The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange is one of the most significant results of the Age of Exploration and the First Global Age. Food products, livestock and diseases are but three elements of the Columbian Exchange. As Columbus â€Å"discovered America† and Western Europe discovered the various economic opportunities available in the New World, agricultural exchanges between the two regions led to exchanges of other items. Within decades of Columbus' voyages, the trans Atlantic slave trade had begun and hundreds of thousands of native Americans died of diseases brought to America by Europeans and Africans. The early Spanish conquistadors brought gunpowder and the horse to America as well as the Catholic Christian Church. Indeed, the conquistadors brought priests with them and established missions such as St. Augustine, San Diego and San Antonio. The Spanish also brought African slaves to work on sugar plantations. New foods for both Europe and the Americas was a major part of the Columbian Exchange. The Americas provided such new foods as corn, the potato, the tomato, peppers, pumpkins, squash, pineapples, cacao beans (for chocolate) and the sweet potato. Also, such animals as turkeys, provided a new food source for Europeans. Tobacco, an American product, was also carried to Europe. From Europe, the Americas were introduced to such livestock as cattle, pig and sheep as well as grains such as wheat. African products introduced to the Americas included items originally from Asia were brought to the west by European traders and African slaves. These items included the onion, citrus fruits, bananas, coffee beans, olives, grapes, rice and sugar cane. The â€Å"Columbian Exchange†Ã¢â‚¬â€a phrase coined by historian Alfred Crosby—describes the interchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World and the Americas following Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean in 1492. For reasons beyond human control, rooted deep in the divergent evolutionary histories of the continents, the Columbian Exchange massively benefited the people of Europe and its colonies while bringing catastrophe to Native Americans. Psst†¦ Check Out These Resources The Columbian Exchange Statistics The Columbian Exchange Quotes The Columbian Exchange Photos The Columbian Exchange Trivia The Columbian Exchange Primary Sources Why Should I Care? The Columbian Exchange: It's a relatively obscure concept, developed by a relatively obscure historian. Most people have never even heard of it. Its definition—the transmission of non-native plants, animals, and diseases from Europe to the Americas, and vice versa, after 1492—doesn't sound very sexy. And yet the Columbian Exchange just may be the single most important event in the modern history of the world. The Columbian Exchange explains why Indian nations collapsed and European colonies thrived after Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The Columbian Exchange explains why European nations quickly became the wealthiest and most powerful in the world. The Columbian Exchange explains why Africans were sold into slavery on the far side of the ocean to toil in fields of tobacco, sugar, and cotton. The Columbian Exchange even explains why pasta marinara has tomato sauce. If you don't understand the Columbian Exchange, you cannot truly understand the forces that shape the world we live in today. You cannot understand why you speak the language you speak, why you live in the nation you live in, or even why you eat the food you eat. If you don't understand the Columbian Exchange, much of what you think you know about the history of the Americas may be wrong. Spanish soldiers did less to defeat the Incas and Aztecs than smallpox did. Divine Providence did less to bless the Puritan settlers of the Mayflower with good health and fortune than the Pilgrims' own immune systems did. In the Columbian Exchange, ecology became destiny. Powerful environmental forces, understood by no one alive at the time and by very few people even today, determined who would thrive and who would die. And that may be the most shocking truth revealed to those who take the time to understand the Columbian Exchange: we, as humans, cannot always control our own destinies. The most important historical actors in this story are not Christopher Columbus or Moctezuma or Hernan Cortes. They are the smallpox virus, the pig, the potato, and the kernel of corn. The Columbian Exchange Summary & Analysis The Big Picture: Who, What, When, Where & (Especially) Why Columbus: Discovery, Ecology and Conquest Unequal Exchange: Food for Disease History as Demography The drawback of Old World civilizations' reliance upon domesticated animals came in increased incidence of disease. Many of the world's nastiest illnesses derive from bugs that have leapt back and forth between people and their animals. Humans caught smallpox from their cows, influenza from their fowl, bubonic plague from the rats who lived in their houses. By the time of Columbus, the Old World was wracked by endemic contagions of dozens of deadly diseases, which kept life expectancies low and infant mortality rates high. Largely due to the ravages of disease (especially bubonic plague), the population of Europe in 1492 was lower than it had been 200 years earlier. Jared Diamond, best-selling author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, popularized the notion that European imperialism succeeded due to European advantages over other people in the areas of, well†¦ guns, germs, and steel. As far as colonization of the Americas is concerned, though, guns and steel were all but immaterial. The germs alone were enough. The word â€Å"conquistador† evokes memories of Cortes and Pizarro, but in truth the greatest conquistadors of the New World were smallpox and influenza—not to mention typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, measles, scarlet fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Every one of these diseases, endemic to the Old World, spread to the Americas after 1492 with catastrophic effects for indigenous people there. (In return, the Americas afflicted the Old World with only one major affliction—syphilis. And even that is in dispute; scientists and historians remain divided on whether the disease truly originated in the New World. Old World diseases—lethal enough already on their continents of origin—became exponentially more dangerous in America, where they spread as virgin-soil epidemics among native populations totally lacking in immunities to them. (In Europe and Africa, countless children died from diseases like smallpox and malaria; those w ho survived, however, built up antibodies that inoculated them against adult infection. Since no Native Americans had ever encountered these diseases, none built up any immunity, leaving entire populations as â€Å"virgin soil† for infection. When the diseases struck, entire communities could be felled in a matter of days. ) Virgin-soil epidemics are among the deadliest phenomena ever experienced by humankind, and the death toll of the pandemics unleashed in the Americas by the Columbian Exchange far exceeded that of history's most famous virgin-soil epidemic, Europe's Black Death (an outbreak of bubonic plague in the 1340s). The cataclysmic effects of virgin-soil epidemics struck Native American societies just as they faced the threat of European invasion, decisively reducing the natives' capability to resist colonization. It is worth noting that devastating smallpox pandemics struck both the Aztecs and Incas just before their respective disastrous encounters with Cortes and Pizarro. ) Mississippian Mystery: De Soto and La Salle Perhaps the most arresting evidence of the consequences of virgin-soil epidemics came from the entrada** of Hernando *de* Soto, who led an army of conquistadors deep into the North American mainl and in 1539. De Soto hoped to find gold in the country that today comprises the southeastern United States; he ended up leading more than 600 men and hundreds of livestock on a four-year wild goose chase. In the end, his mission proved to be a fiasco—two-thirds of the men, including De Soto himself, died without ever finding a trace of gold—but De Soto's expedition powerfully illustrated the destructive force of smallpox, which apparently spread from his pigs to the people of the Mississippi Valley. Before leaving, De Soto's men recorded their impressions of the Mississippian people—they found dense settlements, with large villages and cities often sited within view of each other, separated by carefully tended fields of corn. After De Soto left the country, no European returned for more than 100 years. When the French explorer La Salle canoed down the Mississippi Valley in 1682, he found very few villages, no cities, and no fields of corn, but instead a landscape almost devoid of people and overrun by buffalo* (which De Soto had apparently never encountered). * In the 140 years that passed between the explorations of De Soto and La Salle, something transformed the Mississippi Valley from a densely populated Indian heartland into a virtually deserted wilderness. That something was almost certainly smallpox. The landscape encountered by La Salle was not, as he believed, a primeval wilderness, but rather an ecosystem that had recently experienced the sudden destruction of its keystone species—Indians. The buffalo wandered in because few Indians survived to hunt them. * * From Canada to the Tierra del Fuego, the indige*Epidemic* Disease and Manifest Destiny Neither Europeans nor Indians had any scientific understanding of the ecological processes that had so profoundly shaped their encounter. Both groups understood phenomena like agricultural abundance or epidemic disease in spiritual terms, as the respective blessings or punishments of their gods. Thus, the undeniable facts of the European-American encounter—that Indians seemed to be wasting away, opening bounteous lands to the newcomers from across the Atlantic—acquired deep cultural and ideological meanings in the minds of the colonists who eventually founded the United States. Not understanding the scientific processes at work, Anglo-Americans interpreted their ongoing good fortune as proof of God's special endorsement of their nation. For example, John Winthrop—Puritan elder and first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony—perceived divine blessing of the colonists' venture in the Indians' Great Dying: â€Å"For the natives,† Winthrop wrote, â€Å"they are neere all dead of Small poxe, so as the Lord hathe cleared our title to what we possess. 3 A Frenchman on La Salle's voyage down the Mississippi captured the idea even more bluntly: â€Å"Touching these savages, there is a thing I cannot omit to remark to you, it is that it appears visibly that God wishes that they yield their place to new peoples. â€Å"4 Through generations of successful colonization—in which the descendents of Europe built some of the world's healthiest and wealthiest societies in the lands vacated by the Indians—white Americans' conviction tha t their presence in America had received a special blessing from God only grew stronger. The cultural and ideological origins of â€Å"manifest destiny† and â€Å"American exceptionalism† can be found in the exceptionally uneven terms of the Columbian Exchange. Only recently have we become fully aware that the special advantages enjoyed by Europeans in their encounter with Indians were bestowed less by God than by ecology. nous inhabitants of the Americas suffered similar calamities, the Columbian Exchange of diseases ravaging Indian communities and facilitating the European takeover of the hemisphere. Top of Form The Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange is one of the most significant results of the Age of Exploration and the First Global Age. Food products, livestock and diseases are but three elements of the Columbian Exchange. As Columbus â€Å"discovered America† and Western Europe discovered the various economic opportunities available in the New World, agricultural exchanges between the two regions led to exchanges of other items. Within decades of Columbus' voyages, the trans Atlantic slave trade had begun and hundreds of thousands of native Americans died of diseases brought to America by Europeans and Africans. The early Spanish conquistadors brought gunpowder and the horse to America as well as the Catholic Christian Church. Indeed, the conquistadors brought priests with them and established missions such as St. Augustine, San Diego and San Antonio. The Spanish also brought African slaves to work on sugar plantations. New foods for both Europe and the Americas was a major part of the Columbian Exchange. The Americas provided such new foods as corn, the potato, the tomato, peppers, pumpkins, squash, pineapples, cacao beans (for chocolate) and the sweet potato. Also, such animals as turkeys, provided a new food source for Europeans. Tobacco, an American product, was also carried to Europe. From Europe, the Americas were introduced to such livestock as cattle, pig and sheep as well as grains such as wheat. African products introduced to the Americas included items originally from Asia were brought to the west by European traders and African slaves. These items included the onion, citrus fruits, bananas, coffee beans, olives, grapes, rice and sugar cane. The â€Å"Columbian Exchange†Ã¢â‚¬â€a phrase coined by historian Alfred Crosby—describes the interchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World and the Americas following Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean in 1492. For reasons beyond human control, rooted deep in the divergent evolutionary histories of the continents, the Columbian Exchange massively benefited the people of Europe and its colonies while bringing catastrophe to Native Americans. Psst†¦ Check Out These Resources The Columbian Exchange Statistics The Columbian Exchange Quotes The Columbian Exchange Photos The Columbian Exchange Trivia The Columbian Exchange Primary Sources Why Should I Care? The Columbian Exchange: It's a relatively obscure concept, developed by a relatively obscure historian. Most people have never even heard of it. Its definition—the transmission of non-native plants, animals, and diseases from Europe to the Americas, and vice versa, after 1492—doesn't sound very sexy. And yet the Columbian Exchange just may be the single most important event in the modern history of the world. The Columbian Exchange explains why Indian nations collapsed and European colonies thrived after Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The Columbian Exchange explains why European nations quickly became the wealthiest and most powerful in the world. The Columbian Exchange explains why Africans were sold into slavery on the far side of the ocean to toil in fields of tobacco, sugar, and cotton. The Columbian Exchange even explains why pasta marinara has tomato sauce. If you don't understand the Columbian Exchange, you cannot truly understand the forces that shape the world we live in today. You cannot understand why you speak the language you speak, why you live in the nation you live in, or even why you eat the food you eat. If you don't understand the Columbian Exchange, much of what you think you know about the history of the Americas may be wrong. Spanish soldiers did less to defeat the Incas and Aztecs than smallpox did. Divine Providence did less to bless the Puritan settlers of the Mayflower with good health and fortune than the Pilgrims' own immune systems did. In the Columbian Exchange, ecology became destiny. Powerful environmental forces, understood by no one alive at the time and by very few people even today, determined who would thrive and who would die. And that may be the most shocking truth revealed to those who take the time to understand the Columbian Exchange: we, as humans, cannot always control our own destinies. The most important historical actors in this story are not Christopher Columbus or Moctezuma or Hernan Cortes. They are the smallpox virus, the pig, the potato, and the kernel of corn. The Columbian Exchange Summary & Analysis The Big Picture: Who, What, When, Where & (Especially) Why Columbus: Discovery, Ecology and Conquest Unequal Exchange: Food for Disease History as Demography The drawback of Old World civilizations' reliance upon domesticated animals came in increased incidence of disease. Many of the world's nastiest illnesses derive from bugs that have leapt back and forth between people and their animals. Humans caught smallpox from their cows, influenza from their fowl, bubonic plague from the rats who lived in their houses. By the time of Columbus, the Old World was wracked by endemic contagions of dozens of deadly diseases, which kept life expectancies low and infant mortality rates high. Largely due to the ravages of disease (especially bubonic plague), the population of Europe in 1492 was lower than it had been 200 years earlier. Jared Diamond, best-selling author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, popularized the notion that European imperialism succeeded due to European advantages over other people in the areas of, well†¦ guns, germs, and steel. As far as colonization of the Americas is concerned, though, guns and steel were all but immaterial. The germs alone were enough. The word â€Å"conquistador† evokes memories of Cortes and Pizarro, but in truth the greatest conquistadors of the New World were smallpox and influenza—not to mention typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, measles, scarlet fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Every one of these diseases, endemic to the Old World, spread to the Americas after 1492 with catastrophic effects for indigenous people there. (In return, the Americas afflicted the Old World with only one major affliction—syphilis. And even that is in dispute; scientists and historians remain divided on whether the disease truly originated in the New World. Old World diseases—lethal enough already on their continents of origin—became exponentially more dangerous in America, where they spread as virgin-soil epidemics among native populations totally lacking in immunities to them. (In Europe and Africa, countless children died from diseases like smallpox and malaria; those w ho survived, however, built up antibodies that inoculated them against adult infection. Since no Native Americans had ever encountered these diseases, none built up any immunity, leaving entire populations as â€Å"virgin soil† for infection. When the diseases struck, entire communities could be felled in a matter of days. ) Virgin-soil epidemics are among the deadliest phenomena ever experienced by humankind, and the death toll of the pandemics unleashed in the Americas by the Columbian Exchange far exceeded that of history's most famous virgin-soil epidemic, Europe's Black Death (an outbreak of bubonic plague in the 1340s). The cataclysmic effects of virgin-soil epidemics struck Native American societies just as they faced the threat of European invasion, decisively reducing the natives' capability to resist colonization. It is worth noting that devastating smallpox pandemics struck both the Aztecs and Incas just before their respective disastrous encounters with Cortes and Pizarro. ) Mississippian Mystery: De Soto and La Salle Perhaps the most arresting evidence of the consequences of virgin-soil epidemics came from the entrada** of Hernando *de* Soto, who led an army of conquistadors deep into the North American mainl and in 1539. De Soto hoped to find gold in the country that today comprises the southeastern United States; he ended up leading more than 600 men and hundreds of livestock on a four-year wild goose chase. In the end, his mission proved to be a fiasco—two-thirds of the men, including De Soto himself, died without ever finding a trace of gold—but De Soto's expedition powerfully illustrated the destructive force of smallpox, which apparently spread from his pigs to the people of the Mississippi Valley. Before leaving, De Soto's men recorded their impressions of the Mississippian people—they found dense settlements, with large villages and cities often sited within view of each other, separated by carefully tended fields of corn. After De Soto left the country, no European returned for more than 100 years. When the French explorer La Salle canoed down the Mississippi Valley in 1682, he found very few villages, no cities, and no fields of corn, but instead a landscape almost devoid of people and overrun by buffalo* (which De Soto had apparently never encountered). * In the 140 years that passed between the explorations of De Soto and La Salle, something transformed the Mississippi Valley from a densely populated Indian heartland into a virtually deserted wilderness. That something was almost certainly smallpox. The landscape encountered by La Salle was not, as he believed, a primeval wilderness, but rather an ecosystem that had recently experienced the sudden destruction of its keystone species—Indians. The buffalo wandered in because few Indians survived to hunt them. * * From Canada to the Tierra del Fuego, the indige*Epidemic* Disease and Manifest Destiny Neither Europeans nor Indians had any scientific understanding of the ecological processes that had so profoundly shaped their encounter. Both groups understood phenomena like agricultural abundance or epidemic disease in spiritual terms, as the respective blessings or punishments of their gods. Thus, the undeniable facts of the European-American encounter—that Indians seemed to be wasting away, opening bounteous lands to the newcomers from across the Atlantic—acquired deep cultural and ideological meanings in the minds of the colonists who eventually founded the United States. Not understanding the scientific processes at work, Anglo-Americans interpreted their ongoing good fortune as proof of God's special endorsement of their nation. For example, John Winthrop—Puritan elder and first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony—perceived divine blessing of the colonists' venture in the Indians' Great Dying: â€Å"For the natives,† Winthrop wrote, â€Å"they are neere all dead of Small poxe, so as the Lord hathe cleared our title to what we possess. 3 A Frenchman on La Salle's voyage down the Mississippi captured the idea even more bluntly: â€Å"Touching these savages, there is a thing I cannot omit to remark to you, it is that it appears visibly that God wishes that they yield their place to new peoples. â€Å"4 Through generations of successful colonization—in which the descendents of Europe built some of the world's healthiest and wealthiest societies in the lands vacated by the Indians—white Americans' conviction tha t their presence in America had received a special blessing from God only grew stronger. The cultural and ideological origins of â€Å"manifest destiny† and â€Å"American exceptionalism† can be found in the exceptionally uneven terms of the Columbian Exchange. Only recently have we become fully aware that the special advantages enjoyed by Europeans in their encounter with Indians were bestowed less by God than by ecology. nous inhabitants of the Americas suffered similar calamities, the Columbian Exchange of diseases ravaging Indian communities and facilitating the European takeover of the hemisphere. Top of Form

Three Major Concerns of a Driver

Three Major Concerns of a Driver When driving, there are many concerns drivers should be aware of. These concerns make driving safer for anyone on the road. The three major concerns I am going to talk about today are road conditions, following distance, and speed. These are only a few of the many concerns a driver should have when driving. Driving is not safe therfore you must take it as serious as possible. If a driver ignores these concerns there will be consequences whether it is by the law or a fatal collision. The first concern drivers should have while driving is for the conditon of the road. Road conditions change on a daily basis due to the weather and the time of day. A good driver knows that if it is raining or snowing outside the roads will be slick. Therfore they should drive not only slower but also more cautious. Another factor that effects the condition of the road is the kind of road. Rural roads tend to be more narrow and less maintained so you shoud look out for pot holes. Each kind of road should be treated differently because they all have different dangers. My second concern is it is important for a driver to have a safe distance between you and the next car, this is known as your following distance. This is a very important concern to have. I was effected by this about three months ago when i reared ended another driver due to not having anough distance between me and the next car. Surprisingly I am thankful for the accident because I am now a very safe and cautious driver. Your fallowing distance at twenty-five mph should be two to three car lengths between you and the car in front of you. Your following distance should increase one car length for every ten mph. A driver who fails to follow these facts will sooner or later end up in rear end accident just like I did, but the results could be much much worse. The last major concern a driver should have that I am going to talk about is speed. Speed is defined as the rate of change. When talking about automobiles speed is a very seriouse topic. As you increase your speed in any vehicle you have to be aware of the increase in change of things around you and need to be able to react faster to these changes. When speed is abused nothing good can come from it. Many accidents occur because of an individual who was speeding and or loses contoll due to speeding. In conclusion, drivers need to be constanty concerned of their surroundings. Speed road conditions and following distance are only three of the many concerns a driver should have. Driving is not a game or a right it is a very seriouse priviledg. Many people think if you wear your saftey belt and dont speed you'll be ok. The fact of the matter is that driving is NOT safe! Certain cars make driving safe but there are always unavoidable dangers while driving. If you are constantly awar of these dangers then you will be a much safer driver and have a lesser chance of being one of the unluckey people who get into any kind of accident.

Khmer Rouge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Khmer Rouge - Essay Example From BBC, it is clear that it was a communist party belonging to Kapuchea. Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, had a reputation for brutality because they used to kill the villagers and the village chiefs. Khmer Rouge group ensured people were dispersed to the forest by burning both villages and major towns where there were huge populations. Moreover, by the time the chaos reached the peak, many Americans had held demonstrations protesting the involvement of United States in Cambodia. Things had gone so badly in Vietnam and their only interest in Southeast Asia was in getting out. Many people ran away from the cities and small towns to avoid Khmer Rouge. According to White (2010, pg. 16) Cambodia was turned into a camp that starved and terrorized people. On April 17 1975, Cambodia fell when Phnom Penh came face to face with the Khmer Rouge. Khmer Rouge was different, and they were dead behind the eyes. When Khmer Rouge took power, they started to re-invent Cambodia by emptying the cities forcing all the residents into the countryside and towards a dark future. Cadre spread the word that the Americans were going to bomb, and everyone had to leave including patients in the hospital. It was a lie and the leaders of Khmer Rouge cleared the capital and other cities so that they could start over. Around noon, everyone started leaving Cambodia, hundreds of thousands of people who were trenching along a few kilometers an hour, and it was truly a staggering sight, incredible. All citizens that lived in Cambodia and were from foreign countries were ferried to the borders by trucks. Khmer Rouge went ahead and created a new country after ensuri ng all foreigners were taken out of the country, and Cambodia was officially sealed. New country was created by killing civilians earnestly. The book by Marshall Cavendish Corporation, (2007, pg. 765) states that Khmer Rouge viewed the Vietnamese as a sacrifice for Cambodia revolution for its own interests. Combined with a burning

Philosophy 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philosophy 3 - Essay Example As a function of approaching the issue from such a perspective, this student hopes to expound upon the overall suitability of Kantian morality and provide a well balanced approach to determining the inherent strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that should an approach would necessarily espouse. In the Kantian approach to ethics and morality, the ultimate identifier of a â€Å"good action† is one that is performed out of duty; with no other ulterior motive being present as a means of rewarding or punishing the individual performing the action. Although Kant was not the first individual to support such an approach to morality and ethics, he was the first that has been known to record such an approach and pass it along as a moral code of ethics that, as he argues, should be applied universally. This universality of Kantian morality is one of the hallmarks of such an approach that ultimately makes it unique among the other forms of ethical and moral approaches that have thus far been studied. This universality is born out of an understanding that the main guiding precept that defines goodness is duty. Therefore, the duty, as Kant describes it is not necessarily born out of an imprint of Godliness upon he hearts of mankind; rather, it is born out of the universality of reason in helping to develop moral and ethical approaches to the many situations that greet the individual within his/her daily life (Lachapelle 2005, p. 608). It should of course be noted that Kant never sought to distance God and/or his influence upon morality from his approach. Instead, Kantian morality and ethics take the approach that God is exhibited through reason and rationality and therefore is present within the duties that ultimately lead an individual to perform a moral act for the sake of duty itself. As a means to further this moral approach, Kant argues that the â€Å"good of humanity† in and of itself is sufficient enough a cause for

Article Review on General Moters Debacle Research Paper

Article Review on General Moters Debacle - Research Paper Example General Motors had to call back approximately 1.6 million cars in order to fix their switches which were causing sudden shut down in cars while in motion. The faulty ignition switches are reported to be linked with dangerous driving situations which resulted in 31 crashes and 13 victims in America since 2004 (Young, 2014). As more and more details are revealing about the faults identified in ignition switches it has become clear that the management of General Motors acted extremely irresponsible. On the other hand analysts have also indicated that the corporate bureaucracy of General Motors is significantly slow in responding to the customers’ safety and security issues (Young, 2014). This actually leads to the non-consideration of business ethics and morals while ignoring the fundamental needs of customers. For instance, in the book ‘Business Essentials’ Ebert and Griffin have stated that it is the prime responsibility of corporation to abide by the law and ethics which basically requires them to develop quality products. Moreover, the management must be able to positively contribute to the society (Ebert, 2014). However, if we see the role of General Motor’s management then it is clearly reflected that they did not act ethically which also compromising the greater social c oncerns and corporate social responsibilities of the organization. The CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra said that she came to know about the problem of ignition switches in January. On the other side Robert Lutz who is the global product development’s Vice Chair denied to have any information about ignition switch issues until recently (Young, 2014). When CEO was asked about why she wasn’t informed about the ignition switch faults then she responded that her being unaware of the incident should not be shocking for the prosecutors because General Motors has approximately 219,000 employees (Muller, 2014). The organization is involved in very complex business operations

Legal Aspects of Business Decisions Unit 2 IP Research Paper

Legal Aspects of Business Decisions Unit 2 IP - Research Paper Example Sturge Ltd to honor obligation amounts to violation of Ohio’s statutory and property law. According to Steinberg (1993), the court’s holding asserted that the Ohio Blue Sky Laws in subject were not applicable since international transactions at that time were not explicitly covered within the laws. The plaintiff, West Shell Jr. and the defendant R.W. Sturge Ltd were locked in a case, which was eventually brought to conclusion by Hamilton County Court in December 08, 1993. With respect to the presiding judges, West Shell Jr. et al were supposed to be refunded all monetary resources that they incurred as loses after investing in unregistered securities. According to Steinberg (1993), the court established that the defendant R.W. Sturge Ltd et al made a coalition with other third parties in selling illegal stocks and securities to the plaintiff. Therefore, R.W. Sturge Ltd et al was liable for refunding money used to purchase securities as well as payment of any attorney fees incurred by the plaintiff throughout the case. With respect to procedural construct of the case, British law asserts that any insurance and investment premium received by underwriters of a financial company is automatically placed in a trust fund. Any profits realized from a trust fund are released to the underwriters association, upon which the underwriters will extend the proceeds to investors. In this case, R.W. Sturge Ltd failed to honor its agreement by selling illegitimate securities to the plaintiff. Consequently, the plaintiff argued that the agreement binding the sale of securities was void under the Ohio Blue Sky Law. With respect to the legal background, Ohio Blue Sky Laws states that all public transactions brought into Ohio are accorded protection from fraudulent contracts and misrepresentation of facts during an agreement. According to Steinberg (1993), this means that Ohio Blue Sky Laws protect investors against gullibility and mischievousness of international

Final exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Final exam - Assignment Example The following diagram illustrates the model. Source of information The message Receiver Interactive models are another class of models of communication. Though achieving the same purpose of transmitting information from a sender to a receiver, the model recognizes active participation of the receiver through feedback. The model also identifies continuity in communication as the receiver becomes the secondary sender during feedback and the primary sender becomes a secondary receiver recognizes the role of the environment on communication. The model is also cyclic. The following diagram illustrates the modes. Field of experience Message Field of experience Encoder, source, decoder Decoder, receiver, encoder Feedback Another model of communication is the transactional model that recognizes the potential of simultaneous communication as opposed to the single directional scope of the linear model. The sender in the model is also the receiver at the same time. The transactional model also considers effects of time in communications. The following diagrams illustrate the model. Transactional model in an interpersonal communication Time Difference in context Transactional model in a mass communication Time Contextual difference (Wood 16, 17) Q2. ... Another link between communication and culture is the role of communication as an indicator of culture. Even though communication influence culture through facilitating sustainability, culture also shape people’s communication approaches. Differences in communication styles among people from different cultures show this. Consequently, communication forms a basis of identifying different cultures. Similarity in communication styles among people from the same culture can classify the society into communities while difference in communication within the communities can classify aspects such as behaviour. Indicator role of communication over culture helps in improving cross-cultural communication by bridging communication barriers. Another link between communication and culture is the role of communication if initiating and influencing cultural changes. One of the examples of this role of communication is in the development and spread of the hip-hop culture that emerged through mu sic artists and was communicated to influence the youth into the hip hop culture (Wood 159, 168). Some of the communication concepts that relate to culture are communication barrier and dynamism in communication amidst development in technologies (Wood 120). Culture defines a person’s environment and therefore contributes to situational barriers to communication. Cultural differences are an example. Culture also define norms, behaviour, and attitude that may consider some communication trends as immoral or complex and therefore offer resistance to advancement in communication (Wood 159). Q3. The first step in preparation for a speech is earning credibility from the audience and this is achieved through ensuring reliability

USGS Bird Population Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

USGS Bird Population - Assignment Example and specialists species characteristics to determine where the Double Crested Cormorant, Great Blue Herron, Wood Stock and the American Robin belong (Mobley 12). This specie of bird is a specialist. The Double Crested Cormorant is mostly distributed along the coastal regions and water bodies like the Gulf, Pacific and the Atlantic coasts in Canada and the United States which are densely populated due to the economic activities that are carried out in these regions (Sauer 2). It is also found along the Great Lakes and Mississippi valley. Their breeding nests are usually built on top of very tall trees in areas with bodies of water; therefore, they thrive best in wetland biomes. They change their niche according to the precipitation available at a particular time mostly preferring regions with high precipitation. The Double Crested Cormorant is very specific with its diet. It mainly eats fish and this is the reason why it prefers areas near water bodies. They mostly thrive in the riparian habitats. They are widely spread in water body regions but more uniformly distributed in regions that have water masses. Their diet which mainly consists of fish gives evidence that they are specialists and not generalists (Mobley 12). This specie of birds is generalists. This is because of their wide range of distribution. Although they are mainly distributed along northern America, Mexico and southern Canada, they are more common throughout the United States apart from regions that are woody (Sauer 2). They prefer the summer as opposed to winter seasons and this is why they are mostly found in Minnesota during summer. They are found in both coniferous and deciduous forests. They can also be seen in swampy areas or areas near water bodies. In addition, they can thrive in tree habitats that are either dead or alive and also found in densely populated areas. This means that they can survive in any environmental niche be it forested, savannah or wetlands. Another major reason why

Marketing theory and concepts Essay Example for Free

Marketing theory and concepts Essay Every business wither its small or big, aim to meet the needs of their actual and potential customers. In order for them to do this, they need to follow some sort of theory and concept. This assignment will be looking at the marketing theory and marketing concepts which are portrayed in the traditional marketing literature, and how they have limited application in guiding small business marketing practice. Marketing plays a vital role not only in developing, producing, and selling products or services, but also in guiding recruiting labors and raising capital. Although it can be said that successful entrepreneurs undertake marketing in unusual ways. They mainly rely on interactive marketing methods, which is often communicated through word-of-mouth rather than a more traditional marketing mix. Entrepreneurs monitor the marketplace through informal networks rather than formalised market research, and generally adopt more entrepreneurial approaches to marketing activities. However, depending on the business model, a complex and formalised initial market research can be crucial for a successful market entry. There are many marketing theories that are used in traditional marketing literature such as Schumpeter (1934) who said that entrepreneurs proactively created opportunity, using innovative combinations which often included creative destruction of passive or lethargic economic markets. According to Schumpeter the role of an entrepreneur is to innovate, and by doing this, you move the economy from one equilibrium to another. This kind of innovation could come about from one or more introduction of a new product; a new method of production; the development of a new market; the use of new sources of raw material, and the reorganisation of a new industry or its processes. He also distinguished between the entrepreneur and the capitalist. Schumpeter agreed with the fact, that in practice an innovator could also actually be a capitalist. Another well-known theorist next to Schumpeter is Kirzner (1973) who said that entrepreneurs should have a sense of alertness to identify the opportunities in the market and exploit them accordingly . He states The  pure entrepreneur, on the other hand, proceeds by his alertness to discover and exploit situations in which he is able to sell for high prices that which he can buy for low prices. Pure entrepreneur profit is the difference between the two sets of prices. The discovery of a profit opportunity means the discovery of something obtainable for nothing at all. No investment at all is required; the free ten-dollar bill is discovered to be already within one is grasps (Kirzner, 1973, 48). The marketing concept has changed significantly over time. In todays business world the customer is at the forefront, not all businesses in the past followed this concept, as they placed other factors first rather than their customers this is shown as follows:Production Oriented was the focus of the actual business and not the customer needs, as where this has now changed and we can see that it is more focused on customer needs. Production Orientation is when the company believe that they have a superior product, based on quality and features. Due to this thinking the company assume the customers will like it to. In todays market the customers decide as to what product they like. Sales Orientation is the focus where the company makes a product or provides a service, and then sells or offers it to the target market. This causes problems, as consumers may not like what is being offered to them, which is why companies are making sure that they test their services out, to a small group of the target audience. Market Orientation concept has not actually changed over time, it puts the customers first, as the companies try to understand the needs of the customers by using appropriate research methods. These methods are then developed to make sure information from customers, are fed back to the company for them to see what the target audience are interested in . SMEs who may adapt the marketing concept or 4Ps do so fully rather than explicitly (Carson and Gilmore, 2000). Jaworski and Kohli, (1990) also commented on the limitations of the marketing concept (p15). Therefore, the  SME approach is characterized by networking with stakeholders awareness to customer needs (Gilmore, Carson and Grant, 2001; Hill and Wright, 2001). Which is characterized by the size of these firms and their closeness to customers, (Gilmore, Carson, ODonnell and Cummins, 1999) as well as inexpensive forms of marketing such as word of mouth (Gilmore 1999). It is vital for SMEs to set the 4Ps, target a market and position themselves, but how this is done and planned is an important issue as it helps guiding a small business to success. Differences between traditional market literature and variants produced during the 1960s were mainly attributable to the addition of concepts popularized during that decade. For example, Cundiff and Still covered an analysis of the 4 Ps of marketing with the concept that marketing is a subsystem of business. (Cundiff, E.W., Still, R.R. 1976)The basic principles of marketing are generally applicable to large and small businesses. Marketing in SMEs has been recognized as a problematic area for researchers for over 20 years (Chaston and Mangles, 2002; Siu and Kirby, 1998). SME marketing in practice is considered to be mainly done though networking (Gilmore 2001) or a combination of transaction, relationship, interaction and network marketing (Brodie 1997). Recently the use of Internet marketing (Chaffey 2000) or e-commerce (Rayport and Jaworski, 2001) has become popular in all types of businesses including SMEs. Marketing in practice in small firms seem to rely mainly on personal contact networks (Hill and Wright, 2001; Gilmore 2001; Brodie 1997) and is often driven by the particular way a manager does business. According to Gilmore (2001) marketing in SMEs is likely to be chaotic, informal, loose, unstructured, spontaneous, and reactive and conform to industry norms. Gilmore (2001) showed that as a result of networking there was a high level of communication between the SME manager and their competitors then what is usually reported in the marketing literature as well as competing firms may be quite supportive of each other. Similarly, networking with customers usually involves building a relationship with one or two key individuals in those companies. If these individuals were to leave then the relationship the company would break (Gilmore 2001). SME owners must recognize that  building relationships are vital to a companys success and they invest a considerable amount of time and effort in maintaining good relations with regular clients (Gilmore 2001). The foundation and existence of an effective networking is concerned with maximizing marketing opportunities and ensuring the enterprises survival and development (Gilmore 2001). Something, which is more important, in todays world, is having a foot in the business market, which is constantly changing to meet customer needs. The tables have been turned on the fortunes of many long-established firms. Its believed that a majority of firms that are in trouble, and those that have failed recently, have done so because they have been let down by their own marketing. Traditional marketing is now being turned. The ideas of marketing and branding strategy that passed for conventional wisdom before do not hold true today. A small but growing number of innovative firms have adopted completely new and differentiate approaches in marketing, reflecting a clear and unmistakable change in the global culture. In this era of globalisation and the Internet the consumer is behaving in a radically different way and is no longer vulnerable to the overworked ploys of marketing. The present times call for a new competition one that strays from the prescriptions that traditional marketing theory holds, that sometimes works in a way that it is counter to it and that lays focus on network-building and pulling the customer above all else. Many experienced hands in corporate boardrooms are oblivious to these shifting sands and evolving trends, and are paying the price as a result. In general the basic principles and concepts of marketing are as relevant to SMEs as it is to larger firms, but some theories, tools and techniques of marketing are not as relevant or useful to SMEs. The nature of SME marketing is the concept, which is mainly dominated by the inherent characteristics of the entrepreneur and the SME itself. Although not all small business may take the marketing theories and concepts in to consideration, while carrying out some sort of market research they will have come a across them. They may have limited application in todays marketing world but they do provide the basis for which a business can start their research on which helps guiding them in to the marketing practice. Therefore marketing theories and Concepts  portrayed in the traditional marketing literature has limited application in guiding small business marketing practice although they give the business a rough base to start their market practice. Competition and Entrepreneurship, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and LondonCarson, D. and A. Gilmore, (2000), Marketing at the Interface: Not What But How', Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Vol. 8Kohli, A. K. and B. J. Jaworski, (1990), The Construct, Research Propositions, and Managerial Implications, Journal of Marketing,(Gilmore, Carson and Grant, 2001; Hill and Wright, 2001). Gilmore, A., D. Carson and K. Grant (2001), SME Marketing in Practice, MarketingIntelligence and Planning, Vol. 19(Gilmore, Carson, ODonnell and Cummins, 1999) Added value: A QualitativeAssessment of SME Marketing, Irish Marketing Review(Cundiff, E.W., Still, R.R. 1976), Fundamentals of Modern Marketing, 2nd ed.)Chaston, I and Mangles, T. (2002) Small Business Marketing Management.Siu, W. and Kirby, D.A. (1998) Approaches to small firm marketing: A Critique. European Journal of Marketing, vol. 32, no. Brodie, R.J., Coviello, N.E., Brookes, R.W. and Little, V. (1997) Towards a Paradigm Shiftin Marketing? An Examination of Current Marketing Practices. Journal of Marketing Management,Chaffey, D., Mayer, R., Johnston, K. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2000) Internet Marketing. Prentice Hall, Harlow, EnglandRayport, J. F. and Jaworski, B. J. (2001) e-Commerce. McGraw-Hill, Boston, USA. Hill, J. and Wright, L. T. (2001) A Qualitative Research Agenda for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises. Marketing Intelligence and Planning,http://www.druid.dk/uploads/tx_picturedb/ds1998-9.pdfhttps://www.mises.org/journals/scholar/wood.pdfhttp://knight.fcu.edu.tw/~gunning/subjecti/workpape/kirz_ent.pdfBooksHandbook of Entrepreneurship Research and Interdisciplinary Survey and Introduction By: Zoltan J Acs, David B

Committing Adultery Essay Example for Free

Committing Adultery Essay A marriage is full of moral ethics that should be followed. Kant would have agreed with me that we have moral duties to ones self and others. A marriage is committing moral thoughts, words, and actions to yourself and your spouse. Kant believed in treating other people the way you wish they would treat you. Never treat other people as if they were merely things. The formula of humanity states that we should treat people as an end and never as a means to an end. In committing adultery, the marriage and the spouse are being used as a means. Marriage should be treated with dignity and not as a thing that can be played with. I hope no one would apply the universal law of categorical imperative to committing adultery. I could not imagine applying the act of committing adultery to how all others should act. If we did apply the universal law to committing adultery then marriage would be worthless. Basically, do not choose a rule for yourself that you wouldn’t want everyone else to obey. Kant believes that the only good thing is a good will. Good will equals good intentions. Committing adultery is not a morally good act and Kant would agree with me. Utilitarianism is an action that is right if it maximizes the overall happiness of all people. In other words, an action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. This is consequentialism. Utilitarianism has rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism. In rule utilitarianism, a behavioral code or rule is morally right if the consequences of the rule are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. I believe it is more favorable to your spouse not to cheat than to cheat. I would be also more favorable to you not to cheat so the spouse doesn’t get upset. Act utilitarianism weighs the consequences of each particular action. There is a list of consequences of the act of committing adultery and none of them are good. There are moral rules against committing adultery and one of them is lying. In taking the vows in front of God is a form of a promise and breaking that promise is lying to God. John Stuart Mill is a hedonistic utilitarian. Our actions are meant to give happiness not only to ourselves but to others as well. Mill made the distinction of happiness between pleasures of the mental sort as a higher form than that of bodily pleasures. Mill states, it is better to be intelligently dissatisfied then foolishly satisfied. The ultimate pain and misery caused by committing adultery is not worth the short term pleasure that it produces. Wikipedia. org states that Utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill is classified as a type of hedonism, as it judges the morality of the actions by their consequent contributions to the greater good and happiness of all. Mills believes that there can be different levels of pleasure as long as the act promotes an action which makes everyone happy. Mills would say that committing adultery doesn’t bring overall happiness. Hedonism is described as pleasure is the highest good and whatever causes pleasure is right. On this note, hedonism would say committing adultery would be right if it is giving the cheating spouse pleasure. Committing adultery is motivated by desire and it can reduce pain by not telling the spouse that you are cheating. Most of the time committing adultery is motivated by sexual desire. My view on committing adultery is closest with Kantianism. Good will equals good intentions. They way I treat my spouse is the way I would want to be treated. I value marriage and I hope my spouse does too.