comply or explain approach  has been in operation since the Codes beginnings in 1992 and the flexibility it offers is valued by company boards and by investors in pursuing better corporate governance. The Listing Rules require UK companies listed on the Main Market of theLondon Stock Exchange to describe in the annual report and accounts their corporate governance from two points of view, the first dealinggenerally with their adherence to the Codes main principles, and the second dealing specifically with non-compliance with any of the Codes provisions. The descriptions together should give shareholders a clear and comprehensive picture of a companys governance arrangements in relation to the Code as a criterion of good practice The reason for selecting this combined code on corporate governance as topic of research is that researcher is having a past experience of working with the organization and knows about the prows and corns of the business. 1.2 INITIAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE: Corporate governance is an institutional arrangement by which suppliers of finance to corporations assure themselves of getting a proper return on their investment(shleifer and vishney ,1997,p.737). Transparency and accountability are the most significant elements of good corporate governance.   This includes: the timely provision by companies of good quality information; a clear and credible company decision-making process; shareholders giving proper consideration to the information provided and making   considered judgements. The origins of the current Revised Combined Code stem from the report of the Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance (the Cadbury Report,  1992) to which was attached a Code of Best Practice. This was further developed through a series of reworkings including those of the Greenbury Committee, which made recommendations on executive pay and a Code of Best Practice. It was then decided that previous governance recommendations should be reviewed and brought  together in a single code. The work was carried out under the chairmanship of Sir Ronald Hampel and culminated in the Final Report: Committee on Corporate Governance with its Combined Code on Corporate Governance in 1998.In 2002 Derek Higgs was asked to report on the role and effectiveness of non-executive directors. His report, published in January 2003, suggested amendments to the Combined Code. At the same time a committee under Sir Robert Smith reported on guidance for audit committees. The revised Combine d Code which was issued in July 2003 by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) took into account both reports. The 2003 Code has been updated at regular intervals since then, most recently in June 2008. The 2008 edition applies to accounting periods beginning on or after 29 June 2008.The FRC undertakes regular reviews of the impact and continues to work effectively.According to Christine mallin(2007), Main principles of the Combined Code are: Directors 1 The board Every company should be headed by an effective board which is collectievely responsble for the success of the company 2 Chairman and chief executive There should be a clear divission of responsbilities at the head of the company between the running of the board and the executive responsbility for running of the companys business No one individual should comprise imaginative powers of decision. 3 Board balance and independence The board should include a balance of executive and nonexecutive directors (and, in pariticular, independent nonexecutive directors) such that no individual or small group of individuals can dominate the boards decision taking 4 Appointments to the board There should be a formal, rigarous and translucent procedure for the appointment of new directors to the board 5 Information and professional development The board should be supplied in a timely manner with information in a form and of a quality apropriate to enable it to discharge its duteis. All directors should be given induction on joining the board and should regularly update and refresh their skills and knowledge. 6 Performance evaluation The board should undertake a formal and thorough annual evaluation of its own performannce and that of its commitees and individual directors 7 Re-election All directors should be submited for re-election at regular intervals, subject to continued satisfactory performance. The board should certify designed and progresive refreshing of the board B Remuneration 1 The level and make-up of remmuneration Levels of remuneration should be sufficcient to attract, retain and motivate directors of the quality required to run the companys succesfully, but a company should avoid paying more than is neccessary for this purpose. A significant proportion of directors remmuneration should be structured so as to link rewards to corporate and individual performance 2 Procedure There should be a formal and transparent procedure for developing policy on executive remmuneration and for fixing the remmuneration packages of individual directors. No directors should be involved in deciding his or her own remmuneration C Accountability and audit 1 Financial reporting(Andrew tylecote and francsca visintin,2008) The board should present a balanced and understandable asessment of the companys position and prospects 2 Internal control The board should maintain a sound system of intarnal control to safeguard shareholders investment and the companys assets 3 Audit committee and auditors The board should establish formal and translucent arrangements for considering how they should apply the financial reporting and internal control principals and for maintainning an appropriate relationship with the companys auditors D Relations with shareholders 1 Dialogue with institutional shareholders There should be a discussion with shareholders based on the mutual understanding of objectives. The board as a whole has a responsbility for ensurring that a satisfactory dialogue with shareholders takes place. 2 Constructive use of AGM The board should use the AGM to communicate with investors and to encourage their participation. E Institutional shareholders 1 Dialogue with companies Institutional shareholders should enter into a dialogue with companies based on the mutual understanding of objectives. 2 Evaluation of governance disclosures When evaluating a companies governannce arrangements, particularly those relating to board structure and composition, institutional shareholders should give due weight to all relavant factors drawn to their atenttion. 3 Shareholder voting Institutional shareholders have a responsbility to make considered use of their votes. 1.3 RESEARCH PURPOSE: The research purpose is to analyse the impact of failures and weaknesses in corporate governance on the financial crisis, including risk management systemsand executive salaries. It concludes that the financial crisis can be to an significant level attributed to failures and weaknesses in corporate governance arrangements which did not serve their purpose to preserve against excessive risk taking in a number of financial services companies. Accounting principles and regulatory requirements have also proved insufficient in some areas. Last but not least, remuneration systems have in a number of cases not been closely connected to the strategy and risk craving of the company and its longer term interests. The article also suggests that the importance of qualified board oversight and robust risk management is not limited to financial institutions. The remuneration of boards and senior management also remains a highly controversial issue in many OECD countries. The current turmoil suggests a need for the OECD to re-examine the adequacy of its corporate governance principles in these key areas.( FINANCIAL MARKET TRENDS ISSN 1995-2864  © OECD 2008) All the UK reports and codes, including the 2003 Combined Code (the Code), have taken the comply or explain approach. Although only quoted companies (those with a full London Stock Exchange listing) are obliged to report how they apply the Code principles and whether they comply with the Code provisions and, where they do not, explain their departures from them. The Code has had a noticeable wider impact on governance of organisations outside the commercial corporate sector where parallel codes of governance are emerging. For a quoted company reporting on its application of the Code is one of its continuing obligations under the Listing Rules published by the UK Listing Authority (UKLA). If quoted companies ignore the Code, then there will be penalties under the Listing rules. The Code is divided into main principles, supporting principles and provisions. For both main principles and supporting principles a company has to state how it applies those principles. In relation to the Code provisions a company has to state whether they comply with the provisions or where they do not give an explanation. It is the Code provisions that contain the detail on matters such as separation of the role of chairman and chief executive, the ratio of non-executive directors and the composition of the main board committees. The first principle of the Code states that: Every company should be headed by an effective board. The boards effectiveness is widely regarded as a prerequisite for sustained corporate success. The quality and effectiveness of directors determines the quality and effectiveness of the board. Formal processes for appointment, induction and development should be adopted. Effectiveness of the board and its individual members has to be assessed. The Code states that no one individual should have unfettered powers of decision-making. It sets out how this can be avoided by splitting the roles of chairman and chief executive, and specifies what the role of the chairman should be. The Code offers valuable guidance on the ratio of non-executive to executive directors and definitions of independence.( http://www.frc.org.uk/corporate/combinedcode.cfm) . 1.4 OBJECTIVES: In the process of research the researcher has to find out the answers for the following questions: To understand how critical governance issues in a established organisation can be solved with optimized corporate governance To formulate an effective method of governing corporates especially at the time of crisis To find out how the country can overcome financial crisis in future with good corporate governance practice? 1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY: This research has some limits as the researcher has constraints of time and money. The information provided is of sample size. The research is done in India where the economy is developing. So the results vary from Indian developing economy and any other developed economy. The research is mainly concentrated in Hyderabad city so the research result would vary from that of any other city like Chennai, Mumbai, etc. The research is based on the information provided by SATYAM COMPUTERS on how it was bankrupted during financial crisis due to lack of proper governanace and financial reporting. So the result at the end of research will be useful for other companies inorder to benefit from the combined code of corporate governance. 1.6 RESEARCH STRATEGY: Research the word basically means search for information or data compilation. It mostly means to gather information concerning firm question and to build up a certain approach for that question. If there was no word called research all the scientific and social projects would have been resulted in deduction work and approximated data The approach the researcher would be using in this research is qualitative with an inductive outlook. Qualitative research is concerned with the growth of explanations, in order to know the reasons and motivations of social occurrence (Hussey Huseey 1997). The motto being to know the world in which we live in, by taking into account individual opinions, experiences and feelings According to Saunders et al (2003), in an inductive way; theory will pursue data rather than vice versa in the deductive approach. Induction emphasizes on attaining an understanding of the meanings human attach to events, it approves in the gathering of qualitative data and at last, unlike deduction which is a highly prearranged process, induction is a more supple structure which permits changes as and when the research progresses . Case study : A case study is research method to investigate the phenomenon of topic of research. In this case the researcher is looking at SATYAM COMPUTER SERVICES LTD.which is an IT firm and Collapse of SATYAM COMPUTERS at Indian Stock markets due to lack of proper corporate governance practice. In this research the researcher want to apply the combined code of corporate governance to other companies like SATYAM Grounded theory : Grounded theory is a procedure that is designed to generate a theory around the central theme of data. So this theory would help the researcher in doing his research. 1.7 DATA COLLECTION: Secondary Data The information that is previously available is called secondary information. It is using the study previously undertaken in a particular field so that one does not replicate it while conducting primary research. It is also very cost efficient and useful as this being a student project there are no funds at our disposal to conduct the research. It offers handiness and is easily accessible on databases and also on company websites (Wright and Crimp, 2000). It will be used widely while reviewing the literature on the recommended topic. Some of the secondary sources that will be used are academic journals like HR journals. Also with online information coming to age EBSCO Host and Keynote research reports and statistics issued by the Corporate Governance team in India will also be used. Finally, a number of accomplished authors have written ample on this subject, these books will also be consulted. The secondary research will be used effectively to provide a good background to instigate a good primary research. Primary Data Primary data will be collected through a sequence of recorded semi-structured interviews conducted by the researcher. Prior official authorization would be taken from those who would be interviewed. Semi-structured interviews are interviews where the interviewer would ask a set of questions to interviewees; these questions differ from person to person depending on that persons position with respect to the research. Though the general topic remains the same, some questions will be omitted and some others might be counting depending on who is being interviewed. For example, questions to an HR manager would revolve around how to cope with abrasion and the management view on how they are looking at this problem, on the other hand in an interview with the software engineers. 1.8 DATA ANALYSIS: The researcher understands all the data he would obtain would be based on meaning expressed through words, this kind of information is called qualitative data. The process of qualitative study involves the development of information categories, allocating units of the original information to apt categories and developing and trying hypotheses to produce well grounded conclusions. Now it is enormously important that all this rich data must be transformed to information the researcher could Comprehend and manage Integrate related data from different transcripts and notes Identify key themes or patterns from them to further explorationDevelop or test hypothesis based on these apparent patterns Draw and verify conclusions (Saunders et al, 2003) This researcher would be using Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software, (CAQDAS), to assist him with making good sense of the data, there are various softwares available which would help the researcher, quantifying qualitative information if need be, thus making a hypothesis and arriving at a conclusion. 1.9 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY: The question of reliability and validity of information in any research study is of highest importance. Unless the data obtained is consistent, correct conclusions cannot be drawn. In this study, the validity and reliability issues are associated to access to the correct people for interviews and to get the right information out of them. This will mean that the information should be balanced and unprejudiced. Interviewees should be able to provide the correct information linked to the subject without personal opinions or beliefs. This problem can be conquered to a certain extent by asking to the point questions and framing them up in such a way that eliminates capacity for bias. For this purpose, the researcher will spend quality time on designing good interview questions and will get them checked from a senior supervisor. The issue of access to the correct people for the data is also very important since the research will be based on the answers obtained from them. Another matter related to validity and reliability is the use of precise sources for obtaining secondary data. The researcher should gain contact to the right books, journals and articles for getting quality information about the topic. For this purpose, scholarly articles will be obtained from the library and internet. 2.0 ACCESS: The researcher was providential to have some significant contacts in the IT sector back in Hyderabad, India, this was partly because he was born and brought up there and also because he comes from a strong IT background both academic and professional. The researcher intends to conduct semi structured interviews with the following people. Ms. Pratyusha gogineni (HR Team, Satyam computers, Hyd) Mr. suma Kirthi (HR Team, Satyam computers, Hyd ) Mr. Madhusudhan Santhana (Project Manager, Satyam computers, Hyd) Mr. Prabhakar Govind (Analyst, Satyam computers, Hyd) Mrs. Amruta devi ( MD, HND Recruitment, Hyd ) The first member, Nandini is an old friend who had grown quite fast in the organization has been handling recruitments since the past four years; through her the researcher had got in contact with Mr. Kirthi, a senior HR manager who also assured official access. To get the other side of the story, the researcher has got in contact with Mr Santhana, who also is the researchers ex manager who used to work with SATYAM computers before. Mr Santhana promised he will do all he could to aid me with this research. Mr Govind along with a few of his colleagues would help in giving me the required information. The researcher intends to leave no stone unturned and would contact more people if need be to help him with this research.

Using a ‘Human Model’ to Examine the Vision of Albino Rats :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Using a ‘Human Model’ to Examine the Vision of Albino Rats Unless a question is directed towards vision, the thought of the underlying processes in which the eyes and brain perform together is never considered. So, if we were to analyze the underpinnings of vision what would we find? Would there be a simple network of interconnected neurons which simply convey information from the periphery to the brain? The art of seeing is very complex and is sensitive to conformational changes occurring in the eye. The loss of a particular type of photoreceptor can determine whether an individual is color-blind and/or a sudden decline in the eye’s normal level of a neurotransmitter may cause photosensitivity. Knowing that an aberration from the usual construct of the visual pathway can be responsible for several disorders directs attention to examining vision in albino rats. Experimental studies tend to use albino rats because of their passivity; it is interesting to note that albino rats and humans manifest similar symptoms for example, photosensi tivity. Often drug testing or brain lesions are performed on animals to create animal models which are used to make generalizations to the human population. There are not many studies pertaining to the visual pathways in albino rats but since animal models are created to make inferences to humans, this paper proposes to use the ‘human model’ of vision to speculate the underlying problems between photosensitivity and the albino rat’s visual pathway. Human Eye Model As mentioned before, the visual pathway consists of an elaborate network of neurons. In order to discuss photosensitivity, first we must look at the manner in which information is processed in the eye and relayed to the brain with the use of photoreceptors. The development of the eye is very unique: it develops in an inside to out manner(1). From the rostral to caudal portion, the retina consists of the epithelium layer, photoreceptors, horizontal cells, amacrine cells and the ganglion cells (the ganglion endings make up the optic nerve). The structure is considered inside/out because light needs to pass through several layers before converging on the photoreceptors. The role and properties of the pupil and photoreceptors are key structures in relation to albinism. In the human eye, the pupil is made of melanin. Melanin is a photoreceptive pigment; when present it protects the eyes from ultraviolet light(2). After light passes through the pupil, cornea and other structures it converges on the back of the eye known as the retina.

Chris Character Essay

â€Å"All My Sons† is considered Miller’s most famous play. The play is an assertion of the need for the individual to accept full responsibility for his actions, to acknowledge the reality of a world in which the idea of brotherhood is an active principle rather than simple piety. It is to be regarded as a sever attack on materialism which stands at odds with human values, on a war-profiteer’s drive for profits based on an ethic that Familial obligations should come first, even at the expense of his social responsibilities and obligations. The title of the play is very significant; since it indicate one of the most important subsidiary themes of the play, namely â€Å"the father-son relationship†. As we have said before the main theme of the play has to deal with the importance of a Man’s social responsibility as compared to his responsibility towards his family. This main theme is very related, even interwoven, with the conflict that might arise between a son’s duty towards his father and his own moral duty towards his society. Perhaps, a close examination of the character of Chris Keller and his relation to his father would make this point even clearer. As the play opens, we are immediately made to realize how Chris highly regards his father and the depth of his affection for him that he comes to believe that he (his father) is a perfect and ideal person. This fact has been affirmed when his mother-Kate- expresses her worries about George’s – Steve Deveer’s son- purpose in paying a visit to their house. She is quite sure that the later -being a lawyer now- intends to open the case of his father again. Chris affirms her † you’re silly; what’s there to be afraid of†; which clearly indicate his high regard of his father and his complete awareness of his innocence. And when his mother affirms that â€Å"to his last day in court Steve never gave up the idea that Dad made him do it† and that â€Å"if they are going to open the case again† she â€Å"won’t live through it† Chris assures her that he would stand by her and his father in a very determinant manner: â€Å"George is just a damn fool, Mother, how can you take him seriously†. Later on, as George tries to convince Chris that the later’s father is the real culprit, Chris refuses to believe his accusations against his father: Chris: on his [Steve Deveer] own. And because he is a frightened mouse this is another thing he’d done through the blame on somebody else because he’s not man enough to take it himself. He tried it in the court, but it did not work, but with fools like you [George] it works. Matter-of-fact, Chris idealistic streak is indeed the key feature towards a clear-cut revelation of his character. This idealism has been manifested in more than one occasion. First, as he was explaining to Ann the reason why he has delayed his confession of Love for her, he attribute it to his own feeling of guilt at the thought that all the men under his command had died when he himself survived. He even feels even guiltier when he finds that the world has not changed as a consequence of the War, as it retains its very selfish and callous attitudes as it used to be before the War: Chris: †¦ they [the young soldiers under his command] didn’t die; they killed themselves for each other. I mean that exactly; a little more selfish and they’d’ve been here today†¦ And then I came home and it was incredible. I – there was no meaning in it here; the whole thing to them [the American society] was a kind of a-bus accident†¦ Because no body was changed at all†¦ I felt wrong to be alive, to open a bank-book, to drive the new car†¦ † Elsewhere, Chris idealism finds expression in his feeling surprised and shocked by the revelation that his father was the real culprit in the matter of supplying defective cylinder heads to the air force, after his confrontation with his mother about Ann’s stay in their house, which has developed to its peak that Kate affirms him that his father had really been guilty: Kate: †¦ your brother is alive, darling, because if he’s dead, your father killed him. Do you understand me now? As long as you live, that boy is alive. God does not let a son be killed by his father. As his father tries to defend himself, affirming that Larry â€Å"never flew a P-40† Chris idealism has been asserted once more. He affirms his father that he seems to be living in an altogether different world from the one in which other people are living. Even when his father affirms that he had supplied defective equipment to the air forces for his (Chris) sake: â€Å"Chris†¦ Chris, I did it for you, it was a chance and I took it for you. I’m sixty-one years old, when would I have another chance to make something for you? Sixty-one years old you don’t get another chance, do ya? Chris condemn his father’s causes and his complete lake of social responsibility; saying; â€Å"For me! Where do you live, where have you come from? For me! I was dying everyday and you were killing my boys and you did it for me? What the hell do you think I was thinking of, the goddam business?†¦ Don’t you have a country? Don’t you live in a world? Elsewhere, Chris’s idealism has been manifested as he tells Ann that during the fight there used to be a sense of honor between all soldiers, which forced them to behave in an honorable manner. But now he comes to realize that: â€Å"this is the land of the great big dogs, you do not love a man here, you eat him! That’s the principle, the only one we live by- it just happened to kill few people this time that’s all. The world’s that’s way, how can I take it out on him†. That’s to say he believes that the main principle governing life is to pursue self-interest, even at the expense of others. Chris’s shock, as he himself explain it later, results from the fact that he is really convinced that his father â€Å"is no worse than most men, but [he had] thought [his father] to be a better man than most†. This shock caused a sever kind of internal conflict inside him between his Idealism and Practicality, to the extend that towards the end of the play he admits to his mother and Ann that his idealism had left him and that he has now become a practical man who does not have the courage to force his father to face the consequences of his guilt. He further affirms them that he is no longer â€Å"human† and that his now like every body else. Referring to his father, Chris tells his mother â€Å"I could jail him, if I were human any more†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"I’m practical now. You made me practical†. As his mother tries to convince him that there is nothing wrong in being practical; Chris replies that even cats in the streets are practical, and the cowards who ran away from the battlefield during the war were practical. That’s to say for Chris practicality is the word which unworthy people use to justify their own selfish attitudes: † But I’m practical and I spit on myself†. It is worthy of note that â€Å"much of the success of â€Å"All My Sons† has been due to Miller’s complex vision of Keller’s shared guilt and each’s contribution to this family collapse. That’s to say Miller was keen to affirm that Joe Keller is not solely responsible for his family troubles, and ultimate disaster†. Chris, also, is responsible for his family’s dilemma. Though he adopts a highly moral tone, he was only trying to escape his own sense of guilt. Having watching the heroic young men under his command die selflessly in the battle to save their comrades, Chris feels guilty for failing them and surviving the war. So when he was given a chance to escape his anguish, he tries to find relief out of his sense of guilt; in the form of contempt for his father’s criminal act, on the hope that by destroying his father he can some how escape his own sins and his own personal torment. His father, thus, becomes his scapegoat. It is hard, therefore, not to see and condemn the hypocrisy behind the zeal that leads to Keller’s Suicide. His motives are purely selfish. We all know that his words ring hollow because he has long suspected his father’s guilt, but deliberately avoided confronting the truth-again for purely selfish motives: at some level Chris fears that if he allows himself to see his father’s human imperfection, he will also have to realize his own limitations- and his experience in the war make him dread that confrontation.

Pros and Cons of the Corn-Based Plastic PLA

Pros and Cons of the Corn-Based Plastic PLA Polylactic acid (PLA), a plastic substitute made from fermented plant starch (usually corn) is quickly becoming a popular alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics. As more and more countries and states follow the lead of China, Ireland, South Africa, Uganda and San Francisco in banning plastic grocery bags responsible for so much so-called â€Å"white pollution† around the world, PLA is poised to play a big role as a viable, biodegradable replacement. Proponents also tout the use of PLA, which is technically â€Å"carbon neutral† in that it comes from renewable, carbon-absorbing plants, as yet another way to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases in a quickly warming world. PLA also will not emit toxic fumes when incinerated. However, there are still issues with the use of polylactic acid such as its slow rate of biodegradability, its inability to mix with other plastics in recycling, and its high use of genetically modified corn (though arguably the latter could be one of the good effects of PLA as it provides a good reason to alter crop yields with genetic splicing). The Cons of PLA: Biodegradation Rate and Recycling Critics say that PLA is far from a panacea for dealing with the world’s plastic waste problem. For one thing, although PLA does biodegrade, it does so very slowly. According to Elizabeth Royte, writing in Smithsonian, PLA may well break down into its constituent parts (carbon dioxide and water) within three months in a â€Å"controlled composting environment,† that is, an industrial composting facility heated to 140 F and fed a steady diet of digestive microbes. It will take far longer in a compost bin, or in a landfill packed so tightly that no light and little oxygen are available to assist in the process. Indeed, analysts estimate that a PLA bottle could take anywhere from 100 to 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill. Another issue with PLA is that it must be kept separate when recycled, lest it contaminates the recycling stream; since PLA is plant-based, it needs to be disposed of in composting facilities, which points to another problem: There are currently a few hundred industrial-grade composting facilities across the United States. Finally, PLA is typically made of genetically modified corn, at least in the United States. The largest producer of PLA in the world is NatureWorks, a subsidiary of Cargill, which is the world’s largest provider of genetically modified corn seed. This is tricky because the future costs of genetic modification (and the associated pesticides) to the environment and human health are still largely unknown. Pros of PLA Over Plastics: Utility and Biodegradability Genetically modified foods may be a controversial issue, but when it comes to genetically spicing plants together to breed corn that yields more crops for industrial use has its major advantages. With the increasing demand for corn to make ethanol fuel, let alone PLA, it’s no wonder that Cargill and others have been tampering with genes to produce higher yields. At least harmful plastic isnt be used as frequently anymore! Many industries are using PLA because they are capable of biodegrading at a much faster rate than plastic while still offering the same level of sanitation and utility. Everything from plastic clamshells for food take-out to medical products can now be made from PLA, which drastically reduces the carbon footprint of these industries. While PLA has promise as an alternative to conventional plastic once the means of disposal are worked out, consumers might be better served by simply switching to reusable containers, from cloth bags, baskets, and backpacks for grocery shopping to safe, reusable (non-plastic) bottles for beverages.

The heart of darkness essays

The heart of darkness essays Everyone has a heart of darkness. We all have the potential to be uncivilized and hurt each other, no matter whether we come from "civilization" or not. Prejudice and racism are powerful and present in our lives, whether we like it or not. Conrad is saying that if we do not realize this, we will continue the uncivilization. Through Conrad's first person point of view, we are allowed to see one man's view of what will happen if we are not aware of our thoughts and actions. Marlow's journey into the heart of Africa is also a journey into his own heart. Marlow starts out on his journey looking for adventure. His curiosity drives him to find Kurtz. Marlow soon finds that Kurtz, the supposed epitome of civilized, is actually barbaric, savage, and nothing more than the typical greedy colonial white male. Marlow soon realizes he has found something quite different than adventure. Marlow concludes that everyone has the potential for uncivilized behavior, but that no one can live with a heart of darkness. Marlow is a serious man, and a very intuitive thinker, but is sarcastic, such as when he says, "Can't say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle-aged Negro, with a bullet-hole in the forehead, upon which I absolutely stumbled three miles farther on, may be considered as a permanent improvement."(32). Marlow is partly making a joke, but really knows that the treatment of the natives is inhumane. He finds that the colonial purpose is not lining up with the result. Instead of the goal of improvement, the colonists have fallen into greed, which is ultimately their own hearts of darkness. Again, Conrad shows us how disgusted Marlow is when Marlow explains the conditions of the natives: "It was unearthly, and the men wereNo, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of itthis suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made ho ...

Cousin Vinnies Pizza - Business Plan Coursework

Cousin Vinnies Pizza - Business Plan - Coursework Example The food products will be sold to the general public, schools and college students and other public gatherings. Cousin Vinnie’s pizza food and fire truck’s purpose is to offer the best quality Pizza to the South Bend locals. The customers will be satisfied through the provision of a different variety of Pizza at fair prices. The company’s main strength is the ability to provide better products at strategic locations. The challenge includes the unfavorable economic climate as a result of competition that includes Pizza-4 U and John’s Foods. The business will differentiate itself from the competitors through lower prices and quicker services. The proposed legal organization of the business will entail a private partnership ownership structure comprising of two shareholders. Interested investors will be welcomed to contribute the start-up capital. The private partnership will enable the easy raising of capital. The business will require a health permit, a mob ile truck license and a trading license from the South Bend municipality.

Summary and Reactions to the book Black Like Me, Author - John Howard Essay

Summary and Reactions to the book Black Like Me, Author - John Howard Griffin - Essay Example In the book, Griffin explains how he came up with his idea to try living like a black man for a while as a means of trying to understand how their lives are affected by racism and prejudice in the 1959-1960 South. He does this by presenting the material as a journal entry, allowing his thought process to flow, finally leading to the conclusion that you can never know another man unless you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. The first ‘chapter’ is presented as an introduction to the idea, the mechanics involved in putting it into motion and his arrival in New Orleans where he plans to make his transformation, but it ends before the transformation starts as he is still enjoying the comforts and fine lifestyle of the white man in the city. The second chapter outlines his change and his first experiences as a black man before he’s even become one. This is in the form of his doctor’s comments about the ‘nature’ of the black man as inherently viol ent the darker they are. When he first sees himself as a black man, he panics and feels like he isn’t himself anymore and this is somewhat verified as he is no longer able to do the kinds of things he was used to doing as a white man. The only positive difference he discovers is that the black people treat him better. Although he discovers an entirely different world in New Orleans, he learns about how much more difficult things are for blacks in Mississippi and decides that he needs to go there to understand the dynamics of what is going on. There are so many experiences in the various chapters that it is impossible to list them all, but Griffin, in his journeys, discovers that the problem of racism isn’t just with the ignorant white people of the countryside, but that it rests more squarely on the shoulders of the educated white men that continue to create laws that make it possible for racism to continue. In