Ethics and Financial Services Essay Example for Free

Ethics and Financial Services Essay Question A1 Outline the frauds identified in the case and explain the inconsistencies with proper accounting treatment. Relate your answer to broad accounting concepts and accounting standards where relevant. (8 marks; approximately 800 words) Answer: Livent Inc. is a theatre production corporation registered in Toronto, Canada. Therefore, all the accounting behaviours were subject to the General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) of Canada. In a broad sense, the GAAP imposes four main constraints on the accounting behaviours of companies – objectivity, materiality, consistency and conservatism. In the case of Livent Inc., there are several behaviours that was inconsistent with the proper accounting regulations in general. Large kickback scheme At the very beginning of the entire fraud by Livent, the two executives, Drabinsky and Gottlieb, fabricated transactions that did not exist at all, in order to transfer the revenue of the company secretly to their own pockets. They made the fake transaction on their balance sheet by colluding with their vendors. Drabinsky and Gottlieb received the money from vendors and asked them to fabricate evidences of charging fees. Manipulation of accounting records The kickback scheme sacrificed the net profit of the company, and as a result, Drabinsky and Gottlieb started manipulating the records. There were evidence from later investigation that Livent was exaggerating its revenue from the box office to show that it kept good income statement with good  profit. Also, they asked the accountants at Livent to modify the financial statements to hide the potential financial problems Livent had and to exhibit good operating performance to attract more investment. Drabinsky even used special software to manipulate the financial statements to make them as if they were the original record and hard to be detected. Keeping the fraud as secret to auditors With the help of the special software, Livent Inc. was able to keep two records of their financial performances, the phony one and the real one. And the outside auditors did auditing of Livent based on the phony financial records Livent provided. Therefore, the Deloitte, Livent’s outside auditing company, could hardly see signs of fraud during annual auditing. Significantly, the fraud of Livent Inc. broke the accounting principle of objectivity, which is also the primary standards companies should stick to. The objectivity principle basically requires that all kinds of financial statements the companies offer should be based on the facts. That is to say, every transaction and item recorded in the financial statements should be supported by unbiased and objective information. Under no circumstances are the managers, shareholders and accountants allowed to fabricate or distort any accounting reports and materials of the company. However, what Drabinsky and Gottlieb did at Livent went against the accounting standards. The fact that the two partners urged the internal accountants to modify the seasonal expenses and liability is definitely away from the proper professional behaviours. Livent benefited from manipulating its performance with additional investment and bank loans, which boosted aggressive expanding plans of Livent. It is even intolerable that the company invented the special software, which allowed unlimited arbitrary modification of all the accounting records of the company. This made the fraud much easier and less likely to be discovered because it enabled the manipulation looked as if they were the original data. Elrod and Gorhum (2010) made quantitative research on the way of detecting fraud by examine the extent to which the cash flow from operation and the earnings from continuing operations are correlated. Livent Inc. forced the accounting staff in the company to comply with the fraud behaviour without any doubt. The executives showed a â€Å"matter-of-fact† attitude toward the fraud. The accountants, independent auditors were not working independently and objectively as required by GAAP. On the contrary, they have been coerced or instructed to make fake accounting records, and did not show cooperation with the independent outside auditors. GAAP intends to ensure auditor independence. But Messina used her previous influence at Deloitte to disturb the independency of Deloitte auditors in examining the financial performance of Livent. The objectivity principle additionally restricts unreliable reports, materials and sheets offered to the auditors for annual auditing. Under the current accounting principles and standards in Canada and the United State, the auditors are responsible only for ensuring the preparation of all the accounting documents of the company align with the GAAP. But the outside auditors do not have access to the detailed daily record of the company. Therefore, the annual auditing is unable to prevent managerial collusion if the company provides counterfeit accounting materials. Livent was giving the fake balance sheet, income statement and other reports to Deloitte, which is not allowed by the accounting standards to a broad extent. Some companies correct their cheating behaviour when the situation improves, which makes it even harder to be detected. Nonetheless, such behaviours done by Livent are inconsistent with the standard professional ethics and regulations. Moreover, the aggressive developing strategy Livent had taken also violated the conservatism principle that the GAAP requires. This principle asks the accountants to exclude the uncertain income or revenue, while include the possible losses and risks in the financial statement. The conservative accounting behaviors are necessary because they can effectively prevent the shareholders and investors from potential losses. But in this case, Drabinsky is in such a haste to pursue aggressive development of the company, and obviously was exaggerating its revenue as well as concealing its losses. Question A2 Describe the corporate ethical culture at Livent Inc. How did this culture affect employee behaviour? Explain and justify your answer. (12 marks; approximately 1,200 words) Answer: Several researches supported the argument that the corporate ethical culture had large influences on the behaviours of the employees and their ethical judgements. The company does not have to have a specific code of ethics for the employees to constraint their ethical behaviours. The corporate environment in itself is enough for influencing the ethical behaviours inside the company. Nwachukwu and Vitell (1997)’s research found that the ethical culture in corporate has certain impact on the moral conviction of the employees upon what is right and wrong. Fraudulent behaviour was a very significant issue in the development of companies. It was because that it had tremendous impacts on the corporate, the employees as well as the public. Also, the difficulties in preventing such behaviours were to define, prevent and detect it. Schwartz (2013) made research and emphasized the three key factors in maintain an ethical corporate culture in the company. They are the set of ethical beliefs or values throughout the company, establishing â€Å"formal ethics program† and the ethical leadership throughout the development of the company. However, in the case of Livent’s fraud, all the three factors were lack in the system of the company. They had no clear ethical values, as the self-regulation mechanism, set and administrated inside the company to constraint the behaviours of not only the employees, but the senior executives as well. The unethical culture set by the top executives had not only influenced, but also forced all the staff, especially the accountants, to cooperate and to help conceal the fraud from being detected by the outsiders. This caused the company running under a set of very unethical corporate culture. It seemed to be routine to manipulate the financial records in Livent Inc. for quite a long time. As early as the year of 1990, Drabinsky, together with his best partner Gottlieb, began the kickback scheme to illegally create fake transactions to transfer money from the company to their own pockets. Then later Dranbinsky and Gottlieb had to tell even bigger lies and got more people involved in in order to make up for the expense losses from the kickback plan. The company lacked ethical leadership from the very beginning. To make the financial performance of Livent look promising,  Drabinsky and Gottlieb meddled in the daily accounting records as well as the preparation of the annual financial statements that were handed in and were examined by the auditing company, Deloitte. The executives and the senior level staff were not establishing positive example inside the company so as to maintain a positive ethical corporate culture. What’s even worse, they acted as the leading role in such fraudulent behaviours and arbitrarily got the other employees into the serious fraud scheme. Drabinsky and Gottlieb shouted at and coerced the staff and even the senior level managers to fulfil their ambition. They developed a specific computer software inside the company’s accounting system, so that they were able to take control of the financial status of the company. They could adjust any amount and transaction records in the system to make the quarterly, semi-annually and annually report of financial performance of Livent look promising to invest in. Even worse, by applying the software, Livent was able to cheat on the accounting records as if they were the raw figures, and avoid being discovered. It had also facilitated the fraudulent behaviours and motivated the employees and the executives to fraud continuously. Another serious issue inside Livent, besides the manipulation of the accounting records and financial statements, is the overwhelming attitude of viewing fraud as a matter of fact among executives as well as the employees. Even if some of the accounting staff including Messina and Webster questioned the unethical behaviours they got involved in, they were influenced by the overall environment and paid no attention to the fraudulent behaviours in Livent. They took for granted that what they did was to follow the instructions of the executives so as not to get fired. The employees would see Drabinsky shouting and bullying the accountants and even the senior level staff in the company if they had any different opinions against him. This was in fact establishing bad example for the employees and was to warn the other staff to just accept the deviant behaviours as a matter of fact. For a long time, employees were aware of the fraud happening, but were unwilling to avoid it. Llopis et al. (2007) argued that â€Å"effective communication is essential for the ethical message to be properly assimilated†. However, in Livent, the top two executives, Drabinsky and Gottlieb, were much too autocratic in the way of managing the company. There  were barely any information about the ethical culture passed to the employees, and the staff had little freedom to do their job but to listen to Drabinsky’s instructions. Last but not least, Livent Inc. lacked proper self-regulation mechanism to prevent the non-ethical behaviours. More often than not, self-regulation are considered as the last prevention of bad corporate ethical culture. Schwartz (2013) pointed out that the set of ethical value of the company was critical for making ethical decisions. Real self-regulation should not be independent of the public interest. Instead, the behaviours under self-regulation should be compatible with the social values and principles. In addition, as the ethical value of the company should not be arbitrarily decided by the executives or a few people in the company; instead the set of ethical value should gain the consent of the majority of the employees (Llopis et al. 2007). Yet, what the set of value acquiesced by the employees in Livent went against the public’s interest, and thus led to the unethical corporate culture overall. Formally, inside Livent, they did not have complete ethical programs including regulations on the professional operation of each position to prevent fraud. The ethical value of the company should be clearly stated in the policies and regulations, or even set incentive mechanism to encourage the employees to follow and to form good habits. In conclusion, there were three factors causing the unethical corporate culture inside Livent. The first is the long-standing fraudulent behaviours from the top executives, which were then passed down to the employees of lower levels arbitrarily. Second element of the unethical culture was the attitude of taking committing fraud as a matter of fact, and thus no one in the company were willing to discourage it. Finally, the lack of internal ethical corporate regulations or values established throughout the company accelerated the forming of unethical corporate culture. Working under such environment, the employees got involved in the fraudulent behaviours willingly or unwillingly forced by their boss. Moreover, their original ethical judgement became vague as they got used to the prevalent fraudulent working culture after a long time. They loss the sense of justice to judge the right and the wrong things. They might even rationalize what they had  done to be just and necessary. PART B Question B1 Why do you think Maria Messina become complicit in the fraud(s)? Explain your answer using the fraud triangle. (15 marks; approximately 1,500 words) Answer: The fraud originally started with the large kickback scheme by Drabinsky and Gottlieb, and finally Maria Messina, as the chief financial officer of Livent, got involved and helped in the huge fraud. Messina’s motivation to become complicit in the fraud can be explained by the theory of fraud triangle, which reveals much of the psychology of committing a fraud. The three key factors in the fraud triangle, considered as prerequisites of fraudulent behaviours, are the pressure, the opportunity and the rationalisation of doing it. Pressure The pressure of committing the fraud, according to the theory of fraud triangle, is more often than not â€Å"non-shareable† (Dellaportas 2013). The type of pressure may be related to financial issues, or may come from the job and working atmosphere. Dellaportas (2013) pointed out that the evil ideas can also be the source of pressure that causes fraud. People in Livent who joined in the fraud had different reasons of incentive to do illegal things as they had different kind of pressure. For example, for the two executives, Drabinsky and Gottlieb, they shared financial pressure. At first, their greed for money stimulated them to design the large kickback plan to secretly transfer money from the company to their own pockets. And later, just as Brenna and McGrath (2007) described in the paper, the executives had the motivation to fraud to keep the company at good performance so that they could gain high bonus as well as keep continuous outside investment for the company. But the motivation and pressure for Messina was a little different. Although as CFO of Livent, her bonus was linked with the performance of the company, the evidences in the  case and in the trial were insufficient to decide whether her fraudulent behaviour was directly motivated by financial pressure. However, it is clear that she was forced to involve in the fraud, like many other accountants at Livent, because of the coercion of Drabinsky and Gottlieb. Messina testified that the executives including Drabinsky would shout at the accountants and force them to cooperate in work. She worked under the pressure of the executives in the company. Messina would be at the risk of losing her job if she did not follow the instruction of Drabinsky. The financial situation was negative long before Messina joined Livent, meaning the fraud had already started before Messina was able to stop it. Taking over the responsibility of managing the financial performance of the company, she was faced with the situation out of her control. The environment of fraud and routine to manipulate the financial records had long been formed. The frequent use of software that enabled Drabinsky to easily manipulate the financial records and financial statements as much as he wanted was a common behaviour in Livent, acquiesced by everyone in the company. Under the threat of Drabinsky, Messina thus had no choice but to try her best to manage the fraud from being detected, making herself really exhausted by the daily work. The pressure Messina faced as the chief financial officer was unable to share with other colleagues and she was forced by the financial pressures to involve in the fraud. She could feel the threats from Drabinsky and the already very troublesome financial situation. And she could perceive that her subordinates and other staff in Livent were suffering the bully and coercion from their executives as well. Opportunity The factor of opportunity in the fraud triangle refers to the ability to commit the fraud and in the situations like the one in the case, such opportunity mainly results from having specific professional skills or knowledge. That is to say, the person was able to manipulate skilfully and knew how to avoid being discovered by his supervisors or regulations. In addition, the trust that the person is able to accomplish the job in accord  with laws also contributes to the opportunity. The trust existing in the relationship between the supervisor and the employees may contribute to getting authorized without careful screening. The trust caused the space of opportunity to fraud expanded. In case of Livent, Messina was an experienced accountants as well as a Chartered Accountant, who had been promoted to partner of the Deloitte Touch, LLP in Canada. Her previous experience in the industry enabled her to have a good knowledge both in accounting and auditing. That is to say, Messina potentially knew how to manipulate the accounting records daily and prepare the fraudulent financial statement annually. Also, she understood the normal practice of outside professional auditors, who were responsible for examining the financial performance of the company and avoiding inconsistency with the GAAP. Thus, Messina could give professional advice to Drabinsky and Gottlieb so that their manipulation of the accounting records would not be detected in the annual auditing. Besides her professional knowledge and skills in assisting in the fraud in accounting, the opportunity for Messina to get involved also includes the trust on her and her influence in her previous company. Messina had worked at Deloitte Canada for quite a long time and had been promoted to position as partner before she left the company and became CFO of Livent Inc. She had therefore built broad relationship within Deloitte, who was the outside auditing firm for Livent at that time. As Dellaportas (2013) pointed out in the research, insufficient internal regulation and supervision upon such fraudulent behaviours prompted the fraud to continue without being detected by others. However, in the specific case of Livent, there was no self-regulation mechanism at all, since the entire company, from the executives to the employees of the lowest-level, got involved in the fraud. Thus, it was hopeless to discover and discourage such deviant behaviours by the people inside the company. This caused the fraud of Livent to continue to expand and to be very serious. Rationalisation The rationalisation is not rational, instead it is an excuse for the person  who commits the fraud to justify the behaviour to himself. Coleman (1987) discussed this factor of fraud within the context of white collar crimes, and he argued that rationalisation is not an â€Å"after-the-fact† excuse. In fact, people who commit the crime do not realize that their behaviours are deviant. A large number of white collar crime criminals argued that they considered the laws to be unjust or unreasonable, causing them to break the rules (Coleman 1987). The factor of rationalisation is more risky than the other two factors because the people who have violated the laws believed that they had the right reason to do so. He also mentioned other common argument of the fraudulent behaviours. They claimed that such behaviours were the only way for them to achieve the goal or to â€Å"survive† (Coleman 1987). Based on the research results from Dellaportas (2013), he identified the three most common way of denial that people think to justify their fraudulent behaviours. People would rationalize their behaviour as they deny the â€Å"responsibility, injury and victim†. First, the offenders will shirk responsibility and say someone else are supposed to be in charge of the fraud. Secondly, they justify what they have done by arguing that there is no victim in this situation. Finally, if there is victims, the offenders may consider that the victims deserve the sufferings. Thus, they are free from taking responsible or even committing their fraud is illegal. Definitely, there were rationalisation inside Messina that made her behaviour â€Å"just† according to her own value. After quitting the partner position at Deloitte, Messina believed it to be right or rational for her to help Drabinsky in the fraud. Or otherwise, she would lose her job and would be unable to survive. And the overall atmosphere inside the Livent, considering what they were doing as â€Å"matter of fact†, alleviated the employee’s sense of responsibility for the fraud. Messina could hardly feel guilty and never considered about the consequences of helping the company’s fraud. She might rationalize her efforts in the fraud as under the instruction of Drabinsky, instead of out of her own willingness. The above analysis clearly dissected the reasons why Messina became complicit in the fraud from the perspective of psychology. However, as Dellaportas (2013) discussed, the influence of each factor in the fraud triangle varied  from case to case, and was not often equally impacting the fraud behaviours. Recent researches intend to improve the fraud triangle by considering additional factors into the model to better understand the behaviour of fraud in current times. What Messina had done assisted the fraud in Livent to continue for quite a long time after she joined Livent. Messina became the complicit in the serious fraud due to the pressure she was facing, mainly financially, the opportunity she was able to take advantage of and the rationalisation she found for herself to justify her deviant behaviours. Dellaportas (2013) discovered, through case study from ten accountants’ committing fraud, that the opportunity of committing fraud was a much more important factor in dete cting fraud and to take control of it. The motivation and rationalisation contributed less in this kind of accounting fraud cases. Question B2 Comment on the adequacy of the disciplinary action taken against Messina. (5 marks; approximately 500 words) Answer: Finally, Messina was fined for $7,500 and was suspended from doing accounting practice for two years. It is adequate but not enough punishment for Messina’s violation to the accounting standards according to the facts already known. After joining Livent, what Messina did in the Livent’s case of fraud went against the code of professional ethics, which discourages cheating and manipulations. Also, her behaviours broke the securities law in the United States, where the trial of Livent was held. Her involving in the fraud conflicted the interest of the public, especially the investors, who were unable to judge the real performance of Livent from their financial reports. Messina abused her authority in Livent and her influence on Deloitte, for the interest of her own and the executives at Livent. At the very beginning of joining Livent, Messina faced coercion and threats from Drabinsky to keep decent records by manipulation. However, she did not take positive action to resolving the conflict of interest between Drabinsky and herself. Proper ways when one faces conflict of interest is to  quit the job or decline to do the fraud. Messina could have turned to a confidential counselling firm for advice so that she did not have to get involved further in the fraud. On the one hand, it is enough punishment for her involvement in the fraud. She helped the accounting department at Livent to conceal the manipulation of financial statements. Also, as former partner at Deloitte, she abused her influence on the outside independent auditors to comb the financial reports of Livent before they filed to ensure the fraud undetected. What she did violated the standard professional codes for accountants and auditors, and thus she should be subject to penalty. According to the documents from Securities and Exchange Commission (1999), Messina was involved in discussion and approval of every manipulated records. She helped to hide these materials from the auditors so as not to be discovered the inflation in the company’s revenue. On the other hand, the SEC is conservative in judgement because of lack of evidence in proving Messina’s role in the fraud. First, it requires further investigation of the case to identify what she really did and her attitude in the fraud supported with evidence. Moreover, Messina, according to the case material, did show adversarial attitude toward Drabinsky’s fraud plan at first. It means that she still sticked to professional discipline in the beginning, though she yielded to Drabinsky’s bullying later. Also, Messina showed humble attitude in investigation and trial, and cooperated with the commission to investigate the case. It is adequate that the judges punished Messina both financially and professionally. She not only has to give back the illegal money she gained from the fraud, but also should be prevented from doing the practice until she can finally reflect on her mistakes before returning to the business as chief financial officer. However, the amount of fine is too little for Messina to realize her improper behaviours, considering the massive consequences of the fraud and the amount of money they benefited from manipulation. But the judgement should after all based on the evidences and regulations. The judge should take the good and bad things Messina had done  throughout the fraud into account to decide. Also, the punishment against Messina requires further investigation of her role in the fraud, which is disputable. References Coleman, J W 1987, ‘Toward an integrated theory of white-collar crime’, American Journal of Sociology, vol 93, no. 2, pp. 406-439. Dellaportas, S 2013, ‘Conversations with inmate accountants: Motivation, opportunity and the fraud triangle’, Accounting Forum, vol. 37, pp. 29-39. Elrod, H Gorhum, M J, ‘Fraudulent financial reporting and cash flows’, Journal of Finance and Accountancy, vol. 11, pp. 56-61. Llopis, J, Gonzalez, M R Gasco, J L 2007, ‘Corporate governance and organisational culture: The role of ethics officers’, International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 96–105 Nwachukwu, S LS Vitell, S J 1997, ‘The influence of corporate culture on managerial ethical judgments’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 757-776. Schwartz, M S 2013, ‘Developing and sustaining an ethical corporate culture: The core elements’, Business Horizons, vol. 56, pp. 39-50. Securities and Exchange Commission, 1999, Securities and Exchange Commission versus Garth H. Drabinsky, Myron I. Gottlieb, Robert Topol, Gordon C. Eckstein, Maria M. Messina, Diane J. Winkefein, D. Grant Malcolm and Tony Fiorino, 99 CIV.0239, Litigation Release No. 16022, retrieved 15 Aug 2013, .

Impact of Economic Competitiveness on Wages

Impact of Economic Competitiveness on Wages The growth of low wage jobs is inevitable as national governments seek to promote economic competitiveness. Discuss. Introduction This essay discusses the hypothesis that governmental policies aimed at improving a nation’s relative performance in the global economy must lead to an increase in the low paid jobs. If considered in a global context the subject covers a wide spectrum. So the essay considers the United Kingdom’s (UK) economic experiences from the late 1970’s, with particular emphasis on the Thatcher era from 1979-1990 when the foundations for the UK’s economic reforms were laid. The profound change in economic management coupled with the rapid advances in communications and information technology has accelerated the effects of â€Å"globalisation† and led to severe disruption in the UK labour market. Evidence exists that the erosion of the bargaining power of employees due to the twin effects of government policy and globalisation has exacerbated the decrease in real earnings amongst the less skilled workforce. However this vulnerability can be partially off-set by some of the benefits due to improvements in the UK’s international economic competitiveness and an effective mix of domestic labour market policies. Economic Competitiveness: A Definition For centuries, international trade has been the bedrock of the UK’s prosperity. Economists have long debated the effect of government policies on trade and national prosperity. In 1817 during the first stirrings of the industrial revolution David Ricardo developed an argument which can be summarised as: â€Å"The classical theory of international trade and its role in economic development is based on the principle of comparative advantage. The comparative advantage paradigm states that a country performs better by concentrating on the production of those goods and services for which it possesses a comparative advantage over others, and then trade those goods for those of other countries.†[1] Modern economic theory still supports the basic tenets of Ricardo’s argument, which was primarily developed as an attack on government’s protectionist agricultural policies at the time. Recent research, however, goes a step further. Michael Porter devised the concept of National Advantage [2] which argues that governments have a significant role to play in enhancing a nation’s comparative advantage when competing in the global economy. His â€Å"Diamond of National Advantage† (below) suggests that perusing policies that enhance company performance by, say, strict product standards, stimulating demand for advanced products, focusing on factor creation, with improved worker skills and stimulating rivalry by enforcing antitrust legislation will support the development of a strong and internationally competitive trading economy. The UK Experience After the Second World War the UK government pursued policies to reduce unemployment through subsidies, direct support for industry, including nationalisation of some economically challenged sectors such as coal-mining, railways and a major automotive manufacturer, limiting external competition through protectionism. Trade policy was largely governed by favouring Commonwealth countries, through the â€Å"Commonwealth Preference† arrangements. This approach was largely self-defeating as suggested by the Economist as early as 1960. â€Å"A comprehensive system involving the granting of large margins of preference might be expected to have results of two kinds: it should ensure to exporters a larger share of the market than they would otherwise obtain, or enable them to charge higher prices for their goods than in non-preferential markets. An examination of Commonwealth Preference suggests that its effects in both directions are more limited than is implied by the support which it commands in the Commonwealth and the hostility it sometimes arouses in non-Commonwealth countries.† [3] In particular, it was in conflict with some of the concepts of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, (GATT) formed in 1947 to promote economic recovery after the war by reducing barriers in international trade, particularly the reduction in tariff barriers. The UK economy prospered under this regime particularly in the late 50’s and early 60’s but by the 70’s the cracks were beginning to show. By the mid 70’s it was obvious this economic model was not in tune with the needs of a modern nation in a rapidly changing world. Some of the old tenets were under scrutiny and the entrenched bastions of economic power were at loggerheads. In particular, the power of the union movement and the entrenched conservatism and resistance to change of management in the traditional industries such as coal, rail and manufacturing led to conflict and industrial disputation which were ruinous to the economic health of the nation. Successive governments failed to address the underlying economic causes of the problems, until Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979 with a new approach to economic governance. Her philosophy was not necessarily based on economic theory, although some of her advisors and ministers were well versed in Keynesian economics. Her government embarked on a series of structural economic reforms including the privatisation of government-owned industries, deregulation of large swathes of UK economic activity, particularly financial services and the pursuance of an aggressive free trade agenda. â€Å"What became known as Thatcherism may have been an agenda which benefited corporate capital, as left critiques emphasize, but its ideological formulation was populist and it employed the petty bourgeois values of thrift, hard work, and family solidarity as the central justifications for privatization, tax cuts, reduction of state expenditure, and hostility to trade unions.†[4] Since that period it is true to say that â€Å"Thatcherism†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦was†¦. to become the ruling consensus of the British government . soon established and exported around the world[5] It is interesting to note that Thatcher’s economic policies predated Porter’s research outlined in section 2, as Hood and Young observed: â€Å"While what has occurred falls short of a systemic approach to counteract market-distorting behavior or to build up created assets, there is little doubt that there have been consistent themes pursued since the Conservative government came to power in 1979. Deregulation, privatization, the restructuring of the handling of labour disputes, and so on have been driven by a clear philosophy concerning the role of the market and the negative economic and social effects of certain types of market distortions†[6] Effect on Employment and Wages As the Thatcher reforms began to bite, the short-term results reverberated around the UK. For example the industrial midlands in the late 70’s was the heart of the automotive and machine tool manufacturing industries. By the mid 80’s it was an industrial wasteland with acres of empty and derelict factory space with many thousands of workers displaced or redundant. This picture was repeated in many communities previously reliant on â€Å"smokestack† industries in the north and west of the UK. Anecdotal evidence suggested many of those displaced from manufacturing jobs had joined the informal self-employed workforce and those still in full-time employment had migrated to low-wage jobs in service industries such as retailing. This is backed up by comments from Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which reports: â€Å"The labour market plays a crucial role in reaping potential gain from globalisation by facilitating a shift of jobs from decli ning sectors or occupations to expanding ones, in line with the changes in comparative advantage. However, this labour market adjustment is not always smooth because many workers displaced from declining sectors are poorly positioned to move into newly-created jobs in export sectors, which may be located in different regions or require different qualifications†[7] The International Labour Organisation (ILO) also echoes a similar theme: â€Å"Policies aimed at increasing competitiveness by lowering unit labour costs should consider the potential consequences on either workers (via wages) or firms and economic growth (via productivity). For example, on the one hand, an excessive and long-run emphasis on wage moderation may threaten a country’s productivity growth rate as it might discourage innovation and investment in human capital†[8] In the longer term, however the overall benefits to the UK economy were substantial. The shift from a manufacturing to serviced based economy has brought significant benefits to the nation. â€Å"The UK, a leading trading power and financial centre, is one of the quintet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. Since emerging from recession in 1992, Britains economy has enjoyed the longest period of expansion on record; growth has remained in the 2-3% range since 2004, outpacing most of Europe.†[9] Not everyone has benefited from this development. In relative terms the rich have got richer whereas the lower-paid workers have seen their relative position decline. â€Å"The UKs growth in wealth equality has been the fastest among the worlds 30 richest and most developed countries. But in 2005, when the organisation compiled its latest data, the UK remained a more unequal society than three-quarters of OECD countries, with the richest 10% earning nine times more than the poorest 10%.†[10] Striking the Balance Based on the UK government’s experience, seeking to promote economic competitiveness can be beneficial for the national economy overall. â€Å"Open trade and investment policies can be a powerful force for raising living standards. Economists have long emphasised this point and it is confirmed by much research. For example, the OECD’s Growth Study estimated that a 10 percentage point increase in trade openness translates over time into an increase of around 4% in per capita income in the OECD area.†[11] However to mitigate the disruptive effects of such aggressive economic policies, suitable social policies should go hand in hand. For example policies to enhance labour mobility and relocation, income security packages linked to retraining to increase re-employment options, skill-development programs and minimum wage policies to limit low-pay traps. A balanced policy approach can help offset the growth and pervasiveness of low wage jobs. Bibliography Fidelis Ezeala-Harrison, Theory and Policy of International Competitiveness, page 4 Greenwood Publishing Group Michael E. Porter The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Free Press, 1998 Economist Intelligence Unit, The Commonwealth and Europe (London: Economist Intelligence Unit, 1960.) Philip Abbott, Leadership by Exemplar: Reagans FDR and Thatchers Churchill, Presidential Studies Quarterly 27.2 (1997) Simon Jenkins, Thatcher and Sons, page 1, Allen Lane 2006 Neil Hood, and Stephen Young, 8 The United Kingdom, Governments, Globalization, and International Business, ed. John H. Dunning (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) Globalisation, Jobs and Wages, Policy Brief, OECD, June 2007 ILO Key Indicators of the Labour Market KILM 4th Edition 2005 Central Intelligence Agency Office of Public Affairs Washington, D.C. 20505 The Guardian, Wednesday October 22 2008 Globalisation, Jobs and Wages, Policy Brief, OECD, June 2007 Footnotes [1] Fidelis Ezeala-Harrison, Theory and Policy of International Competitiveness, page 4 Greenwood Publishing Group [2] Michael E. Porter The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Free Press, 1998 [3] Economist Intelligence Unit, The Commonwealth and Europe (London: Economist Intelligence Unit, 1960.) [4] Philip Abbott, Leadership by Exemplar: Reagans FDR and Thatchers Churchill, Presidential Studies Quarterly 27.2 (1997) [5] Simon Jenkins, Thatcher and Sons, page 1, Allen Lane 2006 [6] Neil Hood, and Stephen Young, 8 The United Kingdom, Governments, Globalization, and International Business, ed. John H. Dunning (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) [7] Globalisation, Jobs and Wages, Policy Brief, OECD, June 2007 [8] ILO Key Indicators of the Labour Market KILM 4th Edition 2005 [9] Central Intelligence Agency Office of Public Affairs Washington, D.C. 20505 [10] The Guardian, Wednesday October 22 2008 [11] Globalisation, Jobs and Wages, Policy Brief, OECD, June 2007

The Education Structure Of Two Countries Education Essay

The Education Structure Of Two Countries Education Essay Education and training human sense of responsibility to the community and country To do the tasks mentioned above, the education agency to help children discover their unique talents, aware of all potential and develop enthusiasm for learning throughout life. The main reason that education is the basis of all nations, root of all skilled, educational development will be synonymous with economic development and prosperity of the country. I will compare and contrast the similar and different types of education in my country Vietnam and education of the country that currently I am studying in the USA. The education structure of 2 countries is quite similar: elementary school, secondary school, high school, university and some courses after graduate in university. Elementary school (from 5-10 years old): Six years or up in age, children in the kindergarten and usually complete elementary school level in grade five or six classes. The school year is called class. Middle school (from 11-13 years old) two or three years, depending on the school system , Also known as secondary school . At age five, children often learn a kindergarten and then in grade 1 to grade 6 in primary schools. Grade 7 to grade 9 is held in a high school separate facility, also known as secondary schools. Curriculum is focused on major studies such as math, science, literature, history and language, as well as historical and educational subjects on objects and the environment. Next is high school, we know that ità ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s from grade 10 to grade 12. At this point, students can usually ch oose the subjects to choose from the different areas. Graduate students in the U.S. currency will have passed the exam in the country called the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). However, international students often just prove proficiency in English with a TOEFL score. The high school level, education in Vietnam proved more difficult, relatively large amount of knowledge along with the rules, regulations, examinations rigorous. Vietnam grade students 10 to 12 proved better about the theory of natural subjects, as well as society; but lacks of practical and physical. Also in contrast, in the U.S., students are exposed more to the fact, to participate in experiments such as physics, chemistry, biology, along with the many sports activities are included in order to help students develop more comprehensive. I believe that differences as clear as possible to the university courses, colleges, and courses after graduation such as masters, doctorate. So this is the reason that I choose go to the US to study in university and not Vietnam. In general, the system of postsecondary schools are classified into five American type: Vocational School, Community College, Public University, Private University, Liberal Arts College. That is the point so different from education in Vietnam. System of vocational schools is few and almost not considered important, along with private universities are not high quality but very expensive fees. University type of public good quality is required exam too hard and strict, while the normal type of school just to have poor quality students. But in compare, Vietnamese students are very curious and hard, so should the students pass difficulties and learning in schools even that school is not good , they still become successful. Anyway to catch up the speed of devel opment with the world, Vietnam has been somewhat more attention to the important residential schools gifted as music, painting, film, photography, with attention also to the quality rather than quantity of teaching . I will say more about this issue to see clearly the difference. Usually the American education system, including 12 first year undergraduate school. Thus an international student can complete 12 years of upper secondary school before going to school in America. This is a very good opportunity for foreign students like me to be trained in the US. This most prominent of the education system is the most American presidents, prime minister and other leaders, research has advanced U.S. degrees and graduate or postgraduate study in the education system U.S. American education system is the sum of universities world-renowned academic programs which have reached its peak with the most modern in the world. American education system is a typical characteristic is the number of foreign students is very high. Almost all classes, schools, the number of international students account for more than half to the east. Environment for international students is also very rich in culture, foreign langua ges and people. Not where you will see the number of foreign intellectuals as large as in the U.S. The international students can attend school in the university obtained a 2-year-associate degree or obtained a four year-bachelors degree. Although most universities in four years for students accepted into the majors but not selected to the second year all students must be informed and choose their majors. The students finished second in the certificate may continue to study at the school in four years and obtained the certificate in four college graduates. Students achieve certification 4-year college graduates can continue to study for a certificate or Masters Degree Doctoral Degree. Certificate is a Masters Degree with two years of service for intensive training in a specific field. Students can get into training programs master if they have a university degree in the field. However, there are many exceptions, such as an MBA (master of business administration) students do not need to graduate with a degree in business administration. Students can continue to improve the knowledge and intensive research on a narrow sector can participate in any training program Doctoral Degree (PhD). A college student with a 4-year college graduates can not achieve sufficient depth career, so they are often studied by the higher level as a masters degree or PhD degree. For example, if a person want to economists at the level of local authorities, he or she should have a master, and if want to teach economics at a university is required by the PhD. In addition, some subjects in depth study level only high school, such as law, medicine, dental school of the masters program and doctoral. Completely opposite, in Vietnam, of course masters or doctoral not good and not very much. However, as the initial step should be acceptable. And this is also the weaknesses of education in my country, where very few masters doctorate trained in Vietnam. often they are scholarship to study and t rain abroad. But I hope that this will be the foundation for future development of education over Vietnam when these people have experience, qualifications, they will help the young generation, helping to develop education.

Buddhist Art in Japan Essay -- Art Artistic Arts Buddhist Buddhism Ess

Buddhist Art in Japan Buddhism had an important role in the development of Japanese art between the sixth and the sixteenth centuries. Buddhist art and religion came to Japan from China, with the arrival of a bronze Buddhist sculpture alongside the sutras. Buddhist art was encouraged by Crown Prince Taishi in the Suiko period in the sixth century and Emperor Shomu in the Nara period in the eighth century. In the early Heian period Buddhist art and architecture greatly influenced the traditional Shinto arts, and Buddhist painting became fashionable among the wealthy class. The Amida sect of Buddhism provided the basis for many artworks, such as the bronze Great Buddha at Kamakura in the thirteenth century. Many of the great artists during this Kamakura period were Buddhist monks, and Buddhist art became popular among the masses with scroll paintings, paintings used in worship and paintings of saints, hells and other religious themes. Under the Zen sect of Buddhism, portraiture of priests became popular. Ho wever, Zen had less use for religious images and by the mid sixteenth century most painting in Japan was of landscapes and secular themes. Buddhist art was introduced to Japan along with the Buddhist religion in 552 AD. Almost all the art produced in this Suiko period in Japan was to do with the new religion. "The introduction of the Buddhist faith had from the very start gone hand in hand with the introduction of Buddhist images." (Munsterberg 1985: 19) These Buddhist images included Chinese scrolls depicting the life of Buddha, at first copied by Chinese priests in Japan, later painted by the Japanese themselves. With the introduction of Buddhism, temples were needed for the practicing of the religion. This consisted of ... ...se Art Kodansha Ltd, Tokyo, Japan. Jarves, J (1984) A Glimpse at the Art of Japan Charles E. Tuttle, Tokyo, Japan. Kleiner, F.S., Mamiya, C.J., Tansey, R.G. (2001) Gardeners Art Through the Ages. Eleventh Edition, Harcourt College Publishers, Orlando, USA. Kobayashi, T. (1975) Nara Buddhist Art: Todai-ji. John Weatherhill Inc, NY, USA & Heibonasha, Tokyo Mizuno, S. (1974) Asuka Buddhist Art: Horyu-ji John Weatherhill Inc, NY, USA & Heibonasha, Tokyo Munsterberg, H. (1985) The Arts of Japan An Illustrated History Charles E. Tuttle, Tokyo, Japan. Reeve, J. (1990) Living Arts of Japan British Museum Publications Ltd. London, UK Stanley-Baker, J. (2000) Japanese Art Thames & Hudson, London, UK Smith, B. (1979) Japan A History in Art Gemini Smith Inc. Tokyo, Japan Tsuda, N. (1976) Handbook of Japanese Art Charles E. Tuttle, Rutland, Vermont, USA.

West Side Story Essay -- essays research papers

In 1961, West Side Story, a filmed version of the hit Broadway musical that was inspired by William Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet," was released to viewers, who just could not resist the energy and excitement of the movie. Thirty-eight years later, viewers, like myself, still cannot resist it. I had never seen the film, which was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, before, but I had always wondered why people loved this multi award-winning movie so much. After viewing the film, I think that it deserved the ten Academy Awards that it won because it has withstood the test of time and it truly is a remarkable film. It still has the same flair and ability to lure the viewer into the plot as it did when it was first shown in theaters. I think that it truly is one of the best pictures of this century because it offers entertainment and an important lesson about hate as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  West Side Story is primarily a social statement with a touching love story surrounding the social aspect of the film. West Side Story has three main themes, love, tragedy, and justice, which are brought to light throughout the course of the movie. The plot of the film involves two race-based gangs fighting to rule the same strip of street on the West Side of New York City in the late 1950’s. The film teaches a valuable lesson; a lesson about how hate can kill a person and destroy the lives of his or her loved ones. The Jets, a white gang of teenagers led by Riff, and the Sharks, the Puerto Ri...

Bureaucracy & Democracy

Democracy is a term with several meanings and this has led to a genuine misconception as to its real meaning. To some, bureaucracy is red tape, to others it is officialdom and to some it is an organizational form (Cole p25). Observation and studies on bureaucracy have been done by many academicians among them Max Weber (1864-1920). Weber wanted to find out why people in many organizations obeyed those in authority over them. Weber observed that people obeyed legitimate authority and he identified three types of legitimate authority as traditional authority, charismatic authority and rational-legal authority.It is the rational-legal form of authority that exists in most organizations today and this is the form to which Weber ascribed the term ‘bureaucracy’. Weber outlined the main features of bureaucracy as a continuous organization of functions bound by rules, specified spheres of competence, a hierarchical arrangement of offices, appointments to offices made on grounds of technical competence, the separation of officials from the ownership of the organization, official positions exist on their own right and finally rules, decisions and actions are formulated and recorded in writing (Cole p 26).Weber felt that bureaucracy was indispensable for large organizations and there is no doubt that this form organization has been adopted in one way or another virtually in all forms of enterprises the world over. Government bureaucracy: â€Å"If men were angels, no government would be necessary† James Madison and for governments bureaucracy is form of governance that is practicable.However this form of governance has critics and the views of Amy are that bureaucracy is a governance structure that is often perceived negatively by a number of people but he says that most criticisms of government bureaucracy are based more on myths than reality (Amy 2007 p1-8). Amy’s observation is that people normally associate bureaucracy to massive waste, ineff iciency, poor service, ever-growing organizations, mindless rules and realms of useless forms. For these people there is nothing good about bureaucracy as those working in such systems are considered to be lazy, hostile, overpaid, imperious and inflexible.In his arguments, Amy dismisses what he terms the four myths about bureaucracy; 1. Myth no 1: Bureaucracies are immensely wasteful. Tax payers wrongly or rightly believe that much of the tax increases are a result of wastefulness arising from bureaucracies. Government agencies are considered not only wasteful but enormously wasteful. A survey carried out revealed that Americans believe that 48 cents of every tax dollar going to bureaucracies such the Social Security Administration are wasted (Amy 2007).Amy says that investigations by the Government Accounting Office and various blue-ribbon commissions have found that waste amounts to a small fraction of that figure. 2. Myth no 2: Business is always better than bureaucracy. As per A my, there have been many empirical studies examining government bureaucracies versus business in many areas, including refuse collection, electrical utilities, public transportation, water supply systems and hospital administration. The findings have been mixed.Some studies of electric utilities have found that publicly owned ones were more efficient and charged lower prices than privately owned utilities. Several other studies found the opposite while many others found no significant difference. 3. Myth no 3: We want the government to act like a business. The main concern of the government is quality of the service not its costs unlike the business who are obsessed with the bottom-line and hence looking for the cheapest way to make a product or deliver as service.For example it will be imprudent to spend the least amount of resources in the air traffic control system or to look for the cheapest workforce to take charge of security at the airports. 4. Myth no 4: Bureaucracy is major cause of government growth. Conservatives argue that government bureaucracies have an inherent tendency to expand. However figures show that federal agencies have not been growing at an alarming rate. For example in 1970, about 2997000 civilians worked for the federal government at that time.By 2007 that figure had actually gone down to 2695000. An article in published by the Suburban Emergence Management Project (2006 home page) states that the Hurricane Katrina response by the federal, state and local governments in August-September 2005 caused some people to lose faith in the bureaucratic approach used by traditional government hierarchies to organize the provision of services to users who desperately needed them. For example, at the local level, New Orleans Mayor told the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security that he could not commandeer the dozens available school buses to evacuate people because the school boards owned buses, he had no authority over the boards and there was no agreement for the use of the buses. At the state level, the Governor delayed use of military forces to begin reconstitution of the stricken localities until she could validate her authority to rule the troops by disallowing federal National Guards in her state.At the federal level, the President, the Homeland Security Secretary and Federal Emergency Management Agency director could provide services to users of New Orleans during Katrina only at the discretion of the governor of Louisiana. Conclusion: There are areas where government bureaucracy is more effective while in other cases it is counterproductive as evidenced during the Hurricane Katrina crisis. Works cited Amy, D. J. (2007). ‘The case of Democracy, The government is Good We the People; An unapologetic Defense of vital institution’.Available at accessed on April 2, 2009. Pages 1-8 Cole, G. (2004). Management Theory and Practice, 6th Edition published, by Thomson Learning 2004. 25-28. Suburban Emergenc y Management Project (2006), ‘Government Bureaucracy and Two Newer Cultural Approaches to Provide Services Delivery to the Citizenry during Disasters’, Biot Report #411: November 07, 2006. Available at < http://www. semp. us/public/biot_reder. php? BiotID=411 > accessed on April 3, 2009.

Case Study Mcdonalds

SHERIDAN College CASE STUDY ON McDonald’s JASKARAN KULLAR 991313325 BUSINESS MARKETING JOHN COOPER 14, MARCH 2013 McDonalds A Current Marketing Situation STRENGTHS 1. McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant organization. 2. Strong brand name and recognition. 3 McDonald’s generate more than $40 billion in system wide sale. 4 It operates over 35000 restaurants in more than 100 countries on six continents. 5 It has an unparalleled global infrastructure and competencies in restaurant operations, real estate, retailing, marketing and franchising. McDonald’s website says that it is a leader in the area of social responsibility and is committed to protecting the environment for future generations. 7 Strong and wide communication channel in the market. (deng, 2009) 8 Play areas for children. 9 Large target markets. 10 Recession resistant (Birchall, 2008) 11 In September 2003 successful backing up of new products was launched with MTV’s advertisi ng campaign featuring the new tag line, â€Å"I’m Lovin’it†. (Jennifer, 2004) WEAKNESSES 1 McDonald’s has not achieved its growth expectations in past several years. Narrow Product lines. (deng, 2009) 3 McDonald’s brand association as a junk food. (deng, 2009) 4 Few option for healthy eating 5 High employee turnover rates. (macy, 2012) 6 McDonald’s also have some bad effects on environment. (ltd. , 2006) 7 McDonald’s also faces many types of legal actions on many issues. OPPORTUNITIES 1 Product packing for McDonalds now features QR codes for customers to get nutritional information. Mcnamara, 2013) 2 Opportunity to enlarge market, the consumers who care about health issue. (deng, 2009) 3 Slightly changing market brand image of McDonalds. (deng, 2009) 4 In 2009, McDonald’s launched its hefty Angus burger in all U. S. A locations. 5 Introduction of trans-fat-free French fries in all restaurants in the U. S. A and Canada. 6 Introd uction of McCafe. 7 Testing marketing fruits and vegetables as happy meal at some outlets. 8 McDonald’s franchises overseas became a favorite target of people and groups expressing antiglobalization sentiments. Entry into new and highly popular product categories. THREATS 1 Public attack about obesity issue. (deng, 2009) 2 Changing taste of consumers. (deng, 2009) 3 Unable to keep patrons as special order sandwiches offered by rivals Burger King and Wendy’s. 4 Promotional plans like McDonalds game found conspiracy with 51 people charged in a part of scam winning $24 million by stealing winning McDonald’s tickets. 5 McDonalds showed a delayed effect than other restaurants operators in switching over to zero trans-fat cooking oil. In 2001 McDonald’s was sued for hurting religious sentiments by vegetarian groups for not revealing its flavors in French fries as it added beef extract to vegetable oil and showing it as veg in menu. 7 Consumers began filing law suits that eating at McDonald’s had made them over weight. 8 Competition from burger kings and Wendy’s. (Thomadsen, 2007) MARKET SEGMENTATION TARGET MARKET| BABY BOOMERS| GENERATION X| GENERATION Y| GENERATION Z| DEMOGRAPHICS| 45-65+| 35-44| 19-34| 0-18|GEOGRAPHICS| URBAN| URBAN| URBAN| URBAN| PSYCOGRAPHICS| More concerned with low cholesterol food| More concerned with low fat food| More concerned with physical fitness food products| Generally eats taste oriented food products| BEHAVIOURAL| Mostly concerned with good quality of food products| Requires access with quick and fresh food service| Generally catch-up food by themselves by reaching out| Check out with friends and family| ISSUE ANALYSIS In 2004,Morgan Spurlock’s documentary film Super-Size Me gave very criticism to McDonald’s fast â€Å"nutrition†, in which he shows how he gains fat and destroy his health by eating McDonald’s. 2 In 1998 McDonald’s started â€Å"Made for youà ¢â‚¬  System but it was not successful. There was a decrease in growth of sales in stores. 3 In 1999 before the implementation of â€Å"made for you â€Å"scheme ,McDonald’s planned to provide about 190 million in financial assistance to its franchisees ,but the actual cost of implementing the system ran much higher than the corporation had estimated. In 2001, 51 people were charged conspiring to rig McDonald’s game promotions over the course of several years, revealing that $24 million of winning McDonald’s game tickets had been stolen as a part of scam. 5 In 2004, McDonald’s was sued for extracting a small amount beef added in to the vegetable oil used for cooking French fries. 6 Many people still complain that the food served by McDonald’s is not hot to eat. RECOMMENDATIONS PRODUCT :- 1 McDonald’s should provide hot food to eat because many customers complaint that their food is not so hot to eat otherwise it will affect sales. McDonal ds should bring some new healthier products for all ages because bad effect on health is one of the weaknesses of McDonald’s and bringing some healthier food will help to overcome this image. 3 McDonald’s should provide some free snacks because it will help it compete with its competitors and increase sales. 4 McDonalds should make their products in fat free oil because it will have good effect on health. 5 McDonald’s should also provide some regional food because in this way some rural people will also start accepting its products. Launching of new fried and bone in treats in Chicago. PRICE:- 1 The price of products should be affordable because if they will not be affordable to small income group then its sale will be affected and it will also give the opportunity to competitors to increase their sales. 2 The prices of products should be regularly checked so as to compete with competition because people will buy those products which they can get in low price. P LACE:- 1 McDonald’s should open new franchises in small cities also . It will help them to expand its business and increase growth. McDonald’s should increase the number of its franchises in all countries in order to expand its business. PROMOTION:- 1 McDonald’s should provide some discount on more products purchased because in this way people will buy more. Because some people will start purchasing more items if they can get discount. 2 McDonald’s should provide home delivery service because sometimes some people can’t go to store in order to purchase them. It will increase sales. 3 McDonald’s should provide online sale because in this way people can place their orders online. McDonald’s is working on new salads and wraps . (wong, 2013) 5 McDonald, s will test the new fried and bone in treats in Chicago. (wong, 2013) 6 Success of mighty wings in Atlanta. (wong, 2013) BEST RECOMMENDATIONS PRODUCT:- McDonald’s should provide som e healthier food for all ages because health obesity is the major problem with McDonald’s . In this way they can get good image regarding health. PRICE:- Prices of products should be regularly checked in order to compete with competition because people will cheapest product. PLACE:-McDonald’s should open new small franchises at small cities also because it will help him to expand its business and increase growth rates. PROMOTION:- McDonald’s should provide home delivery service because sometimes people can’t go to store in order to purchase product. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bibliography Birchall, J. (2008). McDonalds claims fast food sales fighting off slowdown. Financial times. deng, t. (2009, may). McDonalds new strategy on changing attitudes and communication. International journal of marketing studies, 37-42. Jennifer, R. (2004). online branding :the case of McDonald's. ritish food journal. ltd. , n. m. (2006). ICCR sponsered proxy resolutions on genetically modi fied organisms gain recognition among shareholders at wendy's McDonald's . financial wire. macy, a. (2012). financing a remodel:a case of McDonald's Franchisee. journal of case research in business and economics. Mcnamara, B. (2013). McDonalds give the people what they want. Nutrition business journal. Thomadsen, r. (2007). product positiong and competion:the role of location in the fast food industry. Marketing science. wong, V. (2013). will McDonald's mighty wings fly? Business weak.