The meaning and importance of business environment

The meaning and importance of business environment Meaning of Business Environment Environment of a business means the external forces influencing the business decisions. They can be forces of economic, social, political and technological factors. These factors are outside the control of the business. The business can do little to change them. Following features: Totality of external forces: Business environment is the sum total of all things external to business firms and, as such, is aggregative in nature. (Specific and general forces: Business environment includes both specific and general forces. Specific forces (such as investors, customers, competitors and suppliers) affect individual enterprises directly and immediately in their day-to-day working. General forces (such as social, political, legal and technological conditions) have impact on all business enterprises and thus may affect an individual firm only indirectly. Dynamic nature: Business environment is dynamic in that it keeps on changing whether in terms of technological improvement, shifts in consumer preferences or entry of new competition in the market. Uncertainty: Business environment is largely uncertain as it is very difficult to predict future happenings, especially when environment changes are taking place too frequently as in the case of information technology or fashion industries. Relativity: Business environment is a relative concept since it differs from country to country and even region to region. Political conditions in the USA, for instance, differ from those in China or Pakistan. Similarly, demand for sarees may be fairly high in India whereas it may be almost non-existent in France. Importance of Business Environment firm to identify opportunities and getting the first mover advantage: Early identification of opportunities helps an enterprise to be the first to exploit them instead of losing them to competitors. For example, Maruti Udyog became the leader in the small car market because it was the first to recognize the need for small cars in India. firm to identify threats and early warning signals: If an Indian firm finds that a foreign multinational is entering the Indian market it should gives a warning signal and Indian firms can meet the threat by adopting by improving the quality of the product, reducing cost of the production, engaging in aggressive advertising, and so on. Coping with rapid changes: All sizes and all types of enterprises are facing increasingly dynamic environment. In order to effectively cope with these significant changes, managers must understand and examine the environment and develop suitable courses of action. Improving performance: the enterprises that continuously monitor their environment and adopt suitable business practices are the ones which not only improve their present performance but also continue to succeed in the market for a longer period. Dimensions of Business Environment What constitutes the general environment of a business? The following are the key components of general environment of a business. Economic environment economic environment consists of economic factors that influence the business in a country. These factors include gross national product, corporate profits, inflation rate, employment, balance of payments, interest rates consumer income etc. Social environment It describes the characteristics of the society in which the organization exists. Literacy rate, customs, values, beliefs, lifestyle, demographic features and mobility of population are part o the social environment. It is important for managers to notice the direction in which the society is moving and formulate progressive policies according to the changing social scenario. Political environment It comprises political stability and the policies of the government. Ideological inclination of political parties, personal interest on politicians, influence of party forums etc. create political environment. For example, Bangalore established itself as the most important IT centre of India mainly because of political support. Legal environment This consists of legislation that is passed by the parliament and state legislatures.Examples of such legislation specifically aimed at business operations include the Trade mark Act 1969, Essential Commodities Act 1955, Standards of Weights and Measures Act 1969 and Consumer Protection Act 196. Technological environment It includes the level of technology available in a country. It also indicates the pace of research and development and progress made in introducing modern technology in production. Technology provides capital intensive but cost effective alternative to traditional labor intensive methods. In a competitive business environment technology is the key to development. Economic Environment in India In order to solve economic problems of our country, the government took several steps including control by the State of certain industries, central planning and reduced importance of the private sector. The main objectives of Indias development plans were: Initiate rapid economic growth to raise the standard of living, reduce unemployment and poverty; Become self-reliant and set up a strong industrial base with emphasis on heavy and basic industries; Reduce inequalities of income and wealth; Adopt a socialist pattern of development based on equality and prevent exploitation of man by man. As a part of economic reforms, the Government of India announced a new industrial policy in July 1991. The broad features of this policy were as follows: The Government reduced the number of industries under compulsory licensing to six. Disinvestment was carried out in case of many public sector industrial enterprises. Policy towards foreign capital was liberalized. The share of foreign equity participation was increased and in many activities 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was permitted. Automatic permission was now granted for technology agreements with foreign companies. Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was set up to promote and channelise foreign investment in India. Liberalization: The economic reforms that were introduced were aimed at liberalizing the Indian business and industry from all unnecessary controls and restrictions. They indicate the end of the licence-pemit-quota raj. Liberalization of the Indian industry has taken place with respect to: Abolishing licensing requirement in most of the industries except a short list, Freedom in deciding the scale of business activities i.e., no restrictions on expansion or contraction of business activities, Removal of restrictions on the movement of goods and services, Freedom in fixing the prices of goods services, Reduction in tax rates and lifting of unnecessary controls over the economy, Simplifying procedures for imports and experts, and Making it easier to attract foreign capital and technology to india. Privatisation: The new set of economic reforms aimed at giving greater role to the private sector in the nation building process and a reduced role to the public sector. To achieve this, the government redefined the role of the public sector in the New Industrial Policy of 1991 The purpose of the sale, according to the government, was mainly to improve financial discipline and facilitate modernization. It was also observe that private capital and managerial capabilities could be effectively utilized to improve the performance of the PSUs. The government has also made attempts to improve the efficiency of PSUs by giving them autonomy in taking managerial decisions. Globalisation: Globalizations are the outcome of the policies of liberalisation and privatisation. Globalisation is generally understood to mean integration of the economy of the country with the world economy, it is a complex phenomenon. It is an outcome of the set of various policies that are aimed at transforming the world towards greater interdependence and integration. It involves creation of networks and activities transcending economic, social and geographical boundaries. Globalisation involves an increased level of interaction and interdependence among the various nations of the global economy. Physical geographical gap or political boundaries no longer remain barriers for a business enterprise to serve a customer in a distant geographical market. Impact of Government Policy Changes on Business and Industry Increasing competition: As a result of changes in the rules of industrial licensing and entry of foreign firms, competition for Indian firms has increased especially in service industries like telecommunications, airlines, banking, insurance, etc. which were earlier in the public sector. More demanding customers: Customers today have become more demanding because they are well-informed. Increased competition in the market gives the customers wider choice in purchasing better quality of goods and services. Rapidly changing technological environment: Increased competition forces the firms to develop new ways to survive and grow in the market. New technologies make it possible to improve machines, process, products and services. The rapidly changing technological environment creates tough challenges before smaller firms. Necessity for change: In a regulated environment of pre-1991 era, the firms could have relatively stable policies and practices. After 1991, the market forces have become turbulent as a result of which the enterprises have to continuously modify their operations. Threat from MNC Massive entry of multi nationals in Indian marker constitutes new challenge. The Indian subsidiaries of multi-nationals gained strategic advantage. Many of these companies could get limited support in technology from their foreign partners due to restrictions in ownerships. Once these restrictions have been limited to reasonable levels, there is increased technology transfer from the foreign partners

Drugs And Crime :: essays research papers

Proposition 215 Medical Marijuana Initiative Section 1. Section 11362.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 11362.5. (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. (b) (l) The people of the State of California hereby find and declare that the purposes of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are as follows: (A) To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person's health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief. (B) To ensure that patients and their primary caregivers who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction. (C) To encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana. (2) Nothing in this act shall be construed to supersede legislation prohibiting persons from engaging in conduct that endangers others, nor to condone the diversion of marijuana for nonmedical purposes. With standing any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient for medical purposes. (d) Section 11357, relating to the possession of marijuana, and Section 11358, relating to the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or to a patient's primary caregiver, who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician. (e) For the purposes of this section, "primary caregiver" means the individual designated by the person exempted under this act who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that person. Sec. 2. If any provision of this measure or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity shall not a ffect other provisions or applications of the measure which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this en d the provisions of this measure are severable. On November 5th, Californians approved Prop.

Secondary Youth Perspective On Dropping Out Of School Education Essay

The rate at which pupils are dropping out of school is a quandary and has become a serious job for school territories across the state. The intent of this survey is to reap penetrations from the dropouts themselves, sing their determination to go forth school before completion and to codify their perceptual experiences, beliefs and attitudes toward dropping out of school. This paper examines the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptual experiences through interviews and will be conducted on 10 participants in Penang. A qualitative research method was used to concentrate on the significance that people make of their lives, their experiences, and their environment. Secondary Youth Perspective on Droping Out of School Concern for dropouts is non new. Mohamad Kamal Haji Nawawi ( Bornep Post Online, 2012 ) , general director for Malayan Talents Development of Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad said that: â€Å" between Form One and Form Five, out of the 400,000 pupils that enrolled in Form One, some 44,000 would go forth school yearly before finishing their Form Five, or Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia. † â€Å" Some 80,000 pupils are estimated to hold dropped out of secondary schools from 2006 to 2010, † said Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong ( The Malaysian Insider, 2011 ) . He speculated that some factors for dungs out may be for wellness grounds, to come in the work force and because of deficiency of involvement in instruction ( The Malaysian Insider, 2011 ) . Previously parents can state they have five or six kids and can non afford to pay school fees. â€Å" Now, the authorities is taking attention of that. If they do non hold the money, they will be given RM100 and for h apless households, we give RM500 one-off, † said Dr Wee ( The Malaysian Insider, 2011 ) . â€Å" We are working towards that, intending policy-wise we want to do everyone finish Form Five, at least complete the secondary instruction, † he said when asked if the ministry will see doing secondary school registration as mandatary. † said Dr Wee ( The Malaysian Insider, 2011 ) . Before looking at the grounds for dropping out from school, it is necessary to specify what is means to drop out. We use term â€Å" dropout † refer to youth whom leave secondary school before graduation, including those who leave but return subsequently, and those who after complete some signifier of equivalency sheepskin ( Audus & A ; Willms, 2001 ) . Droping out of school is a serious job, and society is eventually admiting the profound societal and economic effects for pupils, their households, the school and the community. Leaving school without a sheepskin can hold permanent negat ive effects on the individual socially and economically, doing terrible disadvantages come ining into big life. Understanding why pupils drop out of school is the key to turn toing this major educational job. A figure of theories have been advanced to understand the particular phenomenon of the saging out ( Audas & A ; Willms, 2001 ; Finn & A ; Zimmer, 2012 ; Rumberger & A ; Lim, 2008 ) . The theorical model to be used in this survey will be the Rumberger ‘s ( 2011 ) model that use single factors associated with pupils themselves, such as their attitudes, behaviours and educational public presentation. The other frameworks focal point on the contextual factors found in pupils ‘ households, schools, and communities. Both models are utile and, necessary to understand this complex phenomenon. It is of import for the community to cognize why pupils are dropping out of school. There are figure of grounds. Individual position Individual factors that predict whether pupils drop out or alumnus from high school autumn into four countries: ( 1 ) behaviours, ( 2 ) attitudes, and ( 3 ) educational public presentation. ( 1 ) Behavior. A broad scope of behaviours both in and out of school have been shown to foretell dropout and graduation. One of the most of import is student battle, which includes pupils ‘ active engagement in academic work ( e.g. , coming to category, making prep ) and the societal facets of school ( e.g. , take parting in athleticss or other extracurricular activities ) . Misbehavior in high school and delinquent behaviour outside of high school are both decidedly associated with higher dropout and lower graduation rates. Adolescents who drink and fume are more likely to originate sex earlier than their equals ; those who engage in these behaviour forms frequently have a history of troubles in school ( Rumberger, 2011 ) . Having friends who engage in condemnable behaviour or friends who have dropped out besides increases the odds of dropping out ( Rumberger, 2011 ) . ( 2 ) Attitudes. The dropout literature has by and large focused on a individual indicator- educational outlooks ( how far in school a pupil expects to travel ) and has found that higher degrees of educational outlooks are associated with lower dropout rates. ( 3 ) Educational public presentation. Droping out represents one facet of three interconnected dimensions of educational public presentation: ( 1 ) academic accomplishment, as reflected in classs and trial tonss, ( 2 ) educational stableness, which reflects whether pupils remain in the same school ( school stableness ) or remain enrolled in school at all ( enrollment stableness ) , and ( 3 ) educational attainment, which is reflected by old ages of schooling completed and the completion of grades or sheepskin ( Rumberger and Lim, 2008 ) . The model suggests that educational attainment is dependent on both educational stableness and academic accomplishment. That is, pupils who either interrupt their schooling by dropping out or altering schools, or who have hapless academic accomplishment in school, are less likely to graduate or finish that section of schooling. Research Question The research inquiries examined in this paper are: Cardinal inquiry: What are the grounds for pupils ‘ detachment from school? Subquestions: What factors contributed to their determination to go forth? Can the dropouts themselves reveal the critical junctions in their determination to disrupt their instruction? What can school decision makers and pedagogues do to forestall pupils from dropping out? The chief focal point of treatment will be around the grounds for dropping out of school and cognizing why they make such determination. The 3rd research inquiry is to understand either they still can endorse into some educational scene. Finally, the 4th inquiry is looks at illustrations of good pattern, seek to forestall this procedure happens once more. Significance of the Study Keeping pupils in school is really of import for the wellbeing of the pupils and society as a whole. Objective of this paper is to understand the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptual experiences of the dropout pupils through interviews. The participant reply will assist schools develop plans or policies for cut downing the school bead out rate. What helps in accomplishing this nonsubjective must be studied so that suited intercessions and policies may be drawn out and implemented by the relevant governments. To cut down the dropout rates of pupils in the long tally, the issue of school battle must be given due consideration. Schools can besides profit from the findings of the survey. School disposal can analyze how existing school patterns, the school atmosphere and instructors affect pupils ‘ school attitude. Research Paradigm Droping out of school can non be understood merely by analyzing the conditions of households and schools, or even the behaviours of pupils. The research worker takes a societal constructivism base as the research worker is seeking to understand by analyzing the positions and readings of those conditions and behaviours by dropouts themselves. Phenomenology surveies of dropouts are based on this premiss. Methodology Approach This research will be taking a phenomenalogical attack as the research worker will be analyzing their lives, their experiences, and their environment. A qualitative research can assist understand the grounds for dropping out of school. Interview and interact with a little group of school dropouts. Main interview types that qualitative research workers use are in-depth, one-on-one interviews. Interview Questions What factors contributed to their determination to go forth? What can school decision makers and pedagogues do to forestall pupils from dropping out? Was dropping out of school a good determination or a bad determination for you? Explain why. Describe your grounds for go forthing school early. When you think back over the old ages, depict any specific events that lead up to your dropping out of school. Would you make anything otherwise if you had the chance? Is there anything else you would wish to state? Sample The participants will be obtained utilizing a convenience trying method. The first participant will be introduced by an familiarity and the participants are asked to propose other participants who qualify.10 participants will be interviewed for this research. These interviews were typically 30 to 1 hr in continuance. The participants were asked a set of semi-structured open-ended inquiries in a prearranged order. Perticipant of the survey should be above 18, no specific pick of gender or ethnicity, must be an grownup who has dropped out from school. Procedure The interview will be conducted on 10 participants with the presence of research worker. Throughout the session, the participants will be asked inquiries about the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptual experiences. It will wholly be done in a maximal clip of 1 hr, and a lower limit of 30 proceedingss, and merely be a erstwhile interview, this is so that the participants would non be excessively tired after the interview. The interview will be recorded in audio format so that a written text can be done. The interview will be done in a closed room so that the privateness and the confidentiality of the participants will be protected with the best attempts of the experimenter. Participants can decline to reply any inquiry. Participant replies to all inquiries are private and confidential. Dependability and Validity To guarantee dependability of the consequences for this research, pilot trial will be conducted on one of the participant before the existent research begins. The pilot trial will be used to guarantee that the inquiries are capable of acquiring the needed replies and to look into whether a certain interview location would be suited for this interview every bit good as to cognize the estimated clip an interview will take. After the complete aggregation of informations the consequences will be taken back to the participant to corroborate that there was no misunderstanding of the participant ‘s words. A equal reappraisal will besides be conducted among the researches class mates to guarantee that the research worker had non do any errors.

The Colorful History of Lipstick

Lipstick by definition is a cosmetic used to color lips, usually crayon-shaped and packaged in a tubular container. No individual inventor can be credited as the first to invent lipstick as it is an ancient invention, however, we can trace the history of the use of lipstick and credit individual inventors for creating certain formulas and methods of packaging. The First Lip Coloring The actual term lipstick wasnt first used until 1880, however, people were coloring their lips long before that date. Upper-class Mesopotamians applied crushed semi-precious jewels to their lips. Egyptians made a red dye for their lips from a combination of fucus-algin, iodine, and bromine mannite. Cleopatra was said to have used a mixture of crushed carmine beetles and ants to color her lips red. Many historians give credit to the ancient Arab cosmetologist, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi for inventing the first solid lipsticks, which he described in his writings as perfumed sticks rolled and pressed in special molds. Innovations in Lipstick Packaging Historians note that the first cosmetic lipstick manufactured commercially (rather than homemade products) occurred around 1884. Parisian perfumers had begun to sell lip cosmetics to their customers. By the late 1890s, the Sears Roebuck catalog started to advertise and sell both lip and cheek rouge. Early lip cosmetics were not packaged in their familiar tubes that we see used today. Lip cosmetics were then wrapped in silk paper, placed in paper tubes, used tinted papers, or sold in small pots. Two inventors can be credited with inventing what we know as the tube of lipstick and made lipstick a portable item for women to carry. In 1915, Maurice Levy of the Scovil Manufacturing Company invented the metal tube container for lipstick, which had a small lever at the side of the tube that lowered and raised the lipstick. Levy called his invention the Levy Tube.In 1923, James Bruce Mason Jr. of Nashville, Tennessee patented the first swivel-up tube. Since then the Patent Office has issued countless patents for lipstick dispensers. Innovations in Lipstick Formulas Believe it or not, the formulas for making lipstick used to consist of such things as pigment powders, crushed insects, butter, beeswax, and olive oil. These early formulas would only last for a few hours before going rancid and often had ill effects on ones health. In 1927, French Chemist, Paul Baudercroux invented a formula he called Rouge Baiser, considered to be the first kiss-proof lipstick. Ironically, Rouge Baiser was so good at remaining on ones lips that it was banned from the marketplace after being considered too hard to remove. Years later in 1950, chemist Helen Bishop invented a new version of long-lasting lipstick called No-Smear Lipstick that was very successful commercially. Another element of lipstick formulas effects is the lipsticks finish. Max Factor invented lip gloss in the 1930s. Like much of his other cosmetics, Max Factor first invented lip gloss to be used on movie actors, however, it was soon worn by regular consumers