Women religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women religion - Essay Example This paper will encompass this aspect with regard to the work done by some of the brave women who stood up for this right and provided an insight in to this matter. During the Puritan Age, there was a religious belief that the sacred text of Bible could only be understood by the holders of the local ministries. It was further believed that only they possessed the right to explain the religious text to others as they were the only ones who interpret the true meaning of the Holy Book. The ministers were all men and hence only they had this ultimate right which led them to manipulate religious thoughts according to their ways. They suppressed women by presenting their thoughts that females did not have the capability of understanding religion and that females were subordinate to them. Anne Hutchinson was a brave lady who stood up against these barriers in this period of ignorance and started preaching religion with her own viewpoint. Anne Hutchinson stood for the fact that a person had the capability of linking directly to God and they were not supposed to depend upon others for explaining religion to them. To support this she claimed, " that god had spoken to her directly and not through the intermediary of properly appointed (and male) minister"1. She was of the belief that religion had no barriers and a person was only accountable to God for his actions and not others. This resulted in an uproar since this was an unusual thing in that time. Females were suppressed and they were not supposed to express their perspectives of understanding religion. This led the state to take action against her and the Governor of Massachusetts imposed a ban on her ceremonies where she openly declared and taught her beliefs to other women and she was asked to undergo a court trial. The governor criticized her by saying "by the general assembly as a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sigh of God, nor fitting for your sex"2. Th is statement clearly indicates the male

Discuss the representation of the supernatural in Frankenstein and Essay

Discuss the representation of the supernatural in Frankenstein and Lyrical Ballads and related writings - Essay Example These representations are probably the secret ingredients of writers to their works that usually hold their readers’ attention, and getting their praises in the end. As for Wordsworth and Coleridge, they were initially stoned with many negative comments from reviewers like Francis Jeffrey which resulted to readers refraining from embracing their works (enotes.com). However, with the rise of other reviewers who appreciated the simplicity of the two Romantics’ works, the dice was rolled for the authors’ favors and marked their names in history, where even today, the representations of their works are rediscovered time and again. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (Literature.org) is a lyrical ballad with representations of the unseen world and nature, of gods and humans. During the times of early discoveries of what we enjoy now like electricity, unseen powers greatly influenced the imaginations of men that this theme is scattered in many of their literary works. Fr ankenstein’s creation of a monster resulted from the understanding of the works of the gods who keep the equilibrium of the universe and things in it. The creator intended to make a man like himself through his study of Chemistry, one that he would be proud of, intended for the good of mankind. To his disappointment, he made alive a creature he eventually feared and despised; a demonstration of what the supreme can do to frustrate the illusions of man for fame, glory and power. Frankenstein, destroying his she monster before even taking the breath of life brings to him a realization that he can not play god again. He may have been able to create a man, but it was to his misfortune and not according to what he expected things to be. This realization may have not been explicitly mentioned but the representation rings through the story where Frankenstein’s fears for what the monster could do, with a helper who could be able to reproduce their kinds amongst humankind. It c ould also have been to Frankenstein, a submission and acceptance that he is not at all powerful as the gods who are able to look after their creations and limit their fantasies as they did to him and his creation, a monster instead of an adorable man. Looking at the story more closely and its implications to the modern world, Frankenstein obviously would represent men or scientists in particular and the monster are the bad effects of their discoveries and creations. For instance, men created bombs, missiles and guns. Like the monster of Frankenstein, these creations take millions of lives around the world not only the bad guys but more often than not, the innocent become the victims. The creators of which are not spared from the pain of such a great misery as seen in the life of Frankenstein whose loved ones were not spared, making him suffer all the more, blaming himself for such a misfortune. Men can not undo what they have done, they can not bring the time of ignorance about such destructive creations as Frankenstein was not able to destroy his monster. However, it could be implied in the story that such insanity can either be reinforced or put to a stop. Frankenstein, creating a she monster would strengthen the male counter part and eventually take more lives than he is able to do alone, likewise, scientists creating more and stronger kinds of bombs will physically do the same.

The Black Death Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Black Death - Essay Example An epidemic, on the other hand is single widespread outbreak. Plague is transmitted from animals to humans by a particular kind of fleas. It is transmitted from one person to another person by direct contact, or breathing droplets containing the bacterium, Yersinia pestis. It causes great suffering. Plague usually starts with a flea bite. The flea deposits Yersinia pestis bacterium in other animals. Y. pestis is transmitted from the flea bite site to lymph nodes that swell (buboes). This type of plague is termed bubonic plague (Plague, 2011). The bacteria then enter the blood stream and affect other organs. Some patients inhale or swallow droplets that contain Y. pestis infecting the lungs. This is termed as pneumonic plague. Death is certain in 50 to 90 %cases. The black death of 1300s have killed one third of the population of Europe. There were not enough people to bury the dead during that period. The decease spread very fast and no medicine were available at that time. Dr. Alexa ndre Yersin and Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato made investigations about the disease in 1894. Dr. Paul-Louis Simond, in 1898, discovered that the vector of the disease was a flea (Plague, 2011). For centuries, the plague bacterium was used as a biological weapon. Even now, it is a biological weapon. It can be easily sprayed into the atmosphere and would be inhaled by unprotected persons. Although many countries have banned biological weapons like this, it has potential to be exploited. The plague which reached in England in the summer months of 1938 mutated into pneumonic form in winter and spread to London in September. By 1349, it spread to Wales and other areas. Churchyards were filled with bodies. Few villages however, escaped from this pandemic. The Scots took advantage of the situation by raiding Durham in 1349 (Ibeji, 2011). The Scots believed that the English were overwhelmed by vengeance of god. Within a short span of time 5000 of them died. The rest became weak and they retreate d. The plague spread to Scotland too. The reason why it spread to Scotland is not clear. That is, whether it was a natural phenomenon or because of contact with the English people during the raid. It is possible that the retreating army might have carried the plague back home. In Scotland, there was great mortality due to plague. It affects the skin and swelling appears. Children were afraid to visit parents. Life was terrible during the period of plague. The parents were also afraid to visit children. People fled to other regions. The plague created panic throughout England. The year 1349 was regarded as wretched, terrible and destructive by many. By 1350, whole England was infected with plague and two and a half million people were dead. The plague continued in London throughout the winter and spring. It did not spread evenly. Even though it arrived in Bristol and Dorset, it did not spread to rural Devon that year. The disease also did not spread to St Albans Abbey until April 134 9. London was affected by the combined attack of pneumonic and bubonic plague. The British parliament was prorogued in January 1349. Three Archbishops of Canterbury and Two ex-Chancellors died. The plague continued in London until the 1350. I has killed over one third of the population. Persons infected with plague usually died in five days. On the first day, there was painful swelling, called buboes appear on the armpit and groin. It had the size of an egg. On day two, the victim developed fever and vomited. On third day,

Sports and women Essay Example for Free

Sports and women Essay Gender Bias in American Sports: Lack of Opportunity, Lack of Administrative Positions and Lack of Coverage in Womens Sports Submitted by: Erik F. Person, CSCS, Doctoral Candidate, USSA â€Å"In the early days, female volleyball players were cautioned not to expose too much . A hundred years later, they were encouraged to expose more†. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Women’s Sports. pg. 281. â€Å"If people want to come check us out because they’re scoping our bodies, I don’t have a problem with that, because I guarantee they’ll go home talking about our athleticism†. pg. 283. â€Å"These women are as deft at handling the ball as they are lipstick†. pg. 262. â€Å"Let’s face facts here. Lesbians in the sport hurt women’s golf†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..Laura Davies is built like a tank†. pg. 66 â€Å"The reason for this [media frenzy dubbed Annamania] is simple: She’s blond, she’s flirtatious and she’s pretty. Never, ever, underestimate the power of a male sports editor smitten.† pg. 52. â€Å"The Olympic Games should be a solemn and periodic exaltation of male athleticism with internationalism as a base, loyalty as a means, arts for its setting, and female applause as reward.† Pierre de Coubertin. Idiot’s Guide. pg. 31. â€Å"If there are two people the same, would I prefer to see women coaching women? As role models, I think it’s important. But not to sacrifice a program.† Pat Babcock. N.Y. Times. 2002 Copyright (c) 2002 2010 United States Sports Academy. All rights reserved. All submitted material, once approved by the Editorial Board and published, becomes the prop HomeGender Bias in American Sports: Lack of Opportunity, Lack of Administrative Positions and Lack of Coverage in Womens Sports Submitted by: Erik F. Person, CSCS, Doctoral Candidate, USSA â€Å"In the early days, female volleyball players were cautioned not to expose too much . A hundred years later, they were encouraged to expose more†. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Women’s Sports. pg. 281. â€Å"If people want to come check us out because they’re scoping our bodies, I don’t have a problem with that, because I guarantee they’ll go home talking about our athleticism†. pg. 283. â€Å"These women are as deft at handling the ball as they are lipstick†. pg. 262. â€Å"Let’s face facts here. Lesbians in the sport hurt women’s golf†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..Laura Davies is built like a tank†. pg. 66 â€Å"The reason for this [media frenzy dubbed Annamania] is simple: She’s blond, she’s flirtatious and she’s pretty. Never, ever, underestimate the power of a male sports editor smitten.† pg. 52. â€Å"The Olympic Games should be a solemn and periodic exaltation of male athleticism with internationalism as a base, loyalty as a means, arts for its setting, and female applause as reward.† Pierre de Coubertin. Idiot’s Guide. pg. 31. â€Å"If there are two people the same, would I prefer to see women coaching women? As role models, I think it’s important. But not to sacrifice a program.† Pat Babcock. N.Y. Times. 2002 Introduction Women in America have made tremendous strides in the last 100 years of American history. Politically, women gained the right to vote in 1920, through the 19th amendment. In the workforce, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 allowed women the right to equal pay for the same job as their male counterparts. In the sports world, women gained the right to play in 1972 by way of Title IX of the Educational Amendments. In spite of these strides however, gender bias continues to exist. It is difficult to think of a greater injustice which effects the majority of people in the United States. According to the 2006 U.S. Census Bureau, just over half of the U.S. Population is female, (50.7%), yet bias against women, the majority, persists. Due to the strong traditions of our patriarchal society, women continue to face an uphill climb. Gender is the neutral term for the two sexes, male and female. Bias is defined as unreasoned judgment, a bent or tendency, prejudicial. (Merriman’s Collegiate Dictionary, 1993). Gender bias then, is to show favor or partiality, toward one of the sexes exclusively because of gender. Or said in the negative, to not show impartiality based upon gender. In spite of these gender neutral definitions, it is clear in American culture, that gender bias has been and continues to be highly slanted against women. From the academic setting of classrooms (Bailey 1992) and college admissions, to the workplace with lower salaries, (AAWU report, 2008) lack of job opportunities and bleak forecasts for advancement, women continue to be discriminated against. The hegemonic male culture, consciously or not, creates an antagonistic environment for females. Nowhere is this more true than the environment of sports. Opportunity Bias One of the three prongs of the Title IX law has to do with equal participation opportunity in proportion to student enrollment as it pertains to federally funded centers of education. While millions of girls have benefited from the implementation of Title IX, there are still playing fields where females are still unwelcome. Traditional wisdom, that girls are only suited for activities which emulate the aesthetic side of sports such as gymnastics, ice skating, cheer leading, etc., persists, along with the notion that females should not engage in high physical contact activities such as wrestling, football or rugby. While TitleIX mandates equal opportunity, it does not mandate equal opportunity in specific sports. American football for example does not have an exact feminine equivalent, so girls are given other options besides football. (Volleyball, field Hockey). Options do not always mean equal. Gender bias occurs not only because there is no football team for women to play on, but rather that is only the outcome of the larger problem. The real gender bias has to do with the male, and sometimes female, attitudes of what defines masculinity and what defines femininity. Due to the pervading male influence, gender typing occurs early during a girl’s development. Gender typing is attributing qualities, characteristics, attributes, temperaments, demeanor and behavior due to a gender. That is, making generalizations about a person, and how they act or should act, based upon preconceived notions and definitions of their gender. Through the power of suggestion, gender socialization begins at a very early age. Subtly, or not so subtly, a girl hears messages throughout her life that females aren’t good at math and science, and proficiency in math and science are needed to become, for example, a space traveler, so the logical conclusion for her is that she can not go into space. The argument that, â€Å"if girls had the ability to become astronauts we would see more of them†, is self defeating when we have not given them the opportunity to do so in the first place. More plausibly, is that a self fulfilling prophecy has occurred. Expectations have shaped a behavior, which in turn shapes future expectations. This cycle usually conforms to the dominant cultural theme, and in our example, the dominant theme is male supremacy. Interestingly however, not all female athletes share the feminist view. McClung and Blind, (2002) found in the vast majority of their interviews with female college athletes, a desensitized attitude toward women’s sport issues. In their study, women said things such as â€Å"we feel privileged to play college sports†, as opposed to a right, and â€Å"gender equity issues are not important to me†. The main reason sighted for the lack of passion was due to lack of time, and other obligations. The sports world is biased against women in terms of opportunity in the professional ranks as well. Title IX has helped women with participation opportunity but only in educational settings, and speaks nothing of post college athletics. With the relative success of the WNBA more women basketball players have the opportunity to make a living playing a professional sport. Relative to the men’s opportunities however, economically it pales in comparison, $55,000 versus $4,000,000 (the average salary). Without the potential prospect of playing professionally, girls devote less time to the sport, focusing rather on other pursuits such as relationships, and academics, further establishing thegender logic in American culture that women are not interested in sports for the long term, or that they do not have the commitment needed to pursue athletics as a vocation. Again, this is a self defeating argument, as the WNBA has shown. Several franchises have been able to maintain healthy fan bases in the short 12 years history of the league. Part of the issue with lack of professional opportunity for women is linked to sponsorship bias. Companies looking to use sports to market their product do not look to women’s sport first. Companies are concerned with getting a return on their advertising dollar. The perception is that their return will not be as great if they invest in women sport teams. Whether it be through product endorsement contracts with specific athletes, facility or venue sponsorship, or capital investment in a specific team, corporations view the WNBA as a second rate, at best, investment. Justified as a reasonable business decision, the purse holders have a profound negative affect upon a team, the league in general, and women’s sports as a whole. Understandably, companies have a responsibility to be prudent investors for their constituents. However, at the same time, they may be missing an opportunity to pair their product with a market they have yet to completely associate it with, say 51% of the population. This liquidity issue in women’s sports is closely tied with the bias of the media. Even with the advancements of the LPGA and the USWTA, Greendorfer suggests that women â€Å"are still confined within ideological structures of patriarchy†. Media Bias Arguably, the media creates fans. Several men’s professional and collegiate teams have national audiences. Notre Dame football, New York Yankees, Penn State football, Dallas Cowboys, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, to name a few. The reasons for each of these teams captivating a large and diverse audience are many and as varied as their fan base. The media, along with many other variables (such as the location of the team, franchise or team history and legacy, colorful characters, and team success), play a role as to how that team is perceived by the public. Within the greater public are potential fans. Television coverage, magazine articles, radio broadcasts etc., all influence whether a team will garner a national fan base. Men’s sports have known that â€Å"exposure pays† for a long time, and with the increasing technological ability to feed fans the sport information they want, it would seem to be a relatively easy task for the networks to maneuver women’s sports coverage more toward the front web and paper pages. The very important 1996 work of Messner et al. details the shortcomings of media coverage of women’s sports, and the bias they exude. Messner and his colleagues analyzed and compared the 1993 NCAA basketball championship coverage for both men and women. Their conclusion, in part, was that â€Å"the television industry actively builds audiences for men’s games while failing to do so for women’s games†. (Yiannakis. p.330). This is no small point. Potential sponsors look at viewer ratings to determine potential investments. If ratings are lower than they deem necessary, the event will not be a target. However, without the media covering the event adequately, that is to say, billing it with the same hype, energy, enthusiasm and professionalism as the men’s games, fewer viewers are most certainly likely. Without the national exposure, women’s sports will continue to be a second rate investment because that is what the networks have created. Messner says that the network’s position is â€Å"we’re just giving the fans what they want†. The counter to that is, â€Å"they want that because you have made it more inviting to want that. The circus is more fun when there’s three rings instead of two. The media also appears to be bias against women’s sports by the way the events are covered. The shear quantity of coverage is a fraction of the men’s coverage. Messner found during the 1993 basketball tournaments, for example, that 41 stories ran for the men, and only 10 for the women, the men’s stories ran longer than the women’s, were more in depth, and had more video footage. In short, the media was telling the viewing audiences which of the two events they wanted you to watch, which was of better quality, and in the long run, building an audience of viewers so they can charge future sponsors top dollar. Television networks have the ability to build audiences, and they choose to with men’s sports. Another way media is bias against women and proliferates gender typing is by the way women athletes are spoken of. Messner points out, that even collegiate mascot names for women’s teams, con notate a feminine, softer version of the male equivalent. The Lions as compared to the Lionesses. Or the Lady Bear Cats, emphasizing the female version of the game as opposed to just the game. Messner makes the jump that this is a type of gender marking, reminding the audience that they are watching something other than a basketball game. In fact the very name of the the two basketball tournaments is very telling, from â€Å"The Final Four† to â€Å"The Women’s Final Four†. Making this distinction, Messner argues, gives the women’s tournament a patronizing tone. Messner makes many other salient points regarding coverage differences between the men’s and the women’s tournaments, all indicating that women’s sports are a niche, and men’s is mainstream. One of those differences is how women are portrayed in the media. Tradition holds that women are weak, or at best, not as strong as men, that they are the softer sex, the more emotional, the more aesthetically pleasing, beautiful. In other words, if society was going to accept the new members on their playing fields it was going to be done on their terms. Their terms included the sexualization of women’s sports. From the quotes on the first page of this paper we can see the varied opinions within the women’s sports movement. Those varying opinions have caused controversy and confusion. On the one hand, women want nothing more than to be given equal opportunity to play and equal coverage from the media. Further they wish to be respected for their physical abilities and skills. They wish to be rewarded for their sporting achievements. On the other hand, some women athletes believe they they can not get the exposure needed to win over large numbers of fans unless they give the fans another reason for coming to their events besides observing athletic ability. In the modern women sports media market this â€Å"neanderthal mentality† (as Mariah Burt Nelson once quipped) has translated into women being regarded, identified and valued more for how they look than how they perform. Recent stories of tennis stars Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters attests to this fact. While added â€Å"exposure† has given women’s sports more exposure in the media, perhaps it is not the exposure they had hoped for, and further it does send mixed messages to younger women athletes who are the future of the movement. In effect the male hegemony has won again, trivializing women’s sports. Unable to stop the cultural freight train they saw coming with Billie Jean King, a man’s world has set the switches and the tracks so as to control the train’s next stop reducing women’s sports to a public peep show, the impact of the social order is preserved. Ironically, this media bias is also rampant among female reporters who don’t know which cause to fight for, their career or the social injustice that is gender inequality. Female football sideline reporters of the major television networks, are asked to be both sexy and competent. When ABC was asked why they hired a female the response was, â€Å"we know that 40% of our viewing audience for these games are females. They need someone on the screen they can relate to†. I’m sure the other 60% of the viewing audience didn’t object. Monday Night Football hired a new sideline reporter to replace Melissa Stark. As Randy Sandomir reported in the N.Y. Times on the story of the new hire, Clearly there are conflicting agendas within the movement to curb gender bias. Purists of the movement may be getting a queasy feeling in their stomach, while the new generation of women liberals subscribe to the old entertainment adage that â€Å"even bad press is good press†. Administration Bias Briefly I will conclude with the third area of gender bias in women’s sports. Prior to the implementation of Title IX in 1978, 90% of women collegiate sports were being coached by women. According to the 2007 Knight Commission on Sports, the NCAA watchdog, 42% of women collegiate teams are being coached by women, an all time low. Further only 18 % of all college athletic directors, 12% of all college sport information directors, and 27% of head athletic trainers, are women. (2% of men’s collegiate programs were being coached by women in 2004.) Coakley considers part of the reason for this change to be the more lucrative contracts for women’s coaching positions. Geno Auriemma, the head coach of the University of Connecticut Women’s Basketball team will earn over 2 million dollars this year in salary and endorsements. Once the big money started coming in to Women’s basketball in the early 1990’s, men started vying for the positions with more determination. Whereas before the success of basketball powerhouses such as Connecticut, Tennessee, LSU and Stanford, women’s jobs were generally not considered as serious positions. Money changed all that. Women’s sports is caught between a rock and a hard place. If they advocate for stronger pay, men come in and take over the coaching positions. If they ask the public to look at their athletic skills, there will be no fan base. If they ask us to look at other parts of their bodies, they are thought to be prostituting themselves to the highest bidder, all in the name of recognition. When women accept this role it reinforces the traditional male / female value system which they have tried to distance themselves from. The proverbial glass ceiling for women in the sports work place is illustrated when we consider that 80% of sport communication positions are held by men. Women will continue to face an uphill battle for equal opportunity to play, equal representation in the coaching ranks, and equal media attention due to the male culture of superiority, but the women’s sport movement is doing no favors for themselves when they send mixed messages to both sides of the tracks. The freight train has arrived, now it just needs a conductor.

Development of International Business

Development of International Business People today wake up by an alarm clock made in China, shave with a French razor, dress in Italian-designed (Pakistan-made) clothes and drive their way to work with a German car. Small facts from our daily routine justify that the last 100 years the internationalization (some would say globalisation) of business can be said to have re-drafted the world economic map (Woods, 2001). Globalisation, despite the numerous changes caused at national and international level, set new rules for all enterprises, no mater their size if a business is to be successful then it needs to be aware of the general environment. From the moment trade and economic environment changed, firms turned international in order to maintain their competitiveness and expand their activity into new markets (Hodgetts, 2003). Therefore, multinational enterprises (MNEs) should keep in mind that international trade, as a result of globalisation, is now the primary profit source. Also, MNEs should re-consider their financi al and production tactics if they want to gain more from the global-market environment, such as focus on specialization (ibid). The purpose of this essay is to discuss the primary ways International Business occurs and examine the advantages and disadvantages of international trade and specialization with an extended look at free trade. Two Primary Ways of International Business Development The basic idea for firms going global is to expand their existing sales with reducing the costs of making the additional sales. How will they achieve that? They have two primary ways: first, imports-exports worldwide (International Trade) and second, direct foreign investment (FDI) or portfolio investment. The first way is usually seen as Adam Smiths basic principle of exchange, as an attempt to explain why countries trade, while the second way is the base of international capital flow. International Trade As mentioned before, firms and countries expect some gains from this exchange such as: lower production costs, improved products quality and higher sales profits. However, in the early years of trade, the theory of mercantilism was against that assumption and it was Smith who reacted to this theory by setting up his absolute advantage theory (Mnieh, 2010). Mercantilists in the 18th century believed that a countrys wealth should be measured by the gold and silver the country possessed, so the more precious metals the country had the richer and more powerful it was. Also, the exports were seen as good because they brought silver/gold, whereas imports were bad because they reduced the amount of gold and silver from the country. Mercantilists wanted to encourage countries to export more than import; therefore, they proposed that exports should be increased and imports decreased by means of tariffs or quotas. As a result, under this theory, only one party could gain from trade (Brewer, 2000). However, mercantilism theory did not explain the basic questions of international trade such as, which goods are exported or imported, in what quantity and by whom (ibid). Adam Smith addressed these questions, and he produced the theory of absolute advantage. That theory holds that countries who use resources more efficiently can gain more by focusing on the specialization of their most efficient product and importing the goods they produce inefficiently. Consequently, the specialized production of a commodity gives a country an absolute advantage on that product, and the countrys resources are focused on the production of the profitable output instead of split up or wasted on other, less profitable, outputs. Absolute advantage, however, can explain only a small part of the worlds trade today and does not include any evidence about the determination of trade (Rugman and Collinson, 2006). In 1819, David Ricardo, based on Smiths work, examined the questions What happens when a country can produce all products at an absolute advantage? Would trade still benefit both countries now? And developed the theory of comparative advantage. According to Ricardos theory, a country has a comparative advantage in a product when it has a higher degree of superiority in its production, and it has a comparative disadvantage in a product when its degree of superiority is lower, relative to another country. In order to understand that theory completely, we need to introduce the concept of opportunity cost (Woods, 2001).. We assume that a country produces two goods, A and B, so the opportunity cost is the cost related to the amount of good A which must be sacrificed in order to produce one additional unit of good B (Mnieh, 2010). Therefore Ricardo, suggested that a country with an absolute advantage in all lines of production should trade with another country in the product which has the higher opportunity cost in order to gain from the other countys lower opportunity cost. Foreign Direct Investment The second way international business occurs is through equities. According to Collinson (2006), a tactic usually applied by nations and MNEs to gain access to a foreign market is equity funds invested in other nations. Therefore, a definition used for foreign direct investment (FDI) is the control and ownership of foreign assets. The basic idea for the FDI concept is that corporations find it more beneficial to purchase another foreign company, simply to acquire the companys market share and know-how in the host country. It has to be mentioned that FDI is different from portfolio investment. Foreign portfolio investment is a transfer of capital from one country to another, whereas FDI contains the issue of control and ownership of the activities abroad. Another common tactic of FDI is the union of capital of multiple corporations to a joint venture, in order to purchase together the foreign company aboard (Rugman, 2006). There is a substantial number of reasons why multinational corporations are interested in expanding their activities and influence in foreign assets. The primary reason is to increase their sales and profits. According to the UN World Investment Report (2006), numerous large multinationals have earned millions of pounds through overseas sales every year since they went abroad. Not only large firms gain benefits from activities abroad but a large number of smaller firms increase their revenues as well. MNEs financial and production activities pay the way for local suppliers to get involved with the multinationals and maybe supply them to other worldwide locations (ibid). The second reason is the lower costs abroad. Lower labour cost, for example, is a considerable reason for transferring a companys production facilities to a place where labour is much cheaper. In addition to this, MNEs can consider other factors such as materials supply, transportation costs and energy issues, which affect managers decisions to move their activities abroad. Another reason is to enter economic blocs and rapidly growing markets. At this point, we have to mention that the global economical map is different between countries, regions or continents. Some countries have markets that grow more rapidly than others, and many countries are part of international, economical and political, agreements that affect trade, so multinational companies gain a foothold in these markets by investing directly in them (Deresky,2006).. The final reason for FDI is to gain access to technology and know-how as well as the protection of domestic and foreign markets. In essence, there are examples of multinationals that have saved their own and foreign markets by making investments in these markets and take a strategic advantage due to the high-technology acquirement their investments provide (Piggott and Cook, 2006). Advantages and Disadvantages of Specialisation The model of comparative advantage and the theory of absolute advantage are both based on specialisation. Specialization, at production level, occurs when a worker becomes skilled and efficient at a specific task in order to be able to produce more goods or services than other workers. Countries that produce specialised goods could have many advantages. First, specialisation at international level means that a country will benefit from the trade of specialized goods with other countries. Second, specialisation makes workers to becomes quicker at producing goods or services; consequently, the production per good become cheaper and the production levels are increase. Therefore, a country can be competitive and maintain or expand the wealth it already has (Piggott and Cook, 2006). The third point is the gain of know-how. A country that focuses on the specific production of a good can become an expert and invest in research on that good. Fourth, a country can enhance its reputation. If a country becomes an expert it is possible to increase the quality and reliability of its products, she will create a reputation and the demand of its products will increase (Bingham, Combined Proceedings, 2005, Vol.55). However, the concentration of production factors on one product may have the opposite results. First, a country will depend on a higher degree from others if it just exports one good and imports all the others. Second, countries should be aware that specialised workers demand better wages and this can also affect the total production cost in a negative way. Third, it has to be mentioned that the theory of specialisation makes some assumptions and simplifications, which are not always valid, such as: (a) there is full employment, (b) there are no constant costs and countries have the same dynamic in the future (c) the theories are based on barter, so money is not required in these models, (d) we assume that there are two countries and two goods only and (e) the mobility of labour is assumed to be perfect (Daniels et al., 2008). Advantages and Disadvantages of International Trade The trade theories mentioned before in this essay is the base for us to understand the figure of international trade in the world economy we observe today. International trade has a variety of aspects. Firstly, as an advantage, it includes the theory of free trade, which supports the unrestricted free flow of goods and services between countries. Trade without barriers has positive benefits for all involved, and it creates free markets, which are best for most exchange. As a result, countries trade more over time, so globalisation will be inevitable. Secondly, world class economists set their theories for international trade. They attempt to figure how it works, but each theory is based on different assumptions and limitations. As a result, new theories were born (Daniels et al., 2008). To counter the theories of international trade, a considerable number of people believe that trade and foreign investments may badly affect local industry and work force. They suggest an economic policy of restraining free trade with means like quotas or tariffs in order to protect the national market; a theory widely known as protectionism (Hill, 2006). As a whole, countries trade with each other and manage their exports or imports based on their capabilities and needs. Due to the worlds competive environment, nations support their industries to claim better results for their interests not only domestically but worldwide. With business going international, countries and companies are trying to expand their wealth and influence other countries or markets, with direct or portfolio investment (ibid). Arguments in favour of free trade and relevant theories According to Hill (2006), the theory of free trade is relevant to the theories of International Trade. Both theories assume that there is unrestricted trade between two or more countries, but the free trade theory includes three major principles: (a) there are no barriers or obstacles to mobility, (b) there are no trade restrictions and (c) there are no transportation costs. Apart from the assumptions, new questions are presented. For example, the free trade theory suggests that trade is based on the lack of costs, but it does not explain which factors made these costs. As a result, the theory of Heckscher-Ohlin was established. Two Swedish economists, Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin, studied the trade theories and conclude in two deductions. First, there is more than one factor of production. For example, goods do not need only labour but capital and land also. Secondly, different factors are used for the production of different goods. Furthermore, different countries have a different number of factors of production (or endowments), and this results in different relative factor prices. This means that land-intensive goods should be relatively cheap in a country with a great deal of land, and the same is valid for labour-intensive and capital-intensive countries. This leads to the theorys basic conclusion that countries should specialize in goods that use the factor of production intensively they have in abundance (Piggott Cook, 2006). According to the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem, countries like the United States, for example, with a higher capital per head than other countries, should export capital-intensive goods and import labour-intensive goods. In 1954, the economist Wassily Leontief tried to apply the theorem to reality. He used a mathematical technique named input-output analysis to measure the amount of imports and exports worth US$ 1milion, on data of 1947. Leontief found that to replace US imports with domestic output would need 170 more years per worker of labour and US$ 3.1million of capital. On the other hand, to reduce US exports by US$ 1 million would provide 182.3 years of labour time and US$ 2.6 million of capital. When he compared the two results, he showed that exports from the US were more labour intensive than imports into the US, which is the opposite outcome to that predicted by Heckscher-Ohlin. The worlds most capital-intensive country was exporting labour intensive goods (Husted Melvin, 2007) . The previous analysis is known as the Leontief paradox and it is known as the biggest weakness to the Heckscher-Ohlin theory. Some economists argued that Leontiefs analysis did not include human capital in his motion of labour all labour is taken to have the same skill. As a result, failure to include these factors might have caused him to mismeasure the labour intensity of US imports and exports (Mmieh, 2010). Based on the failure of Heckscher-Ohlin theory, economist Paul Krugman (1970) developed his new trade theory. According to this theory, some countries specialize in the production of a particular product and export it, not because they have different factor endowments, but because they can support these products in the global markets. For example, a countrys production specialisation in the products of airplanes, can give a competitive advantage to the country not only at domestic but in the international airplane production market (ibid). In relevance to new trade theory, Michael Porter (1994) attempted to explain why particular nations achieve international success in particular industries. His theory, referred as the theory of national competitive advantage, underlines that country factors such as domestic demand and domestic rivalry are very important for nations dominance in the production and export of particular goods (Hill, 2006). Conclusion In this paper, we first examined the two primary ways international business occur, based on numerous theories of world-class economists. Global Trade and FDI are the most important figures of world trade today and include a number of aspects but in this paper we discussed two of them: specialisation and international trade. We also examined the concept of free trade; with an extensive look at the theories that were created based on the free burgeoning of goods. Today, globalisation sets new rules for the countries and firms involved in the business world, a much more complicated market scene, which needs different approaches, careful planning and correct use of information for the best investment results. International business follows the path of globalisation and I personally believe that the in years to come we will witness an inevitable change route for the way we do business.

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Media and Plastic Surgery Images produced by the media will make people do almost anything to fit American standards of the perfect body. Plastic surgery offers a quick fix to help achieve this goal but no matter how much surgery nothing is perfect. Images produced by media, quick fixes and the outcome of the fixes are problems that women of all ages deal with. From the time of birth, images of physical perfection bombard young minds. When children are young their minds are fragile and mold to what they are taught. One of the first toys a young girl is given is a Barbie doll Girls are shown Barbie and parents tell the children that Barbie dolls are beautiful. So young girls are taught that Barbie is what a perfect female is. Eventually when the girls reach middle school they find Barbie what they still want to physically achieve but find talking about Barbie childish. So they turn to more life size Barbie dolls like Britney Spears and Destiny's Child. Teenage girls, who consider themselves individuals, all strive for the same goal to become what the opposite sex is attracted to. Teenage girls want to dress and look like young celebrities so they wear tons of makeup and dress in clothing that would have their great grandparents turning in their graves. Schools all over the country are taking the parents job by changing the dress code so that girls do not wear clothing that show their mid drifts and bare shoulders. Even when girls enter college they are still effected b...

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Wordsworth’s Attitude Towards Nature†Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey† was written in July of 1798 and published as the last poem of Lyrical Ballads, also in 1798.This poem is a statement of Wordsworth complete philosophy of nature. TheThe first part gives a vivid description of the scene visited by the poet. This shows a minute and close observation of nature. He was extra-ordinary sensitive to the sites of nature. Indeed, in the very title of his poem, he announces the time and place of his return visit, and lets us know where he is positioned in the landscape that he describes. He sits in a specific spot, a â€Å"few miles above† an abandoned abbey in the valley of the river Wye; thus he has a broad perspective on the landscape he will describe. As he writes the poem, he is reclines â€Å"under [a] dark sycamore.† He said that when he was young he did not understand or hear the pain of humanity because he was thoughtless and had nothing to do with spirit just the physical pictures pleased his eyes . But later on the enjoyment is over and the poet had raised his inset . He became able to hear the suffering of humanity . In addition the sound of human suffir4ngh and pain is not harsh or jarring to his ears . But , it is the opposite , it has clarified him . He became a spiritual person . Also, he tries to convince her to love nature, because if she loves it she will be in an elevated position, all the bad things will not hurt her and her attitudes and thoughts towards life will change. Poetry to Wordswoth is emotions recollected in tranquility, or he believed that it is nothing but spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. The poem as a whole is an example of the philosophy of Romanticism and how the consideration of the external reality of nature leads towards inner consideration. bibliographies â€Å"Free Essay on William Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey.† 123HelpMe.com. 30 May 2008.