Leadership Development at Goldman Sachs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Leadership Development at Goldman Sachs - Essay Example This scenario demands a learning organisation; in this case, a learning organisation is that which has the capacity and expertise to facilitate learning and transfer learning in continuous processes. This means that it is expected that organisations have sufficient expertise to facilitate learning for employees. The solution of the challenge war for talent is to create leadership development programme at Goldman Sachs, an investment bank at the United States. A leadership development program should cover all perspectives of the organisation, enabling it to effectively achieve its set goals. This is an analysis presents a case study of â€Å"Leadership Development at Goldman Sachs.† Among many other companies in the 1990s, Goldman Sachs was in the fire line fighting the war for talent – both to retain and attract its talent. With its initial step in managing talent, Goldman Sachs created several new managing director posts, dispersal by geography and function. The United States boasts of very many investment banks that have been very successful since the time they were developed, one of these banks is Goldman Sachs. This is an American multinational investment bank, offering various kinds of financial investment in the United States and some other countries that it has set base. Between 1980 and 2000 the investment bank went through major changes that were mainly due to many factors like growth of the IPO markets, merges, growth and expansion of their businesses as well as the globalisation element. In the 1990s, several fundamental issues were raised in the investment bank, which were crucial for its growth and development First, Globalisation increased the competition of talent, thus retention was one of the main issues for Goldman Sachs. It is important to realise that the only way to retain talent in any business is by managing it effectively. As many companies started expanding, there was a high rate of labour mobility, something that

Nation and Race from Mein Kampf Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nation and Race from Mein Kampf - Essay Example This way the race will get degraded. He believed that nature is against it and higher development of organic living beings would never be possible if this is allowed. He strongly believed that all species are inherently different in owning the different characteristics such as strength, intelligence, endurance etc. and that is how they are made by nature. Cat will never be friendly with mice and similarly fox will not show any humanitarian behavior toward geese. Nature does not promote inferior species by rule and it allows weaker to succumb. Nature's evolutionary process works to promote towards stronger and stronger species by eliminating the weaker ones. North America shows a different culture from Central and South America because they did not mix with lower colored people thus, remaining racially pure and that is how they became master of the continent. He argues that racial breeding will not only lower down the level of higher race but will also cause the intellectual and physi cal degradation.; any act to promote this will tantamount to an act against the will of creator of this universe. Anyone doing this means that he or she is acting against the will of nature and that eventually will lead them to doom. He opines that all great cultures of the past did not survive because this purity of race was not maintained. The cultures are preserved by men and those men need to be preserved who created it. Thus, the stronger and the best only should come out victorious in this process. Only those who have courage to fight have right for living in this world. These are the innate laws of nature and men can never overcome the nature and her laws. Whenever anybody does so they are likely to meet with misery, and misfortune. Those who disregard the racial laws will lose happiness. According to him, all human progress will depend upon the marching of the best race ahead. He strongly believed that all the art, sciences, and human cultures were a contribution of the Arya n race. Aryan was the most superior race that ever lived on this earth; if they are taken out there will be total darkness on this earth and all development will go away. Hitler does not consider all races equal. He categorically differentiates among them in various characteristics such as intellect, strength, power, endurance. He strongly believes that all development has been done by superior race (the Aryan race) throughout the ages. Any cross breeding between superior and inferior will create only weaker offspring. Purity in breeding is essential to have more superior, stronger and powerful offspring. These are laws of nature and any attempt to sabotage them will bring despair and gloom for all. All development will go to backyard. A more simple way of telling Hitler’s philosophy is that all men are not equal and there is no need to create equality amongst them. Nature has made them like that and they need to fight to survive and that is all nature’s way of doing. Letter from Birmingham Jail In 1963, Martin Luther king, Jr. wrote to the Clergymen from jail addressing the woes of racial discrimination that were being met to the people in the Birmingham. Birmingham is known for its records of brutality in the past. Negroes were treated most unjustly in the courts and whenever they tried to seek justice from the city fathers they never gave any heed to their woes. Birmingham stores displayed racial signs and in spite of the promises they were not removed. In his letter, he speaks about the racial discrimination that Negro Children have to face embarrassment that they cannot visit the public amusement parks just like their white friends. That creates unhealthy bitterness in the

Characteristics Of Porters Five Forces Model

Characteristics Of Porters Five Forces Model This report aims to discuss the characteristic of Porters Five Forces model which had greatly contributes to strategic management. Porter (1980) sees competition in an industry being governed by five different sets of forces and an industrys attractiveness is contingent on the strength of these five forces. Nevertheless, this model is being debated since it is purely derived from industrial perspective. To be the market leader, resource- base theorists suggested organizations must aware of its intrinsic strength and weakness therefore enable them to formulate strategy efficiently. Apart from perspective imperfect, Porters five forces also limited by some factors when applying in certain industry. To present the contributions as well as limitations of Porters five forces framework, this report will examine the five forces of soft drink and airline industry. All the information is collected from text books, journals, articles, annual report and websites. 1.0 Introduction All purpose of strategy is to help an organization survives and be profitability in the industry. An industry is a group of firms that produce a similar product or service, for instance cosmetics or financial services. (L. Wheelen T., D. Hunger J., 2006). The understanding of the industry structure and its competition environment is a critical ingredient of a successful strategy. Firms need to examine the level of profitability of the industry they are entered, whether it is potentially high profitable in the future. Michael Porter (1980), a Harvard strategy professor contended that the industry profitability is determined by five forces of competition, they are the competition from new entrants, competition from substitutes, and competition from established rivals as well as the power of suppliers and power of buyers. (M. Grant R., 2008). By examine the strength of five forces reveal why an industry is attractive and only then can organization formulates strategy to gain competitive advantage in the market place. Unfortunately, Porters five forces framework has been involved into several criticisms. Some of theorists argued that Porters Five Forces framework is lack of rigorous since it is based on Industrial Organisation (IO) economic perspective and in reality, the strength of the forces may differ from business to business. (Campbell D., Stonehouse G., Houston B., 2002). The prediction of industry attractiveness based on the five forces is unclear and lack of trustworthy. To judge whether Porters five forces framework is useful to predict the industry potential profitability, this report will applying this model into soft drink and airline industry. 2.0 The Values of Porters Five Force Framework Porter Five Forces framework was derived from Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm of IO which concerned on the industry structure was influence by conduct and performance of organizations. (Jenkins M., Ambrosini V., Collier N., 2007). Insight into organization heterogeneity in terms of market attractiveness evaluations and understanding of market entry enable them to make better decisions and prevent from potential loss or go into liquidation. (Dixit A, K. Chintagunta P., 2007). Michael Porter indicated that the industry structure grows out of a set of economic and industrial characteristics that bring out the strength of each competitive force and the forces are threat of new entrants, threat of substitute, the rivalry among existing competitors, the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers. (M. Grant R., 2008). The strength of the five competitive forces can determines the long-run profit potential of an industry by how much of economic value retained by companies in the i ndustry versus bargained away by customers and suppliers, threaten by substitutes or forced by new entrants. (E. Porter M., 2008). The stronger of these forces, the more limited the organizations ability to set higher price and earn greater profits. The low forces, in contrast, become an opportunity for organizations to generate strategies. (L. Wheelen T., D. Hunger J., 2006). In order words, this framework suggested the source of organizational profits is market positions, and the positions protected by barriers to entry into the market. (Jenkins M., Ambrosini V., Collier N., 2007). Many strategic analysis tools formed based on the industrial perspective as Porters five forces did, for instance the PESTEL analysis is the useful environment scanning tool that examine the external factors influence an organization. Game theory, which founded by Von Neumann and Morgenstern (1944) contends that the rivalry among competitors is interdependent, but the issue is generally concerned with a firms external environment. (M. Grant R., 1998) 3.0 Five Forces of Soft drink industry 3.1 Rivalry amongst competitors Porter described the rivalry amongst existing competitors is jockeying for position, where they compete in the form of products price, products innovation and differentiation, advertising and promotion as well as after-sales services slugfests for purpose of scramble for market share and earn superior profits. The degree of rivalry in an industry is determined by several variables; they are the degree of competitors concentration, the level of rivalry, products differentiation, the industry growth rate and exit barrier. (G. H. Richard., 1983) Soft drink industry considered a consolidated industry, where the industry is leading by few large companies, such as Coca-cola, Pepsi-cola and Cadbury Schweppes. These companies who seize large proportion of market share had earned superior profit. In order to gain competitive advantage from competitors, Coca-cola and Pepsi-cola have spent large investment in advertising and promotion to build strong brand identify among consumers and become a barrier for new entrants. Coca-cola build customer loyalty by it unique coke recipe while Pepsi-cola serving different soft drink to capture market share of Coca-cola. The unique recipe of soft drinks had gained many loyal customers which uneasily duplicate by competitors. In the position of market leader, they can determine the price of soft drink and thus avoid price war. (M. Grant R., 2008) According to Agarwal and Gort (1996), the late entrants have relatively lower survival rates because the exit barrier is formed in competitive intensify. (Dixit A, K. Chintagunta P., 2007) The exit barrier in soft drink industry is significant because firms require large capital investment to achieve economic of scale in order to compete with strong competitors. Yet, according to the average return on invested capital (ROIC) of US industries, the profitability of soft drink industry increase consistently indicates that the market value of soft drink tends to grow in future. (Kindly refer to Appendix V). 3.2 Threat of Entry A high barrier to entry benefits the existing players in an industry because the competition is stable and established companies can take advantage of this opportunity to raise prices and generates favorable returns. The established companies who run a larger production may benefit from economic of scales and create barrier to the new comer. Others, the government regulation can also be a barrier to entry. (Johnson G., Scholes K., Whittington R., 2008) The barrier to entry can be created by existing companies by build strong brand loyalty. Although there is no significant restriction from government towards soft drink business, the efforts of Coca-cola and Pepsi-Cola to built brand loyalty have significantly threatened new companies to enter the business. (Kolter p., Armstrong G., 2008). Further, when the new companies intend to enter the market, both companies have take retaliate action by cut down the prices and forcing the new entrant to curtail expansion plans. (M. Grant R., 2008). Since the barrier to entry is high based on strong market leaders, the industry is considered attractive. 3.3 Threat of Substitute When the use of product can be wholly substitute by products out of the industry, customers will switch to substitute if the price of the product goes up. To the extent that switching costs are low, substitutes may have significant impact on the profitability of an industry. (L. Wheelen T., D. Hunger J., 2006) Through industry innovation, incumbents are struggling to produce diversity beverages to satisfy different consumers taste. The soft drink seems gradually substituted by carbonated beverage. In responding to the competition of substitute, Coca-cola expanded its business through alliance and acquisitions like Coke-Nestea and Coke -Minute Maid. Meanwhile, Pepsi-cola diversify their products flavor such as Pepsi with orange juice. (Meghan E., Deichert M, Ellenbecker M, Klehr E., Pesarchick L., Ziegler K., 2006). Yet, Coca-cola had builds extremely strong customers loyalty in the flavor of Coke since the early 1960s, there are no visible beverages can substitute Coke and it has been the top-selling soft drink over centuries. (Coca-cola, 2010). Briefly, substitutes become less of a threat because of the concentrated manufacturers effort in diversification. 3.4 Bargaining Power of Buyers Buyer power is determined by switching costs, the relative volume of purchases, the standardization of the product, brand identity, and quality of service. (Thompson J., Martin F., 2005) Companies are not merely selling their products to consumers, but large proportions of products are distributed to retailers such as supermarkets. Coca-cola and Pepsi-cola mainly distributed their soft drink products to supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury. Although these retailers purchase soft drinks in large quantity, they do not have much bargaining power because they need different kind of soft drink products to generate consumer traffic, especially the popular brand name like Coke and Pepsi. Vending, basically deals with fixed price, was the most profitable channel for the soft drink industry. With no buyers to bargain, Coke and Pepsi bottlers could sell directly to consumers through machines owned by bottlers. (Meghan E., Deichert M, Ellenbecker M, Klehr E., Pesarchick L., Ziegler K., 2006). Therefore, the position of buyers in soft drink industry is weak because companies are not heavily relied on single distribution channel, but other route like vending machine or fast f ood chain. (Soft drink Industry, 2010) 3.5 Bargaining Power of Supplier The suppliers are powerful if they are in the position of well brand name, less competitors and high product differentiated. (Mike W. Peng, 2006). The main inputs of soft drink making are sugar and packaging. Sugar can be obtain from many sources and if the price of sugar increase, soft drink manufacturers can alternatively switch to corn syrup, as happened in the early 1980s. Thus, suppliers of nutritive sweeteners do not have much bargaining power to soft drink manufacturers. In contrary, they need to built long term relationship with soft drink manufacturers to make long-run profit in the business, for example, Monsanto signed long term Nutrasweet sweetener supply contracts with Coca-cola. (M. Grant R., 2008) Soft drink packaged by aluminum can and bottle. The manufacturers of aluminum can and bottle are almost similar and therefore they engaged in price competition to survive in the industry. With more competitors vying for supply contract with large soft drink manufacturers, soft drink manufacturers are able to negotiate extremely favorable price and thus suppliers bargaining power is relatively weak. (Meghan E., Deichert M, Ellenbecker M, Klehr E., Pesarchick L., Ziegler K., 2006) 3.6 Summary on Five Forces of Soft Drink Industry Overall, in soft drink industry, the rivalry is moderate since the concentrated producers had avoided significant price competition. The industry is considered attractive because high entry barrier prevent new entrant from fragment profits, there is no visible substitute and the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers are relatively weak. Cott Corporation is a good example who earned favorable profits in this industry. Cott recognized the unique Coke taste to the mind of consumers thus established its private-label cola called RC Cola and successfully taking 5.5 percent shares of U.S. soft drink market in year 2005. (M. Grant R., 2008). Cott Corporation has proved that Porters five force framework is useful to predict industry profitability, which in accordance with the SCP concept of Porter. 4.0 Debates and critiques on Porters Five Forces Framework As outlined that Porters Five Forces Model was derived from industry perspective and it is therefore expected that the model is limited when applied at the firm level. In the early eighties, strategic management was much dominated by IO perspective, where the organizations performance is contingent on its external environment and thus loses the sight of organizational perspective. (Jenkins M., Ambrosini V., Collier N., 2007) The resource-based view, in contrast, examines the link between the internal characteristics of an organization and organizations performance. (Campbell D., Stonehouse G., Houston B., 2002) It highlights the core competency of an organization are the main sources of sustainable competitive advantage. (Kotenlnikov V.). Hamel and Prahalad (1994) explained that core competence does not appear on balance sheet, distribution channel or even brand and patent, but an aptitude to manage them may be one. Correspondingly, Penrose (1959) argued that a firm is a collection of resources and that a firms performance depends on its ability to use them. (Jenkins M., Ambrosini V., Collier N., 2007). In addition to the industry competition structure, resource-based approach examine deeply into the skills and competences of each competitor, the design of value-adding activities, the technologies employed and strategic groupings. The strategic analysis model like value-chain and SWOT analysis are contri butions of resource-based view which provide a greater understanding of organizations core competences and enable organization well manage their resources and capacities to formulate appropriate strategies. (E. Spanos Y., Lioukas S., 2001). Baden-Fuller C. and Stopford J. (1992) said that it is not industry matter, but the firm itself, as happened in airline industry. (De Wit B., Meyer R., 2005) 5.0 The Five Forces of Airline Industry 5.1 Rivalry amongst competitors The intense rivalry in airline industry caused by undifferentiating products and services, for instance, most of them were using similar aircraft like Airbus A320 family. (Shawn S., 2004)To be the ideal choice of customers, airlines had competing in fare price and their on-board products and service. They struggle to enhance their frequencies and timing of flight to avoid their competitors a frequency advantage. The barrier to exit is one of the significant factors that result fierce rivalry. The capital investments are a large sum and it is difficult to dispose the assets suppose the carriers are suffering in loss. Trans World Airline is the example of company who can remain competitors for three more years before gone into liquidation. (Ridderbusch K., 2006) The reason of high fixed costs significant influence the profitability of industry, like revealed in Appendix V, the ROIC of airline industry is slightly five percent and therefore the industrys growth rate is slow. 5.2 Threat of Entry The main entry barriers of airline industry are capital requirement and retaliation from established airlines. To establish an air transport business is a huge investment, including the expensive assets of airplane and safety facilities. This barrier had been reduce by bank institutions who encourage airline carriers by extend credit. (Vecchio J.D., 2000) There is not significant entry control in international airline industry such as US and Europe, but airport slot can be a barrier to entry. The condition of congested slot in hub airport has makes it difficult for new entrant to gain access to attractively-time slot. However, the congested slot issue has benefits the existing airlines. (Shawn S., 2004). Incumbents enlarge their business by hub system and thus they could serve more cities from their hubs and offer greater frequency flight to satisfy different customers need. (Vecchio J.D., 2000) 5.3 Threat of Substitute Apart from oversea reason, people tend to choose rail transport although they can reach destination in shortest time by air transport. Railway became a good substitute of airway as it provide city centre to city centre travel which makes convenience to consumers and its fare price is always cheaper that airlines. The market of airlines became worse when the development of rail transit. Through constantly innovation and development in railway industry, people today can choose long haul rail transit to reach destination in short time, as air transport did. (Shawn S., 2004) 5.4 Bargaining Power of Buyer Airline offers transportation service to two groups which are travel agents and consumers. Traditionally, travel agency system is overwhelming because it is the main distribution channel for airline. The airlines who much depends on travel agents forced to reduce fare price to keep long-term relationship that able to sustain competitive advantage in the market. The available of internet benefits consumers as they can access to the fare price and compare with each other. Many customers choosing airline travel because they can reach destination in short time, thus they always find for price discrepancy of the same exact flight. Considered airline travel is relatively luxurious trip, the fall in fare price would significantly increase the demand, especially those plans for a family vacation. Since the trend of demand is elastic, customers switching from each other is visible suppose the market fall into price war. (Vecchio J.D., 2000) 5.5 Bargaining Power of Suppliers The suppliers in airline industry are concentrated producers such as Boeing and Airbus. These suppliers became a threat to airlines because they provide high quality airplanes and pilot training services. (Johnson G., Scholes K., Whittington R., 2008) The power of supplier can determine by labor union. Industries which depend massive on employees are low profitability because the more skill people the more they need to pay. Aviation industry required high talent people such as pilots and have a high percentage of employees unionized and it is therefore less profitability. (M. Grant R., 2008) 5.6 Summary on Five Forces Analysis of Airline industry Through exploring five forces, airline industry is easy to entry but hard to exit, threaten by powerful supplier and buyer as well as substitute, and the rivalry is intensified. Therefore airline industry is extremely unattractiveness and all organizations stuck in the industry and are likely to suffer. In reality, however, Ryanair has survived and successfully seize significant market share in Europe. (Mike W. Peng, 2006) The key success of Ryanair is its concept of no-frills, low fares and hassle-free which effectively take cost advantage and perform better punctuality than competitors. However these strategies are zero without the effective management team and good employees performance. Ryanair implemented a third year of pay freeze to achieve cost saving however satisfy its cabin crew by maximize their time off. Despite lowest fares price, Ryanair continues maintain a safe and reliable air travel to meet customers need. (Ryanair, 2010) The successful of Ryanair in such an unattr activeness industry are its peoples competencies that make sustainable competitive advantage, as suggested by Hamel and Prahalad. 7.0 Other Limitations 7.1 Hyper competition Another critique is that competition is a dynamic process of rivalry that constantly reformulates industry structure. Joseph Schumpeter viewed competition is the dynamic forces of innovations which continuously restructure industry and tends to unstable. (M. Grant R., 1998, 2008). Since it is based on the industrial perspective in the eighties, the five forces model is ineffective to predict competition and profitability if the industry structural transformation is rapid like High-tech industries. (Recklies D., 2001). Todays IT and software industry are continuous being revolutionized by innovation. Organizations struggle to gain competitive advantage comes from an up -to-date knowledge of environmental trends and competitive activity tied with a willingness to risk a current advantage for a possible new advantage. This fast growing market structure indicates that is difficult to master the market trends and it is therefore limited for Porters five forces to predict the attractivenes s of the industry. (L. Wheelen T., D. Hunger J., 2006) 7.2 The Complement as an important force Traditionally, Porter contends that the industrys attractiveness is driving by the potential suppliers of substitute good and service. This force is doubtful that as the presence of substitute reduce the value of the products, complements value will increase. Andrew Grove, the former CEO of Intel suggests complements should be added into Porters forces framework because it contributes visible impact, like the available of software add value to hardware. Yet, apart from IT industry, complements influence the competitiveness in other industries, for example the value of water heater increase if consumers access to gas supplier and service. Given the characteristic of complements is crucial to most products, the analysis of competition environment should take them into account. Organizations should reduce the bargaining power of complement suppliers in order to stimulate the demand of the products, like the strategy took by Nintendo. Nintendo controls the operation of games software pro ducers by provides developer licenses and through development of games software successful augments the demand for Nintendo video game console. (M. Grant R., 2008) 8.0 Conclusion and Recommendation Generally, Porters five forces are lack of rigorous and limited by its industrial perspective. In the case of Cotts triumphant in soft drink industry is not merely the commercial market, but much depend on its intrinsic management who wisely distribute its product in grocery channel which saving cost in term of no advertising and promotion. Cott popular with affordable soft drinks and their revenues increase dramatically through the growing of grocery retailers like Wal-Mart. (Cott, 2010). Therefore, Porters five forces seem lack of reliability relative to resource based analysis model. However, as Barney and Zajac (1994) said, the examination of strategy implementation skills (i.e., resources and capabilities) cannot be understood independently of strategy content and the competitive environment within which the firm operates. (E. Spanos Y., Lioukas S., 2001). In conclusion, managers should conduct the strategic analysis not simply based on Porters five forces, but examining in combination with other intrinsic perspective strategic analysis tool like SWOT analysis. SWOT model emphasized the elements of Strength-Weakness of an organization in addition to the Opportunities-Threats from external source. Furthermore, managers may apply PESTEL framework to supply the lack of Porters five forces model. (Trundy G., 2006). PESTEL framework emphasize the important elements of Politic, Economic, Social, Technology, Environmental and Legal to carry out a deeper external environment scanning that may influence organizations performance in the market.

Essay --

Literature review 1) Authors: Dietmar , Rabussay & Denise ,M, Korniewicz Title: The Risks and Challenges of Surgical Glove Failure Source: Aoran Journal, 1997, 66(5): 871-876 Research Question or Hypothesis : What is the relationship between using of same gloves for removal of more than one dirty dressing and the subsequent increasing infection rate in Women’s Surgical Ward? Rabussay, D., & Korniewicz, D. M. (1997).Surgical Glove Failure- Part 2, Nurses as Inventers and Professional Collaboration, Aoran Journal , 66(5), 867-880.Print. Gloving is one of the occupational health and safety standards which exhibit a strong relationship between infection control standards and gloving practices. The risk of a particular transmission depends on level of pathogen resistance to environmental influence and its evading abilities, mode of transmission and barrier effectiveness also plays a major role. Gloves are highly effective barriers against pathogens. Infection is sometimes spread from staff to patients, this result in rise of nosocomial infections. Transmission is the only factor that can be controlled by the staff. The use of gloves as a barrier of protection is unclear. Moreover, failure of gloving protocols leads to infection to occur. A use of glove in infection control is to prevent the spread of infections from patient to patient, is only considered effective when the provided gloves are changed and hands often cleaned. Gloving practices is viewed as an important part of infection control measures and can be an au tomatic habit as a result of constant practice. The authors as stated above identified that when a conscious thought is given to standardized gloving practices and choices and improvements available when deciding o... ...e changed when indicated, that is, gloves are removed after caring for a patient an also when moving from a contaminated body site to a clean body site. Gloves need to be removed properly so that the hands are not contaminated in the process. Also WHO guidelines stated that nurses should wear gloves to protect themselves from acquiring infections from patients as well as to protect patients from acquiring microorganisms that may be on the hands of nurses. WHO also states that a health care worker should remove gloves after caring for a patient and not wear the same pair of gloves when caring for more than one patient. However, wearing gloves does not provide complete protection and also stated that wearing gloves does not take the place of hand hygiene. In addition to monitoring of glove usage should be incorporated in the routine hand hygiene skills and competency.

Dr Jekyll

sTara Stockage Mr. Robinson Dorian Gray and Jekyll Hyde Comparison Essay A March 22, 2013 Comparative Essay The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are both written during the same time period which take place in the 1800s which is the Victorian era. Both stories take place in London. These novels both are written in regards to the gothic style of writing. The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde vs. The Picture of Dorian Gray. The novels, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr.Hyde; written by author Robert Louis Stevenson; and, The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde, share the theme of contrast of human nature and personality. One of the aspects that both Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray have in common is the contrast of human nature. Just as Jekyll claims that â€Å"man is not truly one, but truly two†, Dorian proposes that â€Å"Each of us has Heaven an d Hell in him†. In both stories the characters have a way of overlooking the evidence of their own mistakes.Jekyll calms himself by thinking that â€Å"It was Hyde . . . and Hyde alone that was guilty† and by this he was trying to fix the wrongs that Hyde committed. Dorian on the other hand attempted to apologize to Sibyl by writing her a letter after which made him feel as if he was forgiven. Shortly after finishing the letter he learn about Sibyl’s death and overlooks the first changes that his painting goes through and blocks the guilt by thinking â€Å"What did it matter what happened to the colored image on the canvas?He would be safe. That was everything† Dorian says these words to help him escape the obvious truth. The internal conflict of Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde also can be compared to Oscar Wilde’s The picture of Dorian Gray. Both Mr. Jekyll and Gray go through many experiences that lead them to live a double life. Jekyll i s curious scientist who drinks a potion that makes him turn into a vulgar and tempered man. Jekyll likes the idea of becoming someone else, without anybody truly knowing who Mr. Hyde is.Dorian Gray is a curious and young gentleman who also falls victim to his hope to stay young forever, without anybody really knowing what his true practice is. When we compare both Dorian Gray and Jekyll it is important to say that they both are seen as normal kind good man that both have a dark secret. As being Mr. Hyde, Jekyll feels like he has more freedom to do whatever he wants without being caught as his real self. Both Gray and Jekyll desire to live a life of freedom from discrimination and act towards any wish, but in the end it brings trouble to both because they are hurting people at the same time.Another comparison of these characters is that throughout their experiences, they finally come to terms with their mistakes and the basis to the problem. They both ended their life in their own te rms, by killing the monster that they had become. Gray killed himself by ultimately slaying his portrait that represented the horror and real person that he had become, while Jekyll poisoned himself. I believe in the end they did have sympathy for the horrible things that they had committed, and that is why they killed themselves. Killing themselves, relived them from what they had to live with for the rest of their lives.I feel that the authors of the novels chose to describe the charters this way to have a certain impact of the audience. I believe the authors wanted to make the readers see both sides of the character through a different view point. Also I believe they also wrote it because the authors were describing the person they wish they could be. I believe both authors believe that human nature is always changing. I think that the artist are saying that during their time period known and the Victorian era the human nature of people were always changing .

The Effects of Organized Crime on Russia’s Economic Reform

Angela Tien The Effect of Organized Crime on Russia’s Economic Reform With Russia’s extensive history, there is no saying that organized crime is not an issue of this nation. Organized crime promotes the overall performance of the economy in Russia, and it was also a problem during the rise of democratic Russia. Influence from organized crime is harmful internally, yet beneficial to Russia on a global scale. Although the Russian economy thrives as a nascent country experiencing capitalism and democracy, it is deteriorating from the core of their government from corruption. Several factors minister the failure of Russia’s economic reform.Corruption, change in political and economic concepts, and the ever-expanding global economy have fueled the power and influence organized crime has asserted on Russia’s economic reform. The impact of organized crime on Russia’s economic reform is significant to both the development and adherence of Russia’s p revious economy by incorporating elements of transitions such as corruption and revolutions in both capitalist and democratic ideals, at the same time establishing and preserving an influential association with the global economy while constituting achievements within it, which reflects on their economy today.Background: When Stalin proposed freedom to the prisoners in the Soviet Union in exchange for fighting in World War Two, he had upset the entire perennial system of the â€Å"Code of Thieves†, an underground colony of criminals. There was no knowledge of the repercussion that Stalin’s actions would alter. The â€Å"Thieves† had evolved into a much more sophisticated group of criminals, after the betrayal of those who enlisted to work with the government. Later, as the Soviet Union fell apart, it gave birth to the Red Mafia, otherwise known as the Russian Mafia.Previously, the Cold War contributed to the augmentation of the Russian Mafia too, like Stalin. Ru ined, Russia’s economy was devastated. Subsequently, with the down fall of the Soviet Union and the Cold War over, the Russian government inherited the world’s greatest weapon storage. Using these weapons as a way to profit, the mafia and other forms of organized crime took advantage of the desperate government workers, who turned to crime for cash. The sources for currency in Russia were weapons and poverty-stricken people forsaken from the Cold War scouring for work.In order to improve the Russian’s economy, America introduced the controversial â€Å"shock therapy†, a method that involves the sudden self-governing free market to release price and currencies, withdrawals of state contribution, and immediate global trade, (Murrell, 1993). Since then, the Russian Mafia has had control over the majority of businesses in Russia. Despite the democratic surge throughout Russia, the promotion of capitalism and democracy was futile. Basically, the Americans intr oduced Russia with the sudden surge of capitalism.Unexpectedly, the result was disastrous and the treatment backfired. Starving homeless people wandered through the streets aimlessly looking for a job to pay for food, agreeing to work for cheap labor. Government official turned to crime as a means of making money. Corruption is a major factor that made the economic reform difficult to succeed: Recently, forest fires rage throughout Russia’s landscape. Mr. Luzhkov, a politician, was residing in his estate when he was criticized for the lack of concern he expressed. Almost the entire government responded this way.Hence, â€Å"Mr. Luzhkov has been derided for behaving like an autocrat, muzzling dissent and allowing corruption to flourish,† (Levy, 2010). Russia’s economy was at stake, partly to the increasing problem of corruption. Corruption has deprived Russia of any success with its economic reform. With the consecutive capital flight each year during the economi c reform, Russia’s economy was not stable, nor was it sustainable. Even today, little of that has improved. Billions of laundered rubles are perpetually transferred to bank accounts in other countries annually.Corruption has suggested that organized crime has played an integral part towards the failure of economic reform. Finckenauer describes the cause of corruption in Russia as â€Å"[t]he historical symbiosis with the state [which] makes Russian organized crime virtually an inalienable part of the state†, (Finckenaur, 2001). Russia was left virtually bankrupt, until the fresh initiation of capitalism and democracy. Russia was so corrupt that criminals could bribe their way out of any lawbreaking problem, (Finckenaur, 2001). From Shelley’s observations, we know that roughly a hundred and fifty billion U. S. ollars, perhaps more, are transferred to off-shore accounts, sometimes reaching sums up to three hundred billion U. S. dollars,(Shelley, p. 3). A substanti al number of the assets wired to other countries belong to corrupt officials, who did not assist Russia’s economic reform, (Shelley, p. 4, 5).The increasing number of corrupt officials that collaborates with the Russian mafia is the source to Russia’s faltering economy. Allow a poll taken by Russian citizens manifest the severity of corruption within Russia: â€Å"[t]wenty-three percent of Russians living in urban areas believe that organized crime, not the Government, runs the country. ,(Boylan, 1996). Corruption from government officials numbers were on the rise. At that rate, Russia’s economic reform was next to impossible. There was not a single residue of affluence for Russia to advocate or achieve success of their economic reform. Not merely has organized crime conspired with government officials in the act of corruption, it had somehow obliquely gained control over the flux of money. Recently, a total of 33 billion U. S. dollars, reported by BCC, are bei ng wired to banks aboard, some in the U. S. , (Konstantin, 2010).This 33 billion â€Å"amounts to 20% of Russia's budget for state and local procurement, or more than 10% of the state budget's income for 2010,† (Konstantin, 2010) It is difficult to prove that control over money had been organized crime’s intentions, but its prevalence over the government through corruption has certainly prompt the unsuccessful result of Russia’s economic reform. The revolution in political and economic concepts allowed organized crime to flourish: Exempt from corruption aside, Russia’s economic reform faced democratic and capitalist issues. Half of the commodities upon a cargo ship traveling to the U.S. in the 90’s contain illegally purchased grain alcohol. This alcohol was manufactured by an American distiller company named McCormicle Distilling Company Superb Spirits. The Russian mafia dyed the alcohol blue to pass the alcohol on for window washing liquid. They m arked these boxes â€Å"industrial†. Smuggling prospered under these conditions. The mafia avoided taxes and a long process that consumed time, while profiting. Acting as a cover up for the mafia, business companies such McCormicle benefitted from the list of procedures and expenses needed to operate.Using capitalism and democracy to increase profits, organized crime was in favor of capitalism and democracy. Privatization of organized crime in Russia caused the economic reform to blunder and digress considerably. Finckenaur explains that, â€Å"privatization of state property both expanded and solidified the complex relationship that had developed between the state and organized crime†, (Finckenaur, 2001). Essentially all private and state-owned companies and subsidies were harmed from the meltdown of the economic reform due to organized crime flourishing in the free market.From the beginning of capitalism, â€Å"[t]he entire Soviet system has long operated with a flo urishing black-market supervised and controlled by [organized crime groups]†, (Boylan, 1996). While the U. S. government deplete their dollars advertising democratic and capitalist issues in Russia, (Boylan, 1996), the Russians â€Å"had people taking advantage of the privileges of a free market—taking in foreign investments, issuing stocks and bonds, making international loans—without sufficient oversight or taxation to generate incomes to pay the bondholders back†, (Friedman, 1999).As a novice towards democracy and capitalism, Russia was going through a phase in which economic hardships and dealing with new ideas was difficult. Subsequently, those with money and authority were quick to assert power and control, namely the organized crime groups and corrupt political figures. â€Å"Several experts have estimated that approximately one-third of capital flight involves illegal activity,† which indicates the organized crime has penetrated the system o f economic reform, (Cooper, 2000).Before the matter of discussing the issues during the economic reform, a similarity should be distinguished between corrupt officials and organized crime lords: illegal capital flight was mostly pocketed by these two groups, for â€Å"[r]acketeers and bandits created a multithreaded mafia that remains potent and ubiquitous,† (Schemann, 2009). Furthermore, organized crime utilized the free market to expand in their trade with other countries. For example, oversea corporations from Russian companies belonged to the Russian mafia, which used scams to maximize profits. U. S. law enforcement agencies raided the Pennsylvania headquarters of a TSX–listed company called YBM Magnex International, which turned out to be a front for Russian mafia activity headed by Semion Mogilevich. The shares of YBM were worth more than $500 million before they collapsed in value virtually overnight. The scam eventually landed Mogilevich a spot on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list†, (Rosen, 2010). Through this example, it can be notified that the Russian mafia had control over trade and much of trade was illegal.The Russian government could not hinder the influence the Russian mafia asserted over the trading routes. Much of the money being made through these black-market deals or any other illegal means was profited by the Russian mafia. â€Å"The criminalization of the privatization process has resulted in the massive use of state funds and property for criminal gain†, which in turn, left Russian without any funds, (Finckenaur, 2001). Consequently, none of the profits made were funded into Russia’s economic reform.Because â€Å"the assets controlled by organized crime give it enormous economic power†, it is safe to say that organized crime accumulated a large portion of the state’s funds, (Finckenaur, 2001). Due to a free market, anyone who had money had the power to make even more, and that is exactly what organized crime took advantage of. Democracy and the capitalist rules induced these criminal groups to escape imprisonment. Authorities had neither power nor evidence to pin any provable crime against them. To this day, these criminals are still profiting from privatization. Privatization led to the transfer of vast wealth to a handful of oligarchs and to rampant corruption,† (Schemann, 2009), leaving only a few people wealthy. Mitigating the security issues with trade, capitalism and democracy, which permitted organized crime to continue their illegal activity, affected the overall result of the economic reform. The global economy ignited the purpose of Russia’s economic reform: Although, organized crime had brought negative effects on Russia’s economic reform, their actions had increased success indirectly to their economic reform as well.A man named Tarzan from Russia has a business in Miami. Before he opened up this business, he worked for the Russian mafia. Extorting countless business and private companies, the mafia had these people pay protection fees, usually killing those who oppose. Through these connections with the mafia, Tarzan was able to create a new lifestyle for himself. His business was collaborated by the Columbian mafia. He helped smuggled weapons and provides the Columbian with transport they desired. He even sold a submarine to the Columbians.This vast global trade gave Tarzan the means to make more money and continue prospering in the market. Items and ideas were assimilated to different places, expanding the abounding global trade and economy. Emerging from the Soviet Union with a ruined economy, there was very little economic opportunity for Russia to improve their economy. Russia’s economic instability during the 1900’s â€Å"have increasingly scared off foreign investors; foreign direct investment (FDI) into Russia fell by 45 percent in the first half of 2009 alone†, (Mankoff, 2010).No forei gn investors are willing to invest and no countries are willing to participate in trade with it. For this reason, the Russians had no partners to trade with in order to expand their economy. Russia compelled an economic reform in search for an opportunity to extend their economic influence, but how is it possible to have an economic reform when the country’s funds are empty? How did Russia revived from its decline? And more eminently, what system or factor granted Russia the aptitude to succeed?The answer to the latter resides in the system or factor which commenced global trade; this system or factor being organized crime. In the interest of global trade, Russia, which had little resources and industries to offer, was presented with an opportunity to flourish in the market. Privatization was introduced, whether the companies were legal or not. It is recorded that â€Å"roughly two-thirds of Russia’s economy is under the sway of the crime syndicates†, (Webster, 1997). But this does not change the goal of Russia’s economy.Russian revived itself through illegal businesses by the global economy and free market. Whether the motive behind the Russian mafia’s trade was with illegal means, capital was flowing and increasing, which aided the promising rise of a global partner. In 1996, the capital flight exceeded 6 billion U. S. dollars, rendering the growth of organized crime’s profits excel in other countries too, (Kramer, 2000). Illegal trade with the U. S. has brought many fleeing to the states. The majority of the mafia members had taken posts and paired up with other organized crime groups.Regarding the trade between the organized crime and others, though it may be illegal, money is flowing in and out of the country. As Friedman mentions, that â€Å"[g]lobalization also calls for a reform†, (Friedman, 1999), there is sufficient, benign results from Russia’s crime groups on the development of the economic re form. The situation that organized crime started had somehow ameliorated the sterile economy of Russia’s previous economy, thus improving the economic reform. Nearly all the global trend settlers were previous Russian reformers, who were probably associated with organized crime. Friedman 1999). Russian organized crime groups were the first to begin the global trade since the Soviet Union. These people are the ones who started the trade between nations in the west. This advances trade and economic prosperity within Russia.The reform had benefits on behalf of this. With the open trade, the Russians gained the attention they were deficient in by raising the economic awareness around the globe to prolong a successful reform. Henceforth, the Russian economic reform was successful due to rganized crime’s initiation of applying capitalism and democracy. Conclusion: Russia’s economic reform can be summarized as well-developed, partly due to capitalism and democracy, as well as, the expansion of a global economy by organized crime groups. Yet the economic reform has partially failed from the pervasion of corruption and capitalism evoked by organized crime. Russia’s economic reform is affected substantially by these three factors. On account of corruption, the economic reform did not obtain the necessary requirement of funds that it needed to succeed.Capitalism and democracy conceded organized crime to flourish and amass the money reserves that was imperative for the motivation of the economic reform. Despite this, capitalism had also paved Russia’s road towards the beginning of the free market. In addition, the global economy had given consent for organized crime to uphold recognition in the global economy, delivering Russia the advertisement it lacked to partake in the market. Overall, organized crime has had a rather significant impact on Russia’s economic reform.Russia could emerge one day as a superpower; however, it has no t acquired all the necessary components to dominate in the global economy. If Russia continues to administer organized crime through corruption or does not push for economic and political reform again, investors in the foreign market will avoid investment in Russia and Russia, once again, will collapse, this time farther into recession.