Figaro Coffee Essay

Corporate Vision * We will be the preferred brand of specialty coffee of the international business traveler. Our products and unique style of service will leave a lasting impression among our customers. * We will be the investment of choice in the countries where our brand is represented thereby providing attractive returns to all our shareholders. * We will be a model employer that inspires its stakeholders to be better than its leaders because the opportunities for career and personal growth will drive them to excel. * We will be the most admired training facilities for coffee education making us the best training ground for those who want to establish a career or business on coffee and†¦ * We will be remembered as a committed advocate of corporate social responsibility by championing the cause of coffee to help farmers live a better life. * To cater to the different taste preferences, Figaro offers a wide selection of hot or cold coffee and tea concoctions, accompanying pastries and savory meals. * We recommend you try them all to encounter the unique delight each has to offer. Corporate Mission * We provide excellent coffee and gracious service creating a memorable experience for people who appreciate high quality coffee and demand for exceptional service. * Figaro’s distinctive store design, unique ambiance and style of service satisfy the global customer. * Figaro creates long-term value for its owners and business partners through profitable operations and business sustainability and dignity of life for its employees. * We will always practice good governance and actively pursue the cause of socio-cultural and environmental concerns. * We will always give you quality service, quality products & value for your money. SECTION 3 PRODUCT/SERVICE 3. 1 ABOUT THE COMPANY AND THE PRODUCT The Figaro Coffee Company is a popular specialty coffee store in the Philippines that is 100 percent Filipino-owned. Established in 1993, it is based on the concept of a complete store where â€Å"Filipinos can get the perfect coffee and all the necessary accoutrements for coffee making† that can compete internationally. From only two employees, a managing partner and a kiosk in the Makati Mall of the Ayala Centre, the company now has 64 outlets encompassing kiosks and cafes (including international branches). The company’s product line includes specialty roasted coffees and various coffee-related paraphernalia sold at retail. Aside from the superior-tasting coffee that a customer can enjoy in the Figaro Cafes, the company also offers a host of freshly roasted beans on retail. Among the selection is Barako and from the time it was introduced in 1999, Figaro Barako has become a bestseller. The ‘Save the Barako’ cause has somehow given the coffee added value as a portion of the bean sales is channelled back to into a project to promote the revival of the Barako. The project encompasses awareness programs, new plantings, research, and targeted marketing, and is coordinated with the Figaro Coffee Foundation. Meanwhile, as the consumption of Barako increases, a greater need arises to keep the production going which gives all the more reason why Barako needs to be saved from extinction. The continued increased demand for Barako on the other hand allows the advantage of bringing the price of Barako to a viable level that benefits both the farmer and the retailer. Through Figaro’s customer-loyalty scheme called Coffee Club, the company organizes farm tours twice a year wherein coffee enthusiasts show the process of coffee harvesting and planting. Since the company is primarily a coffee distributor and coffee shop operator, it did not have prior experience in actually growing coffee for commercial production. 3. 2 PRODUCT’S UNIQUE FEAUTURES Our Passion for Coffee. Our Beans are Always Freshly Roasted. Coffee beans need to be roasted to bring out their irresistible flavor and aromatics. The sooner a roasted bean gets into a cup, the better the flavor. Freshness is very important to us. We roast our beans in world class quality roasters, carefully watched over by roasting experts who make sure each bean is done perfectly. Once roasted, the beans are packed and sent to the stores immediately to ensure freshness. We make sure that every cup of coffee our customers enjoy is made of the best quality, perfectly roasted beans. After all, you deserve only the best from Figaro. Share our Passion Today, Figaro boasts 64 cafes in the Philippines. It is one of the fastest-growing coffee chains, in just over 17 years of experience in the art and business of coffee. We believe in catering to upscale coffee lovers, offering coffees expertly roasted and brewed according to the standards of French and Italian cafes. Figaro offers an ideal business opportunity that assures superior returns compared to an independent business of similar scope. After penetrating the international market, we are now keeping a critical eye on expanding in our home-market, which will zero in mostly on business districts around the country as we want more and more people to experience the sophisticated European coffee culture through our local barako coffee. 3. 3 STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT As the company started to get recognition as a major coffee chain, especially with the arrival in the country of international coffee brands such as Starbucks, Figaro was in search of the popular Barako coffee. Quite serendipitously, Figaro’s CEO Pacita Juan met Father Roger Bagao, a coffee farmer/priest in Tagaytay City who headed a farmer’s coffee cooperative. Father Roger hailed from the southern province of Bohol and has made coffee his life. A member of the Divine Word Seminary (SVD) in Tagaytay, Father Roger chose to live among the coffee-farming people. He knew that to assist them to attain spiritual awakening or enrichment, he first had to learn what crops they grew, how they made their livelihood. This meant first helping them to fill their stomachs, and later reaching their souls. So COFFEE was it. He organized a farmers’ cooperative that ran a coffee mill known as SMSK. Pacita Juan met Father Roger and asked him to show Figaro the other side of coffee – farmers, different varieties and where they grew, coffee in the south, coffee in the mountains. When Pacita was looking for the native Barako, Father Roger could only tell her that this variety or species was no longer profitable as their yields were low and Nescafe (the biggest processor) would have no need for the Barako. This saddened Figaro, as Barako is an important part of Philippine coffee history. â€Å"How do we change the tide? † she asked Father Roger. â€Å"Can we start planting Barako? How do we tell people about this sad fate of this species that is so popular among our people? † These questions made Figaro, with the help of Father Roger, establish a foundation to address the needs of the Philippines Coffee Industry – now known as the Figaro Foundation Corporation. The first project of the foundation was general coffee awareness-driven: The Coffee Farm Tour is now held every January in Cavite or Batangas, two provinces appropriate for a day trip. The second project is Barako awareness-driven. The Barako is slowly being cut down due to its ‘low’ demand among big processors. However, there is growing demand for Barako from specialty roast and ground processors in the Philippines, and for export to the Middle East. A related foundation project is called ‘Barako Tree Planting’. Launched in 2000, this project is run every July or August. The key challenges facing the tree-planting project are where to get seedlings and where to get land. Luckily, Father Roger found land during 2000 and 2001. After 2001, however, the foundation met with some problems regarding land ownership and could no longer access the first plantings to check on progress. In the same year, Father Roger introduced Cavite State University (CaVSU) and its research head, Dr. Andy Mojica to the Figaro Foundation. Dr. Mojica would be one of the keys to Barako seedling propagation, and he would also be a major part of the Presidential Task Force on Coffee Rehabilitation prompted by Figaro’s persistent invitation. In January 2002, Figaro (now working with Dr. Mojica’s group) began to visit CaVSU for its Annual Farm Tour and also to work with them on Barako seedling supply, a task that used to be performed by Father Roger. Meanwhile, Father Roger went on a sabbatical in 2002 and Figaro was subsequently invited to be a member of the Presidential Task Force on Coffee Rehabilitation (see below). In this same period, the coffee town of Amadeo was visited by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the first-ever Pahimis festival to signal the start of today’s Filipino coffee revolution – a peaceful revolution of going back to coffee farms to increase production to turn the country from being a net coffee importer to a net exporter as it was until 1990. In Amadeo, Figaro met Mayor O. J. Ambagan who gladly offered his land for the next Figaro Tree Planting activity. In the same year, Leisure Farms, a first class farm community invited the Figaro Foundation to undertake another tree planting activity in Lemery, Batangas which would be provided with irrigation and all the care needed for a first class farm. These efforts have now grown into a series of projects with the local government of Amadeo such as the ‘Adopt-a-farm’ program, coffee farm tours, and the organization of a coffee cooperative to promote ‘Cafe Amadeo’ – a ‘monobranding’ exercise to promote Amadeo’s coffee roasters who used to sell under different brand names. More than just to sustain its core product or core business, Figaro has become the trailblazer on how ‘out of the box’ ideas can be used to encourage farmers to plant the Barako again, motivate local governments to do their part and get cooperatives working toward one goal. Through its partnership with the municipality of Amadeo, Figaro will be able to plant around 30,000 Barako trees in and around the Amadeo town providing farmers with a niche product that can be their ticket to higher selling prices and export potential of a value-added product branded with the Figaro name. 3. 4TRADEMARKS 3. 5PRODUCT There are five commercially known coffee bean varieties worldwide: Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, Stenophylla and Liberica. The most popular beans in use all over the world are Arabica and Robusta. The former has a more subtle and distinct flavour and is usually used for gourmet coffees. However, due to weather conditions, it cannot be natively grown in the Philippines except in some mountain areas, and therefore is mostly imported. Robusta on the other hand is grown in many parts of the country. Due to its more full-bodied flavour, Robusta is used mostly for instant coffee. The Excelsa and Stenophylla varieties are not cultivated commercially in the Philippines. Liberica is known to be an indigenous product in only three Asian countries, including the Philippines, making the bean a very unique and potentially lucrative product. The term ‘Barako’ in the Philippines has become a generic name for the coffee grown and roasted in the Batangas region (just north of Manila). In truth, Barako is the Philippine Liberica bean known for â€Å"its particularly strong taste, powerful body and a distinctly pungent odour. † Because of its homespun image, domestic demand for Barako had slacked off in favour of imported international Arabica and large-scale production of Robusta by and for large corporations. Saudi Arabia has been the only known export market for Barako. As a result, the Barako is now in danger of extinction. In addition to the decline in Barako production, prevailing low world prices for coffee have meant that many Filipino coffee farmers have begun to shift to other crops and some have chosen to sell their land. 3. 6 FACILITIES (PLANT LOCATION) 3. 7SUPPLIERS A. RAW MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES Figaro buys Filipino coffee from communities and farmers nationwide at an average of 39 tons or 39,000 kgs of coffee every year: THUS BENEFITTING†¦ * 57 farmers and their families or approximately 688 persons benefit YEARLY * Coffee harvested from nearly 115 hectares of coffee farms are sold YEARLY * An estimated amount of P 4 million pesos is generated from the purchase of coffee from farmers YEARLY * More children are sent to school, more families are enabled to buy food, medicines, and earn more savings. Farmers from Kalinga, Ifugao, Benguet, Batangas, Cavite, Negros, Davao, Sulu and Basilan are integrated into the supply chain of Figaro. WITH MORE FARMERS HARVESTING COFFEE, MORE FIGARO PATRONS CONTINUE TO ENJOY CUPS OF FIGARO COFFEE. B. TOOLS, MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT The company does not own roasting facilities, but employs the facilities of a sister company, Boyd’s Coffee Company. Today, Boyd Coffee Co. (Phils. ) Inc. has established its significant presence in the Philippine coffee industry. Capitalizing on its unique qualities as a trendsetter and an expert, Boyd Coffee continues its tradition of providing Fresh Roasted Coffee and Total Coffee Solutions designed specifically for each client’s needs. C. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS The waning supply of Barako beans prompted the company to be more aggressive in securing supplies. The ‘Save the Barako’ campaign is its showpiece effort, and has earned the company a reputation as a company that cares for the coffee farmer. Figaro took up the cause of the Barako when everybody else thought it an Impossible task. But because of its belief in the cause, Figaro enjoined small groups who equally believed in the integrity of the cause and subsequently slowly built awareness towards a greater mass. Today, Barako has gained many supporters and made a dream a possibility, further proof that an inspired vision that is led by a credible company to sustain its own industry is the heart of corporate social responsibility. Ultimately, ‘Save the Barako’ has moved even the simplest coffee customer to help sustain this once-threatened variety – that is reward in itself. SECTION 4 MARKETING PLAN 4. 1 INDUSTRY PROFILE. Worth of the entire coffee industry in the Philippines : P21 Billion* Worth of gourmet coffee industry in the Philippines : 2. 1 Billion* Number of stores in the Philippines : STARBUCKS – 150 Figaro – 64 Bo’s Coffee – 40 Gloria Jeans- 38 Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf- 33 Seattle’s Best – 14 Number of coffee chain outlets – 400+ Growth rate of entire coffee industry : 7% annually Growth rate of gourmet coffee industry : 20% annually The amount needed by the government to sustain coffee industry : P200 million Total Coffee Demands: 65,000 tons, 2009;70,350 tons 2012,75,000 tons by 2015. Total Coffee Production : 30,000 tons Coffee Producing Provinces : 22 Coffee Varieties in the Philippines: Liberica, Robusta, Arabica and Excelsa Coffee has been around for more than 1,000 years. During that time, coffee has been considered a food, a medicine, an aphrodisiac, and even a wine. Today, however, coffee is known as a beverage to be savored and enjoyed. Such has coffee’s popularity grown through the centuries. Today, it can be safely assumed someone, somewhere is savoring a cup, a mug or any of coffee’s delightful and delicious preparations at almost every hour of the day. From sun up to sun down, its coffee time! All commercial varieties of coffee are available in the Philippines – Robusta accounting for 70% of the country’s total production, and Arabica with about 5-10%. Other varieties such as Excelsa and Liberica also thrives in the country and accounts for 15-20% of the total. Robusta is the chief source of the base for blending coffee and is important in the manufacture of soluble or instant coffee. Arabica remains the sole source of fine coffee. The Philippines produces approximately 1. 3 percent of the total global coffee production. In our country, no morning is complete without coffee. We have our own Batangas barako to be proud of. Instant coffee then came into the scene, and lately, gourmet and specialty coffee with the introduction of foreign cafes such as Starbucks, Seattle’s Best, and the like. Coffee drinking has now become more than just a way to wake up one’s nerves, it has become a trend. * First, the world’s coffee shops make up the fastest growing part of the restaurant business, checking in with a 7% annual growth rate. * Second, that the world coffee production is estimated at 110 – 120 million bags per year. * Third, that 14 billion espresso coffees are consumed each year in Italy, reaching over 200,000 coffee bars, and still growing. * Fourth, that Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee per day, or equivalent 146,000,000,000 (146 Billion) cups per year; making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world. * Fifth, that Japan ranks number 3 in the world for coffee consumption. * Sixth, that coffee represents 75% of all the caffeine consumed in the United States. * And seventh, that cafe bars have total average sales that reach 230 cups a day. * It is now an accepted fact that majority of Filipinos take to coffee like they take to rice, and beer. * Take â€Å"BARAKO† for example, this native-grown coffee bean for example, this native-grown coffee bean is not only famous for its strong aroma, as pinoy coffee lovers would atleast. * Although not a common coffee variety, â€Å"BARAKO† is abundant in Southeast Asia, especially in the Philippines. * Believe it or not, it has the largest beans of all the coffee varieties in the world. Its taste is said to be superior to that of Robusta, and some Filipino coffee lovers prefer Barako to Arabica 4. 2 COMPETITION PROFILE Major Players in the Industry of coffee: Starbucks strength rested on four factors: retail expansion, product and service innovation, having an observed clean store, and being a brand associated with the specialty/gourmet coffee niche. The strongest attribute that consumers associate with the Starbucks brand is its being known for specialty/gourmet coffee. Starbucks is a widely-recognized brand. Its top-of-mind recall is high. It is both a household name and a buzzword. Seattle’s Best Coffee LLC has been roasting premium coffee since 1970 and today roasts more than 20 million pounds of coffee every year and millions of cups of our coffee are served every day. Seattle’s Best Coffee is a featured brand within Starbucks Corporation. The smooth taste of Seattle’s Best Coffee has appealed to Filipino taste buds. Their smooth and flavor-filled coffees are often partnered with equally sumptuous meals that engage the taste buds. Their pastries and pasta are equally delicious and keeps customers coming back for more. The UCC started as a store under the name of â€Å"Ueshima Tadao Shoten† in 1933. It became limited partnership in 1940 and on 1951, became â€Å"Ueshima Coffee Co. , Ltd. â€Å". The company introduced the world’s first canned coffee, â€Å"UCC Coffee with Milk†on April 1969 starting the trend for Japanese Canned Coffee. The Euro-Japanese fused food, free wi-fi internet, and various cafe concepts makes the UCC Cafe a very trusty hangout place for Filipinos. They have several branches in the country and eight other Asian countries. They have a very simple layout but favorable quality. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is an American coffee chain, owned and operated by International Coffee & Tea, LLC, which has its corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, California. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf has a very clean ambience, innovative coffee mixes and really good customer service. This makes them one of the frequented places for coffee and chilling out. Flavorful, reasonably priced and scenic, the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf stores continue to draw in the coffee-loving crowds. Gloria Jean’s Coffees an Australian owned global specialty coffee company, and is a brand synonymous with coffee quality and leading franchise systems. Personalized service, fun coffee flavors and strategic locations (as one of the awarded foreign franchises in the country) make Gloria Jean’s stay at the top of its game as one of the country’s best coffee shops. The store atmosphere is also excellent and they maintain a loyal following. The Chocolate Macadamia Coffee is a local favorite. â€Å"Bo’s Coffee† is a registered trademark of the business name of a chain of specialty coffee shops that serves espresso beverages, specialty coffee beverages and others, in an ambiance that has been created to cater to a lifestyle market with discriminating taste. Bo’s Coffee Club is very high end coffee shop that has services and product tailored to suit the needs of high society coffee drinkers. They maintain excellent service and product done in good taste, literally and figuratively 4. 3 CUSTOMER PROFILE The typical and most committed coffee drinkers are 25 to 45 year old, affluent, educated adults. While baby boomers have driven the success of coffee shops, specialty coffee appeals to a diverse adult demographic, including college students and young adults. Larger companies may also sell coffee beans wholesale to commercial customers, such as grocery stores and restaurants. SIZE AND GROWTH 1. Do you drink coffee? All of our respondents said that they drink coffee. Reason why they drink coffee 40% of our respondents said that they drink coffee because of coffee’s stimulating properties and benefits that help them in everyday work, 28% Said that its taste, 18% to fit in with others while 14% said that it’s out of habit. 2. When do you prefer to drink coffee? Most of our respondents said that they drink coffee anytime. 3. Do you go to coffee shops? 78% of our respondents said they go to coffee shops to drink coffee and have pastime activities. Reason why yes? 30% of our respondents said that they like the coffee that the coffee shop serves, 25% said that to relax and have pass time their, 15% said that to fit in with others, 10% said that they like the products they sell. Reason why no? 20% of the respondents said that it’s out of their budget and 80% said that it’s just a waste of money. 4. What coffee shops you usually go? 76% of our respondents said they go to Starbucks, 12% go to Kopiroti, and 6% each for Seattle’s Best and Figaro. 5. Do you know Figaro? Majority of our respondents said they know Figaro. How they know Figaro? Most of our respondents said that they saw Figaro branches around the cities and some are word of mouth from friends. 3. How much you are willing to spend in a coffee shop? 52% of our respondents are willing to spend if the price of the coffee will range from P100-P150 4. What do you expect from a coffee shop? Everyone expects a great tasting coffee, clean environment, good service and because of the technology everyone wants a free WI-FI 5. What food you want a coffee shop to serve? Most respondents want bread as a partner to coffee because they only want to ear light foods in coffee shops. 4. 4. TARGET MARKET PROFILE Primary Target Market Our target market is the business executives and young professionals because they hold a big part of the market share in the coffee industry. They are the people that have the habit in drinking coffee and they are the ones who frequently go to coffee shops and for them that is their third home. Usually this people do meetings in coffee shops and conference because of the good ambiance and good surrounding. They choose coffee shops as their third home because they can concentrate in their meeting or business affair especially because of the minimal noise in the coffee shops. They want to hang up in coffee shops because of the comfortable environment and it is affordable. Secondary Target Market Our secondary target market is the class B and C. In the generation today students and foreigners usually go to coffee shops because for them they can study in coffee shops and they can relax and do pass time works. They prefer to study in coffee shops instead in their homes because they can study here for hours without being disturbed and they also choose it as their secondary relaxations place. 4. 5 PRICING PROFILE FIGARO| STARBUCKS| SEATTLE’S BEST| GLORIA JEANS| HOT DRINKSMacchiato85. 00Espresso85. 00 – 109. 00Cappuccino95. 00 – 119. 00Cafe Mocha105. 00 -135. 00White Chocolate Mocha115. 00Cafe Latte95. 00 – 119. 00Cafe Au Lait95. 00 – 119. 00Americano85. 00 – 119. 00Brewed Coffee85. 00 – 119. 00Chocolate Cookie Latte120. 00Caramel Cappuccino Light115. 00Butterscotch Vanilla Latte115. 00 8oz. Peach Latte120. 00 8oz. Strawberry Latte20. 00 8oz. Creme Brulee Latte120. 00Raspberry Mint Latte110. 00Other Hot DrinksHot Tea 85. 00 – 115. 00Hot Chocolate85. 00 – 105. 00Cafe Mocha Light115. 00Steamed Milk85. 00 – 105. 00Blueberry Muffin65. 00Cheese Muffin65. 00Chocolate Muffin65. 00Asado Pie59. 00Tuna Pie59. 00Carrot Loaf69. 00Pudding with Vanilla Sauce69. 00Food for the God’s59. 00Heavenly Cheese Roll59. 00OatmeaL Chocolate Chevvy55. 00Chocolate Cake119. 00My Little Oscar119. 00Dark Chocolate Raspberry Symphony130. 00Strawberry Cheesecake135. 00Chocolate Chip Cookie59. 00Oatmeal Raisin Cookie59. 00English Matrimonial Bar59. 00Banana Hazelnut Turnover79. 00Marble Cream Cheese Brownie70. 00Chocolate Eclair75. 00Tiramisu Eclair75. 00Pepperoni Calzone95. 00Supreme Calzone95. 00Blueberry Cheesecake Lite130. 00Blueberry Almond Puff79. 00| COFEE, TEA AND CLASSICSHot Brewed Coffee80. 00 – 120. 00Hot Brewed Tea90. 00 – 105. 00Iced Tea90. 00 – 120. 00Signature Hot Chocolate105. 00 – 140. 00Caffe Latte90. 00 – 130. 00Cappuccino90. 00 – 130. 00Caffe Mocha100. 00 – 145. 00White Chocolate Mocha115. 00 – 160. 00Caramel Macchiato115. 00 – 160. 00Blended CoffeeMocha125. 00 – 150. 00Caramel125. 00 – 150. 00Dark Mocha155. 00 – 180. 00Coffee Jelly145. 00 – 170. 00Java Chip145. 00 – 170. 00Mint Java ChipvariesHazelnut MochaVariesCreme Brulee FrappuccinovariesChai Frappuccino with Coffee JellyvariesBlack SesameGreen TeavariesBlended CreamCaramel Cream125. 00- 150. 00Chocolate Cream 120. 00 – 145. 00Strawberries and Cream145. 00 – 170. 00Chocolate Cream Chip120. 00 – 145. 00Blended Juice DrinkMango Passion Fruit 125. 00 – 150. 00Raspberry Black Currant 125. 00 – 150. 00Honey Glazed Doughnut40. 00Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookie50. 00Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookie50. 00Double Chocolate Walnut Brownie50. 00Butterscotch Fudge Bar 50. 00Cinnamon Roll/ Swirl55. 00Ensaymada65. 00Danish65. 00Tuna, Corned Beef and ChickenPandesal55. 00Pork Adobo Roll70. 00Cheese Croissant70. 00Sausage Roll75. 00Italian Pocket95. 00Banoffee Pie105. 00Banana Loaf50. 00| THE PERFresh Brewed Coffee80. 00 – 105. 00Americano Perfect85. 00 – 110. 00Cappuccino95. 00 – 120. 00Breve105. 00 – 130. 00Chai Tea Latte 115. 00 -145. 00Hot Tea95. 00Ice Blended and DeliciousMocha125. 00 – 150. 00JavaChip145. 00 Double Chocolate Mint 135. 00 – 160. 00Chai Tea145. 00 – 170. 00Java Jelly145. 00 – 170. 00Classic Iced Tea90. 00 – 120. 00Naughty Toddy90. 00 – 110. 00Classic American Latte 100. 00 – 130. 00Americano95. 00 – 125. 00World’s Best Coffee MilkshakeClassic Javanilla Shake155. 00Milkshakes155. 00HOT, HSeattle’s Best Coffee LattesHot Classic American Latte90. 00 – 115. 00Caramel Latte110. 00 – 130. 00Vanilla Latte110. 00 – 130. 00Hazelnut Latte 110. 00 – 130. 00Almond Latte 110. 00 – 130. 00Raspberry Latte 110. 00 – 130. 00Seattle’s Best Coffee MochasClassic Mocha100. 00White Chocolate Mocha 120. 00 – 150. 00Raspberry Mocha Kiss120. 00 – 150. 00Almond Mocha Joy120. 00 – 150. 00| Espresso ClassicsCappuccino85. 00 – 110. 00Caffe Latte85. 00 – 110. 00Caffe Mocha95. 00 – 125. 00Espresso80. 00 – 125. 00Machiatto80. 00 – 125. 00Americano80. 00 – 105. 00Filtered Coffee of the Day75. 00 – 100. 00Espresso ExpressionsCaramelae110. 00 – 145. 00Mocha Caramelatte110. 00 – 145. 00White Chocolate Mocha110. 00 – 145. 00Chocolate Macadamia Latte110. 00 – 145. 00Irish Nut Creme110. 00 – 145. 00Very Vanilla Latte110. 00 – 145. 00Tea & ChocolateChai Tea Latte95. 00 – 125. 00Hot Tea85. 00 – 110. 00HotChocolate& Marshmallows115. 00 – 140. 00COLD DRINKSVery Vanilla Chiller135. 00 – 165. 00Creme Brulee135. 00 – 165. 00Cookies ‘n Cream125. 00 -150. 00Mint Chocolate Bomb125. 00 – 150. 00Cappuccino ChillersVanilla Caramel135. 00 – 165. 00Chocolate Macadami140. 00 – 170. 00Gourmet Iced ChocolatesStrawberries n’ Cream130. 00 – 155. 00Iced Chocolate130. 00 – 155. 00Over IceCappuccino Chiller115. 00 – 155. 00Iced Mocha115. 00 – 155. 00Iced Latte100. 00 – 125. 00Strawberry Smoothie135. 00 – 165. 00Mixed Berry Smoothie135. 00 – 165. 00Mango Smoothie135. 00 – 165. 00Tropical Coconut135. 00 – 165. 00Fruit ChillersStrawberry130. 00 – 150. 00Mango Chillers130. 00 – 150. 00| 6 4. 6 ADVERTISEMENT AND PROMOTIONS Marketing Tools| Program Activities| Expansion of Coffee Shop Branches| Figaro will expand its selected coffee shop branches by adding a â€Å"conference section†. Additional space needed will be rented and additional chairs, tables and conference room equipments such as projectors will be provided. Conference Section will be used by business executives and the like, on a rental per hour basis. These spaces will form part of the general area if not rented. Figaro will implement this plan on business cities like Makati, Ortigas and some parts of Quezon City. | Television for Entertainment| There will be Televisions on every branches of Figaro nationwide. This is to entertain customers through movies, basketball games etc. | Customer Advantage CardMagazine Advertisements| For every purchase a customer will earn points that can be converted to freebies like free tickets to movie houses upon reaching a certain point. Figaro will have a picture advertisement in Entrepreneur Magazine and other business magazines, advertising the â€Å"Conference Section† of Figaro. We will advertise on Lifestyle Magazines as well. | Newspaper Advertisements| Newspaper Advertisements in the form of pictures will also be provided in the leading newspapers in the Philippines during Sundays on Manila Bulletin and Philippine Star. We will also make press releases on these newspapers. | TV Show Segment Promotion| Figaro, after the successful implementation of the proposed expansion, will be featured in a TV Show where it can showcase it’s being â€Å"Second Comfort Zone†. | Social Networking Sites| Improvements to the official Facebook page will be made. Designs will be added based on the season- for example: Valentines, Summer, Christmas etc. Links to the official company website, official twitter account and to Figaro’s press releases will be provided. This page will also serve as a place where customers can post their comments and reviews. A twitter account will also be established. These networking sites will keep the online community informed regarding the improvements. | Leaflets| Leaflets will be made available on Figaro branches nationwide. | SECTION 5 OPERATING AND CONTROL SYSTEMS Figaro Support System From helping you secure your site to the thorough training of your employees, Figaro Coffee Company has a strong support system to aid you in the opening and ongoing operation of your business. a. Initial site assessment. b. Training in the Figaro System for the franchisee and the Initial branch staff. c. Site design and construction assistance. d. Comprehensive Store Operations Manual. e. An opening team assigned for the branch’s first month of operations. f. Continuous research and improvement of the Figaro product line. g. Regular field visits by the Figaro Operations Team to give in-site assistance. h. Continuous training programs. i. A network of regular communications with franchises. Pre-qualification The qualities we look for in a franchise include: 1. A passion for coffee and enthusiasm for the business. 2. A strict adherence to Franchise Standards, and a commitment of time and resources to the Figaro System. 3. A desire for a mutually beneficial business relationship. 4. The resources to invest a minimum of ? 5 to 7 million, depending on the business model most suitable to the site chosen by the franchise applicant. Application Process To get your own Figaro franchise system started: 1. E-mail a Letter of Intent containing name of interested party, expressing interest in a franchise and proposed site and location (if any) to Franchise Relations Manager: franchise@figarocoffee. com 2. Upon receipt of the Letter of Intent, we will schedule a Franchise Orientation Meeting with you to discuss the detailed procedures on how to secure a franchise. 3. Fill out the Franchise Qualification Form. 4. If qualified, you will be required to conduct a feasibility study of the selected site using our Market Study form. 5. Upon submission of the feasibility study, you will be scheduled for a meeting with the Franch.

Miller further Essay

Miller further continues the feeling of contempt towards John Proctor in the following Act through Elizabeth Proctor’s despair. Instantly we can see the tension and strain is the Proctor marriage as when her husband returns home late after a long day planting in the fields, Elizabeth is intensely suspicious of him. This tension is reinforced when the couple sit down for dinner as she uses a patronising tone with him and he secretly insults her by adding more seasoning to the soup she has made when she is not in the room, this is a metaphor showing how their marriage has grown bland and tasteless. This underlying tension between them is undoubtedly caused by Proctor’s affair with Abigail. When Elizabeth informs him that Mary Warren, their servant, had been in court that day as an official of the witchcraft trials, Proctor tells her how he knows the witchcraft accusations are all false as Abby told him when he was with her last week. Elizabeth is disturbed that the two were alone together, but Proctor tells her ‘I’ll not have your suspicion anymore’. He shouts at her with a ‘violent undertone’ to ‘learn charity’, as he has ‘tiptoed around the house for seven months’ since Abigail left. He tells his wife that he has honestly confessed to his sin and tells her that her ‘justice would freeze beer’. This represents him as being an uncaring man as his wife is obviously in distress and we feel sorry for Elizabeth as he is shouting at her and telling her that she is a cold woman when it is he who has been in the wrong when he had his affair with Abby. His callous way makes the audience assume that he will later not be hanged as it is thought that he will not care about admitting to witchcraft, and therefore sacrifice his family name for his life. However, this act also allows the audience to first see how Proctor is not all an evil man through his deep, utter regret, his guilt and his constant desire to cleanse himself of his previous sinful activities with Abigail. It is this break down that helps so show Proctor as no longer being wicked, but rather as being weak and pitiful. As a result, Miller represents Proctor as humanity, as he is someone who is at the same time strong and weak, someone who has made mistakes but who has the sense to learn from them, therefore becoming a better person. The inevitability of his death therefore starts to show, as his true character is honest. The audience further start to have some second thoughts about Proctor’s first cold hearted appearance in the way that Elizabeth seems to be a cold and demanding woman and Elizabeth herself believes that her chilly behaviour may have driven her husband to adultery. She is also withdrawn and distant, this has gradually given her home a silent and insecure atmosphere, and as she continues to punish her husband for his sin, their marriage becomes increasingly tenser. The tension continues to build when Mary Warren then enters, as she informs Proctor and Elizabeth of the many people that have been arrested and how some people will hang. She hands Elizabeth a poppet that she made in court that day, ‘I made a gift for you today, Goody Proctor’ and claims that Sarah Osburn sent her spirit out in court to get them, this shows how easily Abby influenced her and the increasing power Abby is getting as the girls are willing to do whatever she orders them to do. Proctor can not believe the power Abby seems to have over the girls at court and demands evidence of witchcraft from Mary Warren and forbids her to go to court again but she replies that she is ‘amazed you do not see the weighty work we do’ but he threatens her with a whip, ‘strangely she does not resist him’. This shows how although Proctor can use his strength and power to his advantage, he can also use it in a negative way. It also illustrates how Abby is gaining increasingly more power as even the girls themselves are starting to believe that there is witchcraft. Mary claims that she saved Elizabeth’s life today, for she was accused. Elizabeth then realises that Abigail wants to kill her, ‘she wants me dead, John, you know it’. Proctor underestimates Abby, as he never once thought that she would be as wicked or malicious as to accuse Elizabeth of witchery, as Elizabeth is such a good, honest woman who strongly believes in justice and sticking to moral principles. Elizabeth is a well-respected and dignified woman and to accuse her shows that Abigail must strongly hate her as it was dangerous to accuse such a honourable, devout Christian woman of sinful activities when she has such strong religious beliefs. The religious beliefs of Elizabeth and her husband are later questioned when Hale arrives at their house, ‘I thought sir, to put some questions as to the Christian character of this house’. Proctor tries to explain why he works on a Sabbath and has not to been to church as often, he criticises Parris and claims that he spends the church’s money wasteful. Hale asks why only two of Proctor’s children are baptized and asks him to say the Ten Commandments but he can only remember nine of the ten, Elizabeth instantly gives him a sharp and bitter reminder of the tenth, adultery. This is ironic as he broke this commandment when he had his affair with Abby. Proctor obviously knows how foolish he was to be unfaithful and now feels very guilty, this is shown in his constant desire to forget about his sins, and when Elizabeth reminds him, it is ‘as though a secret arrow had pained his heart’. When Proctor tries to tell Hale that witchcraft accusations are not true he does not believe him as he feels that many have confessed to witchcraft. It is here that the hypocrisy of the witchcraft hysteria is exposed as the only way for people to save themselves from hanging was to admit to witchcraft, this sent the witchcraft trials off in a vicious spiral as people would definitely confess to witchery and accuse others, if they would be hanged for denying it. This makes the audience consider if Proctor would confess to witchcraft like the majority of the village to save his life as although he has been represented as not being totally religious by not going to church all the time like the rest of the community, he has given good, moral reasons for not attending. Some of Proctor’s qualities are also helped to be further expressed in Elizabeth’s arrest on the charge that her spirit stabbed Abigail with a needle, ‘stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly he drew a needle out’. He says that he will ‘not give his wife to vengeance’ and when Reverend Hale insists that the court is just, Proctor calls him a ‘Pontius Pilate’. His deep passion and love for his wife mounts along with his anger against the charge and how he is willing to fight for what is right and moral is also expressed. This also shows how Proctor misjudged Abigail as is actually more cunning than he first thought, this seems to show how Proctor sees some good in everybody as he thought she was better than that. The poppet shows that Abigail is yet more wicked, it illustrates how she is jealous and envious of Elizabeth because John loves her so much and also shows how she is determined, unscrupulous, cold and scheming. In the first act, she behaved just in her own interests; she was ready to harm others, but only to save herself. However, in this instance she frames Elizabeth on purpose out of revenge, planting the poppet to murder her. When Elizabeth is taken away, Proctor demands that Mary Warren come to court with him, he uses his intelligence as he knows that he can use Mary to his advantage by making her give evidence against the charges of witchcraft and therefore to prove Elizabeth’s innocence. However, Miller adds irony here as Proctor can rely on one single person to save them from Abigail’s charges but this one person, Mary Warren, is one of the weakest characters in ‘The Crucible’. She alone has the power to stop the hysteria of the witchcraft trials, but does not have the strength or will to do it. Mary needs a lot of force from Proctor to even think about coming clean about the lie in court and as Proctor uses one of his qualities, power, as he is demanding her to give evidence against Abby. She sobs ‘I cannot, I cannot’ but Proctor further expresses his love for his wife as he cries that his ‘wife will not die for him’. His morals and principles allo w the audience to believe that his death will be inescapable. Act Three continues to defend Proctor by focusing on his good points. He enters the court in a powerful manner, presenting a piece of paper signed by Mary Warren saying that the accusations of witchery are false. This shows how he is a natural leader but this quality causes friction between him and Parris. This is revealed as Parris takes the evidence from Proctor as an attack on the court, and even as an attack on him, further, it illustrates how Parris is paranoid and foolish. When Proctor is told that his wife is pregnant by Danforth; although Proctor did not know if it is true or not, he tells everyone in the court that Elizabeth never lies so he believes it, this shows that even thought Elizabeth is often cold towards him, he still deeply loves and trusts her. When Abigail starts to pretend that she can feel a sharp cold wind, ‘a wind, a cold wind has come’, Proctor calls her a ‘whore’ and grabs her by the hair, finally admitting that he had an affair with her, he cries ‘I have known her sir, I have known her’. This again shows how Proctor’s energy and strength can be used negatively. However, he also illustrates deep shame and regret for his unfaithfulness but lets all of the truth be known even if it does mean that he will be charged and the once totally respected member of the community will have a dint in his reputation. He lets all the truth be known as he knows that many innocent people are dying for stupid reasons, this expresses how Proctor supports the theme of truth and justice. It also conveys how Proctor will not lie to defend himself, therefore portraying the idea that he will not later admit to witchcraft to save his own life, therefore expressing how his death may be inevitable. This scene is very ironic as to prove that he is innocent and to show that he is now faithful to his wife, Proctor has to openly tell everyone in the court about his affair. To save Elizabeth and to stop himself from being accused of witchcraft, he has to blacken his name. Even with this sin, Proctor is still shown as a martyr, as he sacrifices his good reputation in Salem, where public reputation is very important, in order to save his wife and others who have been accused of witchcraft even though they are innocent. His great belief in justice helps the audience to believe that his death will be unavoidable as it expresses how he will not carry on the accusations, which will undoubtedly cause many more unjustified deaths, and therefore his life will be lost to save other people.

Foundational to the Christian faith is the belief that mankind is Essay

Foundational to the Christian faith is the belief that mankind is created in the image of God - Essay Example As such, the following analysis will seek to engage the reader with the important and fundamental onus that this understanding places upon the believer; as well as a discussion and analysis of several of the texts within the Bible that confirm the importance of this â€Å"image† connection. Although a literal interpretation of the texts pertaining to mankind (humankind) being created within he image of God lends one to believe that we look and are formed literally similar to our Creator, such an approach only captures part of the meaning that can necessarily be implied. Moreover, the first reference of making mankind in the â€Å"image† of God is found in Genesis 1:26 where God staes on the final day of creation, â€Å"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness†. This dual reference to image and likeness are important; although they may seem rather complimentary at first glance. The reason behind this is that the dual reference both implies a physical and the potential for a spiritual likeness. Whereas Biblical scholars have long debated whether or not a type of original sin or tabula rasa exists within the spiritual soul of mankind, seeking to define this is only part of understanding what the texts relating to image ultimately portend. As such, it is the understanding of this author that the pervasive discussion of image and thelinkages between human and devine that are effected both in the Old and the New Testament show a unique layer of importance being bestowed upon the level of understanding that the believer is able to integrate with this reality of similarity. Though it might be tempting, being created within the mere image of God is not enough in and of itself to allow the believer to assume an air of neither infallibility nor perfection. However, in helping to denote this comparison to an even more profound degree, the New Testament book of Hebrews chapter 4:15 states: â€Å"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to em pathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin†. This of course helps to make the New Testament teachings concerning the path of righteousness that Christ laid out for his followers as even more pertinent and even more salient. Although true that mankind is created in the physical likeness of the Creator, he is also endowed with a unique spiritual ability to develop the relationship with the Father; just as His Son did during his ministry on Earth. The necessity for all of this is manifestly evident with regards to the field of special education. Due to the fact that there exists a clear and determinant relationship between the teacher and the student, similar to the relationship that existed between Christ and his disciples during His ministry on earth, it is necessary for these stakeholders to integrate closely with the idea and understanding for how the image of God can most effectively be transmitt ed to stakeholders within the educational setting. By seeking to engage these individuals with regards to fairness, patience, honesty, and longsuffering, the image of God can be effectively transmitted to these youth; regardless of their developmental level; thereby helping to promote an appreciation and understanding of how the image

Pressure Ulcer Prevention Using Skin Bundle Research Paper

Pressure Ulcer Prevention Using Skin Bundle - Research Paper Example Once the skin succumbs to bacteria or sustains injuries from friction and shear, healing takes longer because reduced flow of blood brings nutrients and removes wastes more slowly. Ischemia due to unrelieved pressure is usually observed in the elderly, malnourished patients, patients reduced to immobility because of their medical condition, fecal incontinence, and patients under less than conscious condition (Mauk 2009, p. 501). Pressure Ulcers: Incidence, Prevalence and Prevention In 2004, the National Home Survey reported that for every 10 residents in nursing homes all over the United States, 11% have succumbed to pressure ulcers with stage 2 pressure ulcer as the most common (see Fig. 2). Both whites and non-whites had equal percentage with the males edging the females at 13% and 10%, respectively (Park-Lee & Caffrey 2009). In 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported some 257,412 preventable pressure ulcers as secondary diagnoses at cost averaging at $43,180 for every stay in the hospital. This compelled Medicare to give up shouldering pressure ulcer costs so as to encourage its prevention (Mauk 2009, p. 501). The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has recommended a set of simple interventions collectively known as ‘bundle’ for pressure ulcers prevention in 2003. Hospitals are encouraged to develop their own â€Å"bundle† in approaching pressure ulcer prevention (Paciella 2009, p. 43). The SKIN bundle, which is an acronym for Surface, Keep Moving, Incontinence and Nutrition, was developed by the Ascension Health facilities in 2004. In the succeeding pages a sample of change in practice program is outlined for a fictitious hospital ward called HTMC for the prevention of pressure ulcer using the SKIN bundle. Change in Practice for Pressure Ulcer Prevention Name of Ward (fictitious): East Wing 13 Holy Trinity Medical Center (HTMC) Demographics: 24-bed unit, 10 private and 14 semi-private; Staff is composed of ARNP, RN s, patient care technicians, nutritionists, therapists, and others Scope of Service: Patients in the ward are admitted for the following conditions: strokes and seizures, multiple sclerosis and other diseases that make them prone to develop pressure ulcers. A. ASSESSMENT In the first quarter of 2010, the East Wing 13 of the HTMC had reported 27% incidence of pressure ulcer cases compared to the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators or NDNQI’s report of 3.8%, for Stage I-IV and 2.7%, for Stage II-IV for the year 2010. This is not a good development, not only because the ward’s statistic paled in comparison with the NDNQI’s but also because the CMS has stopped shouldering costs for pressure ulcers that are acquired in the ACFs. B. LINK The US DHHS recommended several measures in the prevention and care of pressure ulcers. These recommendations can be used by the East Wing 13 to reduce the percentage of pressure ulcer incidence. They include the following : skin inspection of patients at least once daily; skin cleansing in accordance to the needs of each patient; skin care such as moisturizers for dry skin and less exposure to humidity and cold; moisture due to incontinence, perspiration, or wound

Self assessment assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Self assessment assignment - Essay Example Overall, the test was a great revelation to me, and one that will help me to improve my personal and professional life. The score was 45. This score means that most people think one is confident and in charge of their lives. However, the individual in question is not so sure, whether they are confident. This occurs when one had a difficult upbringing, especially guardians and parents who were so demanding. It can also occur when on thinks that they are not as good as people actually think they are. In relationships, such people will feel anxious and worry so much even about issues that other people would consider petty. It is also a culmination of not being able to forgive self for past mistakes (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2002). Personally, I believe the test best describes me. I have not been so confident in life; sometimes, I feign it, and people around me believe just that-that I am confident. I find it hard to get into relationships. Overall, this test depicted my situation and did not only help me to understand my self-esteem, but also the self-esteem of my close friends. The score was 76. This score means that one is likely to be a leader and set the right directions for the company. They only need to be more confident and get out of the shell. They can plan and initiate change, not only in themselves, but also in others. Leadership is a skill that can be learned and used to motivate others at the workplace and other realms of life (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2002). The score means that if only more effort is added, one can just be as passionate about honing their leadership skills, because at the end of the day leadership is learned, not acquired. Personally, the score surprised me. I have always believed that leaders are born; that they must be orators. After the score, though, I am now confident that I can compose myself and assume any leadership

Strategic Managment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic Managment - Assignment Example It involves the mission, vision and objectives of the company and also the policies and plans that are made to achieve these objectives. Strategic management helps the company to decide about allocating resources and plans in different programs and projects (Sadler, 2003). Our question asks us to discuss and analyse the strategic capabilities of HSBC and Oman International Bank during their merger in Oman. While applying a suitable theory from the strategic management context, we have selected the SWOT analysis framework for the given case study and in the following sections we will be discussing about the various strength, weakness, opportunity and threats aspect of these organizations. HSBC has operated in Oman since 1948 and has decided to merge its Oman branch with Oman international bank. Strategic capability and strength of HSBC in the merger can be stated as the opportunity the bank will get to invest $97.4 million additional capital in a key economy like Oman in gulf. As HSBC is present over there for 60 years in Oman thus they have recognized that this merger as a opportunity which will provide them with lots of opportunities in Oman. On the other side, OIB is the fifth largest bank is Oman who had gross assets of $3.2 billion at the end of December. The strength of the merger with HSBC Oman will provide the company with huge additional capital and the 60 years of operating experience of HSBC and the merger will not effect on the listing of OIB on Muscat Securities Market. The weakness of HSBC Oman before the merger is that HSBC has lack of opportunity and the weakness of OIB is that it is in the fifth position in the country and has lack of potential staffs. This merger will create the largest bank in Oman. Question 2 Identification and Critical evaluation of the change management style that I think is appropriate for the new organization Change management can be defined as an approach which is used in transitioning any team, company or any individual to change it in a desired state. It is a systematic approach which deals with the change from both side of a company and individual. Change management has different aspects which includes adapting the change, controlling change and effecting change (Anderson, 2010). From the aspect of this case, I will like to relate it with the view point of Kurt Lewin’s change management style. The theory is also known as the Unfreeze, Change, Freeze or refreezes (Liu, 2011). Unfreezing stage is the most important stage in change management. It indicates that the company should be ready to change. It involves the understanding regarding changes. The first step involves moving a department or individual or entire business organization towards the motivation that change is necessary to survive in this ever changing competitive environment. The second stage refers to the step towards transition. Because change is not event, it is a everyday process. Transition is the internal movement towards the change. It means the company is unfrozen and moving towards a new form. Strong skills and support is necessary in this stage in the form of training and guiding. Same in case of HSBC bank Oman SOAG, new company needs this change strategy to unfreeze itself to proceed

Disciplinary Literacies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Disciplinary Literacies - Research Paper Example ghlight how finance as a field provided a framework for explaining and solving economic issues and approaching problems in a systematic and efficient manner. The first is a scholarly paper entitled, The Role of Financial Innovations in the Current Global Financial Crisis written by Yoon-Shik Park. It was published in 2009 and was an immediate discourse of the global economic crisis that began two years earlier. The trade journal is entitled Prospects in the Global Financial crisis. Both of these articles revise how the financial crises are perceived. Being of scholarly extraction, it is mainly descriptive in nature, opting to use secondary sources or a wide array of prior literature and theorizing in order to depict the financial dilemma. The article introduced some sort of model to solve its identified problem. The writer directly stressed the need to address the issues of securitization and regulation to prevent a similar crisis from happening in the future. The author took pains in presenting empirical evidence, albeit all secondary, to support his positions. There was a good number of theories and statistical figures to support assertions. The revisionist argument centered on the need for financial innovations and reform. The trade journal article focused on a different angle of the financial crisis. It devoted a good amount of space and content on specific points that would appeal to its readers most. For example, it talked about the impact of the financial crisis on the Western market. It also outlined the likely short- and long-term effects on the Asia Pacific region. It has also proposed very specific solutions, according to specific stakeholder, such strict regulation so that the effects of crisis are either mitigated or diluted. The information provided seeks to revise regional attitudes towards the financial crisis. It cited that those less affected by the meltdown should not be content with the existing conditions that cushioned their economies but

Justification Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Justification Report - Assignment Example HP provides business with computer systems for everyday business needs, and that’s budget-friendly. †¢ Alternative B – Dell: Is an American-owned computer technology firm based in Round Rock, Texas. Dell is amongst largest technological corporations in the world. Dell sells a variety of products that could help our business such as desktops, laptops, printers, and storage devices. Dell provides businesses with deals where the more one buys the more one saves. Dell is more expensive than HP. However, both offer first-class performance. Dell has more features than Hp. For example, comparing Dell Inspiron 17R Special Edition 7720, and HP Envy 2012, Dell has Blu-ray player, Beats Audio and 1920 by 1080 screen resolutions (Low, 2014). Dell has 17 promotions. The company offers three coupon codes, 12 sales, and two free shipping coupons. In their latest offer, Dell gave out 30% coupon deals on select laptops and desktops in the last day. Dell has web and social support and phone support. They have a speedy twitter team and a useful chat service. Many customers find solutions to their problems online. However, Dell has to streamline its support site to make it easier to get live chat function (Rutherford, 2014). HP has web and social support, and phone support. Customers argue that they were satisfied with the support from HP. However, some of their customer support services like SmartFriend are very expensive. They charge almost $100 for assistance (Low, 2014). The specifications of the machine vary from HP and Dell. However, the paper will compare two laptops, HP Compaq nc6220 and Dell Latitude D610. These two laptops are somehow similar. The HP laptop has Intel Pentium M 1.6 GHz, 512 MB DDRII ram, 14.1† 1024 X 768 resolution screen, Intel media accelerator, 40GB, 5400rpm HDD, DVD/CD-ROM (Low, 2014). The Dell Latitude D610 Intel Pentium M 1.86 GHz, 1GB DDRII,

Antisocial Personality Disorder Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Antisocial Personality Disorder - Research Paper Example itful because of, say, consistent lying or stealing; aggressive; irritable; irresponsible toward his duties; and, most of all, does not show remorse over his behavior. This paper is going to discuss the causes, symptoms and treatment of APD. What causes APD to occur has always been in focus. Genetics alone cannot answer it because if this was the case, then the offspring of APD sufferers would essentially carry this disorder. But it is not this simple. Research has suggested that APD is a result of a combination of both hereditary and environmental factors. The latter may include risk factors such as child abuse, substance abuse, neglect, deprivation, having faced prejudice, being involved in animal cruelty during childhood, sexual harassment, reading disorder in children, mental torture, and so on. This disorder is more common among males (Swanson, Bland and Newman). Since there are no clear cut biological causes for APD, we can talk about the risk factors involved in this disease. Amygdala is that part of the brain that deals with the showing of sympathy toward the happy or sad expressions of other people, and also enables one to accept mistakes and learn lessons from them. APD sufferers are said to be having small amygdale with refrains them from understanding or showing regard to other people’s feelings or show remorse. This disease may be passed on genetically but shows itself when it is combined with environment factors as described earlier. An individual with APD breaks laws, deceives others, lies, steals, is disrespectful and violent, and is not at all concerned about safety or feelings of others. This all leads to violation of other people’s rights. A major symptom is that the APD patient is indifferent to what harm he has caused to others due to his criminal behavior and shows no concern about his hurting others emotionally. He is also apt to commit actions that make him liable for getting arrested. For example, he often gets involved in physical

Epicurus' View On Death Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Epicurus' View On Death - Essay Example The second view has its roots in religion and has far-reaching implications for understanding the meaning of death. This view does not accept death as the way of getting rid of tortures and life difficulties (Belshaw 2009). Based on this view, individuals should keep living, no matter how difficult their lives can be (Belshaw, 2009). In happiness and troubles, life is the greatest value that needs to be preserved and continued by all possible means. This view also implies that, no matter how difficult one’s life can be, there is also some room for making improvements (Belshaw 2009). The third view on death reduces the scope of badness in death but does not eliminate it. Simply stated, proponents of the third view realize that, at times, death may appear to be a preferable alternative to life (Belshaw 2009). Depending on the circumstances, life can be better or worse than death but, nevertheless, it is remains inherently bad (Belshaw 2009). It is no wonder that the prevailing m ajority of people associate death with sadness, loss, grief, and eternal separation with those who leave the world of the living and enter the world of the dead. Is it that death is as bad as many people believe it to be? Isn’t it possible to change public perceptions of death and realize that, even if death is not good, it may not be bad? Epicurus’ views on death hold a promise to clarify the situation. Despite the contribution made by Epicurus to the evolution of philosophy, his legacy in the study of death is persistently disregarded. Epicurus’ view on death is found in Letter to Menoeceus: â€Å"Accustom thyself to believe that death is... This essay describes Epicurus and his views on death. He used to be one of the most popular philosophers whose contribution to the meaning of death was persistently disregarded. Death is the topic that surrounded by considerable philosophic controversies even in modern society. According to Epicurus and his philosophical views, death is neither pleasant nor painful. Therefore, based on this premise, death cannot be bad. The researcher suggests that Epicurus may be right in that death is not worth being feared of, as long as no one can escape it. It is more reasonable and rational for people to take death as something inevitable. Simultaneously, the difficulty interpreting the meaning of badness should not be dismissed and, despite its value, Epicurus’ view cannot guarantee that death is bad or horrid for everyone or that death is bad and horrid at all. The researcher also uses comparisons between Western and Eastern worlds to give better explanation on the topic. In the Wester n world, death is usually considered as an extremely bad and undesirable phenomenon. The relationship between death and badness is analyzed in the essay, it tends to be considered from three different standpoints. In conlusion, the researcher sums up Epicurean philosophy of death. It falls short from the arguments that could support or deny the criteria of badness proposed by Epicurus. Objectively, no one can know whether death is pleasurable or painless, and this is one of the major pitfalls of Epicurean death philosophy.

Capstone Essay Example for Free

Capstone Essay

Global Warming Report Essay Example for Free

Global Warming Report Essay Over the past few decades scientist have been observing a warming trend in the over all temperature of the earth. Although the earth has been known to go through warm and cold periods, it seems that we humans are causing the earth to heat up this time. The greenhouse effect is causing the earth to go through this warming trend that we call global warming. The greenhouse effect is caused when the infrared radiation from the sun is absorbed in atmospheric gasses such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and methane. All of these gasses escape slowly from the atmosphere, therefore the heat stays here longer in a short of warm airy blanket. Without the occurrence of the greenhouse effect scientist say that the earths average temperature would be around 30 degrees C. or 50 degrees F. There are many greenhouse gasses that can trap the infrared rays of the sun. Carbon dioxide can be released into the atmosphere in several ways, the bulk of it is produced by car exhaust, deforestation, and the burning of fossil fuels. It is a colorless, odorless, non flammable gas, and it is also the most prominent greenhouse gas in earths atmosphere. CO2 is recycled through the earths atmosphere using the process photosynthesis, which makes most life on earth possible. Another greenhouse gas is methane and it is one of the most common gasses in the universe. methane is colorless odorless gas that is lighter than air and is produced by organic decay. Deposits of methane can usually be found in areas where lots of natural decay takes place, such as swamps, and land fills. Each year we add 350-500 million tons of methane to the atmosphere through mining, raising livestock, rice cultivation, and landfills. In fact a cow can release up to a half pound of methane into the air everyday. Nitrous oxide is another colorless and greenhouse gas, however it does smell sweet. It is mostly used medically because it deadens pain, because of this it is called laughing gas. It is released naturally from oceans and by bacteria is soil. It is important to reduce our emissions because nitrous oxide we release today will still be trapped in the atmosphere 100 years from now. The set of greenhouse gasses are fluorocarbons, that is a general term for any group of synthetic organic compounds that have fluorine and carbon. These can be found in aerosol cans, refrigerators, and air conditioners. When fluorocarbons are released into the atmosphere they breakdown molecules of the earths ozone layer. The effects of global warming are also good for human beings, because it could increase food production. The most important factor in crop production is climate, and global warming would facilitate a better climate for the growth of more crops. It would also create much more space for businesses were there was once ice and harsh climate. Also without global warming the earth temperature would be about 30 degrees F. n average. With global warming there would be far fewer deaths from cold exposer. If global warming caused enough arctic melt then shippers would have many new shortcut routes to take from place to place. After glacier melt we would have access to many new mining areas. However global warming will also have some large negative effects. Such as health concerns, scientist predict that there will be ma ny more deaths from diseases that are irritated by heat, including heart attacks and heatstroke. Another downside to global warming is the amount of flooding that will occur with coastal cities. Scientist have predicted that about a sixth of the country will be under water after global warming has taken full effect. The Maldive Islands are a nation of 1190 islands that are home to over 200,000 people. These islands are only 1. 5 meters above sea level and if global warming occurs then all of those people will have to be relocated. There are many things that we as human beings can do to help prevent global warming from happening. We can start to take advantage of all the different types of renewable energy instead of burning fossil fuels that pollute the atmosphere in multiple ways. There are many types of clean, efficient, renewable energy sources. There are many energy sources that the earth has provided for us that we need to take advantage of. We need to build more wind turbines, hydro electric plants, and solar power plants. Another way of producing clean energy include using fission through nuclear power to create a clean renewable energy source. Government can also be doing there part by funding research about global warming and raising awareness about how individuals can be doing there part to reduce pollution. In conclusion, Global warming is a very serious thing, it can affect the orld in many different ways. We just need to decide which effects help or harm the world the most and then make an educated choice as to which ones the earth can handle while taking the least amount of stress, and having the best long term effect. Patrick Michaels, The Satanic Gasses Henry Willis, Earths Future Climate Fred Singer, Hot Talk and Cold Science Ronald Bailey, Gl obal Warming and Other Eco Myths

Analysing Elements Of Corruption In The Indian Economy Politics Essay

Analysing Elements Of Corruption In The Indian Economy Politics Essay Enter the subcontinent in the nineteenth century, the crown jewel of the British Empire, a land rich with resources. Resources which, if properly utilized meant India could potentially be a very powerful nation one day. Post partition and independence from the 1950s up to the late 1980s India remained inclined towards the soviets and had a mixed economy which meant that there were considerable regulations and control in the economy. Empowering the bureaucrats led to corruption at every level of the government. This along with other factors sowed the seeds for a problem that is still very prevalent all over India. Corruption in present day India not only exists but thrives at all levels of government and all the services, to such an extent that even the military and the judiciary is full of corrupt officials. It is interesting to note that the bureaucracy of India under the British Empire was renowned to be largely untainted by corruption. Today the scene is hardly the same mostly owi ng to the electoral politics in India, the police and the judiciary collude with the politicians and engage in a very systematic form of corruption that has been a disgrace to Indias democratic system. In the mid nineteen sixties is considered to be a period where a great divide emerged in the history of public administration in India. Administrators shied away from the methods of the great politicians like Gandhi and Nehru who practiced principled politics. (Gill, 40-43) The key foundation to this new direction in which Indias administration was headed towards, was amorality and it was since then widely practiced in politics. Ever since then emerged an entire generation of politicians who were corrupt to the bone and involved in scandals at an enormous scale. This explains why the nineties were riddled with news of scandals and cons at the hands of persons in authority. The accused were often former ministers, governors and in certain cases even the prime minister. This goes to show that in Indias case no matter how many laws, rules and regulations are put in place to prevent corruption, if the persons who are entrusted with the political administration of the country misuse their authority and exploit the masses, there is absolutely nothing that can be done to prevent them from doing so. Perhaps the largest factor responsible for the corruption in India is that the leadership at the helm of the country not only turns a blind eye to it, but in many cases indulges in it as well. From this stems a trickledown effect that ultimately culminates in corruption being a bureaucratic and political norm in the society, a widely accepted means to achieving many every day ends. Post independence political leadership has stemmed from regional and linguistic movements, which means that such leader will always prefer the betterment of their race rather than the betterment of the Indian people as a whole, this selfish attitude got narrowed down until politics became a purely selfish pursuit. The rules of the game changed forever, as political survival and the pursuit for power, instead of the service of the people seems to be the ultimate aim of politics. The A.D. Gorwala report was one of the first attempts to highlight the problem of corruption that was so very prevalent in India. Gorwala claimed that the process of state building started from an individual level. Building characters of the leaders was the key to building a great nation, and according to Gorwala the immediate causes of the prevalent decadence that plagued the Indian society was World War two. Even though a lot of people helped with the war effort, it was never directly Indias war and hence many a few parties arose who profited from the war itself, both legally and illegally. This quality, of people profiteering from violence and looking for ways to increase their riches at the grave expense and at times lives of other people made them hardened criminals. These criminals took charge, ran for office and indulged in some of the worst scams of all times, siphoning out millions of rupees to private Swiss accounts. Gorwala also claimed that the national movement of indepe ndence failed to leave behind lasting spiritual sentiment amongst the population as a whole and died out giving way to the personal political ambitions of individuals. The report focused mostly on the leadership of the country and how it should lead by example and pointed out the endless scandals that stained their records. Enquiries into allegations have been made by senior all-India leaders of the principle partyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Often they have remained secret. Nor action was taken. It seems fairly clear that if the public is to have confidence that moral standards do prevail in high places, arrangements must be made that no one, however highly placed, is immune from enquiry if allegations against him are made by responsible parties and if a prima facie case exists. There should be no hushing-up or appearance of hushing-up for personal or political reasons. (Public Administration Committee 6-8) Transparency international conducted a Corruption study in 2005 in collaboration with the Centre for Media Studies in Delhi. This was perhaps the largest corruption study undertaken, the span of which ranged over 20 states and covered a sample of 14,405 people and it covered 151 cities and 306 villages. (India corruption study) A state wise analysis was performed, and it was concluded that Bihar was the most corrupt and Kerala stood to be the least corrupt, and among the government services the police was the most corrupt followed by the lower courts and the Land administration, making money a way out for people who may have committed heinous crimes and an illegitimate way to get legitimate services of the government essentially making these services unavailable for all those who cant afford the bribes. Basic amenities like health and electricity were heavily plagued by corruption, and where the courts and the police are the most corrupt, it is indeed going to be a complete mockery o f the rule of law which will no longer prevail. Without law, the very fabric that holds society together will unravel into anarchy. There were many attempts and inquiries made into corruption in various departments and many people took the initiative and voiced their reservations in the form of reports but without the support of senior politicians it was all to no avail. The Railway Corruption Enquiry Committee was one such early attempt. This commission was formed to investigate the corrupt practices that led to heavy losses for Indias extensive railway system. The committee was chaired by J.B. Kriplani, who called corruption the failure of the institution of citizenry that existed from the days of the Greek and Roman empires. (Railway Corruption Committee) It heavily criticized all forms of ticket evasion, bribery or theft. Above all it criticized the public servants for setting a negative example for the public. Senior bureaucrats and politicians used their posts to claim exemptions from paying tickets, setting a very negative trend. The report claimed that no one should be above the law and should do their pa rt in contributing positively to the general welfare of the society as a whole. The report stated that laws and reforms can only go so far in the attempt to curb these mal practices, but what would really make a difference was if the civil servants led a movement to make the people aware of their civic duties and for them to nurture that sentiment in the population, and this is only possible if they actively participate in rooting out corruption themselves. The role that politics plays in helping the spread of corruption in India was looked at most thoroughly by the Shah Commission of Enquiry which looked into the spending during the period of emergency from 1975-77. The head of this commission, justice Shah showed absolutely no reservations in condemning Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indra Gandhi, for committing one of the most heinous acts of corruption in the history of independent India. He stated that: The manner in which Shri Sanjay Gandhi functioned in the public affairs of Delhi in particular is the single greatest act of excess committed during the period of Emergency for which there is no parallel nor any justification for such assumption of authority or power in the history of independent India. While the other acts and excesses may have been in the nature of acts committed by functionaries have some shadow of authority acting in excess of their powers. Here was a case of individual wielding unlimited powers in a dictatorial capacity without even the slightest right to it. If this country is to be rendered safe for future generations the people owe it to themselves to ensure that an irresponsible and unconstitutional centre of power like the one which revolved around Shri Sanjay Gandhi during the Emergency is not allowed to ever come up again in any form or shape or under any guise.(Shah Commission Enqiry) In the nascent days of India, if we trace the tale of corruption, it is a little strange, especially in the case of Jawaharlal Nehru. Even though Nehru shielded many a few corrupt colleagues of his, it is interesting to note that he never benefited personally from any of their ventures. He did not crave material possessions and was a dedicated public servant. Despite that the part he played in highly visible instances of corruption and his support to the guilty set a very bad example and some might even go as far as to say that his actions legitimized corruption at the highest levels, thereby undermining all his principles, essentially jeopardizing the integrity of law. (Noorani 67) In the early days of nation building and setting standards and political morals for years to come, some say that Nehru was to blame for not making an example out of the people responsible. Maybe if not for these few lapses in judgment, maybe if a firm example had been set, India might not have to pay such a heavy price at the hands of corrupt leaders who go unpunished. It wasnt just the conduct of politicians, but also the policies that they adopted which are to blame to a certain extent. India remained a heavily controlled and closed off economy since independence up to the late nineteen eighties. During that time a license Raj was in place which heavily regulated any private companies that wanted to be established. There was a lot of red tape when it came to procedures for setting up the smallest and simplest of business, and in order to avoid all the red tape and the heavy regulations people openly indulged in bribery which became a norm to get things done faster in the Indian society. Even after the economy was liberalized the social norms of getting work done in the public sphere never changed. This unsavory bond between the politicians and the bureaucrats has come to light time and time again in recent years in the form of scams and scandals such as the fodder scam in which the Chief minister and several notable public servants including members of the opposition were involved, the telecom scam involving the telecom minister of the time etc. All such instances set a very negative mindset in all those aspiring to be politicians there by ruining the man power to come. Sadly, these are the scandals that saw the light of day, countless others of varying magnitudes have been carpeted and will continue if decisive and adequate measures arent taken. Let us examine some of the more recent cases that underline the corruption of society within India over a large sample of fields. In telecommunication, there is no scandal bigger than the 2008 2G Spectrum scam that cost the Indian government over US$ 40 billion. Termed the mother of all scams by BJB Spokes person Ravi Shankar Parsad, at the center of the 2G Spectrum fraud is Indias Telecom Minister, Mr. A. Raja who has been charged with selling off 2G cell phone technology licenses at knocked down prices which were originally set in the year 2001, despite the fact that cell phone users had shot up from 4 million to 350 million between 2001 and 2008. Mr. Raja has further been charged with disregarding the for auctions and awarding licenses without even inviting bids, on a first come first served basis. Furthermore; it is also regarded that Mr. Raja ignored advice from the Law and Finance Ministries of the country and also refused to obey the recommendations from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) on the rates to set for the auctioning of the spectrum rights. Mr. Raja resigned amidst massive political pressure from the opposition shortly after this scandal came to light. As of now, the Supreme Court of India is monitoring the Central Bank of Indias investigation into the matter. Shortly after the 2G Spectrum scandal, India was hit by another blow of epic proportions, in January of 2009, Chairman of Satyam Computer Services, Ramalinga Raju resigned from his post after notifying the Board of Directors of the company, through a letter that he has falsified the accounts of the company in order to cover up losses that the company was facing. According to Mr. Rajus letter, about US$ 1 Billion (94% of the companys cash on the books) was made up. The Satyam scandal, as it is now commonly known as is biggest ever corporate fraud in the history of the country. The revelation of the Satyam scandal led to Marrill Lynch (Now part of the Bank of America) and State Farm Insurance to withdraw partnerships with the company, caused the Bombay Stock Exchange to plummet 7% and has raised concerns for foreign investors looking to invest in India. (Vaswani) The Crime Investigation Department has been investigating the matter and despite Mr. Rajus claims that no money was used for his personal interests, the CID has found that the company employed 40,000 people, not 53,000 as had been claimed by Mr. Raju who had been withdrawing over INR 20 crore for those 13,000 employees. Moving onto sport now, we shall look at the Commonwealth Games in India who were hit by spate after spate of corruption scandals from faulty contracts being handed out, to un checked budget allocations, to substandard building materials. The 2010 Commonwealth Games were meant to showcase the countrys competence and coming of age but rapidly turned into an embarrassing example of the corruption and inefficiency that is part of everyday life in the worlds largest democracy. As it has been reported the overall expenditure of the games came to a staggering US$ 15.5 billion compared to $1.1 Billion used up for the games in Melbourne in 2006. With such a steep increase in expenditure, one has to wonder where it all went. Allegedly, it is estimated that the expenditure bills have been inflated by 30% of the actual value of services or commodities procured. Even the Income Tax department is now scrutinizing the finances of the CWG after charges of tax evasion were levied against the CWGs bro adcasters. The Central Vigilance Commission is looking into 11 major project tenders which were awarded at hiked rates causing a loss of over US$ 111 million. (Dolakia) The developer of the infrastructure for the CMGs, Emaar-MGF has also been pulled into the mix with alleged irregularities in the construction of the CGW Village in Delhi. To add to all that, the Central Beaureu of Investigation has also been regularly questioning suspected villain in the story, Suresh Kalmadi The Chief of the CWGs organizing committee. The CBI has also been regularly raiding the offices of the organizing committee, nominating Mr. VK Verma in the FIR report for buying and hiring overpriced equipment. Another major fallout from the games was the Queens Baton Relay financial irregularities case, where again, large sums had been paid to a little known British firm for providing rental cars etc during the launch of the Queens Relay Baton in London. Sticking with sports, let us now move onto a corruption scandal that recently shook India and its favorite sport, cricket. The IPL mess all started back in March when the bidding for new franchises in the IPL started. Rendezvous group won the Kochi franchise for $333.33 million. Shashi Tahoor, an MP from Kerala played a mentoring role is said bid. It was then alleged that the Rendezvous groups bid had been accepted despite better offer on the table. As the structure of ownership of the Kochi franchise started to come to light under continuous scrutiny, it was revealed that one of the shareholders was a close associate of Mr. Tahoor. Further down the line the CEO of the Kochi franchise claimed that he was offered $50 million by Lalit Modi, chief of the IPL to pack up his franchise. (Willamson) Further scrutiny was then spread over the entire IPL to identify the roots of the IPLs funding, which revealed that Mr. Modis brother-in-law owned a large part of Rajasthan Royals; his stepson-i n-law owned the company that has the IPLs media rights. Aviation Winister Patels daughter even worked for the IPL. The revelations kept on coming one after the other, while Mr. Tahoor resigned as a Minister for State of External Affairs under growing pressure. Eventually, everything culminated with the suspension of Mr. Modi, but it was to be too late as the Board for Control of Cricket in India had already been damaged badly by the saga. In the earlier part of the decade gone by, India faced, what at that time was one of the largest counterfeit scandals to hit nation. In late 2001, Abdul Karim Telgi was arrested in Ajmer in connection to a scam involving the printing of counterfeit stamp paper and selling it off to bulk purchasers, such as banks, insurance companies and share-broking firms. Despite being in prison it is alleged the Mr. Telgi still managed to continue his buisiness with the help of prison officials and guards. In 2003, Senior Inspector Dattatrya Dhal was arrested, along with Assistant Inspector Dilip Kamat in connection to aiding Mr. Telgi in running his business from prison. An increasing number of high profile arrests continued to be made through the course of the case, such as Krishna Yadav, the former labor minister and sitting MLA. In 2006 a videotape emerged, showing Mr Telgi taking a Narco Analysis (Truth Serum) test and confessing the names of Congress Party leaders Sharad Pawar and Chaggan Bhujbal in relation to his frauds, though neither of the two have been found guilty of any association with Mr. Telgi. At the peak of his fraudulent scandal, Mr. / Tegli is believed to have been earning up to a whopping US$ 40 Million per month. (Telgi scam) The overall hit of the scam is estimated to be as high as $4.5Billion, though some sources conflict on the amount. Taking a trip down memory lane, well take a look at Indias first large scale global corruption scandal; the Bofors scandal, the scale of which, at that point was Indias worst ever. The scandal takes off from when India agreed to purchase 400 155mm Howitzers from Sweedish arms manufacturer, Borfor AB. The then Indian PM, Rajiv Gandhi, along with others was accused of receiving kickbacks in order to award the contract to Borfors. The outcry from the scandal was huge and it is widely accepted that the scandal led to Rajiv Gandhis Indian National Congress party eventually losing out the in 1989 elections. The Bofors scandal is speculated to have been worth about US$ 9 million, which, considering inflation over the last 30 years was no tiny amount. (Prasad) Ranjiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991 and eventually, in 2004 courts cleared him on charges of bribery but the case is still ongoing in regards to other charges such as causing wrongful loss to the Government. If one wants a perfect example of a sustained scandal that has seen involvement from bureaucrats, politicians and business men, linking hundreds of top officials for over two decades, costing the Nation approximately US$ 206 million, it would be none other than the Fodder Scam. The scam is thought to have been around since the mid 70s with then Chief Minister of Bihar, Jagannath Maishar the first CM to be alleged of involvement in the fodder scam. The scam is said to have original with small scale embezzlement, with government employees submitting false expense reports to get additional funds. This small scale swindle eventually mutated and evolved over two decades into a scandal that involved almost ever senior official in Bihar and countless businessmen. A scandal that has seen the CM of Bihar during the mid 90s when the report broke, Lalu Parsad Yadhav sent to prison multiple times and charged with multiple cases involving embezzlement of government funds. By the time it was exposed, the fodder scam was an intricate scandal run by a mafia consisting of top government officials, bureaucrats, businessmen, even the lower government officials were involved in the scandal that had the country fooled for so long. Funding was demanded from the Government for cattle that never existed and once provided it was pocketed by the mafia of politicians and businessmen, an association that insured the scam could continue undetected for so long, eating up about US$206 million worth of Government funds.(Patna) Staying with political corruption, lets now glance over to a less glamorous, yet equally damning scandal in the 90s that led to US$ 18 million worth of bribery. Arrests of linked militants in Kashmir led to raids against hawala brokers, the Jain brothers which led to the ghastly discovery of evidence of money linked to the Kashmiri militants transferred to top politicians.(Haqque) Known as the Hawala Scam, the most damning feature of this scandal is that despite the huge stake involved in the scandal, it was never sufficiently investigated, despite big names sush as L. K. Advani, V. C. Shukla, P. Shiv Shankar, Sharad Yadav, Balram Jakhar, and Madan Lal Khurana being accused in relation to the scam. Most of the fore mentioned were acquitted to the courts, they deemed the hawala brokers journals to be insufficient evidence. Indias CBI was vastly criticized for its poor investigation of the cases. (Asia Corruption Ranking) This map shows that despite the fact that there is rampant corruption all over India, it is still comparatively not one of the worst countries in the region with regard to corruption. Corruption is a disease that ails many nations, in Indias case the price that it pays in terms of development and even in sheer monetary terms is crippling. A nation that prides itself as the largest democracy of the world and a country where the majority of the population is below the poverty line, and has a very low standard of living cannot afford to have corruption at such a huge scale. Transparency international estimated that truck drivers end up paying billions of dollars worth of bribes annually. With a population of 1.17 billion people, and a Gross domestic product of 4.05 trillion, India can be one of the most rapidly developing nations of the world and the standard of living would improve drastically provided that corruption is brought down.(Factbook) (Nature of Bribe) Of course there will have to be measures in place that will ensure that the money of the people is spent on uplifting their general standard of living. The World Bank and the IMF have reduced spending in certain sectors in India because they recently discovered the level of corruption that takes place. Scandals at a large scale and executed by ministers really damage the reputation of a nation and its question not only credibility but also the aptness of the system which seems to fails time and time again, for it is the failure of the system that so many corrupt individuals reach the top levels of the government. (Perception of corruption) Transparency Internationals measure of corruption, the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), ranks India as a highly corrupt country, this measure basically indicates how corrupt a country is from a scale from one to ten, one being the most and ten being the least. Somalia made it to the top of the list as th most corrupt country with the measure of 1.1 followed closely by Afghanistan (1.4) and finally down the list is India with a 3.3, followed by Brazil which has a 3.7 and so on. Despite these disturbing findings that shocked many international investors and observers, the Indian population remains largely indifferent to this embarrassing find. (Amount of Bribe) After an exhaustive study of the causes and roots of corruption in the country, one must then look at preventive steps and amends that must be made in the anti-corruption system that would strengthen it and allow for a brighter future to pervade through. In this vein, the works of Professor Krishna K. Tummala and Sunil Sondhi serve as seminal instances of the what, the how and the why of Corruption and ways to combat it. Professor Tummala correctly identifies the overall political and socio-economic conditions of the country to be conducive to the spread and perpetuation of corruption (Tummala 26). As noted by various scholars of public policy and management, less developed countries are prone to corruption by virtue of the income and economic disparities that plague their populace, the inequality of opportunities, fast-changing life styles and inefficiency of the state when it comes to providing basic public amenities such as energy resources, infrastructure and security. Couple that with the fast pace at which the world is changing and the struggle to embrace modernity and one has the perfect recipe for disaster! In such a context, efforts to curb corruption and use of illegal force and authority are indeed difficult to implement and promulgate, however with a few adjustments, such policy changes might just allow for a concrete step towards progress after all. Corruption stems for two basic reasons, contends Tummala, need and greed and posits that corruption in the civil and public service sectors might be contained to some extent by an increase in salaries across the board. One such recommendation was seen to be made in March 2008 by the Sixth Pay Commission which favored a bump in incomes in the lower rungs of the civil service so as to alleviate corruption bottom-up. However, even in countries where the civil service is paid hefty incomes, corruption still exists at all levels which leads one to understand that greed is not of kind, but of size and that unless such acts are publicly denounced and proclaimed at absolutely intolerable that a difference, if any at all, is to come about. What one notices in India is this complacency at all levels, be it the political leadership or civil society, a high ended business man or a common man on the street. As the Santhanam committee rightly observes, a favorable social climate must be created wh erein the likes of corruption and illegal activities are strongly condemned and protested against. Following from the same line of argument, there exists a strong dualism within the Hindu society, where on the one hand the a holier than thou attitude exists and the great epic tales from the Vedas and narrations of honesty, generosity and piety of legendry kings such as Vikramaditya that are told to children even today, on the other we have an inclination towards a most immoral, debase lifestyle which is fed by the desire to compete with the proponents of the liberal, modern lifestyle which took hold post the economic liberalization in 1990. The rhetoric of anti-corruption that is heard once in a blue moon now and then stands as measly Lilliputtian when compared to the giant Gulliver of the modern, liberal, commodity-dependant lifestyle which can only be maintained in the long run by resorting to corrupt practices in a country like India. What needs to be understood then is the need for a cognitive reframing and reconceptualization. We need to reinvoke the principles of simplicity and spirituality into our daily affairs and lifestyles to change the very way a singular block of the community functions, thereby effectuating change bottom-up. However, what needs to be reiterated at this point is that a simple bottom-up and grass-roots level approach is not the complete answer to the plague that is corruption in the country. A simultaneous top-down approach is necessary to ensure the effectiveness and perpetuation of the corruption-alleviation scheme. Herein the role of the three branches of the State comes into play. The Indian system of governance is parliamentary one with the doctrine of separation of powers firmly in place as per the Constitution. The Parliament being the Legislative, the Prime Minister being the Executive and the Supreme Court, holding Judicial authority. Whereas India has with the passage of time strengthened its Judiciary with the Supreme Court taking landmark decisions and the inclusion of amendments 73 and 74 to the Constitution that allow for the empowerment of the masses, there is still is a long way to be covered for the Judiciary to effectively play its part in alleviating and eradicating corruption. As both Sondhi and Tummala have noted, the Judicial processes of India allow for unnecessary delays in suits against corruption, red-tapism and the existence of unnecessary hierarchies both within the judicial as well as accountability/transparency systems allow for cases to get stuck in the back log or never effectively tackled. Moreover laws that have been made to tackle or eradicate corruption from its very roots are either mostly ignored or followed only in certain instances and on the whole the entire spirit of the law is often found to be lost. In fact, paradoxically, certain laws are found to be in complete contravention to the benefits they aim to provide the masses. Tummala correctly notes: various rights guaranteed to the civil servants in the name of assuring their neutrality and accord protection from harassment have been found to come in the way of bringing the errant to book. As noted, Article 311 of the Constitution of India (requiring permission of the appointing authority to prosecute) proved to be a major hurdle. (Tummala 72) Even in the case where the corrupt are brought to the courts, the process of providing justice is extremely slow and long-ended as has been observed earlier. Correctly identifying this, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has noted the need for special courts to be formulated and special institutions to be erected for this very purpose. A review of the judicial process is therefore extremely necessary to come to an effective solution to this problem. Appellate jurisdiction must be provided to special courts for such cases which can then relieve the burden of the pre-existant courts and allow for revisions and appeals to be dealt with effectively and efficiently. The help of partnering institutions must be invoked to ensure the smooth flow of information and evidence when it comes to these cases. In this vein, the help of watch-dog organizations, both national and international, may be sought. Coming next to the problem of implementation which essentially stems from the Executive and its subservient bodies wherein we see a lack of role models who set examples for the general populace. In fact in the very tenure of Indira Gandhi, as Sondhi rightly notes, the practices of corruption within various body functionaries of the state were seen to exist in the form of policies that encourage excess and allow for lacunas within the system of law and governance. The case of Bihar also serves as an apt example, where despite the existence of a number of anti-corruption measures, the implementation of the said measures amounted to zilch. Similarly the case of Tamilnadu where the Chief Minister herself was found to be involved in various cases of corruption serve as an apt example of what is wrong with the current state of affairs and simultaneously point out what needs to change. The political leadership itself needs to be kept in check and in this regards administrative accountabilit y and transparency needs to be encouraged and implemented. As Sondhi notes, such measures,