Nokia Case Study essays

Nokia Case Study essays How does a 139-year-old Finnish company whose major product lines once included diapers and rubber boots become a leading-edge technology company? When questioned by MIT economist Bengt Holmstrom, Company CEO Jorma Ollila of Nokia insists that there is no secret code to the success of the company based in an inhospitably cold home market of just 5 million people. The key to success for Nokia is establishing the right balance between innovation and execution. According to Ollila, in a technology business, you need a tremendous amount of innovation, but with these volumes and growth you need to execute or it will kill you...I think we have done that better than anybody else.i Nokia Corporation is a world leader in global communications headquartered in Espoo, Finland, just outside of Helsinki. Nokias global presence is established by its 16 manufacturing facilities and 11 research and development centers in 11 different countries around the world. Their 51,000 employees contributed to the sales of 179 million units in 2003, which translated to over $36 billion in net sales and an operating profit of $6.3 billion (appendix i). Nokias $99.1 billion market capitalization makes it the largest company in the telecom equipment makers industry. In 1998, Nokia surpassed Motorola to become the worlds leading maker of mobile phones and has a 34% market share in 2003 (appendix ii). The company has been listed on various exchanges, such as the London Stock Exchange, but it was not until 1994, that Nokia finally listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the NOK ticker symbol where the majority of their cash was generated to buy-out the antsy Finnish shareholders during their troubled early years. Between 1997 and 2000, the stock had increased 2,300% to the delight of their shareholders and proved that Nokia was able to adopt shareholder-value-based thinking. In 2004, Nokia reorganized its organizati...

Reasons to Learn French

Reasons to Learn French There are all kinds of reasons to learn a foreign language in general and French in particular. Lets start with the general. Why Learn a Foreign Language? Communication An obvious reason to learn a new language is to be able to communicate with the people who speak it. This includes both the people you meet when traveling as well as people in your community. Your trip to another country will be greatly enhanced in both ease of communication and friendliness if you speak the language. Speaking anothers language shows respect for that culture, and people in every country prefer it when tourists make an effort to speak the local language, even if all you can say in it is hello and please. Also, learning another language can also help you to communicate with local immigrant populations at home. Cultural Understanding Speaking a new language helps you to get to know other people and their culture, as language and culture go hand in hand. Because language simultaneously defines and is defined by the world around us, learning another language opens ones mind to new ideas and new ways of looking at the world. For example, the fact that many languages have more than one translation of you indicates that these languages (and the cultures that speak them) place a greater emphasis on distinguishing between audiences than does English. French distinguishes between tu (familiar) and vous (formal/plural), while Spanish has five words that indicate one of four categories: familiar/singular (tà º or vos, depending on the country), familiar/plural (vosotros), formal/singular (Ud) and formal/plural (Uds). Meanwhile, Arabic distinguishes between nta (masculine singular), nti (feminine singular), and ntuma (plural). In contrast, English uses you for masculine, feminine, familiar, formal, singular, and plural. The fact that these languages have such different ways of looking at you indicates cultural differences between the people who speak them: French and Spanish focus on familiarity vs. formality, while Arabic emphasizes gender. This is just one example of many of the linguistic and cultural differences between languages. Also, when you speak another language, you can enjoy literature, film, and music in the original language. It is extremely difficult for a translation to be a perfect replica of the original; the best way to understand what the author meant is to read what the author wrote. Business and Careers Speaking more than one language is a skill which will increase your marketability. Schools and employers tend to prefer candidates who speak one or more foreign languages. Even though English is widely spoken in much of the world, the fact is that the global economy depends on communication. When dealing with France, for example, someone who speaks French will have an obvious advantage over someone who doesnt. Language Enhancement Learning another language can help you to understand your own. Many languages have contributed to the development of English, so learning those will teach you where words and even grammatical structures are from, and augment your vocabulary to boot. Also, in learning how another language differs from your own, you will increase your understanding of your language. For many people, language is innate- we know how to say something, but we dont necessarily know why we say it that way. Learning another language can change that.Each subsequent language you study will be, in some respects, a little easier, because youve already learned how to learn another language. Plus, if the languages are related, such as French and Spanish, German and Dutch, or Arabic and Hebrew, some of what youve already learned will apply to the new language as well, making the new language that much easier. Test Scores As years of foreign language study increase, math and verbal SAT scores increase. Children who study a foreign language often have higher standardized test scores in math, reading, and language arts. Foreign language study can help to increase problem-solving skills, memory, and self-discipline. Why Learn French? If you are a native English speaker, one of the best reasons to learn French is to help you understand your language. Although English is a Germanic language, French has had an enormous impact on it. French is the largest donor of foreign words in English. Unless your English vocabulary is much higher than average,  learning French  will greatly increase the number of English words you know. French is spoken as a native language in more than two dozen countries on five continents. Depending on your sources, French is either the 11th or the 13th most common native language in the world, with 72 to 79 million native speakers and another 190 million secondary speakers. French is the second most commonly taught second language in the world (after English), making it a real possibility that speaking French will come in handy practically anywhere you travel. French in Business In 2003, the United States was Frances leading investor, accounting for 25% of the new jobs created in France from foreign investment. There are 2,400 US companies in France generating 240,000 jobs. American companies with offices in France include IBM, Microsoft, Mattel, Dow Chemical, SaraLee, Ford, Coca-Cola, ATT, Motorola, Johnson  Ã‚  Johnson, Ford, and  Hewlett Packard. France is the second leading investor in the United States: more than 3,000 French companies have subsidiaries in the US and generate some 700,000 jobs, including Mack Trucks, Zenith, RCA-Thomson, Bic, and Dannon. French in the United States French is the 3rd most frequently spoken  non-English  language in US homes and the second most commonly taught foreign language in the United States (after Spanish). French in the World French is an official working language in dozens of  international organizations, including the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee, and the International Red Cross. French is the lingua franca of culture, including art, cuisine, dance, and fashion. France has won more Nobel Prizes for literature than any other country in the world and is one of the top producers of international films. French is the second most frequently used language on the internet. French is ranked as the 2nd most influential language in the world. Oh, and one other thing- Spanish is  not  easier than French! Sources Admissions Testing Program of the College Board. France in the U.S.  Franco-American Business Ties Rock Solid,  News from France  vol 04.06, May 19, 2004. Rhodes, N. C., Branaman, L. E. Foreign language instruction in the United States: A national survey of elementary and secondary schools. Center for Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems, 1999. Summer Institute for Linguistics Ethnologue Survey, 1999. United States Census, Ten Languages Most Frequently Spoken at Home Other than English and Spanish: 2000, figure 3. Weber, George. The Worlds 10 Most Influential Languages, Language Today, Vol. 2, Dec 1997.

Event Leadership Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Event Leadership - Research Paper Example The role of the event producer is a major one and usually inter-links with the event manager. In an event management company the role of the event producer is a representative who is the lead producer of the event who evaluates the supplies, vendors, number of staffs and subcontractors who will work on the event. Together they become the production team (Matthews 2007). Event manager: The event manager has an overlapping role of administration, coordination, marketing, and managing legal, risks or ethical issues. The event manager either supports or is the same as the event producer. He has similar responsibilities in the production of the special event depending on the width and breadth of the event (Goldblatt 2004). Administrating contractor: This is the person or organization responsible for recruiting the staffs necessary for carrying out the tasks during the event. The event producer sometimes take on the task of hiring, training, and firing of personnel involved in the team but is not directly responsible for contracting them. The event producer pays for them and even provides the technical expertise to effectively coordinate the activities but the staffs remain under the supervision of the contractor. Directors: These individuals are those who are the stakeholders such as the financiers, organizations, individuals or officials who are paying for the event. They usually have direct influence over the flow of the event, its successful production and its completion. They are in essence the "boss". Legal representatives: Sometimes the nature of the event requires intervention from public organizations which are external to the event such as the government, police department, fire brigade department and officials. To ensure that the event complies with local policies and procedures, state, provincial or federal laws, legal representatives may be recruited to guide the event producer in this arena (Goldblatt

Questions - Negotiation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Questions - Negotiation - Essay Example Similarly, any of the Kilmann’s models may be suitable depending on the characteristic of the condition and the negotiators personalities. Discussion 1. Identify and describe the 5 conflict handling modes as set forth in the Thomas-Kilman Conflict Mode Instrument Kilmann’s approaches of dispute resolution entails the following. Avoidance The avoiding management of conflict approach is low on cooperativeness and aggressiveness. This means that the manager is not highly cooperative in assisting the other parties to attain their objectives; neither is he assertively pursuing his suitable results in the case. Avoidance model of conflict management is often counterproductive, always resulting to depression and further problems. The people who persistently avoid conflicts trigger feelings of aggressiveness, anger and vengeance within themselves, triggering increased anxiety. In this approach, initial challenge, conflict, or condition is not directly attended or resolved. In a ddition, avoiding attitude may be suitable when the matter is perceived as being trivial. It is also a suitable approach to employ when there is a higher chance of winning the case or when distraction would be highly expensive. Competition Competing conflict management model is also described as the win-lose strategy and is characterized by increased assertiveness and reduced cooperativeness. The manager aims to achieve her own appropriate benefits at the advantage of his opponents. This model may be suitable when immediate decisive actions are required, such as in cases of emergencies. The approach can also be appropriate to confront unusual actions like urgent cost reduction. Accommodation style This approach reflects an increased degree of unity, and it has been considered obliging. Negotiator using this approach subjugate his goals anticipated results and objectives to enable other parties to attain their objectives and results. This approach is most suitable when parties unders tand that they did a mistake or when the matter is highly crucial to one party than another. This conflict management approach is vital for safeguarding future relationships amidst the parties. Compromising Compromising conflict management approach is characterized by relative degree of both cooperativeness and aggressiveness. Compromise, also known as bargaining, produces moderate output. This behavior may be employed when the objectives of the two sides are of similar significance, when the two parties have equal authority, or when it is vital to look for a semi permanent, timely remedy. The approach should not be utilized in case of a complicated challenge demanding a conflict solving style. Collaboration Collaborative conflict management style is intensive on both aggressiveness and cooperativeness. It is also considered the win-win mechanism. Both parties innovatively strive towards attaining the anticipated results and goals of all the individuals involved. The approach is sui table when the matter is complex, and an innovative or novel comprehension of ideas is required. The limitation of this style is that the collaborating process mandates genuine efforts by all the individuals involved, and it might need extra time to reach an agreement. The above five Kilmann’

Light Saber :: essays papers

Light Saber There was once a young man who set forth to accomplish a great feat. On a quest for enrichment and knowledge his journey led him to an institute of higher learning. There he was to amass an immense amount of knowledge and discover secrets only a small portion of society possessed. But this place was far away†¦ it was a new land of snow-covered hills and a beverage called Busch Light. No longer would he be surrounded by the comforts of Smog,, 7-Elevens’s, and drive-by’s. He prepared for his journey the best he could and equipped himself with but one item to insure his safety and well being should anything happen on his quest. Once in this new land he discovered many groups and social structures. One of these stood out from the rest, this one was not a click of hopeless losers but an organization that stood above the others with ideals and principles that forged its members into the highest quality of men, each a Balanced Man in every aspect of life. He knew this small kingdom in the middle of Pullman was where he needed to flourish to become the person his journey was striving to make him. Eventually he became a part of the brotherhood, learning about his new homes past and traditions he began to realize just how profound a decision he had made and was grateful he was experiencing all he was. One evening he was consuming the sacred drinks of his people, filling his body with fluids such as Skip’N’Go and Busch Light. They were having a great gathering that evening with females from all over coming to pay homage to the mighty SigEp house. A member approached this young man and gave him the responsibility to monitor the entrance of the mighty structure and prevent any men from entering and participating that were not of the brotherhood. It would be a difficult task†¦He knew he would need every advantage available to protect the house and prove his loyalty and worth. He went and retrieved the object he knew he would have to one day use†¦with it no man or beast or law enforcement officer would dare confront him or challenge his refusal to let them enter. He stood at the entrance and rejected countless individuals whom he later discovered were called â€Å"haters†.

Externalities in Business

Definition of externalities: Externalities recently became an important and a popular term in the business world, especially with the risen of debates and arguments about the externalities’ costs and benefits, and the ethical issues related to it. Almost everybody deals with an externality everyday but without being aware of it (kaydee, 2008). The simple definition of says that Externality is the effect of an economic transaction which impacts somebody who was not involved in that transaction. The more complicated definition sates that Externalities can be defined as the different types of effects which impact some parties (individual or entities) as a consequence of other parties’ activities. These effects occur without any choice of the affected party and without taking their interest into account by the affecting party (kaydee, 2008). When any economic trade occurs between two parties, they both benefit from the trade. Sometimes, a third party is being affected as well by this trade, the effect can be a negative effect or a positive one; and these effects are what we call externalities (Anon. nd). For example, if we take any business organization as one party and the customer is the other party, they both have the trade of the organization sells or provide goods or services, and the customer pays to obtain this good or service. However, the society as a whole could be considered as a third party, any external costs the society pays or any external benefits it gai ns from this trade (costs and benefits not included in the market price of the goods or services) are then considered to be an externality. By breaking down this example, the business organization or the customer can be considered to be the affecting party, the society, the third party, is thus will be the affected party, the external costs and benefits are the externalities (Anon. , nd). Types of externalities: There are two types of externalities, the positive type and negative type. The external benefits are always considered to be positive externalities, these benefits affect the outsiders in a positive way, give some advantages and without any payment required. The external costs are considered as negative externalities, these costs affect the outsider negatively, impact them in disadvantageous way, and the outsiders are forced pay these costs without any choice (Jonson, n. d. ). There are lots of examples to clarify each of the two types. The negative externality which is some analysts call it as external costs and some other call it as external diseconomies can be seen in the global warming which is considered to be number one negative externality; the change in the climate came as a result from the emissions of burning the oil, coal and gas. The water pollution as a result of adding poisons to the water or the several contaminated chemicals which are dumped by industrial plants in lands or lakes participates in harming the people, plants and animals. The over fishing which comes as a consequence from the over harvesting of a fishing company harms other fishing companies harvesting in the same ocean. The company trucks using a road may create congestion or traffic jam which impacts negatively other road users. In the animal production, the industrial farms which generate huge outputs of animal products generates a negative externalities in the form of increasing the antibiotic resistant bacteria, contamination of rivers and waters by the disposal of the animal waste. These farms as well result in another externality of the animal welfare reduction due to the close quarters where the animals are kept. The problems which may be caused by the nuclear plants when storing the nuclear waste in impropriate way, and the radioactive waste which is generated thorough the energy production of the nuclear power plants may affect the current and new generations. The external cost of health decline which is a consequence of smoking, the external cost in the form of car accidents due the consumption of alcohol by drinkers which may lead to pedestrians killing or injure, are all considered as negative externality. All the previous negative externalities examples harm the environment and the inhabitants. The environment, the people, plants and animals are the parties which are affected negatively without any choice from their side and without taking their interests into consideration by the externality generator (Shaprio, Khemani, 2003; Anon. , nd). There are many examples also to be mentioned to describe the positive externality. When someone buys a certain product, it would increase the product value to other people who already have this product, the increase of the value is considered to be an external benefit for these people, this type of positive externality sometimes called the network externality or the network effect. When an invention is discovered or information is made more accessible, then other people will externally benefit from using this invention or the information. The education also gives a positive externality to the whole society, the more are the educated people in the society the more the whole society better off even people who are not educated as the rate of crime will decline which means more safety. Another example of positive externalities is when a foreign company opens a new branch in another country, although the deal is between the foreign organization and the country, and although they both benefit financially from this deal, but as well people will benefit by having opportunities for jobs, salaries and kind of secure life, this extra benefit for the people is considered to be positive externality. Also, when people buy a specific type of a commodity, the demand on these commodity increases, which as well increase the work chances for distributors, or when people buy a car model, then the demand for mechanics of this certain car model increases. Construction as well may give positive externality, when roads and bridges are built and opened; it may give a chance of opening new areas for housing and establishing business entities (Shaprio, Khemani, 2003; Anon. , nd; Anon. , 2007). Externalities and the ethical theories: Generally, externalities are always a term which creates a situation of social injustice, its existence generates socially unbalanced outcomes, regarding the fact that a party may gain external benefits without paying any type of costs, or a party who may suffer from and forced to pay external costs without any choice (Anon. , nd). The question about ethics in all cases of the externalities moves around the universal ethics. The universal ethics are defined as a system of ethics that can apply to every human being. The externality then, with its both types, the positive one and the negative, may lead to a violation of the ethics. If we analyze the negative externality example we mentioned of the radioactive pollution, as such an externality will contain external costs, people who will be affected by the negative outcomes, will consider the harm they will be exposed to as explicit costs which they did not put into account before. The harm could be in the shape of lung and body diseases, and the extra payment for medical checks and medicines. As the radioactive company serves the people by providing utilities, people will see the harm generated by the same company – the negative externality- as a reduction of the utility. The negative externality here then raises an ethical problem as it is simply considered as a violation of ethics as harming others (Anon. , nd). Regarding the positive externalities, it again raises an ethical issue by violating the universal ethics as the positive externalities type is always connected to the term which is called â€Å"free riding†. To explain how positive externality violates the ethics, let us refer to our example of education, when the society as a whole and as a third party, benefits from the education process in the form of being an educated, productive and well being society. Everyone then in the society will benefit, even people who were not educated will benefit without paying any cost. For such people, who will benefit from the educated, productive and well being society they are living in, it is considered external benefits as they did not pay for education, but on the contrary, they are free riding on the cost of others who had to go through and pay for the education process. Another example is the society health care, when people go and obtain the vaccination, the society will be protected from the transmitted diseases by its vaccinated members, but the people who did not receive the vaccination will still be protected from the diseases and will benefit from the healthy and protected society, actually they are free riding on the costs of the other members of the society. The free riding problem- the positive externality- is considered to be against the ethics and raise an ethical issue of benefiting from the borne of others (Anon. , nd). Also externalities raise an ethical issue due to the problem that the value or equivalent of any externality is difficult to be determined, most of the externalities are hidden, negative externalities are hidden by the traders, and positive externalities are hidden by the third parties benefit from it, which considered cheating, and breach the simple ethical rule â€Å"do not cheat† (kaydee, 2008). With the nowadays absence of ethics, the behavior changed negatively in a dramatic way, People do not think anymore about the externality which they going to create once any product they buy reach the expiry date. Companies do not think about the consequences of their waste disposal of the manufacturing operations. Injustice is considered to be a violation of ethics, when a third party is negatively affected by a transaction which is out of his or her control, there is then a case of injustice. Similar, when someone is affected positively by a transaction which is out of his or her control and he or she does not pay for this benefit, again the injustice takes place (kaydee, 2008). Some analysts have different opinion; some will argue that there is no ethical issue about externalities, meaning that there is nothing to do with wrongdoing. The supporters of this opinion say that most of the businesses are trying to achieve the purpose of their existence; they try to achieve their target whatever it is, making profit, providing goods and services, and keeping the employees employed. The conflict of interests between the businesses’ activities and the different parties around does not mean that businesses are doing anything wrong (MacDonald, 2007). Corporations actually should work under some certain core concepts which most of the time create kind of ethical dilemmas, these concepts are the business ethics rules which each business should respect and follow. But it is clear that these concepts are not strictly followed by business leaders, most of corporations do not pay much attention to business ethics and lots of businesses do not pay attention to the ethical implications of the externalities and its damage of the environment. As it is said: In business, it’s easy to talk about ethics, but it’s damn hard to be ethical. If we look back in time, historically two important ethical philosophies were created, the Western Ethical Philosophy and the Eastern Ethical Philosophy. Generally, philosophers came up with a number of ethical principles that control and guide business activities, these principles can be considered as ethical standards which always get codified into laws. One of the most important and well known ethical systems in the western ethical philosophies was the Hippocratic Oath, these principles was created by the Greek physician Hippocrates, and they are still used today, these principles in total generally direct people to the concept of â€Å"Do no harm. † The eastern example is the karma which adopts the concept of cause and effect, what are the negative and positive results of any conduct. This ethical system simply says that if you harm others, then the harm will eventually return to you; according to that, if the business creates good consequences then this good will return back to the business, and if the business does harm others, then the harm will also return and harm the business (Johannsen, n. d. ). So, both philosophies and some other philosophies not mentioned in this paper, raise the ethical issue of harming others, which is related to the externalities consequences, as one of the five core business concepts from the perspective of the harm and the negative effects that businesses generate. Worth to mention that the five core business concepts from the view of causing harm are: Shareholder Wealth, Profit Maximization, Fiduciary Responsibility, Return on Investment (ROI), and Externalities (Johannsen, n. d. ). In any business, all the accounting figures including profits and costs are always shown on the financial statements, but in the case of the externalities (which some financial analysts call it financial liabilities) the financial statements do not show the external cost or the external benefits of the corporation. Some will argue that this is considered to be a manipulation and a breach of ethics, and that the businesses should, clarify, confess, be responsible and pay for the externalities they cause. But some others will argue that the externalities are so hard to be described as a number or figure, and thus cannot be shown in the financial statement as liabilities, and so it can not be described as a manipulation or a breach of ethics. One of the important and well known ethical theories that may describe the externalities in a better way could be the utilitarian ethical theory. The utilitarianism refers to the idea that the moral worth of any action, whatever this action is done by an individual or by an entity, the moral worth will be determined only by how the action’s consequences participates to the overall utility. Thus, the utilitarianism indicates a type of consequentialism, as the moral worth of the action then will be judged according to its results and its effects on people. The utility here is considered to be the overall pleasure and the absence of pain. The utilitarian ethical theory describes the different types of actions, any action is considered to be an ethical action- in other words to be morally right – if its moral worth is positive, meaning, the action’s outcomes contribute in developing the overall utility or the overall happiness or pleasure among people. However the action will be considered as an unethical action- or morally wrong- if its moral worth is negative and its consequences are decreasing the overall utility of people and cause them suffering or pain (Anon. , nd). If we put externalities in practice according to the utilitarian ethical theory, then both types of externalities, the positive and the negative, are to be considered as unethical actions. The negative externality affects the third parties by reducing their utility, in all our previous examples of negative externalities, environment and people end in suffering and pain. Talking about the positive externalities, they are as well considered unethical as the third parties are affected positively but without paying any cost for these benefits which in a way increase their utilities but on the account of others. Although this ethical theory was successful for a period of time, it was faced with lots of criticism which came up later. One of the important criticisms was that the utilitarian ethical theory described the positive and negative externalities as symmetric in nature, and those externalities will lead to non optimal outcomes which call for the necessity of government intervention. Mr. Murray Rothbard wrote in his book, Man, Economy, and State, a good criticism of the utilitarianism approach of externalities. He stated that the positive and the negative externalities are not symmetric from the ethical perspective of property rights. He says that the two externalities types are completely different in nature; he argued that the injustice in the case of the negative externalities is due to the failure of the authorities in protecting the property rights of every party involved. Opposite, in the case of the positive externalities, there is no violation of the property rights of the party who gives the external benefits but only when the authority tries to extend this benefits (Cleveland, 2002). Another ethical theory which can explain the externalities is the social responsibility theory. The corporate social responsibility term- which is divided into four parts, the legal, the discretionary, the economic responsibility, and finally what we are interested in, the ethical responsibility- refers to the obligations of the business to work and conduct the operations in ways which achieve its own interests and the interests of all its stakeholders. Thus, the business is to be considered as a socially responsible if it pays attention and make sure that its activities do not harm or affect negatively its stakeholders (Sandy Millar, Christopher Theunissen, 2008, P69) (Anon. 2008). When we look at externalities from this theory’s point of view, especially the negative type of externalities, any business which causes harm to the environment, people and society in total, should not be then considered as socially responsible business. This business often works on achieving its own interests and purpose of existence (making profit and satisfying the shareholders), but it fa ils in keeping its social responsibilities and obligations towards the rest of the stakeholders and thus lead to externalities. As mentioned, the most important interest and the main target for most corporations are to satisfy their shareholders needs, and that comes by making profit. This aim is the most argued that it is the reason for corporation to act unethically and not paying attention to the social responsibility and lead to unethical practices which cause the externalities. At the end the corporation is just a legal structure and its moral responsibilities comes from the moral responsibilities of the corporation’s shareholders, employees, and managers. If the managers are being unethical conducting unethical activities, and if the shareholders are being unethical by approving and giving the green light to the managers to go ahead in such unethical practices, then it at the end reflects on the overall corporation of being ethical or unethical, of being socially responsible or not (Anon. , 2008). This leads to another approach, which is the general ethics theory. Ethics is what examines and judge the human behavior; regarding what is right and what is wrong, regarding what is just and what is unjust, and regarding what is fair and what is unfair. To behave ethically is to behave in a manner which is right or moral. The behavior then is considered to be ethical if it is right and the vise versa. But what does determine if the behavior is right or wrong? What does determine if the behavior ethical or unethical? Generally, the society comes on the top of the list of what determines what is right or wrong, even if societies are sometimes different from one another in some of specific rules and determinations of the morally correct behavior, but at the end they all agree some general standards and principles which should be followed. When combining the two theories together, the social responsibility and the general ethics, we find that externalities happen due to many reasons. There is no one agreed moral code, and people, including top executives, have weak sense of good moral especially that nowadays people are mostly far from religion and their morals come often from their experience. This conflict of good behavior and gaining high profit is a good example, when choosing between being socially responsible or profit in the existence of weak sense of morals, the business represented in its official will chooses the profit. In multinational companies, externalities are more likely to happen as these companies operate in different countries; each has its own people and its own culture and moral codes which may conflict with each other. Individuals in such companies, when working with different groups with different values and moral codes, tend easily to break their own values, ethics, and behavior which they believe to be the right way, in order to fit, adapt to and be accepted by their group instead of standing up against the wrong behavior, their own interest to be recognized do beat their social responsibility which they are obliged towards the society. Suggested solutions for externalities: There are some solutions which came up to deal with the issue of externalities. Most of these solutions are faced by criticism due to various reasons. Social Conventions, Regulatory Limits, Mergers, and corrective taxes are considered to be the most important answers to deal with the externalities. The social conventions approach aims to deal with externalities through the social conventions and traditions. But it faced with a criticism that it forces people to take into account the externalities they cause, and that it may work with individuals but its effectiveness will not be useful with high cost externalities generated by multinational companies as instance. Merger, another solution for externalities, gathers all the parties involved in the externality to merge, but again it failed to solve all situations, it could solve the negative externalities between some firms by merging them together, but in a situation like a polluter company and the people around this company who are affected negatively by the pollution, how can the company and the people merge together? (Gibson, 1996). The regulatory limits approach is supposed to be the most common approach for dealing with externalities, simply it does not only suggest to impose regulatory limits for the externality amount generated by any party, but as well imposes a fine for any party generates externality which exceeds the regulatory limits. The corrective taxes approach aims to impose corrective taxes in order to push all parties to be socially responsible and limit the amount of externalities produced. If we take pollution as an example, then corrective taxes will be imposed on each unit of pollution equal to the same amount of damage affected the society. The two approaches, which in a way close in concept to each other, aim to force the externalities generators- including businesses- to absorb the cost incurred by them. Still, both approaches are faced with problems which weaken them. The regulatory limits approach has some difficulties especially when it comes to the determination and detection of the firms breaching the limits and by how much is the violation of the limits (Gibson, 1996). The corrective tax approach has lots of supporters who completely agree that externalities generators should pay the full cost for their faults, and by punishing some business, this will work as a red alert to the rest to pay more attention to business ethics and to behave in a better ethical and moral way. But still the ideas is facing lots of criticism, the opponents claim that when implementing such a tax system, the first result will be the price increase as the businesses will try to keep their profit margin stable, especially after the increase of their costs due to paying the corrective tax, this will eventually lead to a decrease in demand and thus economical problems. Also, the opponents argue that in some externality cases, such as pollution, it is difficult to determine the polluter and the amount of harm was caused (same like the regulatory limits). And even if the damage amount can be determined, it appears the biggest problem of externality which is the estimation of the externality effects. Positive or negative externality should be measured and translated into a value which will determine the corrective tax amount (Gibson, 1996). Some businesses, when faced with the problem of externality, and when they are accused by affecting negatively third parties, whatever it was environment, people or other businesses, they sometimes follow what is called the obstructive response, which indicates the lowest degree of social responsibility. According to this type of response, accused businesses tend to deny all the responsibility, and argue that any evidence that they generated an externality is misleading; they also do their best to delay investigations and the conformation of externality evidences, they did not only breach the ethical rule of â€Å"do not harm† by they as well breach the rule of â€Å"do not cheat†. Conclusion and recommendations: Externality with its two types, the positive and the negative, happens all the time in our normal daily life; it has several effects on all parties involved. Environmental harm is the most important and recognized consequence of the negative externality. Several ethical theories can be used to explain the ethical nature of externalities, the utilitarianism, the social responsibility, and the general ethics theories. Generally, externalities are considered to be a violation of ethics. Many reasons cause the externalities, but most importantly is the absence of ethics, and the good moral of people, which lead to absence of business ethics and morals as business at the end consists of groups of people. There are businesses which pay attention to the social responsibility and the good moral, these businesses try to meet their obligations towards their business environment, sometimes through setting up special committees or professional experts in order to discuss and solve their ethical problems. But most businesses are clearly tend to ignore their social responsibility and act mostly in the way which serves their own interests and deny any claim or evidences about the externalities and harm they may cause to their business environment. There are several possible approaches to deal with the problem of externalities, but each approach has its weaknesses. There is a strong support for persuading businesses to fully take the responsibility and pay for the externality’s cost incurred by them. The opponents of this opinion argue that this cannot be done as it is difficult to determine the amount of harm produced and as well difficult to translate it into a value. Some other opponents claim that businesses do offer to the society and the business environment more benefits than harm in the shape of better economy, employment, utilities and welfare. Top executives and managers and generally business officials should work and ethically apply the core concepts in ways which prevent the externalities and the harm which could be generated by their decisions. They also have to solve the problem of interests’ conflict and act in a way that balance and achieve both interest as much as possible. Business officials have to establish moral principles to determine an organizational core value to control and guide the organization’s practices and to set a moral climate within the organization. Any business that violates the ethics should then be suspended from continuing its operation for a period of time; at least till correction step is taken. People should return and relive the ethics and values, and they have to act and behave rationally. Governments must play stronger role to deal with the externality problem. Many approaches can be followed like a well define for property rights, Criminalization, Civil Tort law, and Government provision. References: Anonymous. , nd. Definition of Externality. (Online). Available at: About. om: Economics. http://economics. about. com/cs/economicsglossary/g/externality. htm. (Accessed 20 July 2009) Anonymous. , nd. Externality. (Online). Available at: Wikipedia, Answer. com. http://www. answers. com/topic/externality-1. (Accessed 22 July 2009) Anonymous. , 2007. Externality. (Online). Available at: Guardian. co. uk. http://www. guardian. co. uk/business/2007/apr/11/businessglossary9. (Accessed 25 July 2009) Anonymous. , nd. Utilitarian ism. (Online). Available at: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Utilitarianism. (Accessed 28 July 2009) Anonymous. , 2008. Social Responsibility. (Online). Available at: OPPapers. http://www. oppapers. com/essays/Social-Responsibility/159386. (Accessed 1 august 2009) Cleveland. , A. , 2002. The Failure of Utilitarian Ethics in Political Economy. (Online). Available at: The Independent Institute. http://www. independent. org/publications/article. asp? id=1602. (Accessed 28 July 2009) Gibson. , H. , 1996. Externalities: Implications for allocative efficiency and suggested solutions. (Online). Available at: Hunterlink. http://www2. hunterlink. net. au/~ddhrg/econ/ext1. html. (Accessed 28 July 2009) Johannsen. , M. , nd. Five Core Business Concepts Causing Ethical Problems for Organizations. (Online). Available at: A Glossary of Political Economy. http://www. legacee. com/Info/Mindset/BusinessEthics. html. (Accessed 27 July 2009) Jonson. , P. , nd. Externality. (Online). Available at: A Glossary of Political Economy. http://www. auburn. edu/~johnspm/gloss/externality. (Accessed 20 July 2009) Kay Dee. , 2008. The Ethics of Externalities. Online). Available at: Engineering Ethics Blog. http://engineeringethicsblog. blogspot. com/2008/11/ethics-of-externalities. html. (Accessed 20 July 2009) MacDonald. , C. , 2007. Externalities and the Ethics of Small Matters. (Online). Available at: The Business Ethics Blog. http://www. businessethics. ca/blog/2007/03/samosa-ethics-externalities-and-ethics. html. (Accessed 20 July 2009) Shapiro. , D & Khemani. , R. , 2003. Externality. (Onli ne). Available at: Glossary of Statistical Term. http://stats. oecd. org/glossary/detail. asp? ID=3215.

Essay on Adoros Aesthetic Theory - 1704 Words

Art can be interpreted in varying ways. One could take the Kantian approach by placing special importance on art’s autonomy, while proclaiming that art prescribes to its own set of self-created maxims. These maxims facilitate the creation of normative idea of art, where excellent is determined by how well it meets arts self-created maxims. Therefore the Mona Lisa is only a good painting because it greatly conforms to the maxims of the art normative. Another approach would be the Hegelian interpretation that states that art is the â€Å"highest human vocation.† In this way art shows humanity normative of human existence in a way that shows the worthiness of human society. However, there is a problem with both sets of interpretation—they†¦show more content†¦As stated above Adorno interpretation of art, or his Aesthetic Theory, draw from both Hegel and Kant. Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory can be shown in two parts, by interpreting a piece of art and the n contrasting his theory with Walter Benjamin, another member of the Frankfurt School. The Cloisters Museum in New York City houses a collection of seven tapestries known as The Hunt of The Unicorn. The exact date of that these tapestries is unknown; however, it is estimated that they were created between 1495 and 1505 C.E. They where likely created for a member of the landed class in the Low Lands region of Europe. The series chronicles the hunt of a Unicorn by several nobles. The second in the series called The Unicorn is Found (Figure 1): shows a pure white unicorn genuflecting in front of a water fountain, with its horn piecing a stream. According to Medieval thought, this was thought to purify the water. Twelve hunters dressed in cloths only noblemen could afford linger in the background, as they appear to be discussing their plan of attack. On the water fountain sit four birds, a pair of goldfinches and a pair of pheasants. In front of the unicorn lay a series of un-recogniza ble animals. The tapestry is filled with various plants, which are common on all the tapestries. They appear to be plants that were used in medieval times as medicine. In interperting The Unicorn is Found (Figure