Non organic growth strategy

Non organic growth strategy Abstract : As microfinance industry has been growing rapidly, in many places the market of this sector becomes relatively mature and lies in competitive situation. Some of microfinance institutions start thinking, exploring and doing non organic growth strategies. This paper presents the idea of non organic growth strategies in microfinance whether through strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions which can be a choice for achieving rapid growth and expansion. One of the key success factors in doing such strategies in microfinance could be the comprehensive assessment to the similarities and differences of organizations characteristics, such as their structure and culture. BACKGROUND In the recent years undoubtedly that microfinance has become a diverse and growing industry. This sector has been attracting many eyes for several reasons. One of the reasons can be said that on one side microfinance business is not only based on financial motive, but also on other side used as means for social development, as many called double bottom line principal. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been placing and operating the business in the area where there has been potential market of microenterprises and low-income households. Consultative Group to Assist The Poor (2010) , broadly defined microfinance institution (MFI) is as an organization that deals with the provision of financial services mainly for the benefit of the poor. These organizations vary in their legal structure, mission, and methodology. Generally there are four categories of microfinance providers, namely informal, member-owned organizations, NGOs and Formal financial institutions ,such as Regulated MFI and Commercial Bank (Helms, 2006). All categories of those microfinance institutions are struggling to grow and survive in the arena. As the market is facing the maturity and fierce competition, many microfinance institutions keep trying to expand their portfolio by providing financial services to a larger number of clients while at the same time fulfilling an MFIs social mission. Some of them explore to alternative means for reaching rapid growth by formulating and doing better strategies. They have been trying to adapt non organic growth strategies whether through doing strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions. Generally speaking in the world of business, we have been witnessing with a lot of examples of many firms achieving growth by creating alliances/collaboration with other parties and mergers and acquisitions. Both strategies are common done by many firms in the world since these can help the firms to covering each own weaknesses and combining each own different resources as well as facing challenges much more powerful. But in microfinance those two kind of strategies are still newly developed. In authors opinion, the issue of non organic growth strategy chosen by MFI whether they want to decide to do strategic alliance/collaboration or merger and acquisition is interesting due to the fact of unique characteristics of the players in microfinance arena as mentioned above. For example, we find that Microfinance Formal Financial Institution (MFIF) comparing to Microfinance NGO is more financially oriented rather than socially. In MFIF, the organization goals are always associated with the financial indicators and sales indicators. Whereas in microfinance NGOs are closely related to the non financial changes, particularly in the social changes of community, such as household income changes, effects of loan to women empowerment, health etc. These differences are very important to be understood considering that the differences inherent to those two institutions will affect to the successful or the failure of doing non organic growth strategic. Therefore,this paper presents the idea for MFIs, mainly for MFIF and Microfinance NGO types, in choosing such non organic growth strategies, whether they want to create a strategic alliance or merger and acquisition. The structure of this paper will be presented as follows : Section 1 provides the background regarding to authors opinion to raise the issue of non organic growth strategy in microfinance. The section 2 elaborates the conceptual background about the definition of strategic alliance and the merger and acquisition, and points out motives and diffrences behinds these strategies as well as the explanation of success keys. Then institutional features of players in microfinance arena is presented in the section 3. In the section 4, we try to give the idea to answer the question which strategy chosen by MFIs based on the different characteristics of those non organic growth strategies and distinctive features of microfinance institutions as explained in section 2 and 3, and thi s section leads to the conclusion as section 5. At the end references are appeared in the section 6. The limitation of this paper is not addressing the issue of alliances or mergers and acquisitions between MFIs which formed in informal and member-owned organizations or cooperatives. This paper only focuses on the basic idea of doing alliances or mergers and acquisition for MFIFs and NGOs form and doesnt explain quantitatively in details. Conceptual Background The words of organic growth and non-organic (external) growth are common known in the corporate growth discussion. Organic growth is usually defined as a companys growth rate excluding any scale increases from takeovers, acquisitions, or mergers. Growth of this type is also referred to as a companys core growth. Organic growth is generated, for example, by selling more product (services as well) to current customers, selling product to new customers, or selling product at a higher price ( Dalton and Dalton, 2006) .Whereas non organic growth obviously can be defined as a strategy to obtain companys growth through alliances, mergers and acquisition and takeovers. Many firms decide to do alliances /collaboration or merger acquisition to survive and to grow rather than to run business relying on the individual efforts. These non growth strategies are done by many firms to form powerful energy in managing difference resources owned by each party. As Zhiang et al (2009) notes that resources are heterogeneously distributed across firms, therefore some important internal resources can be obtained from external sources via inter organizational relationships such as alliances, or by engaging in mergers and acquisitions. Compared to internal development or organic growth, strategic alliances as well as mergers and acquisitions strategy is a much faster way to build organic capabilities. Strategic Alliances A strategic alliance is defined as an arrangement between two or more independent companies that decide to carry out a project or operate in a specific business area by coordinating the necessary skills and resources jointly rather than operating on their own or merging their operations (Dussauge et al,1999) . It can be a contractual arrangement to collaborate on one or all levels without any intended change in organization legal structure (McCarter, 2002). Strategic alliance occurs for a certain period of time whether short or long time. According to Koza and Lewin (1998), there are two main motivations for the decision of doing alliances, namely exploitative and exploratory. Exploitative means that in the agreed alliance, each party seeks to leverage their own resources and capabilities in order to enhance revenue or reduce cost, whereas exploratory each collaborating party willing to create new opportunities, markets, product and technologies. From the conceptual point of view, Sudarsanam (2003) lists some factors potentially conducive to successful alliances: Each party should bring complimentary skills, capabilities and market to the alliance Market overlap between partners should be minimal to avoid conflict of interest Alliance should be based on balance of business strength and ownership interest among partners The alliance must have a degree of autonomy with strong leadership and continual commitment and support The alliance must build up trust and confidence between the partners and not depend only contractual right and obligations Divergence of management styles and corporate culture must be handled with sensitivity, and a new common style and culture distinct. Merger and Acquisition Merger and acquisition is defined as the combination of two companies or firms to achieve certain strategic and business objectives forming a great significance transaction not only to the companies but also to many constituencies, such as share holder, workers, managers, competitors, communities as well as the economy as whole (Sudarsanam, 2003). Schoenberg (2003) notes that firms often use mergers and acquisitions in order to achieve such diverse strategic goals , for example, increasing market power, expanding to new product markets or geographical territories, or gaining access to valuable resources. From this point, even though it seems we can see that strategic alliance and mergers and acquistions have the similar purpose but we noticed that mergers and acquisitions may create some different change concerning the business, organization, ownership and legal status in the result company. Furthermore, Damodaran (2002) describes the term of merger,consolidation, tender offer, acquisition and buy out as all parts of merger and acquisition parlances, and a firm can be combined by another firm by 5 ways : Mergers , when a target firm become part of acquiring firm and stockholder approval needed from both firms. Consolidation, when target firm and acquiring firm become new firm and stockholder approval needed from both firms. Tender offer, when firm continues to exist, as long as there are dissident stockholders holding out. Successful tender offers ultimately become mergers and no shareholder approval is needed. Acquisition of asset , when target firm remains as shell company, but its assets are transferred to the acquiring firm and ultimately target firm is liquidated. Buy Out, when target firm continues to exist but as a private business usually accomplished with tender offer. There are several and diverse motives for mergers and acquisitions, Johnson et al (2005) grouped under three headings. They are environment, strategic capability and expectations: Environment. The need to keep up with a changing environment can dominate thinking about acquisitions. Some major aspects which influenced the changing environment are the need of business speed, competitive situation and deregulation. Strategic capability. Achieving cost efficiency, developing innovation and learning organization are some reasons behind mergers and acquisitions in many industries. Expectation. In some ways, stakeholders have highly expectation and interest to give insight for the growth of company. In this case, mergers and acquisition may be perceived by many stakeholders as a quick way to deliver companys growth. Mark and Mirvis (1993), from their research have summarized that one of the key success for establishing the desired combination between two companies is the assessment of two sides companys structures and cultures. They suggest that in mergers and acquisitions efforts, each party should be proactive in the pre combination phase; planning and preparation are integral to success when companies join forces At least there are different aspects to be taken into account carefully in steering a combination toward the successful path: purpose, partner, parameter and people. But it doesnt end up to the planning and preparation. The most important thing to be taken into account for achieving successful mergers and acquisitions is post-merger combination. All these efforts may help to overcome the most commonly cited reasons for failures: conflicting corporate cultures, over estimation of synergies, inadequate due diligence, slow/poor post-merger combination and poor leadership or management ( McCarter, 2002) The Differences From the explanation about two kinds of non organic growth strategy above, we can note the main difference between strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions. It can be said that creating strategic alliances is not as difficult as mergers and acquisitions. It is because of making the mergers and acquisition work successfully is complicated process which involves not only putting two organizations together but also involves integrating people of two organizations with different cultures, attitudes and mindsets (Mallikarjunappa and Nayak, 2007). Meanwhile, in the strategic alliances, each company is still independent and it seems to need less effort in term of cost and time. Therefore, Reuer (1999) differentiates alliances and merger and acquisitions in four dimensions which strategic alliances may be preferred: Infeasibility: acquisition may not be feasible for regulatory, political or legal reasons. Information asymmetry : the partners have access to different information sets making it difficult to value their relative contributions Indigestibility: post mergers and acquisition integration of the acquirer and the acquired firms poses problems so severe as to prevent value creation from the acquisition. When indigestibility is substantial, alliances can be attractive because they allow companies to link their resources selectively. Even when acquired assets can be divested this alliance advantage remains. Strategic flexibility: it is more important than commitment of the partners. Now, how we relate this conceptual background of those strategy into the idea of impelementing these to the microfinance industry. However, we should better know the two kind of institutional features of microfinance as explained below. Institutional Features : MFIFs and MFI NGOs As mentioned in the previous page, there are some players in the microfinance arena and they obviously have different characteristics. However, there are basically two main different characteristics in the discussion about players in microfinance industry, namely for profit or financially oriented, and non profit or socially oriented The financially oriented institution, mainly private enterprises/ companies, could be Microfinance Formal financial institutions (MFIF) such as bank and regulated MFI or non bank financial institution. Mean while the socially oriented institutions, most of them are NGOs. What makes different between two types of MFIs? It may be better to look at a table presented by Estallo et al (2006) indicating the differences between private enterprise and NGO types: All these factors make different structure and culture of those two organizations. In the case of MFIs, another important distinctive feature between private MFIFs and MFI NGOs is concerning with the ownership. As Lauer (2008) stated that ownership structure is one of the critical issues to consider in the specific context of each type transformation of such institution. MFIs ownership structure encompasses the ensemble of mechanism by which stakeholders define and pursue the institution vision and mission and ensure its sustainability. Alliances or Merger and Acquisitions ? As whole, from the conceptual background section, we have seen that strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions might have some similarities and some principally differences. In other section, we have also already known the main difference characteristics of the microfinance players. Then now it raises a question how does an MFI choose a choice between two? MFIF NGO Alliances There have been some evidences that alliances can help the collaborative firms or institution to expand its business. Strategic alliances are able to scale up access to financial services in rural areas in term of the outreach to new clients and markets as well as the introduction of new products (Gallardo et al, 2006). Rondinelli and London (2003) noted that Alliances, in fact, may be the only option for companies interested in accessing the knowledge held by (NGOs), since internal development of such expertise may be too costly, inefficient and time-consuming for most companies and merger with or acquisition of an (NGO) is highly unlikely. While Kramer and Kania (2006) also stated with a similar view that nonprofits often have much deeper comprehension to solve the social problems, which enables them to help companies determining comprehensive strategies and set more ambitious and goals. Strategic alliances are also important in the public sector as a means of addressing particula r social outcomes (Johnson et al, 2005). This also could happen in the alliance MFIF-NGO. Dahan et al (2009) gives examples of MFIF NGO strategic alliances. HSBC Amanah (HSBCs global Islamic banking division) has partnered with, an international development and relief organization, the Islamic Relief, to provide financial services to Muslims in accordance with Islamic Shariah law. Another example is In Dominica. MasterCard builds on an affinity card relationship with Banco Popular Dominicano and Asociacion para el Desarrollo de Microempresas, Inc. (ADEMI), a micro and small-scale lender .This partnership is aimed at providing unbankable entrepreneurs using MasterCard-ADEMI- BancoPopular Dominicano credit cards to withdraw cash and to pay utility and other bills in order to support the micro entrepreneurs in Dominica to run their business. However, this does not close the possibility of the combination between MFIF and NGO in mergers form. For example, McCarter (2002), gives two mergers between MFIF with NGO. In Nicaragua, the Interfin, a licensed Nicaraguan financier, in January 2000 merged with NGO Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) Chispa microcredit program, forming Financiera Confia. Another example in Guatemala, there was a merger between Bancasol, a local commercial bank, with ACCION Internationals affiliate NGO to form Genesis. Meanwhile in 2007, Sonata, a start up MFI in Northern India purchased of Jeevika Livelihood Support Organization to expand its microfinance operation (Tiwari and Chasnow, 2009). Mergers and Acquisitions between MFIF and MFIF or between NGO and NGO As stated on the previous page, making the mergers and acquisition work is complicated process rather than strategic alliances, but this doesnt mean that this strategy is far away from success. Mergers and acquisitions can be used by MFIs to create new capability to survive and achieve significance growth. Mergers and acquisitions are not only about the combination between two organizations which merely based on financial aspect but also the structure and culture of two organizations combined. It takes much more energy, cost and time. It may be the similarity of structure and culture of organization used as a good starting point to think about mergers and acquisitions in the arena of non growth strategy of MFIs. So doing MFIF-MFIF merger or NGO-NGO mergers is more appropriate combination than creating strategic alliances. However, it doesnt mean that MFIF-MFIF strategic alliances cannot be implemented to reduce the competition tension. There are some examples mergers and acquisition in the microfinance industry around the world as summarized and showed in the annex of this paper. Conclusion As the microfinance sector matures, non organic growth strategies mainly strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions can be a choice for achieving rapid growth and expansion in microfinance. Of course, this effort actually is not easy to be implemented. But it is also not to say that making work such strategies is impossible to be realized. By analyzing the differences between two non organic growth strategies above as well as the different characteristics between MFIF and NGO, on the one hand we may conclude that strategic alliance will likely to be considered for both rather than mergers and acquisitions. However, this does not close the possibility of the combination between MFIF and NGO in mergers and acquisitions form. A strategic alliance between MFIF and NGOs is less effort in term of cost and time but still can result in the growth of the organization. On the other hand, mergers and acquisition can also be created for combining MFIF with MFIF or NGO with NGO. Some evidences showed that the similarity of the structure and culture of those organizations can be used as the good starting point to do mergers and acquisition. It is very important to be considered because mergers and acquisitions are not only about the marriage between two organizations which merely based on financial aspect but also the structure and culture of two organizations combined. One of the key success factors for the future microfinance non growth strategy should be based on the assessment of characteristics of the similarities and differences of organization (i.e structure and culture) before choosing strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions strategy. For those microfinance organizations who intend to do a non growth organic strategy but both of them have highly different structure and culture, it may be a strategic alliance is more suitable to be created. But in the case, there are some similarities in term of organizations characteristics, merger and acquisition could be an option. REFERENCES Dussauge, O, Garrette B and Mitchell W (1999) Learning from Competing Partners: Outcomes and Duration of Scale and Link Alliances in Europe, North America and Asia, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 21, pp. 99-126. Damodaran, A. (2002), Investment Valuation , Tools and techniques for determining the value of any asset (2nd ed) , John Wiley and Son, New York. Dalton, D.R., and Dalton, Catherine M. (2006). Corporate growth: our advice to directors is to buy organic. Journal of Business Strategy, Vol .27 No.2, pp. 5-7. Dahan, Nicholas. M., Doh.Jonathan.P, Oetzel.J.,and Yazji.M.,(2009), Corporate-NGO Collaboration: co-creating new business models for developing markets, Long Range Planning. Estallo, Maria de L .A .G , Fuente., Fernando .G.D.L, and Miquela, C.G (2006), The Strategic Social Map of Nongovernmental Organization, International Advances in Economic Research, Vol.12 pp.105-114. Gallardo, J.,Goldberg,M. and Randhawa, B.,(2006), Strategic Alliances to Scale Up Financial Services in Rural Areas, World Bank Working Paper No.76, The World Bank, Washington D.C. Helms, Brigit. (2006), Access for All: Building Inclusive Financial Systems, World Bank, Washington DC. Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (2005), Exploring Corporate Strategy. Text and Cases. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. Koza,M.P.,and Lewin A. (1998), The co-Evolution of Strategic Alliances, Organization Science, Vol.9,pp 255-264. Kramer, M. and Kania, J.,(2006),A New Role for Non Profit , Stanford Social Innovation Review, Vol.4 No.1 pp.32-41. Lauer, K., (2008), Transforming NGO MFIs: Critical Ownership Issues to Consider, CGAP Notes No.13. Marks.M.L, and Mirvis.P.L (1993), Making Mergers and Acquisitions Work : Strategic and Psychological Preparation, Academy of Management Executive, Vol.15 no.2 pp.80-94. McCarter, E. (2002), Tying the Knot: A Guide to Mergers in Microfinance , Catholic Relief Services. Mallikarjunappa, T., and Nayak,P., (2007) Why Do Mergers and Acquisitions Quite Often Fail? Association of Indian Management Scholars, Journal of Management , Vol.15 no.2 pp.80-94. Reuer,J.(1999), Collaborative strategy : The Logic of Alliances , Financial Times, Mastering Strategy series part 2. Rondinelli. D.A, and London, T.,(2003), How Corporations and Enviromental Group Cooperate : Assesing Sector Alliances and Collaborations, Academy of Management Executive, Vol.17 No.1 pp.62-76. Sudarsanam. S., (2003). Creating Value from Mergers and Acquisitions : The Challlenges, Prentice Hall, England. Schoenberg R.(2003). Mergers and acquisitions: Motives, value creation, and implementation. Oxford University Press: Oxford. Tiwari, A., and Chasnow.M.,(2009) ,A Closer Look at Consolidation: The Sonata-Jeevika Acquisition, Center for Microfinance, Insitute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai, India. Zhiang (John) Li, Haibin.Yang and Bindu, A (2009), Alliance Partners and Firm Partnership Resource Complimentary and Status Association, Strategic Management Journal, Vol.30 No.9 pp: 921-940. http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.26.1308/, Last accessed: March 18, 2010

Religion’s Profound Effect on Musical Development Essay -- Music Relig

Religion’s Profound Effect on Musical Development   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Religion has been an important part of man’s life. Man has allowed religion to control and influence his life in many different ways, affecting both his behavior and his actions. So its not surprising that music, one of man’s earliest expressive forms, has also been influenced by religion. Religion has had an effect on man’s music all throughout history, from the early Egyptians to even now. So it is only natural that Western music should also have been affected by religion. Western music, and its development by composers, has been strongly influenced by the Christian religion, especially in the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. The music in these periods laid the foundation for all the different types of music we enjoy today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the Medieval period the Catholic Church had an enormous amount of power and control over the people of that time. The Medieval period began with the collapse of the Roman Empire around the year 450. Then with much of Europe in disarray, the Roman Catholic Church, the main unifying force at the time, unified many cultures together. â€Å"All segments of society felt the powerful influence of the Roman Catholic Church. In this age of faith, hell was very real and heresy was the gravest crime† (Kamien 63). The church controlled everything and it was of greatest importance in this period. â€Å"Very little non-Christian music from this period survived, due to its suppression by the Church and the absence of music notation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (History of Music). The enormous Gothic Cathedrals and churches demonstrate how powerful and important the church was. The amount of physical labor put into each one shows the devotion of the people to God and the church in the medieval time period. Life in these times revolved around the church so it makes sense that the music of this time also revolved around it. The composers of this era were often involved with the church. They were usually priests, monks, or nuns. For example Hildegard of Bingen, a nun from Germany, who, wrote many musical pieces and other forms of art.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"For over one thousand years the official music of the Roman Catholic church had been Gregorian Chant, which consists of melody set to sacred Latin texts and sung without accompaniment† (Kamien 67). The credit for developing Gregorian chant music, also known as plain... ...l development whether we want to believe it or not. From the beginning it has influenced music in different ways. It has pushed composers to produce certain types of music, censored secular and other types of music that it objected to, and inevitably has had an everlasting effect on what type of music we listen to today. Works Cited "Baroque Music-Part Two." 12 July 2005 . Boynick, Matt. "Georg Friedric Handel." Classical Music Pages. 1 Feb. 1996. 13 July 2005 . "Catholic Reformation." Wikipedia. . Daum, Gary. "Chapter 12 The Baroque Era (1600-1750)." Georgetown Prep. 1994. Georgetown University. 12 July 2005 . "Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina." Wikipedia. . "Hildegard of Bingen." Wikipedia. . "History of Music." Algebra.com. 12 July 2005 . "Josquin Des Prez." Wikipedia. . Kamien, Roger. Music: An Appreciation. 5th ed. New York: Lyn Uhl. 63-149. "Medieval Music." Wikipedia. . "Music." The End of Europe_Middle Ages. 1998. University of Calgary. 14 July 2005 . "Oratorio." Nationmaster. 12 July 2005 . "Renaissance." Cunnan. 10 July 2005 . "Renaissance Period." Art for Ears. 10 July 2005 . "The Enlightenment (1600-1790)." SparkNotes. 17 July 2005 .

Acid Throwing Essay -- Violence

Having your face disfigured and burned in a matter of seconds is not what any woman has in mind as a consequence when they refuse to go on a date with a man. Sadly, this form of violence or â€Å"Acid Throwing† is happening in the gender-stratified or â€Å"Caste† system countries. The intent of this essay is to inform the reader what acid throwing is; how and why it happens and provide several facts about this crime. Hopefully, one of these organizations will assist these women who have been victimized, and hopefully they can lead a normal life. This is a horrific act occurring overseas in countries such as: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. Nitric, hydrochloric, or sulfuric acids are thrown into someone’s face and it causes the skin to dissolve through all of the layers. The acid exposes the bones, burns the eyes, the nose and the hair is often destroyed; This results in permanent disfigurement of the victims body and emotional well being. More often than not, it is happening to women rather than men. It is one of the most degrading acts that a person could do to another individual. Why would someone do such a ghastly crime? There are many questions we have about the underlying reason of the crimes. Acid throwing is happening often because a woman did something a man did not like or something she did offended him. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a woman victim; there are reported cases of victimized men, but the rate isn’t anywhere near the women being victimized. Astoundingly, this is happening to children as young as four years old as punishment. Many cases result in acid throwing because of land disputes, family disputes, political rivalry, infidelity, broken marriage, rejection and a refusal of a relationshi... ...tp://www.licadhocambodia.org/pressrelease.php?perm=49>. 7. Martyn, Angeline. "UNFPA - Working to End Acid Attacks in Bangladesh by 2015." UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. . 8. Swanson / Harvard College, Jordan. "Acid Attacks: Bangladesh's Efforts to Stop the Violence." Harvard Computer Society | People. Technology. Awesome. Mar.-Apr. 2002. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. . 9. Kirk, Gwyn. Womens Lives Multicultural Perspectives. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 10. "Copycat Acid Attack? - The Early Show - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. Web. 2 Nov. 2010. .

War on Drugs and Prison Overcrowding

The War on Drugs and Prison Overcrowding David Turner CCJ 1020 October 06, 2012 Overcrowding is one of the most difficult challenges that prison administrators face in the United States. There are many factors that that affect the constant flow of people being processed into today’s prisons. The â€Å"war on drugs† has led to more arrest and convictions that any other crime. The money spent on the prohibition of drugs and the law enforcement presence to stop drug trafficking raises high into the billions of dollars.The cost to care for these individuals while incarcerated has cost taxpayers billions over the years. When looking at today’s statistics of the â€Å"war on drugs†, the supply and demand is greater than it has ever been. From 1995 to 2003, drug offenses accounted for 49% of the growth in prison population in both state and federal institutions (McVay, 2011). According to the Department of Justice, in 2004, almost 30% of drug offenders in state p risons were serving time for possession, while close to 70% were serving time for trafficking.There is a strong following across the United States from state groups and services rallying against sentencing and pushing for drug counseling programs. Legalization for marijuana has resurfaced in the November polls in some states. In many prisons, marijuana convictions fill the cell blocks more than any other drug offense. In 1933, America re-legalized alcohol, and the 21st amendment re-legalized its production, distribution and sale. Alcohol consumption and violent crimes fell instantly (Goelman, 2011). As a result, the American criminal justice system felt slightly organized.Crimes that were being committed due to alcohol smuggling and manufacturing had almost came to a complete halt. President Richard Nixon’s first budget for the â€Å"war on drugs† was $100 million dollars (Associated Press, 2010). If only that was the budget these days. Published reports state that the Obama Administrations budget for 2011 was $15. 1 billion dollars. Most of the money is budgeted for law enforcement and drug interdiction purposes. When Nixon first started this movement to find drugs, it was for counseling and for drug treatment programs. PresidentReagan reinvented the â€Å"war on drugs† phrase by changing the goal from rehabilitation to a law enforcement presence (Jane, 2011). Since the early 1980’s, the number of people being sentence to state penitentiaries have double, even tripled in some areas. The idea of, if you lock them all up, then the crimes will stop approach has not worked over the years. The numbers have consistently gone up in both the budget and those being incarcerated. Many states have lowered drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and resorted to longer, more structured probationary terms.Though this is a step in the right direction, it is not enough to put a dent in the budget or free up space to house more dangerous offender s in our prisons. Businesses around the globe use simple business practices to figure out supply and demand. If there is a demand in an area, then a store is opened and the goods are sold. If the business is not doing well in sales, then the store closes. If we (America) can stop the urge, the addiction, or demand for certain drugs, then the business owners will go elsewhere. Drugs have powerful, addictive properties and our brains are just as powerful.Addiction is a powerful word and is an even a more powerful feeling. Not everyone locked up in prison is addicted to drugs, but the ones who are enable these same people to sell them drugs. If we focus on counseling and fighting addiction, we will see the budget and prison overcrowding drop. I am a firm believer in what might have worked 20 years ago, might not work in today’s society. With prisons being filled on a daily basis, the budget for fighting the â€Å"war on drugs† growing larger, and the demand for drugs is à ¢â‚¬Å"higher† than ever, America has got to start a new approach for this fight.Since this is being called a â€Å"war on drugs†, then we need to change our attack strategy and try something else. Through drug treatments and counseling, we can lower numbers in all major categories and put the money in other areas where it is needed the most. References McVay, D. A. (2011, January 26). Drug War Facts: Common Sense for Drug Policy. Retrieved from http://www. drugwarfacts. org/cms/ Shane, James, Rich, & Rob. (2010) Losing Effort: The United States â€Å"War on Drugs†. Retrieved from http://visualeconomics. creditloan. com/losing-effort-the-united-states-war-on-

Gang Resistance Education and Training Essay

Gang Resistance Education and Training (G. R. E. A. T) is a national program that educates elementary and middle school children how to avoid becoming a gang member. The program is instructed by police officers and is part classroom instruction and other learning activities. â€Å"The goal of the GREAT program is to teach youth how to set goals for themselves, how to resist peer pressure, how to resolve conflicts, and how gangs can affect the quality of their lives. (Ramsey, Rust, & Sobel, 2003) The program also teaches the youth personal empowerment, among other things, that prevent them from getting into any gang activity. Originally the program was based off a nine lesson middle-school curriculum. The beginning of the G. R. E. A. T. program started in early 1992 in Arizona. The program was so successful that in 1993 it ballooned across the nation and was supported by congress as a part of the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearm’s project outreach. G. R. E. A. T. became one of the primary prevention programs. In 1995, the G. R. E. A. T. Program underwent a comprehensive five-year longitudinal evaluation and study by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), in conjunction with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, to measure the impact of the program. † (Board, 2011) The report showed that those involved in the program had â€Å"lower rates of victimization, more negative views about gangs, more favorable attitudes toward law enforcement, reduced risk-seeking behaviors, and increased association with peers involved in prosocial activities. (Board, 2011) In 2000 the program underwent a curriculum review as a result of this review the program revised their core curriculum and used a random field trial where classrooms were randomly assigned to be control and test groups. The field test spanned thirty-one schools among seven cities and about four thousand students. The results showed that after one year, students from the test group had lower gang membership as compared to the control group. This was due to the lessons that the program was teaching the students. The lessons that G. E. A. T. mainly focused on provided life skills to student in order to make it possible for them to avoid violence and delinquent behavior. The program consists of thirteen, one hour sessions. The program is also facilitated by a summer program combined with a family training component. The main focus of this program was to keep the youth out of the criminal justice system. One of the benefits of the program was that the youth detention centers received less youth offenders arriving at their facility. This benefit is a result of educating the youth about gangs. Reactions to the term, gang, elicits a mixed response due to the media, music, movies, and personal experience. The questions that remain regarding the recruitment of gang membership are: why is the number of gang members raising when the information is out there about the violent and destructive behavior of the gangs? The other aspect that should be asked is why do prospective members overlook the violence that is required of them during a gang war with rival gangs. These questions can be answered by looking at how the gangs recruit. The success of the gang’s recruitment can also be their undoing. The success of a crime prevention program is higher when they are led by the students or peers. This is also how the gangs recruit, using the prospective members peer group to recruit them to join the gang. The prevention programs are shown to help the community by making the school safer, which ultimately gives the students an advantage in improving their chances to be successful and a contributing member of society. These programs also increase the social bonds like the ones seen in control theories and social learning. Recruiting gang members is a problem in America but this is only the start of the problem. One of the main problems identified in cities across the United States as it’s progressed to the twenty-first century is gang violence. A person can see a link between the individual’s interaction and the social learning theories with regards to gangs. This is why the goals of G. R. E. A. T. are to stop gang involvement, violence, and prevent youth crime. They do this by providing a pathway to develop relationships with their family, other young people, and most importantly law enforcement officials in order to create a safer environment for the youth. In order to make a bigger impact, the program is taught in two different school levels. The G. R. E. A. T. program is taught to the youth starting in elementary and continuing until middle school. The elementary program and middle school program are both skill based learning. The elementary program is designed as an introduction course to the middle school program. The elementary program sets the foundation that begins to teach the youth skills that are needed for the more intensive program that is taught in middle school. All of this is done while they develop the bond between the youth and law enforcement officials. These bonds continue to develop once the students move onto the middle school program. The curriculum of the middle school program is more in depth in an attempt to cement the good behaviors of the students. This is done by enhancing their knowledge of their actions and consequences. These courses are taught to the sixth and seventh grade students. They are based on scenarios in order to show the student how to avoid engaging in violent behavior. At the middle school level the youth should have a good foundation based on the elements of the program. This program would not be possible or successful without the devoted teachers. The classes are taught by specially trained law enforcement officials. These instructors learn how to teach the key skills that they will give the students. These skills help the youth to avoid joining gangs and refrain from getting in trouble with law enforcement. The G. R. E. A. T. rograms success is based on the fact that the officers that are associated with the program still commit time to the youth of the program the semester immediately following the training sessions. The G. R. E. A. T. program requires an enormous amount of obligation from the law enforcement officers. The officer’s commitment begins with a one or two week training program. This training requires the officer to prep heavily for the training out of the classroom environment. In order for the officers to receive their training certificate they much attend all the classroom sessions. The classroom portion of the training requires the officer’s to perform both informal and formal presentations to the class. The officers are also required to maintain standards, failure to maintain these standards are grounds for dismissal from the program. Another requirement of the officer is that their records and work history most be clear of any type of disciplinary incidents. The program is fairly successful, but there are concerns. The concerns about the program are that the youth by the time they are in the program have already been exposed to a lot of the activities that the program teaches to avoid. However, the ones that teach the program feel this is an invaluable program because any action to prevent criminal activity is worth it. This is a valued point, but only if they can get to the youth before they are completely corrupted. It is hard to break a habit that has been part of your life for a long time. That is why the earlier the youth is when entering into the program, the better the chances for change. â€Å"The impact of the intervention must obviously be measured when the delinquent behavior usually appears, that is, no earlier than preadolescence. Clearly, we must expect interventions that aim to change the course of human development will have long-term effects. † (Esbensen, Osgood, Taylor, Peterson, & Freng, 2001) During the program the youth learn that influences in and out of school cause them to do things that are not socially acceptable. It is at this moment when the officers know they can reach the youth and effect change. The program ultimately teaches the youth their good and bad behaviors, giving them an opportunity to identify their behavior and become productive members of their society. The younger youth are oblivious to the fact that their peers are convincing them to commit criminal acts. For this reason, the lessons taught in the elementary program is beneficial to prevent the manipulation of the youth. The youth are exposed to multiple topics that give them the needed skills to resist gang recruitment. The sessions are designed to be interactive which give the youth an opportunity to learn and practice good behaviors that will assist them throughout their lives. Both the elementary and middle school program share the same key aspects. One of the aspects of the G. R. E. A. T. rogram is the teaching of life skills which is what the main structure of the program is based on. â€Å"G. R. E. A. T. instruction focuses on providing life skills to students to help them avoid delinquent behavior and resorting to violence to solve problems. † (What is G. R. E. A. T.? , 2012) This program is designed to prevent youth violence, delinquency, and gang membership. These skills are important to be taught before the youth hits the desired age for the gangs to recruit and to prevent delinquency. The program also benefits communities that do not have gang problems by preventing youth violence and delinquency. The program attempts to stop the bad behavior of the youth by reaching them at an early stage of development. The earlier the interaction with the youth, the easier the transition is going to the middle school program. There are four components to the program which are taught in thirteen sessions. The components are the elementary program, middle school program, summer program, and family training. The elementary and middle school component are both integrated with National English language arts standards and national health education standing and is based on effective research practices. (Elementary School – G.  R. E. A. T. Program – Gang Resistance Education And Training, 2012) (Middle School – G. R. E. A. T. Program – Gang Resistance Education And Training & , 2012) The elementary program is intended for fourth and fifth grade students. This program gives the elementary and middle school students a better chance in preventing behavioral problems. Its success has ballooned over the years making it a national treasure as well as spreading outside of the United States. â€Å"Since the G. R. E. A. T. Program went nationwide in 1992, many law enforcement agencies and schools from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.  S. territories of Guam and Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Canada, Central America, England, and military bases in Japan and Germany have implemented the program. † (Organization – G. R. E. A. T. Program – Gang Resistance Education And Training, 2012) The program is now being taught by the dedicated law enforcement officers in over 500 communities across the nation. The continued success of the program depends on the programs ability to maintain its â€Å"strong organizational structure to regulate decisions and program or curricula changes. † (Organization – G. R. E. A. T.  Program – Gang Resistance Education And Training, 2012) Since the program started in 1991, thousands of students have graduated from the program. G. R. E. A. T. has achieved great and expected positive results. â€Å"The evaluation survey was first administered to youths when they were in 7th grade and re-administered annually through 11th grade. Results show that G. R. E. A. T. was able to successfully change several risk factors (e. g. , peer group associations and attitudes about gangs, law enforcement, and risk-seeking behaviors) associated with delinquency and gang membership. (Esbensen, 2004) The reason for the success of this program is the dedication of the program to elicit the change of the students. They do this by teaching the youth the social skills that lead them into feeling confident enough to be able to refuse to participate in their previous delinquent behaviors and become a contributing member of society. The continued success of the program relies on many things. The future of the program depends on the commitment of the law enforcement officials who run it. If the pattern continues since the inception of the program, the program will continue to gain steam and grow stronger. The changes that should be implemented to the program are small tweaks, but would improve its success. The first change that should be implemented is the program should start the youth in the program at a younger age. This would ensure that the youth would gain skills to avoid the gangs before they experience any gang activities. This would ultimately ensure the youths success in gaining the skills to refuse the gangs advances and delinquent behaviors. Other aspects of the program should include ride along programs, jail or prison visits, and make the youth more active in the middle school program. Gaining these aspects will give the youth the feel of responsibility as well as teach them where continuation of their actions could lead them eventually if they do not change their ways. The results from the program show that the students that have gone through the program have shown a more optimistic feeling about law enforcement officials. The kids that are enrolled in the G. R. E. A.  T program develop an understanding that make the gangs less a desirable life and give them skills to reject gang membership. The youth that are enrolled in the program have shown a resistance to the pressures from their peers and are less likely to act out with violence. The youth also find a way to disassociate with the peers that originally led them to begin their delinquent behavior. The youth find themselves exerting less anger and those that graduate from the program have low affiliation to gangs. The G. R. E. A. T. program is very successful at helping youth resist gangs.

Religion and spirituality Essay

As Table 4 indicates, the members of admin body (100%) concur that the elderly engaged in religious activities and they did have their own personal devotions. All of them perceived this was a powerful means of coping for the elderly at this point of their life. According to them (67%), the elderly took pride in considering themselves to be religious, and 83% of them observed that prayer or spirituality was a source of strength and peace. The administrators report what the elderly had shared with them at different occasions: The devotion to Mary (the recitation of rosary in the chapel) keeps me busy the whole day†¦I hardly get time to think about the pain on my knees†¦and as pray for all of them†¦my children and grandchildren I know God will keep them safe. Even if I don’t to get to see them it is alright†¦let them be well and happy. I attend mass daily morning and evening†¦if I’m alright. It is there actually we get the strength. Even if I don’t feel alright I go to chapel and spend time there†¦it is so healing†¦after all, all of us (the elderly) have our own burden†¦of the past and the present. So it is a place to unburden all those. God is kind†¦He sees everything. Though life here is comfortable†¦everything is provided†¦we are alone†¦we have only God. Discussion Concept of Subjective Well-Being among the Institutionalized Aged: Administrators’ Viewpoint The findings suggest that the concept of subjective well being among the elderly as perceived by their administrators could be defined as the experience of being at home with their past, at ease with the present and at peace with the future including the inevitable death through a willing surrender to God. It goes with the definition of well-being adopted for the purpose of the present study. Accordingly, well-being is the pervasive sense that life has been and is good. It is an ongoing perception that this time in one’s life, or even life as a whole, is fulfilling, meaningful, and pleasant (Myers, 1993). These findings further ties up with Veenhoven’s (2000) contention that as happiness denotes an ‘overall’ evaluation of life and this appraisal of life can concern different periods in time: how life has been, how life is now, and how life will probably be in future. As perceived by administrators, the elderly at Gladys Spellman believe that when one has no regrets about the past and that they have lived a meaningful life, and having done one’s duties in life, they are at home with the past. This concept of well-being is supported by Butler et al. (1973; 1998), and Knight (1996) that the feeling that one has left undone those things which one ought to have done; and one has done those things which one ought not to have done could lead to sense of guilt, which would negatively affect the sense of well-being. Similarly, when they have satisfaction with the the present stage of life including the acceptance of the pain of growing old and physical decline or to put it differently, when they feel at ease with the present in the given situation, they expereince a sort of contentment and peace in their life. According to Knight (1996) and Butler et al. (1998), the elderly who go through life review and address the unresolved issues in the past (Erickson, 1963) like a righting of old wrongs, making up with enemies, coming to acceptance of mortal life, having a sense of serenity and quietitude, pride in accomplishments, and having a feeling of having done one’s best. And finally, when they are at ease with the future, they experience wellbeing. That is when they are not anxious about what is to come and not distressed about but reconciled with the final reality of death, which primarly comes from their willing surrender to God and absolute trust in Him. According to Westgate (1996), it is the spiritual dimension which is an innate component of human functioning that acts to integrate the other components, and relationship with God forms the foundation of their psychological well-being (Mackenzie et al. , 2000).

OPM300 - Intro. to Operations Mgmt. SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

OPM300 - Intro. to Operations Mgmt. SLP - Essay Example Here the company has provided the customers with an option to pay for the orders online without having to pay by cash. The company has also been noted for entering into an online auction business in China (Binary Bits). The online auctions provide the customers with a chance to buy several different products like consumer electronics, cosmetics and also food items. The company has used the ecommerce solution for the purchases and has also focused on improving the restaurant performance by buying products as well. The company also allows the customers make online orders to save time while picking up the order (Steiner). This is very beneficial considering the fast lifestyle in China. The company has also begun delivery service in China. Ecommerce Competitive Advantage: Ecommerce can provide a wide range of competitive advantage for the company. Firstly, the use of the ecommerce systems will allow the company to effectively streamline the supply chain and also improvise on the current processes to ensure that the purchases are of the highest standards (Steiner). Secondly, using the Ecommerce website allows the company to develop better business to business relations as well as better business to customer relations as well. Here the company reach out to a wider range of audiences and provide the service to them as well.