Cash flow in business organizations (Accounting) Coursework

Cash flow in business organizations (Accounting) - Coursework Example Cash generated from operating activities informs a business owner how much the company or business generated from its primary business operations, rather than the outlying activities such as borrowing and investing. In a period, this section of the cash flow statement gives a clear picture of how the company’s business activities are generating cash that will benefit both the stakeholders and the shareholders. The cash flow from operating activities gives the amount of cash created and excludes expenses linked to long-term venture on capital items. Notably, the International Financial Reporting Standards delineate cash flow from operating activities as the revenue created from the business activities. Cash flow from operating activities obtained in a given period includes cash obtained from customers for the sale of goods or services, cash obtained from fees, commissions and royalties, and cash reimbursed against income taxes (Mittal, 2007: 146-151). Additionally, the cash flo w from operating activities also includes the cash obtained from the sale of futures and the sale of premiums in the case of an insurance company. On the other hand, the net profit from operating activities refers to the excess of the cash obtained from operating activities over the costs of operating activities. It is obtained after adjustments have been made to the cash from operating activities. It gives the financial position of the business and shows whether a company can cater for its operating expenses (Mittal, 2007: 154). The net profit from the operating activities is given by the difference between the cash from operating activities and expenses from the operating activities. Some of the expenses deducted from the cash generated include the accounts payable, cash payments to employees, cash payments to suppliers, rent, insurance, interest payable, and income tax expense. Additionally, non-cash expenses such as

Letters Arts and Sciences themes DIVERSITY and ETHICS and their Research Paper

Letters Arts and Sciences themes DIVERSITY and ETHICS and their relationship to globalization - Research Paper Example Consequently of the vicissitudes that are fast happening in the world, three features globalization, human diversity, and ethical issues are considered to be significant impact on leadership at international level and in local level. By way of examining international visions, human diversity, and ethics, leaders can move forward in the path of growth and begin the groundwork for twenty-first century leadership. In the past, even today there is a propensity for a lot of persons to think locally as they considered one’s hometown was his world. At present, societies understand that, even though this opinion may have been common during that period, globalization is speedily happening. Along with skill and communication advancement, obstacles among countries vanish, divulging everybody to new values. International perspectives are being spread to the outermost nations in the world and to the maximum remote places and societies. Persons of diverse philosophies come from diverse nations, with unlike ethics daily to live, tour, or involve in trade. Globalization has developed and will endure to be an innovative system of life. It is essential for leaders to answer to this task of globalization so that they might confidently reach out to several persons as possible. Exposing them to the world’s vicissitudes permits leaders to equate and compare their values with the arts, language, opinions, customs, ideas, and habits of living of other persons. By means of observing and inquiring a new culture, leaders can know the source of a person’s views and develop more perceptive to the cultural requirements of that person. As a result, the leaders demonstrate their admiration and genuine wish in learning more about that individual, thus beginning a rapport and developing a basis for the attainment of their objective. Further, they can acquire knowledge about how the nations and cultures of the globe labor

Relationship Between Social Policy And Welfare

Relationship Between Social Policy And Welfare Social policy may be described in two ways. Primarily, social policy is seen to have a direct impact on individuals and groups of people. Secondly, Social policy is an academic subject to be researched. Social Policy may be defined as the developing and implementing measures to combat social problems in society, and to the academic study of these measures and their broader social context (Alcock, Erskine, and May, 2002:240). Baldock, Manning, and Bickerstaff (2007: xxi.) describe a social policy as the states deliberate involvement to redistribute resources amongst its citizens so as to achieve a welfare objective. Social policies affect a wide range of people, whether it is at an individual level or regards to communities. According to Spicker (2008:1) social policies have to concentrate on several issues including housing, health, education, social security and employment. The development of Social policies and their implementation have a direct impact on the social welfare of everyone in the society. Social welfare refers to the various social arrangements that are in place to meet the needs of individuals and groups in society, with the hope to tackle social problems. According to Fitzpatrick (2001:5) social policy aims to maximize welfare and minimize diswelfare and he states that there are six main perspectives on welfare: happiness, security, preferences, needs, desert, and relative comparisons. There are numerous texts that exist around the issue of policy formation and its contested relationship with the effects of the policies implementation on the welfare of those it aims to target. This essay aims to provide an overview of the evolution of social policy, legislation and practice in relation to child welfare in Irleand. Relation to an Aspect of Irish Policy Hill and Hupe stated that Implemenation inevitably takes different shapes and forms in different cultures and institutional settings(2006:2). This section of the essay will examine some of the relationship between social policy and child welfare in Ireland from the 1940s up to the present day. Children Allowance and Health Care: Perphaps one of the most signisifcant social policy developments regarding child welfare was in introduction of Childrens Allowance in 1944. However, the initial implemention of the Act included serveral discrepancies, thus it did not benefit the welfare of all the communitiy. For example, initially the payment was only availabe to families with three or more children. Means testing meant that many families were elimanted from the possible social welfare they deserved. Simliarly, in 1950, Noel Browne introduced the Mother and Child Scheme. He hoped that this would overcome many of the elements that infringed the rights of people in regards to the Childrens allowance. However, both the Catholic church and the medical profession opposed hes scheme in fear that state run and free medical care would go against their hierachy. With Browns later resignation,the hope of his scheme being fully implented collapsed. Burke (2005:29) stated that the controversy over the mother and child scheme h as profound effecs on the developement of social policy in this country. The power struggle between the church and the state most definelty lead to diswelfare among citizens. Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse: Society has a challenging task of protecting children. Societies need to employ several ways in which they can achieve this, for example, social, economic, moral, legal and environmental. In the mid 1990s, The Law Reform Commission recommended the introduction of mandatory reporting of child abuse. The matter of mandatory reporting is one of complexity which has implications not only for childrens welfare but also families, workers and the state. One of the main advantages of the implemenation of such a system was the hope that it would empower proffesionals to report abuse. Above all else it was prodicted that this would secure consistency and would provide a basis for better statistical evidence. However, disadvantages included the danger of over reporting of cases using scarce resources. There was great variety of options about the mandatory reporting of child abuse. Many argued for an immediate introduction of mandatory reporting of child abuse as it was seen as a means of protecting children( ACT Legislative Assembly: nd) and their welfare. However, others believed it would divert the already scarce resources from programs that delivered assistance to families and at risk children. For example, Lipsky (1980) beleived that scarcity of resources leads to street- level bureaucracies being consistently criticized for their inability to implement policies which are related to the areas they work in thus leading to diswelfare in many cases. After much debate, the government decided against the introduction of mandatory reporting on the basis that it was not in the childrens best interests and welfare. The scarcity of resources combined with the complex relationship between proffesionals and clients made it unrealistic. Legislative Framework Governing the Implementation of Childcare Policy: The Children Act of 1908 and the Health Act 1953 and 1957 were replaced by the Child Care Act 1991 and the Children Act 2001 as the primary statutory framework for the care and control of children in Ireland. Among many provisions, the main aim of the Act according to O Sullivan (2009:251) is the placing of a statutory duty on health boards to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. In the period following the passing of the childrens act in 1991, many attempts were made to standardise procedures and practises in the area of childcare services. For exmaple, the Report of the Killkenny Incest Enquiry in 1993 evidently highlighted that guidelines were not being used and many workers were not even aware of there existence. However, in 1995, new guidelines on The Notification of Suspected Cases of Child Abuse Between Healthboards and Gardai were issued and aimed at standardising the cases between the two agencies. This was a step forward for ma ximising the welfare of children. In 1999, in the Publication of Children First; National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children were introduced to improve proffesional practise and thus improving the welfare of children. It highlighted the importance of consistency between policies and procedures. Unlike guidelines before it, Children First was built upon a set of principles which included participation by parents/carers and children in conferences and the development of child protection plans. These guidelines were valuable as they provided a framework for practise, meaning that proffessionals are accountable for their actions. In 2002, Buckley made a warning of the dangers of an over regulated system, as she believed it may lead to discretion and therapeutical skills being replaced by adminstrative management and regulation. In 2003 The Social Services Inspectorate was asked to monitor the implementation of the guidelines, however, while some aspect of the report were postivie,it was concluded that the progress in realtion to Garda/health board cooperation, the child protection committees and planning for family support services was inadequate O Sullivan (2009:257) Confusion surrounding the implementation of this policy still exists. Conculsion: This essay has attempted to summarise and give a critical analysis of certain social policy in Ireland and their relationship with childrens Welfare. As illustrated in the above examples, the in most cases policies may be developed with the hope to benefit and increase the welfare of children but unless they are implemented correctly the policies may lead to diswelfare.

Software Patents in Western Europe :: Software Technology Patent Paperes

Software Patents in Western Europe Introduction The world is becoming smaller and smaller. It’s a catch-line clichà © anyone who is familiar with the internet has heard a thousand times. Email provides nearly instant communication across the globe, massive files containing every imaginable piece of information are transmitted in the blink of an eye, and the World Wide Web makes it all accessible to the common individual with moderate computer skills. There is no denying it, just like the IBM slogan, the internet has changed the way the world does business. One key to doing business is the patent. Meant to reward and encourage innovation, the patent gives the creator of an idea or invention a temporary monopoly on their product. This grants small businesses a foothold in a market that would otherwise be dominated by giant corporations. Thus patents give life to competition, the cornerstone of capitalism. However, with the advent of the computer industry the issue of patenting software programs has become an intense debate. These intangible sequences of ones and zeros are coveted like gold and in some cases are the very livelihood of numerous businesses. The State of Affairs in Western Europe There are two camps in Europe battling out the issue of software patents. On one side we have â€Å"Brussels technocrats and technology giants such as Microsoft, SAP, and Nokia, all of which insist that Europe must do more to protect intellectual property or risk compromising its global competitiveness.†1 The basic argument of this side is that patents are necessary if Europe wants to compete with U.S. and Chinese innovation. On the other side of the debate there is â€Å"an army of economists, left-leaning politicians, and programmers such as Linux creator Linus Torvalds†1 who present the argument that â€Å"software patents are a creativity-crushing weapon wielded by multinationals to bash [startups].†1 The open-source community, which produces software without patents for all people to use, is particularly strong in Europe. It is their opinion that software patents put programs under lock and key and they would like to see Europe reject software patents c ompletely. For the past two years the European Union has been working to stiffen its existing patent laws while balancing the sometimes conflicting requirements of its 15 members. However, the process was upended in September when â€Å"the European Parliament -- under heavy last-minute lobbying by open-source advocates -- unexpectedly approved a draft law that effectively banned all software patents.

Air France-KLM as Low-Cost Airline Across Europe Essay

Abstract Airline is an important industrial in European economy, with the liberalization and deregulation of European market, it is filled by a number of small-sized and large-sized airlines, recently, the model of low cost carriers is widely spread from America to Europe, the success attracts rivals to adjust business models to enter this market. Air France-KLM also attempts to adopt this strategy. This essay will use PESTEL and stakeholder theory, as well as corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept to analyze general environment and specific environment including customers and suppliers. Main ideas are Air France-KLM (FK) should concern CSR behavior especially including social and environmental perspective to conduct low-cost strategy rather than only consider economic perspective which is short-term financial performance, because it could not bring a sustainable development for company. Furthermore, FK should have operational resilience and strategic resilience under the uncertainty of dynamic environment, and integrate CSR as a organization culture which will become a competitive advantage. The general environment analysis could provide reference for other companies, and analysis of stakeholder theory and CSR concept will give a guidance for sustainable development of companies. Air France-KLM is owned by French airline (Air France) and Dutch airline (KLM). It is the largest airline company in the world, while the profit is continually decreasing in Europe within recent 5 years (Market Line 2014). It is positively seeking a path to maintain competitive position in European airline market. Two largest competitors are Ryanair and EasyJet in Europe who operate low-cost strategy which learn from Southwest in US, and they rapidly capture market share. Air France-KLM is planning to use same strategy to compete with them. Environment is a significant indicator that influences the operation of business. It is dynamic and complex, different elements are interrelated and interacted that bring different influence for present and future activities  of companies. Analysis of environment usually is divided into macro-environment and micro-environment, they separately cover the general environment and specific related environmental factors such as customers, suppliers and regulators (Kew and Stredwick 2005). As Europe is located in a low valley suffering debtor crisis, new business model is encouraged to stimulate the economy and transfer risks for government. This essay will evaluate and discuss the low cost strategy Air France-KLM will adopt, firstly, it will analyze the general environment using PESTEL tool, and using Five Forces model and stakeholder theory further seek the issue and factors that can help company to succeed in a long term. Especially, it will explain the importance of corporate social responsibility in business operation. Finally, it is to find the opportunities and threats that company should notice for future success to combines different factors. Air France-KLM is holding by Air France and KLM which is a Dutch airline, the alliance was formed in 2004. The headquarter is located in Paris, and it obeys the French law. Subsequently, it became the largest airplane company in terms of revenues in Europe, even over the world. However, the operating profit to Air France-KLM (FK) continually decreased from 2012 (MarketLine 2014). Air France-KLM is exploring another strategy to survive in the competitive airline industrial. As BBC reported Alexandre who is CEO of FK claimed company will adopt the Low cost carriers (LCCs) strategy to recover and sustain competitive position in airline industry (Clark 2014). Environmental analysis is an inevitable step to help company identify issues, flexibly and innovatively solve problems, also assist the strategist to improve the decision making process (Kew and Stredwick 2005). The internal and external environment analysis will be required in order to explore fitness of strategy within the whole business environment and internal capabilities; in addition, the analysis on competitive structure of industrial environment and stakeholder will deeply explore the important factors for the sustainable development rather than short-term success, especially CSR concept includes social and environmental perspective instead  of simply economic perspective which presents financial profits (Button 2014). FK will better understand the opportunities and threats under the business environment analysis. The characteristics of Low cost carriers are presented on maximum utilization for facilities and economically provide service that customers themselves need. Usually, it has a high seating density, single class configuration, point-to-point services; it frequently uses second-tier airports on cost saving (CAPA 2014). It also keeps a low maintenance and training costs, as well as eases scheduling and takes advantage of bulk purchases to obtain discounts from manufactures (Budd et al 2014). It generates profits from ancillary revenue such as meal, snack and luggage (Budd et al 2014). This model started from America Southwest Airline in 1978. Nowadays, LCCs as a strategy is widely adopted in Latin America and Europe. The combining analysis between the environment and characteristics above will evaluate the low cost strategy of Air France-KLM. PESTEL as a macro-environment analysis tool helps to understand the complex trend of environment. PESTEL includes political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental. The analysis concerns the longitudinal and cross-sectional changes in time line. Firstly, liberalization events in US market significantly impacted other countries (Fu and Oum, 2014). France has high liberalized operating environment that enable companies to flexibly run any legal business model, it provides environment that FK can practice low cost strategy instead of the whole service provided with high cost (Budd et al 2014). Liberated market will be an advantage for innovation of business and increase the market power of company. It is big opportunity that companies can expand their network, as FK is an alliance to share strengthen and risks between French and Dutch airplane company (Fu and Oum, 2014). However, high-degree liberalization inevitably bring fierce competition. Additionally, the business model of public-private partnership is dominating the European airlines (Cruz and Marques 2011), especially the privatization process of European airlines is salient, government decreased the stake for business,  as French government hold a 16% stake on FK (Stothard and Bryant 2014). As a result, company will obtain less financial support from government, government is able to bear less risk of deficit. Secondly, to considering economic factors, German and France as primary strength motivate the economic recovery of Europe, French government is gradually putting effort to diagnose economic ills (Barber 2014). European countries still have maintained the high unemployment rate since financial crisis occurred in 2008, although it slightly fell in 2014 compared to last year (Statista 2014). Inflation rate had a slight fall in November than that of October, it will be a danger for debtors due to less revenue from sales, incomes or taxes, and debt problems is serious; energy price is falling as well (BBC Nov 2014). The important social indicators is consumer behavior is gradually changing. The increasing number of customers choose the high-speed train for a short journey instead of the airplane as a result of the punctuality and similar price on same time consuming (Dobruszkes 2011). In addition, the strength of unions in this two countries is very high, labour union has strong power such as pilots or crews. The impact of technology is significant, as the big data time is coming (Mark 2014), companies own the large number of data information about consumer, which will rapidly push the innovation of business, if company can dig and utilize the meaning of data. For the most important environmental and legal analysis, climate change is as one of themes in previous G20 conference and future UN conference will hold in 2015, and it will concentrate on a new set of Sustainable Development goals and emphasize the multilateral co-operation on a range of vital issues (FT 2014), which implies France should contribute to same goal, and perhaps the more strict regulation will be adopted, for example, CO2 emission. Additionally, the terrorism is serious problem airplane companies is facing.  In macro-environment, five forces model can identify and analyze the  competitive structure of industrial environment. Forces in relation to stakeholders can be discussed upon priority. The opportunities and threats will be identified further. Firstly, the intensity of rivalry is high, the large number of competitors in Europe is divided into two strategic streams, one is the large-size airplane such as Lufthansa and British Airway which are seeking path to compete in Europe; other representative group is LCCs including Ryanair and EasyJet. Various business models are emerging under the motivation of liberalized market conditions and globalization, airline companies could seek partner including other airlines companies and airports to form network for enhancing market power; additionally, each European country can operate and switch route freely (Fu and Oum, 2014). In contrast, LCCs provide service for customers who have high elasticity for price, it rapidly captured the market share as a result of low switching costs for buyers. To considering new entrants, 77% small-size companies failed which learn from LCCs to enter market, because the established companies with strong reputation and first mover advantages, and their size do not enable them to create the economies of scale (Budd et al 2014). Stakeholder theory claims companies should notice the interests of other groups, not only do companies focus on the interests of shareholder which is financial performance (Jensen 2001). Customer have highest power and interests for company, company usually prioritize them into first post; employees second, managers third, and shareholders last, according to the hierarchy of interests (Kew and Stredwick 2005). Customers have the most power and the highest interests to organization. From production side and demand side of economic perspective, as the analysis of business environment above shows the supply is over than demand, the number of fragmented airlines is more than customers (Budd et al 2014), so that the bargaining power of buyers is powerful, also switching cost is low between airlines. Low-cost strategy of FK is not lucrative in a market with high intensity of rivalry. However, business environment is along uncertainty and dynamics, the growth of Euro area will enable companies to earn the financial obtains as economic perspective. In fact, demand-supply economic perspective is narrow, the increasing demand of LCCs will lead to tragedy of the common for suppliers, because suppliers only consider the economic returns compared to inputs, and plunge themselves into price battle ignoring value creation, the more followers will emerge, obtained profits from one unit of input will be gradually decreased with the increasing rivals, and tragedy probably occur. So only economic perspective can not achieve success. CSR thoughts will benefits the long-term development of companies. It takes account of social and environmental perspective for a sustainable success, maximizing social welfare is an important measure under social perspective, and industrial success is based on sustainable development (Button 2014). Resources is limited in the world, when managers make decisions, they should consider to increase the long-run value for firm rather than a short-run financial performance including equity, debt and stock. Ryanair cancel safety cards stuck on the back of the seats, the legal proceeding is debatable. It requires trade off through time, also among different constitutions. When companies give up present cost of a unit for receiving that at some time in the future. As costs of input come from different resources including labour, capital or material purchased. The company with CSR can attract and retain talents and establish the brand image and reputation for companies. The power of suppliers as one force represents inputs, simultaneously, they consist of important stakeholders including suppliers, employees, aircraft manufactures and fuel as well as airports. Firstly, employee as the most important internal stakeholder has high bargaining power within industrial. It is reported from BBC, the pilots of FK struck due to the reduction of their salary when low cost strategy adopted (Stothard and Bryant 2014). As above mentioned, company should not save cost from input to create short term profit, it impaired the interests of employees, employees will bring less output; on the contrary, if company can give them more care and welfare, they will create more value, such as  company can provide training and individual deportment planning to maintain enough talent pool for future development, employee also will return to company through high qual ity of services and improve the satisfaction of customers. Setting an adverse example, Foxconn as a large manufacturer adopted military management to employees and ignored their normal needs for reducing cost, as a result, employee suicide and reputation of company was impaired, likewise talents are not willing to work here under abnormal management. CSR could be employee and employer relationship, while Legal utilization for employee is only the lowest level of CSR, Low cost strategy with CSR should not only obey legal behavior, but also pursue ethical, economic and philanthropic behavior (Carroll 1991). Aircraft manufacture is another stakeholder group, low cost strategy may squeeze their price and change manufacture process, as FK wants to reduce the weight of seats and increase the intensity of seat. They should â€Å"co-production† with them rather than simply ask them to achieve requirement, otherwise, suppliers will be reluctant to change manufacturing process for FK only. For instance, IKEA uses flat-package for products from manufacturing to selling as core competitive advantage, it desires suppliers of China to satisfy the flat-package manufacturing process, it not only help to upgrade production technology, but also provide training programme for employee (Inge and Claes 2011). IKEA maintains the good relationship with suppliers. These ethical and economic CSR behavior will increase the wealth of stakeholders, simultaneously, it improves itself production efficiency in value chain. For philanthropic behavior as the highest level, company donates to communities for local better development. Company can collaborate employees to contribute this, such as employee regularly participate volunteering activities for 20 hours each year. Also, as environmental and legal analysis above, CSR perspective can stimulate the innovation and initiative of company. For low-cost strategy, FK can try to innovate new technology or operational methods, such as the use of biofuels and the improvement of CO2 emission disposing. The last force is the threat of substitute, the prevalence of high speed rail as substitute has advantages for a short route. Especially, for business  group, they can use telecommunications on high speed train, and company also spend less on business trip. So the business passengers is decreasing. The noisy and pollution are comparative less than airplane. As German Airplane adopts corporate with high speed rail to compete with LCCs. Based on analysis above, Air France-KLM (FK) adopt low cost strategy, the opportunities and threats can be identified. Liberalized market environment and rapid privatization process provide a favourable condition for development of new model, while they also achieve a high competitive market. It represents other large-sized company also can adopt this model to enter the market. Also, existed competitors with first mover advantages and rich experience, and high speed train as substitutes whose advantages are salient gradually capture the market share for a short-route trip. The pressure of legal environment on CO2 emission and labour union is heavy for operation of FK on low cost strategy. Compared to Ryanair, it ignored the CSR behaviour no matter what level about legal, ethical and philanthropic behaviour. It will be a path for long-term sustainable development for FK. CSR more concern social and environmental value that FK could create, it as a large airline company will explore and represent a new and correct path bearing CSR rather than the short development for financial performance, because it will cause tragedy of the common for the whole society, it will more take account of the interests of stakeholders. In detail, it can use biofuel and decrease the CO2 emission, also maintain good relationship with customers and employee, as well as suppliers. Catching the development of technology, FK should utilize the big data to dig needs of customers to innovate the business model. Under the turbulence of terrorism, European countries can corporate together to resist it for the whole society. French domestic CSR policy as a national competitive advantage will support this business model of FK (France Diplomatie 2014), as investment in CSR while it is difficult to receive profit in short-term, so perhaps FK could reduce the short-term financial pressure from support of government. So the policy of government is consistent with corporate strategy will be helpful. A differentiated low-cost strategy could be adopted by FK. CSR can be a culture of company as a competitive advantage to position itself in market, so that it will always stimulate the innovation and learning of organization, and maintain effective human resources management such as attracting and retaining talents. Organization should consider the knowledge management through technology to advocate CSR concept to every internal and external stakeholders in order to better achieve CSR activities. In addition, FK as one of large-size companies, it has enough experience and strengths to compete with other LCCs, even though they have first mover advantages in terms of reputation and economics of scale. On the other hand, as a large-size company has solid organizational institution and vested interested group so that the strategy change of organization is not easy. As the growth of Euro area with uncertainty lead to bigger risk FK will face (Cadman and Giles 2014), it indicates FK should concern the operational resilience and strategic resilience, once it suffers the unexpected adversity. In conclusion, under the analysis of complex and dynamic environment, Air France-KLM should adopt a differentiated low cost strategy. The economic and political market environment with high-degree liberalization and privatization will provide conditions for the development of business model, also increase the market competition due to a large number of rivals emerging under deregulation. Ryanair and EasyJet with first mover advantages have captured the large market share, also they have accumulated more experience, but the weakness of rivals and trend of environment such as regulation on CO2 emission and sustainable development indicate FK should bear responsibility to seek another path, which more concern the interests of stakeholders, CSR behaviour and activities to create long-term value such as the use of biofuel. At the same time, FK can integrate CSR as a culture, also a competitive advantage in order to continually motivate itself to innovation and learning, also improve the effectiveness of human resources management. The development of technology will require FK to utilize data to dig needs of  customers to innovate the business model in big data time. European countries also need to corporate together to resist it for common society under the turbulence of terrorism. Uncertainty of environment also require company have operational resilience and strategic resilience, once it suffers the unexpected adversity. References: Air France-KLM S.A. company profile, (2014) Market Line [Online] Available from: http://0-eds.b.ebscohost.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=172f9c2f-747f-4b99-9c37-34a375aa6a06%40sessionmgr110&vid=1&hid=114 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] BBC 2014 Eurozone inflation rate falls to 0.3% BBC 28.Nov. 2014 [Online] Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30243113 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Barber, T., (2014) France shows courage in diagnosing its economic ills, FT, 22,Dec, 2014 [Online] Available from: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a364d628-86cd-11e4-8a51-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz3Nmt1hzwF [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Button, K., (2012) Low-cost airlines: a failed business model? Transportation Journal, Vol, 5. No.2, pp197-219 [Online] Available from: http://0-muse.jhu.edu.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/journals/transportation_journal/v051/51.2.button.html [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Budd et al (2014) Grounded: Characterising the market exit of European low cost airlines Journal of Air Transport Management Vol, 34, pp78-85 [Online] Available from:http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0969699713001129 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] CAPA 2014 [Online] Available from: http://centreforaviation.com/profiles/hot-issues/low-cost-carriers-lccs [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Cruz. C.O., and Marques. R.C., (2011) Contribution to the study of PPP arrangements in airport development, management and operation. Transport policy Vol.18 pp392-400 [Online] Available from http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0967070X10001460 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Carroll, A., (1991) The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility. Business Horizons, 42: 39-48 Kew. J. and Stredwick J. (2005) Business environment: managing in a strategic context. London: The Cromwell Press Clark. N 2014 Air France-KLM Restructuring Puts New Focus on Its Low-Cost Airline The New York Times 11. Sept. 2014 [Online] Available from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/business/international/air-france-klm-restructuring-puts-new-focus-on-its-low-cost-airline.html?_r=1 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Dobruszkes F. (2011) high-speed rail and air transport competition in western Europe: a supply-oriented perspective. Transport policy Vol.18 pp.870-879 Fu. X.W., Oum, T.H., 2014 Air Transport Liberalization and its Effects on Airline Competition and Traffic Growth – An Overview In The Economics of International Airline Transport. Vol, 4 pp11-44 [Online] Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S2212-160920140000004000 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] France Diplomatie 2014 [Online] Available from http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-policy-1/economic-diplomacy/corporate-social-responsibility/france-s-domestic-csr-policy/ [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Inge, I and Claes, G.A., 2011 Upgrading in global value-chains: a case study of technology-learning among IKEA-suppliers in China and Southeast Asia Journal of Economic Geography 11 (2011) pp. 731–752 Jensen. M.C., (2001) Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function European financial management Vol.7 No.3 pp297-317 [Online] Available from

The Rise and Decline of the Socialist party in America

The Rise and Decline of the Socialist Party in the United States Throughout American history, there have been an array of factions vying for votes in our democratic system of government. These organizations consist of leaders who believe in an idea and have developed ways to achieve that idea. Success of a political organization, or party, is based on how well leaders can convince people to follow them and Join their ranks. Socialism as a political idea is based on cooperative ownership and redistribution of goods, services, and production. The Socialist Party of America was one faction whose roots are based in socialism.Created in 1901, the SPA was formed by the combination of the Social Democratic Party of America, a short lived movement, and the Social Labor Party, a working man's party. This combination attracted new members, as well as members from the progressive and populist parties, which made up the majority of the SPA. The rise of the Socialist Party of America was fueled b y the working mans desire for a utopian society. Campaign promises for public ownership of utilities, better sanitation, and a social security program, at local levels, led to the party's highpoint in 1912.These small successes were short lived. The American citizens sense of individualism and pride as well as a lack in acquiring news members and support set the wheels of failure in motion. The party's staunch opposition to involvement in World War I and the expulsion of its members led to The Socialist Party's final moment. Faction polarization within the party crippled a once unified front, and finally President Roosevelt's â€Å"New Deal† legislation effectively silenced the American Socialist party. The lineage of the Socialist Party of America (SPA) can be traced back to the early 1850s.The United States was a bustling nation full of opportunity. Endless new eginnings and freedoms appealed to European citizens who were looking for a better life. Seeking a better life, a boom in 1850 brought 1,713,000 immigrants through Ellis island, bringing along with them their philosophical ideas of socialisml . The failed German revolution of 1848 procured the emigration of Germans to America. Some of these immigrants were the intellectual leaders of the failed revolution, but most were impoverished Germans that lost confidence in their government to provide for them the basic necessities of life.Along with Germans, Italians, Finns, Jews, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Bohemians and Russians came to America toting their socialist values2. Finns were particularly strong in their socialists ideas. Settling in the Midwest, former Finnish citizens imported a revolutionary perspective of socialism to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan3. Into the 19th century, German immigrants settling in Midwestern cities such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dayton, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri put fourth major inputs and provided body to the growth of socialism in the United States.Immigrants to the United States were not the only ones seeking change. The philosophy ot socialism in the states was viewed witn no interest by American itizens. This has to do with the character of American culture and our views. American culture has maintained a faith in individualism, economic advancement, and equal opportunity in the marketplace4. In short, Americans put their faith in capitalism. But capitalism does not always deal everyone a fair hand and there are inconsistencies in the market. This led to formation of radical, third party socialist based movements in America's traditional two party political spectrum.These third parties were viewed as radical because during the 1850's to the 1930's there was an expression of deep distrust towards the expansion and ntervention of states by citizens concerning their private affairs5. Alternatives to socialism were made. The Progressive party's programs of modest state intervention through federal legislative mandate to preserve individua l rights, entrepreneurial values, and the fundamental capitalist structure, appealed to many Americans as a moderate alternative to socialism6. The Populist party was one other third party movement the dabbled in socialist ideas.Running on a platform of government intervention to offset economic troubles and preventing poverty in farming and orking class families ultimately led to the majority of the party consisting of farming and working class families. Many Populists would leave to become socialists7. Out of these movements, a man named Eugene V. Debs would step forward to ignite and unite what would ultimately be known as the Socialist Party of America. Eugene â€Å"Gene† Victor Debs Was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on November 5th, 1855 and died October 20th, 1926 in Elmhurst, Illinois at the age of 70 years old.Debs was one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a founding member of the American Railway Union and a democrat in the Indiana General Assembly. Eugene Debs would leave behind a legacy as being the most well known Socialist in the United States8. In 1894, the American railroad car manufacturer Pullman Company reduced hours and wages but not rents on housing for their workers. This resulted in a strike by the employees who then had Joined Debs's American Railway Union.The strike was broken up by President Grover Cleveland and Debs was imprisoned for failing to oppose the strike as leader of the ARU9. In prison Debs passed time by reading work written by Karl Marx. Released in 1895, Debs had become a socialist who believed apitalism should be replaced by a new cooperative system. Debs was for advocated radical reform, but was opposed to the revolutionary violence supported by some well known left-wing political movements10. In 1897 Debs Joined Victor Berger to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP).The SDP was a short lived socialist movement that ran Eugene Debs as a candidate in the 1900 presidential electi on. After receiving only . 6% of the votes, the Social Democratic party combined with the even smaller faction, the Socialist Labor Party of Americal 1 creating the Socialist Party of America SPA) in 1901. The newly created SPA attracted members with various ties to socialism. Between the years ot 1 1 to 1912, the party grew trom 1 members to under 1 The demographic locations of theses voters ranged from the East coast to the West coast with the majority of party members being in Midwestern states.The SPA drew support from Progressives, Populist farmers across the heartland, unions and unionists with the most voting 2 strength coming from immigrants. 13 The socialist Journal Appeal to Reason14, a mixture of articles and extracts from radical socialism based authors such as Karl Marks and Tom Paine, was selling 500,000 copies a week. Thus giving a way to advertise their ideas and party platform. The strength of the SPA was determined by the people who used a vote to cast their voice. Local level victories dotted the map from East to West.New York state and New Jersey were two states that had consistent SPA voters due to immigrants. The Midwest proved to be where the highest concentration of SPA members resided. Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin were the strong holds made up of German immigrants and Populist farmers. SPA members running as candidates tried to appeal to the working man. Public ownership of utilities, better city sanitation services for the poor, better labor standards and a social security program elected 70 mayors into officel 5. SPA victories at the federal level were small.Eugene Debs ran as a presidential candidate in every election between 1900 and 1912, and once in 1920. 1900's election was dismal. Debs received only . 6% of the popular vote. In 1904 Debs Ran again and received an increase in votes, 402,810 3% of the popular vote. Voter turnout in the 1908 election was slightly higher, 420,793 votes for Debs. The election of 1912 showe d the Socialist Party of Americas highpoint. There was 117,984 members of the SPA, and Eugene Debs got a total of 901 ,551 votes, 6% of the popular vote. This was the most impressive showing of any presidential candidate in any United States election. 6 At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the SPA took a staunch opposition against the war. They were opposed to all international wars but not opposed to class warfare. This opposition to the war caused membership to decline and started conflict within the party itself. In 1919, The left Wing Section of the Socialist party emerged as a faction inside the Socialist Party of America. During an election to elect new board members of the SPA, it was seen that the Left Wing Section of the Socialist party was going to gain the majority of seats.Those not in the faction decided against this and said that votes were cast in fraudulent manners. These votes were not tallied and the whole election was rejected. On the 24th of May, 1919 the lead ership expelled 20,000 members who supported the Soviet government. The process continued and by the beginning of July two-thirds of the party had been suspended or expelled. These expelled members would soon Join together to for the Communist Party of America. The growth of radicals worried President Cleveland and his administration. America soon entered into the Red Scare.On 7th November, 1919, the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution, over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists were arrested in what became known as the Palmer Raids. No evidence a revolution was tound but many radicals were still kept in Jaill As a result ot these raids people were afraid to Join leftist radical parties out of fear of being called a communist, which could result in the deportation to Russia. 3 On October 20th 1926, Eugene Debs died and Norman Thomas replaced him as he leader of the Socialist Party of America.Thomas ran as a presidential candidate in the election preceding his rise to l eadership, but the SPA was weak. Thomas did not get as many votes as Debs due to socialist ideas creeping into President Franklin Roosevelt's (FDR) agenda. In response to the great depression, FDR created his â€Å"New Deal† to ease burdens on families trying to cope. The 1st new deal, FDR's First 100 days, created programs like the civilian conservation corps, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Agricultural Adjustment bureau. These programs dabbled in socialist ideals .The Agricultural Adjustment bureau in particular appealed to Populist-SPA farmers because it was a form of entitlements that helped a struggling farmer. Roosevelt's 2nd New Deal appealed most to SPA members. It called for a Social Security act, the creation ofa labor board and a Fair Labor Standard act. These policies answered what the Socialist Party of America had been trying to push. As a result Norman Thomas urged his supporters to vote Democrat and the Socialist Party of America was turned into no mor e then a doctrinal sect. The immigration boom in the late 1800s brought Socialism to the United States.The formation of the Populist and Progressive parties as alternatives to socialism started a movement of Socialist political parties. After converting his views to socialism, Eugene Debs united these small factions into the Socialist Party of America. The party achieved victories among local politics in the states, Midwestern states being a reliable stronghold. After presidential runs by Eugene Debs from 1900 to 1912, the SPA's highpoint came in 1912 with 117,984 members. Internal breakdown caused party members to turn on each other which resulted in member suspension.