Is it the right decision Who has the reason The voices of the Heart or Research Paper

Is it the right decision Who has the reason The voices of the Heart or the Mind - Research Paper Example The book talks about the story of a young boy by the name of Santiago who sets out in search for treasure. Along the path that the boy chances upon, he encounters a number of people as well as feelings and emotions that he learns to inculcate within him. Finally, he realises that the riches or the ‘treasure’ that he was in search for lay in the experiences and the people that he encountered upon during the course of his journey. The boy learns to open his mind as well as his heart to a large number of things in the world and began to live life. There are a number of emotions that a man goes through during the course of his lifetime. Most of them are experienced because of the kind of company he keeps, which further help him make his decisions and understand himself better. In The Alchemist, Coelho talks about the way a man should open himself up to both his mind as well as the heart because no right decision can arrive from only one place. He writes, â€Å"May love be y our guide in every part of your life.† (Coelho, Paulo) Through these lines, Coelho has tried to suggest how love comes from the heart of a person, which is the truest and purest emotion that can arise. The heart is that part of a man that lets him feel and think at the same time. It helps a man to understand what going through a situation might be like. The heart is the very aspect of a man that helps him make decisions based on his feelings. When a man says, ‘straight from the heart’ then he means to say that whatever it is that he is talking about is coming from his feelings and not from his mind. The mind on the other hand is where the rational thought process of a man persists. Thus, whatever decisions a man takes from his mind, is bound to be rational and feelings and emotions are not supposed to get in the way of the same. A decision taken from the mind consists of a sense of pragmatism that removes all possibility of understanding and taking into mind the e motions of those that depend on another person. Coelho writes, â€Å"At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.† This very statement has been accounted for by the author as a notion coming from the mind of a person. It is the mind of a man that gives him reason to point wrongs and rights at everything that the individual might cross paths within during the course of his lifetime. Therefore, it is imperative for a man to be able to think with his heart and not just his mind. When we talk about the law and justice that must be given to each and everyone in society, we also must take into account their feelings. However, a man cannot go on depending upon his feelings because they might turn into negative vibes and cause havoc to the people around him. So it is important to gauge the mind of oneself and understand what lies within in order to then ask the heart for the right decision. Most people get an intuition or an inner feeling regarding a certain situation or circumstance that they might be caught up in. This feeling is the one that comes from the heart, however might not be the right thing to do sometimes. That is why it becomes vital to think straight from the mind in order to come up with the best possible

Developmental psychology Essay Example for Free

Developmental psychology Essay I have identified a number of themes from both interviews which relate to Jo and Tonys childhood and life experiences and how these have influenced their development and how their childrens lives have differed from their own. Â  Educational influence Educational issues appear to have influenced both Tony and Jo Tony refers to himself as being uneducated: And then I only went to school for a year, after I was eleven. Tony ex plains this was due to the years education he did receive: I had a very interesting year the years education I had was very interesting situation in at a boarding school in Sussex. Where I was I learned a great deal actually. Lines 34-36 He says that other influences had contributed to his education: strange influences, and yes I suppose I am self-educated Ive read an awful lot obviously Lines 40 41 Jo describes her education as being different I went to school in Leeds til I was eight and then I was evacuated. Lines 44 45 I then went to boarding school for the next ten years Lines 46 -47 * Parental influence There are several references to Jo and Tonys views on the important role of parenting, for them this had been through their parents work and religious beliefs: Tony: Victorian Work Ethic in Line 54 Tony and Jo agree that religion was a very big influence from their parents Tony Lines 63 67: Jos mother was brought up as a Methodist and my father was as well. And I think Methodist principles were fairly firmly entrenched. And Yes I think that has, that makes us to a certain extent the sort of people we are. In lines 81 82 Tony talks about which career paths were available to them and ones parents experiences and aspirations certainly entered into it as well In the second interview both Tony and Jo make reference to separation from their fathers because of the war, this appears to be a shared experience for both of them. Jo then compares this with their own childrens experience of separation, their children feared that Tony and Jo would separate like another family that they knew. Jo says that when the children are young it is important to make sacrifices or you adapt Line 122 Interests could be pursued later. She emphasizes this further if you want to nurture and encourage your children, then some one or other had got to stay, perhaps hold back a little to give as much as you can to your children Lines 145 148. Although Jo acknowledges that women have equal rights today in contrast with the past, she believes that in order to provide a nurturing role women should still put their children first. She also talks about the importance of stability for children children like stability. And its the stable base that you make around them that matters more Lines 154 -156 * Social/cultural/historical influence Historical influence has played a part in Jo and Tonys development, the war had a huge impact on them, their fathers went away and there was uncertainty as to whether they would return. The educational opportunities available differed between them, Jo went to school and boarding school but Tony only had one year of education and apart from this was self taught.

Social Conflict and Rebellion in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the S

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun, relates the story of a working-class African-American family with dreams. They are willing to rebel against the position that society has forced on them because of their race and class in order to fulfill their dreams. Walter Younger is a chauffeur who "can find no peace with that part of society which seems to permit him and no entry into that which has willfully excluded him" (Willie Loman 23). He wants to rise into wealth and live as his employer, Mr. Arnold, does. Walter feels as if he is going crazy at times. He tells Mama, "sometimes it's like I can see the future stretched out in front of me-just plain as day.... Hanging over there at the edge of my days. Just waiting for me- a big looming blank space-full of nothing.... But it don't have to be" (73-4). James Draper explains Walter's inability to act out in his work " Black Literature Criticisms," saying: The American ghetto hero may give up and contemplate his misery in rose-colored bars to the melodies of hypnotic saxophones, but revolution seems alien to him in his circumstances (America), and it is easier to dream of personal wealth than of a communal state wherein universal dignity is supposed to be corollary. Yet his position in time and space does allow for one other alternative: he may take his place on any one of a number of frontiers of challenge. Challenges (such as helping to break down restricted neighborhoods) which are admittedly limited because they most certainly do not threaten the basic social order. (Draper 214) Walter's sister, Beneatha, who is studying at a local university to be a doctor, fights many of her own social battles. At college, she finds "a place, as her family cannot, among othe... ...oday by minority families.    Works Cited and Consulted: Domina, Lynn. Understanding A Raisin In The Sun.   Conneticut.  Ã‚   Greenwood Press, 1998. Draper, James P. Black Literature Criticisms. Detroit: Gale Research Incorporated, 1992. Hansberry, Lorraine.   A Raisin in the Sun.   New York:   Signet, 1988. Hansberry, Lorraine. "An Author's Reflections: . Willie Loman, Walter Younger, And He Who Must Live" The Village Voice - Aug 12, 1959. Web 23 May 2015 https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1299&dat=19590812&id=09pHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NYwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6584,6415280&hl=en Rose, Philip. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON BROADWAY: 'A Raisin in the Sun' and Other Theatrical Improbabilities" Limelight Editions; 1st edition. 2004 Wilkerson, Margaret B. "The Sighted Eyes and Feeling Heart of Lorraine Hansberry." Black American Literature Forum 17.1 (1983): 8-13. Social Conflict and Rebellion in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the S   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun, relates the story of a working-class African-American family with dreams. They are willing to rebel against the position that society has forced on them because of their race and class in order to fulfill their dreams. Walter Younger is a chauffeur who "can find no peace with that part of society which seems to permit him and no entry into that which has willfully excluded him" (Willie Loman 23). He wants to rise into wealth and live as his employer, Mr. Arnold, does. Walter feels as if he is going crazy at times. He tells Mama, "sometimes it's like I can see the future stretched out in front of me-just plain as day.... Hanging over there at the edge of my days. Just waiting for me- a big looming blank space-full of nothing.... But it don't have to be" (73-4). James Draper explains Walter's inability to act out in his work " Black Literature Criticisms," saying: The American ghetto hero may give up and contemplate his misery in rose-colored bars to the melodies of hypnotic saxophones, but revolution seems alien to him in his circumstances (America), and it is easier to dream of personal wealth than of a communal state wherein universal dignity is supposed to be corollary. Yet his position in time and space does allow for one other alternative: he may take his place on any one of a number of frontiers of challenge. Challenges (such as helping to break down restricted neighborhoods) which are admittedly limited because they most certainly do not threaten the basic social order. (Draper 214) Walter's sister, Beneatha, who is studying at a local university to be a doctor, fights many of her own social battles. At college, she finds "a place, as her family cannot, among othe... ...oday by minority families.    Works Cited and Consulted: Domina, Lynn. Understanding A Raisin In The Sun.   Conneticut.  Ã‚   Greenwood Press, 1998. Draper, James P. Black Literature Criticisms. Detroit: Gale Research Incorporated, 1992. Hansberry, Lorraine.   A Raisin in the Sun.   New York:   Signet, 1988. Hansberry, Lorraine. "An Author's Reflections: . Willie Loman, Walter Younger, And He Who Must Live" The Village Voice - Aug 12, 1959. Web 23 May 2015 https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1299&dat=19590812&id=09pHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NYwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6584,6415280&hl=en Rose, Philip. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON BROADWAY: 'A Raisin in the Sun' and Other Theatrical Improbabilities" Limelight Editions; 1st edition. 2004 Wilkerson, Margaret B. "The Sighted Eyes and Feeling Heart of Lorraine Hansberry." Black American Literature Forum 17.1 (1983): 8-13.

Sustainable Production Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies

Business Strategy and the Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) Published online 16 February 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary. com) DOI: 10. 1002/bse. 705 Sustainable Production: Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies Xianbing Liu,1* Jie Yang,2 Sixiao Qu,2 Leina Wang,2 Tomohiro Shishime1 and Cunkuan Bao2 1 Kansai Research Centre, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan 2 College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, ChinaABSTRACT This paper explores the green supply chain management (GSCM) of companies based in the Yangtze River Delta, China. The companies’ overall GSCM practice level (LGSCM) is measured by using the data from 165 valid respondents in a questionnaire survey conducted during April and May 2009. The relationships between LGSCM and the classi? ed determinant factors are analyzed. It is indicated that Chinese companies are still at a preliminar y stage of GSCM practices. Their environmental management in cooperation with external members of the supply chain is very marginal.A company’s LGSCM is signi? cantly and positively associated with the external pressures from regulatory, domestic clients and business competitors. As an internal factor, a company’s learning capacity greatly determines LGSCM. We also con? rm that the internal factors function as intermediate variables of external pressures in in? uencing a company’s GSCM. A company’s environmental management capacities will be strongly enhanced by frequent internal training of employees to increase its involvement in GSCM practices.Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. Received 5 July 2010; revised 14 December 2010; accepted 16 December 2010 Keywords: sustainable production; green supply chain management; practices; determinant factors; China Introduction environment, in the forms of pollutant generation, ecosystem disruption and depletion of resources (Fiksel, 1996). The pressures and drivers from abroad accompanying globalization have pushed manufacturers in developing economies like China to improve their environmental performance (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006).Environmental concerns gradually become part of the overall business culture and, in turn, help re? engineer the development strategies of corporations (Madu et al. , 2002). Corporate environmental management (CEM) has been moving from traditional pollution control and risk management towards product life? cycle * Correspondence to: Xianbing Liu, Kansai Research Centre, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Hitomirai Building 4F, 1? 5? 2, Wakinohama Kaigan Dori, Chuo? ku, Hyogo, 651? 0073, Japan. E? mail: [email  protected] or. jp Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment OUT OF ALL BUSINESS OPERATIONS, MANUFACTURING PROCESSES ARE VIEWED TO HAVE THE HIGHEST IMPACTS ON THE 2 Xianbing Liu et al. manageme nt and industrial ecology. Recently, CEM has extended to certain boundary? spanning activities like green procurement, product stewardship, reverse logistics and so on (Zsidisin and Siferd, 2001; Snir, 2001; Prahinski and Kocabasoglu, 2006). These practices are related to supply chain management, which requires various interactions between the core manufacturer and the other entities along the supply chain, either the upstream suppliers or downstream distributors and customers.The concept of supply chain management for environmental protection was ? rst put forward by Drumwright (1994), which identi? ed the characteristics of those companies introducing new manufacturing ideas. Later, green supply chain management (GSCM) was de? ned as a new term by the Manufacturing Research Association at Michigan State University, USA (Hand? eld, 1996). The fast economic growth of China has greatly relied on the extensive expansion of manufacturing industries which produce resource? intensive but cheap goods for foreign markets.The regulatory requirements in developed economies, such as the familiar European Union (EU) Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, have forced electronics manufacturers in China to actively practice certain GSCM activities. The relatively high position of Chinese manufacturers in the global supply chain offers the possibility, and an ideal setting, to explore their actual GSCM involvements. Zhu et al. (2008) studied the emerging GSCM practices at company level in a Chinese context, and con? med that GSCM is still a new concept for most Chinese companies as they change their environmental management from internal efforts to the whole supply chain. In terms of determinant factors for GSCM practices, this previous study mainly focused on a company’s internal issues, such as the importance of the company’s learning? oriented programs and support of top manage rs. The pressures from externally related stakeholders bear further study due to their importance to a company’s environmental behavior (Zhu et al. , 2008).Subsequent studies employing both external pressures and internal factors would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships between GSCM practices and the determinant factors. In addition, Zhu et al. (2008) conducted their survey in the northern cities of China. Surveys of companies based in the other geographical areas of China would be necessary and meaningful. In order to close the research gap described above, this paper identi? es the external pressures which determine the level of a company’s GSCM practices while using internal factors as the intermediate variables.The Yangtze River Delta, including Shanghai and surrounding regions, is selected as the study area mainly due to its relatively developed economy compared with other regions of China. The improved background of CEM provides us wi th the possibility of monitoring a company’s GSCM practices there. Considering the complexity of GSCM practices, which may be attributed to the wide scope of environmental activities at different phases of the supply chain, this paper classi? es four categories of typical GSCM activities by referring to the existing literatures (e. g.Sarkis, 2005). Two topics are mainly discussed in this paper: (1) the current status of GSCM practices of the companies in the study area; and (b) determinant factors, external and internal, predicting the level of a company’s involvement in GSCM practices. Literature Review Although there is no uniform de? nition for GSCM so far, basic and common understandings have been formed theoretically and in practice. GSCM emphasizes the concerns for the environment along the whole supply chain and requires long? term and strategic collaborations between the supply chain members.GSCM covers the management of the life cycle of a product, from its ma nufacture and consumption until the end? of? life (Nagel, 2000). GSCM practices may be separated according to the stages of production, distribution and utilization, and thus can be categorized into internally green manufacturing activities, green procurement, eco? design, green retailing and green consumption by individuals (Walton et al. , 1998; Zsidisin and Hendrick, 1998; Carter et al. , 2000). Research on GSCM has been building gradually, but still remains sparse (Vachon and Klassen, 2008).GSCM studies were previously conducted by addressing the following aspects: general and basic issues like designing the framework for GSCM (Geoffrey et al. , 2002); implementation of GSCM strategies (Sarkis, 2003); environmental assessment of GSCM practices (Vijay et al. , 2003); relationship between a company’s performance and GSCM practices (Klassen and Mclaughin, 1996); and speci? c GSCM activities like green purchasing (Min and Galle, 1997), Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, L td and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bseGreen Supply Chain Management in China 3 total quality and environmental management (Sarkis, 1999), green marketing (Karna and Heiskanen, 1998), and environmental performance evaluation of suppliers (Hines and Johns, 2001). Cooperation among the companies on the supply chain is the key to drive them to improve the environmental compatibility of their businesses (Ken et al. , 2000). Generally, the bene? ts of collaborative practices with upstream suppliers are much broader. In contrast, collaboration with downstream customers yields mixed outcomes Vachon and Klassen, 2008). By exploring the operational performances due to green partnership along the supply chain, Vachon and Klassen (2006) indicated that partnership with customers was positively related to product quality and ? exibility, whereas partnership with suppliers was associated with better delivery operations. Thun and Muller (2010) interviewed m anagers from the automotive supply industry in Germany and con? rmed the need for GSCM on the one hand but corresponding problems in terms of required resource on the other.Case studies of the British and Japanese food retail sector and the British aerospace industry showed that it would be easier to adopt GSCM if certain suppliers could play a leading role in a group of similar suppliers (Jeremy, 2000). While large companies can mandate their supplies to comply with certain environmental initiatives, cooperative approaches are likely to be more fruitful. Sharfman et al. (2009) suggested that inter rm trust, uncertainty and proactive environmental management most directly affect the extent of a company’s engagement in GSCM.Jeppesen and Hansen (2004) examined the conditions for environmental upgrading of Third World companies led by foreign companies. They argued that environmental upgrading on the value chain must be understood partly as a result of external industry and mark et forces, and partly as a result of the internal resources and competitive strategies of the companies involved. Two typical models are found for better application of GSCM strategies. One is to develop more environmentally friendly goods through cooperation like joint research.The other is to request that the suppliers satisfy higher environmental standards, for example achieving ISO14001 certi? cation, and the limitation of speci? ed materials in products. The construction of cooperative strategies and the evaluation of suppliers help improve the compatibilities of supply chain to the environment (Lamming, 1996). The extent of GSCM practices adopted by Chinese companies was examined by a survey of companies in several industrial sectors such as power generation, petrochemicals, electric and electronics and automobiles (Zhu and Geng, 2006).It was hard for the surveyed companies to integrate environmental issues into their business operations with suppliers and customers. Some lead ing companies have made efforts in internally proactive CEM practices like pursuing ISO14001 certi? cation, but most have just started to consider external GSCM activities. In China, environmental pressures are stronger for large companies than for small and medium? sized ones (Zhu and Geng, 2001). Automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been required by the automobile assemblers to operate in an environmental manner since Chinese entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.Chinese electronic enterprises are found to be performing better in GSCM practices (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006). Development of an Analytical Framework and Research Hypotheses As mentioned earlier, this study tries to expand the determinant factors of GSCM practices in China from a company’s internal explanatory variables, which have been explored in previous studies (e. g. Zhu et al. , 2008), to the external pressures. Different alternative theoretical viewpoints, such as stakeholder t heory, institutional theory and the resource? based view, have been used to look at GSCM practices.As typical inter? organizational collaborations, the stakeholder theory with broad acceptance would be appropriate for discussing GSCM issues rather than intra? organizational management activities. In practice, stakeholder theory and institutional theory are rather similar in grouping a company’s external ‘others’, including the input and output environment of the company (suppliers and product consumers), its competitive environment (companies producing similar services or products) and its regulatory environment (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Delmas and Toffel, 2004).In this study, we identi? ed the determinant factors of GSCM practices by referring to existing literature and developed an overall analytical framework as shown in Figure 1. The relationships between the determinant factors and a company’s GSCM activities and research hypotheses are explained as follows. Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 4 Xianbing Liu et al. Figure 1. Overall analytical framework of this studyHypothesis a (Ha): External Pressures The importance of external factors lies in the complementary nature of the factors behind Chinese companies’ adoption of GSCM practices at the early stage of environmental policy transformation. Besides the requirements of governmental regulations, domestic and foreign clients, competitors and neighboring communities may exert pressures on the companies (Hall, 2000). These external pressures have jointly prompted companies to become more aware of environmental problems and to practice certain GSCM activities (Sarkis, 1998; Hervani et al. 2005). Customer expectations have become the most important external pressure (Doonan et al. , 2005). To achieve sustainable solutions and business goals, the environmental properties of products and ser vices have to satisfy customer demands (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006). ‘Communities’ refer to those who are not necessarily involved in the business partnership directly but have knowledge of local companies (Nelson et al. , 1999). The community perspectives shoul be adequately represented as they may in? uence a company’s decision? aking process (Kearney, 2004). It has been indicated that communities have the ability to in? uence the social reputation of a company (Henriques and Sadorsky, 1996). According to Zhu and Sarkis (2006), Hall (2000) and Sarkis (1998), external pressures are believed to be important factors affecting a company’s GSCM practices. This generates the ? rst integrative hypothesis of this study as: Ha: companies that face higher pressures from external stakeholders are more likely to adopt GSCM practices.Hypothesis b (Hb): Internal Factors Business strategy is not only in? uenced by external stakeholders since companies subject to the same lev el of external pressure may perform differently (Prakash, 2000; Gunningham et al. , 2003). It is argued that companies also adopt different environmental practices due to their individual interpretations of the objective pressures from the outside. The difference between ‘objective’ and ‘perceived’ pressures would lead to diverse responses from companies.Therefore, our analytical model adds two internal organizational factors, namely support by top managers and a company’s learning capacity, to jointly explain a company’s GSCM practices. Management support by top managers is critical for the introduction and implementation of innovations in a company, especially environmental management systems (EMSs) (Daily and Huang, 2001). Top management support can affect the success of new initiatives by facilitating employee involvement or by promoting a cultural shift in the company, for example. Previous research suggests that cross? unctional programs need support from senior management, and indicates that top management support is associated with the success of environmentally preferable purchasing (Carter et al. , 1998). As GSCM is a broad? based organizational endeavor, Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China 5 it has the potential to bene? t from top management support. Meanwhile, a company’s learning capacity is viewed as especially important in a resource? ased view. GSCM practices are amenable to the bene? ts derived from learning since they are human resource? intensive and greatly rely on tacit skill development by employee involvement, team work and shared expertise (Hart, 1995). The capacity for implementing innovative environmental approaches is usually enhanced by employee self? learning, professional education and on? the? job training. The education level of employees and the frequency of internal environmental training are often used as proxies of a company’s learning capacity.The above discussions suggest two sub? hypotheses on internal factors which may be expressed as Hb1 and Hb2: Hb1: a company’s level of GSCM practices is positively associated with the support of top managers. Hb2: a company’s level of GSCM practices is positively associated with the company’s learning capacity. Hypothesis c (Hc): the Linkage of External and Internal Factors As discussed above, the addition of internal factors reasonably complements the pressures from external stakeholders in explaining the practice of GSCM.A company’s internal factors may be viewed as intermediate variables to adjust the in? uences of external pressures. A company will be unlikely to implement GSCM activities if it does not have the necessary capacity, no matter what pressures it faces. This generates one more hypothesis on the relationship of external pressures and internal factors in determining a company’s GSCM practices in this study, which may be documented as: Hc: the relationships between a company’s external pressures and adoption of GSCM are mediated by internal factors. MethodsSamples and Data Collection The data for this study were collected by a questionnaire survey conducted in the region of the Yangtze River Delta during April and May 2009. Two small areas in the delta were selected for the survey implementation. One was Taichang, a county? level city in Jiangsu Province. Another was Kangqiao Industrial Park based in Shanghai. Developed from traditional environmental policies, local environmental agencies have tried some innovative measures for improving CEM by encouraging the public’s involvement against industrial pollution.With aims to reduce the compliance cost and maintain ? nancial value, the companies there have adopted some proactive environmental practices. The better background of CEM in the study area compar ed with other regions of China provides the possibility for us to monitor companies’ GSCM activities in this study. According to the literature overview and preliminary understandings about the contextual background of the study area, a questionnaire was developed to measure companies’ GSCM practices, determinant factors and organizational performance.The questionnaire format consisted of four major components: general information on the companies; GSCM activities such as environmentally preferable procurement; the degree of external pressures felt by the companies; and the evaluation of environmental and economic performances. The environmental managers were chosen as focal points in the survey to answer the questions concerning GSCM issues in their companies. Due to the large scope for GSCM activities, the environmental manager discussed matters with the purchasing manager and production manager as necessary.Over a period of approximately 2 months, the survey was con ducted in two phases. In the ? rst stage, local government of? cials and seven companies were contacted in order to test the validation and feasibility of answering the survey document. The questions are listed in a concise but accurate manner to avoid misunderstanding by the respondents. The ? nalized format was sent to 210 enterprises on a name list provided by the local environmental protection bureaus Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 6 Xianbing Liu et al. EPBs). A total of 165 respondents were con? rmed to be useful for the analysis, meaning a relatively high (78. 6%) valid response rate due to the coordination of local EPBs. The distribution of usable responses by industrial sectors is listed in Table 1. As expected, the samples from the sectors of machinery manufacturing, chemicals and textile and dyeing account for nearly half of the total, which are the representative industries in the st udy area. Operationalization of the Variables Dependent Variable The dependent variable in this study is LGSCM, a company’s overall GSCM practice level.LGSCM may be represented by a series of practical activities since it is dif? cult to directly measure the degree of GSCM involvement. Twelve items of GSCM activities were identi? ed to estimate a company’s overall level of GSCM practices in the current Chinese context, as listed in panel A of Table 2 and abbreviated as GA1 to GA12. This study addresses the GSCM practices as a company’s proactive environmental efforts in the manufacturing phase by excluding the end? of? pipe pollution control measurements and reverse logistic management of used products.Four categories of GSCM practices, represented by C1 to C4, respectively, are included: internally proactive environmental activities (C1); environmentally preferable procurement (C2); environmentally conscious design (C3); and supplier managed inventories and ser vices (C4) (Walton et al. , 1998; Carter et al. , 2000; Zsidisin and Hendrick, 1998). Achieving ISO14001 certi? cation, implementation of cleaner production auditing and reutilization of byproducts and other waste are chosen as internal proactive environmental activities of the companies.A company’s procurement strategies have strong impacts on the upstream producers in the supply chain, e. g. by buying non? toxic materials (Sarkis, 2003). In this study, four types of activities are de? ned as environmentally preferable procurement by the companies: requiring suppliers to offer cleaner products, evaluating suppliers’ environmental performances, providing education and technical assistance to suppliers, and providing education for internal procurement staff.Environmentally conscious design primarily focuses on technological improvements of products and processes to mitigate environmental impacts. Three items of activities, namely working closely with suppliers in produc t design, reducing waste in cooperation with suppliers and providing product? related environmental information for customers, are selected to assess the environmentally conscious design practices of companies. The last type of GSCM practice is supplier managed inventories and services which are found in chemical industries.Certain chemical companies commissioned their inventory management to the providers of raw materials due to the higher potential risks and the management experiences of the suppliers (PPRC, 2002). Since many chemical companies are located in the study area, two items are included to represent a company’s GSCM activities in this aspect. One is to entrust suppliers to manage company inventories. Another is to offer inventory management services for clients. Sector Paper Textile and dyeing Chemicals Plastics and rubber Metals Machinery and equipment manufacturing Electronics Automobile Printing Construction Others In totalNumber of samples 5 19 24 7 5 35 6 13 3 5 43 165 Percentage 3. 0 11. 5 14. 6 4. 3 3. 0 21. 2 3. 6 7. 9 1. 8 3. 0 26. 1 100. 0 Table 1. Distribution of the usable respondents by industrial sectors Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China Variable Description of the proxy 0 A: GSCM activities Internal proactive Achieving ISO14001 certification (GA1) environmental Cleaner production uditing (GA2) management (C1) Reutilization of byproducts and other wastes (GA3) Require suppliers to offer cleaner products (GA4) Environmentally Evaluate environmental performances of suppliers (GA5) preferable procurement (C2) Provide education and technical assistance for suppliers (GA6) Environmental education for internal purchasing staff (GA7) Work closely with suppliers in product design (GA8) Environmentally Work with suppliers on waste minimization (GA9) conscious Provide environmental information for products (GA10) design (C3) Supplier managed Entrust suppliers to manage some of the inventories (GA11) inventories (C4) Offer inventory management services for clients (GA12) 1 Valuation 2 3 4 5 7 LGSCMB: Determinant factors REGULATORY DCLIENT COMPETITOR COMMUNITY FCLIENT TSUPPORT EDUCATION TRAINING Pressure of environmental regulations Importance of domestic client’s environmental expectation Importance of competitors’ green strategies Pressure of complaints from neighboring communities Pressure of foreign customer’s environmental expectation Degree of support from company’s top managers Education level of the employees Frequency of internal environmental training External pressures Internal factors C: Control variables Characteristics of the companies Company’s size (LSIZ) Industrial sector belongings (SECTOR) Natural log of turnover Table 2. Definition and valuation of GSCM activities, the determinant factors and the controls The companies were requested to p resent a ? ve? oint Likert scale for each item of the 12 activities. The scales are de? ned as: 1 = not considering the activity at all; 2 = planning to consider; 3 = considering currently; 4 = partially implementing; and 5 = implementing successfully. The average score for all 12 items was used to represent the company’s LGSCM. In a similar way, the average score for the items of each GSCM category was used as the level of practice of that category. Independent Variables Recalling the section on ‘Development of Analytical Framework and Research Hypotheses’, the determinant factors behind companies’ adoption of GSCM activities include external pressures and internal factors. As listed in panel B of Table 2, ? e external pressures and three internal factors are classi? ed. In a similar way, a ? ve? point Likert scale was used to measure the importance, strength or degree of each factor: 1 = not at all; 2 = to some degree; 3 = moderate; 4 = relatively high; 5 = very high. The score for each factor was used to estimate its relationship with LGSCM. The only exception is for FCLIENT (pressure from foreign customers). The company’s export ratios were used as the proxy for this variable. It is assumed that the higher a company’s export ratio was, the higher the Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 8 Xianbing Liu et al. ressure from foreign markets that would be felt by the company. The export ratios were classi? ed into four levels in the questionnaire format with consideration of easier responses from the surveyed companies. Control Variables Two more variables are introduced into the analytical framework as the controls. One is company size and another is the industrial sector to which it belongs. The existing literature suggests that larger companies are more likely to be under public scrutiny and are expected to have a higher propensity to be involved in innovative environmental practices (Hettige et al. , 1996). Larger companies are also likely to have superior resources for environmental activities.Companies with higher environmental sensitivity are more willing to improve their environmental performances. Panel C of Table 2 lists the methods for evaluating control variables. A natural log of the turnover in 2008 was used to represent a company’s size. A company’s industrial sector af? liation is classi? ed into two types, with ‘1’ referring to environmentally sensitive industries (ESI) and ‘0’ being non? ESIs. ESIs in China include mining, thermal power, construction materials, pulp and paper products, metallurgy, petroleum, brewing, fermentation, textiles, pharmacy, tanning and chemical industries (SEPA, 2003). The others are classi? ed as non? ESI.Results and Discussions Result for GSCM Practices of the Companies SPSS was used for the statistical analysis in this study. Cro nbach’s ? was calculated in order to test the consistency reliability of the values given to the items of GSCM activities. The estimated ? for all 12 items is 0. 912, which is higher than the 0. 9 that would imply a high validity of the dataset constructed. An exploratory factor analysis was performed on the 12 GSCM items to ? nd if there are different dimensions of these activities. Two factors were extracted. However, the ? rst factor accounts for 49. 9% of the variance in total and the second only accounts for 11. 6%.The rotated component matrix of the factor analysis is listed in Table 3. All the items relating to external GSCM practices (GA4 to GA12) are highly associated with factor 1. The results for internally proactive environmental activities (GA1, GA2 and GA3) are not clear since they have nearly equal loadings on both factors. The factor analysis result proves the rationality of using the average score of all the classi? ed GSCM items (LGSCM) as the dependent vari able for the regression analysis in this study. Table 4 gives a statistical summary of the scores of the de? ned GSCM activities. LGSCM of the respondents achieved an average score of 3. 9, indicating that Chinese companies are still at a very preliminary stage in their GSCM items 1 GA11 GA12 GA10 GA5 GA9 GA6 GA7 GA8 GA4 GA1 GA2 GA3 0. 814 0. 803 0. 779 0. 767 0. 749 0. 747 0. 730 0. 725 0. 691 0. 578 0. 490 0. 500 Component 2 ? 0. 119 ? 0. 107 – 0. 273 ? 0. 271 – 0. 321 ? 0. 303 0. 207 0. 492 0. 622 0. 583 Table 3. Rotated component matrix of factor analysis of GSCM items Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China 9 GSCM practices. The surveyed companies have started to implement internally proactive CEM activities to some degree (averaged at 3. 41–3. 93).Most of them plan to think about or are considering the environmental activities which would be jointly practiced with external actors in the supply chain. As examples, GA6 (provide education and technical assistance for suppliers) and GA8 (work closely with suppliers in product design) only obtained average scores of less than 3. 00. Nevertheless, slight improvement was observed in this study compared with the previous survey conducted in north China by Zhu and Sarkis (2006). This change may be attributed to the different location of the study areas. As described earlier, the region for this study has a relatively developed economy, and the companies there may be performing better on the environment than those in other areas. The surveyed companies react differently to the classi? d GSCM activities. Figure 2 provides details of the score distribution of GCSM activities practiced by the respondents. Many companies are implementing certain proactive Categories and items of GSCM activities Internal proactive environmental activities (C1) GA1 GA2 GA3 Environmentally preferabl e procurement (C2) GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7 Environmentally conscious design (C3) GA8 GA9 GA10 Supplier? managed inventories and services (C4) GA11 GA12 Overall level of GSCM practices (LGSCM) Obs. 158 159 160 160 159 160 159 160 162 153 159 159 156 157 158 158 148 Mean 3. 60 3. 41 3. 51 3. 93 3. 38 3. 84 3. 47 2. 76 3. 48 3. 32 2. 93 3. 45 3. 54 3. 11 3. 10 3. 2 3. 39 SD 1. 07 1. 49 1. 35 1. 14 1. 01 1. 16 1. 19 1. 27 1. 27 1. 04 1. 30 1. 22 1. 27 1. 23 1. 24 1. 33 0. 91 Min. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Max. 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Table 4. Statistical summary of GSCM activities of the surveyed companies One 100% 90% 80% Two Three Four Five Ratio of the score 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7 GA8 GA9 GA10 GA11 GA12 Items of GSCM activities Figure 2. Distribution of the scores of company’s GSCM activities Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 10 Xianbing Liu et a l. internal CEM practices.Nearly 70% of the surveyed companies are reusing byproducts and other generated waste to some degree. Around half of them are making efforts to achieve ISO14001 certi? cation and are pursuing a cleaner production audit. The companies are selective about those GSCM activities requiring cooperation with external actors on the supply chain. About 70% of the respondents are asking their upstream suppliers to provide cleaner materials or products to avoid possible environmental risks. The number of companies which arrange internally environmental education for their procurement staff and work closely with their suppliers for waste minimization is also around 50%.Another item of GSCM activity practiced relatively better by the companies is to provide product? related environmental information for their clients. However, most of the companies do not supply technical assistance to their suppliers. About 65% of the companies have not taken any action concerning envi ronmentally conscious design with their suppliers. In summary, the surveyed companies’ GSCM activities are obviously due to individual business needs and bene? ts from their own perspectives. GSCM is still a new concept for most Chinese companies. More time is needed for them to recognize the importance of strategic cooperation with other members of the supply chain. In? epth GSCM practices within a wider scope would be adopted if companies could unite as a group with a shared strategy on business and environmental issues. Descriptive Statistics of the Other Variables Table 5 summarizes the variables describing the determinant factors of GSCM activities. Companies gave higher scores to the pressures from external stakeholders. Among the external pressures, the regulative requirements and domestic client’s environmental expectations are viewed as highly important, achieving an average score of 4. 41 and 4. 29, respectively. Keeping up with competitors in the same sector is also regarded as an important factor (averaging 4. 08). The sampled companies usually carry out internal environmental training two or three times a year.The education level of employees is relatively low, probably because most of the companies are from traditionally labor? intensive industries. An average score of 2. 87 is presented for top managers’ support, which implies that company managers do not care much about GSCM efforts. This ? nding shows for a fact that the managers of Chinese companies do not seriously considering environmental activities other than basic compliance. Regarding the control variables indicating company characteristics, most of the samples are small and medium? sized. Large companies, with an annual turnover of more than 300 million Chinese yuan (CNY), only account for 7. 4% of the total.Small enterprises, which have fewer than 300 employees or yearly sales of less than CNY 30 million, account for 64. 2%. The remaining 28. 4% are medium? sized companies. According to the classi? cation criteria of the Chinese national environmental authority, half of the samples are categorized as ESI (49. 1%). The other half is non? ESI. Most of the respondents (71. 4%) process raw materials or produce components for downstream manufacturers. Result of the Relationship Between LGSCM and the Determinant Factors Pearson rank correlation was used to give a preliminary observation of the relationships between the overall level of GSCM practices and the determinant factors identi? ed earlier. The correlation matrix is shown in Table 6. ThisVariables and abbreviations REGULATORY DCLIENT COMPETITOR COMMUNITY FCLIENT TSUPPORT EDUCATION TRAINING Obs. 156 156 152 162 150 159 160 159 Mean 4. 41 4. 29 4. 08 3. 88 2. 46 2. 87 3. 30 4. 15 SD 0. 75 0. 86 0. 85 1. 73 1. 27 1. 35 1. 03 0. 75 Min. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Max. 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 External pressures Internal factors Table 5. Statistical summary of the determinant factors Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China LGSCM LGSCM REGULATORY DCLIENT COMPETITOR COMMUNITY FCLIENT TSUPPORT EDUCATION TRAINING 1 b 0. 195 a 0. 361 a 0. 391 ? 0. 083 0. 022 0. 113 a 0. 441 a 0. 559 REG.DCLIENT COMP. COMM. FCLIENT TSUP. EDU. 11 TRAINING 1 a 0. 395 a 0. 506 0. 035 0. 041 b ? 0. 176 b 0. 197 a 0. 477 1 a 0. 538 0. 008 0. 064 ? 0. 105 b 0. 354 a 0. 447 1 a 0. 038 0. 055 ? 0. 085 a 0. 238 a 0. 395 1 ? 0. 015 a ? 0. 471 0. 037 0. 150 1 ? 0. 086 0. 073 0. 139 1 ? 0. 041 ? 0. 073 1 a 0. 421 1 Table 6. Correlation coefficients of LGSCM and the determinant factors a Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 01 level, two? tailed. b Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 05 level, one? tailed. indicates that LGSCM is signi? cantly correlated with the external pressure variables DCLIENT and COMPETITOR, and internal factors like EDUCATION and TRAINING.Standard multiple regressions were performed wi th LGSCM as the dependent variable and each of the determinant factors and controls as independent variables. The results are listed in Table 7. The level of multi? collinearity between the variables was tested by an inspection of the condition index and variance proportions in the SPSS collinearity diagnostics table. According to the criteria given by Tabachnick and Fidell (2001), multi? collinearity is not a problem in this analysis since each condition index is less than 30 and the variance proportions are much less than 50. The regression result in Table 7 indicates that Ha is supported in general.Among the external pressures, DCLIENT and COMPETITOR are signi? cantly and positively associated with LGSCM at P = 0. 000. This implies that domestic clients’ environmental preferences and competitors’ green strategies for differentiation are major external drivers for companies to adopt GSCM activities. One more external factor which has a slightly positive correlation w ith LGSCM, signi? cant at P < 0. 01, is REGULATORY. Government regulations were believed to be dominant forces for CEM in the past since a company’s environmental strategies are imposed coercively via environmental sanctions (Delmas, 2002). However, this study classi? ed GSCM practices as those beyond basic environmental compliances.The governmental requirements may become a relatively minor factor for the adoption of GSCM practices. No signi? cant associations are found between the other two external pressures, COMMUNITY and FCLIENT, and LGSCM. The surveyed companies greatly valued the pressure from their neighboring communities. However, community pressure cannot account for a company’s GSCM efforts, probably because the communities mainly complain about the environmentally illegal activities of companies rather than lobby for proactive efforts such as GSCM practices. The pressure from foreign clients is not strongly felt by manufacturers in the current phase. Regard ing the internal factors, Hb1 is not supported. The support of top managers is not found to be signi? antly associated with a company’s LGSCM in this survey, which is in contrast to the result of Carter et al. (1998). Nevertheless, Hb2 is fully con? rmed. The two variables representing a company’s learning capacity, education level of employees (EDUCATION) and frequency of internal environmental training (TRAINING), are signi? cantly and positively associated with LGSCM at P = 0. 000. This result is identical to that of Zhu et al. (2008), which con? rms the hypothesis that the extent of GSCM practice engaged in by Chinese companies is positively related to the level of organizational learning capacity. Result of the Mediating Function of Internal Factors The egression result of LGSCM and the determinant factors in the previous section con? rm the causal chains existing between each of the three external pressures (REGULATORY, DCLIENT and COMPETITOR) and two internal fa ctors (EDUCATION and TRAINING) with LGSCM. Signi? cant relationships are found between each of the three external pressures and each of the two internal factors, as shown in Table 8. The t? statistic of all the regressions is greater than 2. 00. Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 12 Variables entered (a) REGULATORY ? 0 REGULATORY LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (c) COMPETITOR ? COMPETITOR LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (e) FCLIENT ? 0 FCLIENT LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (g) EDUCATION ? 0 EDUCATION LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 708 0. 374 0. 151 0. 178 1. 846 5. 721 4. 592 1. 299 18. 884 0. 294 0. 067 0. 000 0. 000 0. 196 1. 804 0. 033 0. 156 0. 253 4. 026 0. 544 3. 959 1. 573 5. 281 0. 097 0. 000 0. 588 0. 000 0. 118 0. 409 0. 356 0. 155 0. 258 0. 859 4. 224 4. 457 1. 772 13. 382 0. 226 0. 392 0. 000 0. 000 0. 079 0. 497 0. 266 0. 176 0. 293 0. 851 2. 760 4. 856 1. 960 9. 673 0. 169 0. 397 0. 007 0. 000 0. 052 Coef? cient t? statistic P? value Variables entered (b) DCLIENT ? 0 DCLIENT LSIZ SECTOR F? alue R2 (adjusted) (d) COMMUNITY ? 0 COMMUNITY LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (f) TSUPPORT ? 0 TSUPPORT LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (h) TRAINING ? 0 TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) ? 0. 310 0. 597 0. 128 0. 126 1. 803 ? 0. 021 0. 167 0. 278 1. 507 0. 041 0. 177 0. 260 0. 439 0. 342 0. 147 0. 322 Coef? cient Xianbing Liu et al. t? statistic P? value 0. 896 3. 890 4. 172 2. 210 12. 583 0. 214 0. 372 0. 000 0. 000 0. 029 3. 117 0. 840 4. 452 1. 680 7. 112 0. 123 0. 002 0. 402 0. 000 0. 095 4. 695 ? 0. 341 4. 018 1. 765 6. 188 0. 109 0. 000 0. 734 0. 000 0. 080 ?0. 726 7. 001 4. 031 0. 955 26. 249 0. 370 0. 469 0. 000 0. 000 0. 342 Table 7.Regression results for LGSCM and each of the determinant factors According to Baron and Kenny (1986), a third condition has to be met in order to con? rm the mediating function of internal factors as hypo thesized in this study. The signi? cant relations between the external pressures and LGSCM shall be strongly reduced if the internal factors are controlled. We tested Hc by repeating the OLS regressions in three steps. In step 1, LGSCM is individually regressed against each of the three external pressures which have signi? cant relations with LGSCM. In step 2, each of the three pressures and EDUCATION, as an internal factor, jointly enter into the regressions as independent variables.In a similar way, step 3 is carried out by substituting the variable of EDUCATION by TRAINING. The regression results are listed in Table 9. The robustness of the result was checked by doing the regressions with the control variables added for each case. The corresponding regression results are described in Table 10. There are no obvious changes in the signi? cances of the regression results listed in Tables 9 and 10. The mediation function of internal factors does occur and Hc is supported. In the case of introducing the internal factors into regressions, the signi? cances of external pressures to LGSCM are all reduced signi? cantly or even removed completely.This implies that the low level of GSCM involvement of Chinese companies could be fundamentally attributed to a lack of the necessary internal capacities for GSCM practices. The strong pressures Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China Variables entered Coef? cient t? statistic P? value Coef? cient t? statistic 13 P? value (a) EDUCATION as dependent variable ? 0 REGULATORY F? value R2 (adjusted) ? 0 DCLIENT F? value R2 (adjusted) ? 0 COMPETITOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 2. 131 0. 268 4. 409 2. 479 6. 145 0. 033 3. 806 4. 671 21. 819 . 0120 5. 280 2. 982 8. 894 0. 050 0. 000 0. 014 (b) TRAINING as dependent variable 2. 014 0. 83 6. 196 6. 667 44. 445 0. 222 8. 689 6. 144 37. 748 0. 195 9. 751 5. 216 27. 211 0. 1 50 0. 000 0. 000 1. 503 0. 421 0. 000 0. 000 2. 451 0. 396 0. 000 0. 000 2. 125 0. 288 0. 000 0. 003 2. 727 0. 350 0. 000 0. 000 Table 8. Regression results of internal factors and external pressures with significances to LGSCM Variable entered Coef? cient Step 1 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Step 2 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Step 3 t? statistic P? value (a) REGULATORY as the independent variable ? 0 REGULATORY EDUCATION TRAINING F? value R2 (adjusted) 2. 331 0. 241 5. 126 2. 367 0. 000 0. 019 1. 502 0. 146 0. 375 3. 358 1. 540 5. 338 17. 416 0. 89 0. 001 0. 126 0. 000 0. 747 –8. 783E? 02 0. 728 5. 601 0. 031 1. 699 ? 0. 895 7. 580 32. 931 0. 312 0. 092 0. 372 0. 000 (b) DCLIENT as the independent variable ? 0 DCLIENT EDUCATION TRAINING F? value R2 (adjusted) 1. 637 0. 407 4. 237 4. 619 0. 000 0. 000 1. 077 0. 286 0325 2. 813 3. 319 4. 634 22. 731 0. 236 0. 006 0. 001 0. 000 9. 139E? 02 0. 174 0. 612 21. 331 0. 124 0. 220 2. 206 6. 622 35. 351 0. 328 0. 826 0. 045 0. 000 (c) COMPETITOR as the independent variable ? 0 COMPETITOR EDUCATION TRAINING F? value R2 (adjusted) 1. 675 0. 423 4. 776 5. 031 0. 000 0. 000 0. 978 0. 319 0. 338 2. 787 4. 010 5. 101 27. 949 0. 279 0. 006 0. 000 0. 00 0. 100 0. 226 0. 570 25. 314 0. 147 0. 251 2. 811 6. 342 36. 265 0. 337 0. 802 0. 006 0. 000 Table 9. Regression results of LGSCM for mediating function test Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 14 Variable entered Coef? cient Step 1 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Step 2 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Xianbing Liu et al. Step 3 t? statistic P? value (a) REGULATORY as the independent variable ? 0 REGULATORY EDUCATION TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 497 0. 266 0. 851 2. 760 0. 397 0. 007 ? 0. 197 0. 194 0. 357 0. 162 0. 190 ? 0. 355 2. 177 5. 270 4. 99 1. 375 15. 139 0. 310 0. 723 0. 031 0. 000 0. 000 0. 172 ? 0. 220 ? 0. 029 0. 611 0. 125 0. 128 ? 0. 419 ? 0. 294 6. 159 3. 811 0. 944 19. 319 0. 368 0. 676 0. 769 0. 000 0. 000 0. 347 0. 176 0. 293 4. 856 1. 960 9. 673 0. 169 0. 000 0. 052 (b) DCLIENT as the independent variable ? 0 DCLIENT EDUCATION TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 439 0. 342 0. 896 3. 890 0. 372 0. 000 0. 008 0. 212 0. 322 0. 144 0. 214 0. 018 2. 453 4. 573 4. 373 1. 552 15. 598 0. 317 0. 986 0. 016 0. 000 0. 000 0. 123 ? 0. 638 0. 137 0. 540 0. 124 0. 153 ? 1. 343 1. 592 5. 842 3. 883 1. 139 20. 317 0. 380 0. 182 0. 114 0. 000 0. 000 0. 257 0. 147 0. 322 4. 72 2. 210 12. 583 0. 214 0. 000 0. 029 (c) COMPETITOR as the independent variable ? 0 COMPETITOR EDUCATION TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 409 0. 356 0. 859 4. 224 0. 392 0. 000 ? 0. 237 0. 275 0. 329 0. 148 0. 168 ? 0. 511 3. 472 4. 911 4. 592 1. 236 17. 453 0. 345 0. 610 0. 001 0. 000 0. 000 0. 219 ? 0. 742 0. 183 0. 524 0. 127 0. 124 ? 1. 589 2. 268 5. 753 3. 994 0. 928 21. 233 0. 393 0. 115 0. 025 0. 000 0. 000 0. 355 0. 155 0. 258 4 . 457 1. 772 13. 382 0. 226 0. 000 0. 079 Table 10. Regression results for robustness test of the mediating function from external stakeholders do not necessarily lead to GSCM in reality. More speci? ally, REGULATORY is completely mediated by the two internal factors, while DCLIENT and COMPETITOR are only partially mediated. This indicates that the adoption of GSCM practices of Chinese companies is probably more responsive to non? coercive and competitive factors such as pressures from the domestic clients and leading companies in the same sector. This interesting ? nding also con? rms that governmental regulations in China do not play an active role in encouraging industrial practices in GSCM. In addition, the greater reduction of signi? cances in step 3 than in step 2 demonstrates that the variable of TRAINING is indeed potent as an intermediate variable.The internal environmental training of related employees may strongly enhance a company’s capacity to deal with external pressures by being proactive in environmental management such as GSCM practices. Conclusions This paper explores the current status and determinant factors of GSCM practices adopted by companies located in the Yangtze River Delta of China. The surveyed companies perform slightly better than the companies sampled in a Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China 15 previous survey in North China (Zhu et al. , 2008). However, the overall level of GSCM practices does not differ dramatically. This con? ms that Chinese companies are still at a preliminary stage of GSCM practices. In particular, the companies’ environmental management in cooperation with external members of the supply chain is very marginal. Among a larger range of determinant factors classi? ed in this study, external pressures from domestic clients and competitors are signi? cantly and positively ass ociated with LGSCM while the regulatory pressure shows slightly positive in? uence. Learning capacity of the company signi? cantly determines LGSCM as an internal factor. Differing from the result of Zhu et al. (2008), the support of top managers has less in? uence on GSCM activities.These results are consistent with those of Jeppesen and Hansen (2004), which attributed the environmental improvement of Third World companies on the value chain to external market forces and the internal resources of the companies. Another meaningful ? nding of our analysis is that the internal factors are greatly mediating the in? uences of external pressures. Our analysis may provide essential policy implications for promoting the GSCM practices of companies in China. Many more concerns about a company’s environmental performance from its external stakeholders will be facilitated, which may generate pressures for the company’s efforts in GSCM practices. It is very necessary to educate c ompanies to better understand the advantages and approaches of GSCM as an innovative strategy for sustainable production.The diffusion of successful cases would be an effective method, as it helps increase a company’s capacity to actually adopt GSCM practices. As an empirical study of GSCM in China, this paper develops a comprehensive analytical framework and conducts an integrative analysis. Nevertheless, a few questions remain for subsequent studies. As examples, the working mechanism of determinant factors identi? ed for GSCM practices needs to be observed in more detail. 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Squaring lean supply with supply chain management. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 16(2): 183–196. Madu CN, Kuei C, Madu IE. 2002. A hierarchic metric approach for integration of green issues in manufacturing: a paper recycling application. Journal of Environmental Management 64: 261–272. Min H, Galle WP. 1997. Green purchasing strategies: trend and implications. International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management 33(3): 10–17. Nage l MH. 2000.Environmental supply chain management versus green procurement in the scope of a business and leadership perspective. IEEE, 219–224. Nelson JC, Rashid H, Galvin VG, Essien JDK. 1999. Public/private partners key factors in creating a strategic alliance for community health. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 16: 94–102. PPRC (The Paci? c Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center). 2002. Supply chain management for environmental improvement. 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Environmental management and manufacturing performance: The role of collaboration in the supply chain. International Journal of Production Economics 111(2): 299–315. Vijay R, Kannan K, Tan C. 2003. Attitudes of US and European managers to supplier selection and assessment and implication for business performance. Benchmarking: An International Journal 10(5): 472–489.Walton SV, Hand? eld RB, Melnyk SA. 1998. The green supply chain: integrating suppliers into environmental management process. International Journal of Purchasing and Material Management 34(2): 2–11. Zhu QH , Geng Y. 2001. Integrating environmental issues into supplier selection and management: a study of large and medium? sized state? owned enterprises in China. Green Management International (Autumn): 27–40. Zhu QH, Geng Y. 2006. Statistics analysis on types of Chinese manufacturers based on practice of green supply chain management and their performance. 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Organizational structure of international Dairy Queen Essay

International Dairy Queen is a subsidiary of William Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Group. Charles â€Å"Chuck† Mooty is the President and CEO. Charles Chapman is COO while James S. Simpson is CFO, Treasurer and Controller (Hoover’s Inc. 2007). According to President and CEO, Charles Mooty, the main asset of the company is people being a service company. Moreover, the company has franchisees and should be assisted to maintain growth (Jossi 2001). Dairy Queen was originally run as a family corporation until shareholders decided to sell to Berkshire Hathaway. Mooty’s strategy includes the development of people, brand and presence (Jossi 2001). Recent lawsuits filed by franchisees against the mother company had caused too much rift in between the company and the franchisees. Mooty aimed to put the past behind and rebuild the relationship with the franchisees so that IDQ and the franchisees operate as a singular system (Jossi 2001). To revitalize the market, DQ also introduced another concept restaurant, the DQ Grill and Chill. It is a more pricey dining experience that would cost a customer on the average at $6 USD per head. According to Wolkowitz (2005), there are 51 restaurants, two of which are company owned while the rest belonged to franchisees. Jawad Business Group owns and operates the DQ Grill and Chill in Bahrain. The organization structure of International Dairy Queen could be illustrated in the diagram below. Since International Dairy Queen (IDQ) is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, the management team of IDQ is under the auspices of the mother company. Figure 1 – Organization Structure of International Dairy Queen IDQ has the traditional top-down organization where the mother company determined its management and the conduct of business (Berkshire Hathaway). Berkshire Hathaway has accountability to its shareholders. The structure is perceived as such because it was the shareholders who originally approved the sale of Dairy Queen to Berkshire. Therefore, any decision by the management should have the approval of the shareholders before it can proceed. If Dairy Queen’s original owners did not sell their shares to Berkshire, DQ would still remain a family-run corporation. Bibliography â€Å"A Story of Sweet Success† n. d. [Online] Available at: http://www. dairyqueen. com/en-US/About+Dairy+Queen/Corporate/History/default. htm [Accessed 20 July 2007] AgExporter. 1996. Arabian Gulf: Hot Markets for US Foods [Online] Available at: http://www. allbusiness. com/agriculture-forestry-fishing-hunting/557170-1. html [Accessed 21 July 2007] Badawy, M. K. 1980. Styles Of Mideastern Managers. California Management Review . Spring 1980; Volume 22, Issue: 3; 51-58. Bahrain This Month. 2007. Eating Out [Online] Available at: http://www. bahrainthismonth. com/restaurants/cuisine. fastfood. php [Accessed 22 July 2007] Garber, A. 2004. Quick-serve Concepts Upscale Image, Elevate Prices. Nation’s Restaurant News; Volume 38, no. 18;1-4. Ford, C. W. , Nonis, S. A. and Hudson, G. I. 2005. A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Value Systems and Consumer Ethics. Cross Cultural Management; Volume 12, Issue 4; 36-50. Hill, C. W. L. , & Jones, G. R. 2004, Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach 6th ed. , Boston: Houghton Mifflin Hoffman, K. 2005. Drive Thru Gourmet / New Blizzard Flavors May Leave Competitors Quaking in Their Boots, Houston Chronicle. Houston, Texas: 10 Hoover’s Inc. 2007. International Dairy Queen, Inc. Overview. [Online] Available at: http://www. hoovers. com/dairy-queen/–ID__13811–/free-co-factsheet. xhtml? cm_ven=PAID&cm_cat=INK&cm_pla=CO1&cm_ite=dairy-queen [Accessed 21 July 2007] Jossi, F. 2001. A Royal Challenge [Online] Available at: http://www. qsrmagazine. com/issue/interview/chuckmooty.phtml [Accessed 21 July 2007] Kavoossi, M. 2000 The Globalization of Business and the Middle East: Opportunities and Constraints. Westport, CT. Quorum Books. â€Å"March Into Spring as DQ ® Goes Green,† n. d. [Online] Available at: http://www. dairyqueen. com/en-US/About+Dairy+Queen/Corporate/Press+Releases/March+Into+Spring+as+DQ%C2%AE+Goes+Green. htm [Accessed 20 July 2007] Porter’s Diamonds of National Advantage 2007 [Online] Available at: http://www. quickmba. com/strategy/global/diamond/ [Accessed 21 July 2007] Toffler, A. 1990. Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century. Bantam. New York. US Foreign Commercial Services and US Department of State 2004. Doing Business In Bahrain: A Country Commercial Guide for U. S. Companies [Online] Available at: http://www. export. gov/middleeast/country_information/CCG/Bahrain/Doing%20Business%20in%20Bahrain%20FY%202005%20(CCG)%20-%20Final. doc [Accessed 21 July 2007] Wolkowitz, D. 2005. DQ Grill & Chill: Well-Known Ice-Cream Brand Turns Up the Heat with New Look, Expanded Menu, Nation’s Restaurant News [Online] Available at: http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_5_39/ai_n9523126/pg_1 [Accessed 21 July 2007].

the Last samuri essays

the Last samuri essays This was an absolute wonderful movie. When I went to go see it I was just going to get extra credit, but right at the beginning of the movie I knew it was going to be good. The way the started the movie was great how they showed Tom Cruise drinking and the cut to this guy announcing he was a captain the in Indian wars. The he comes out and starts his performance which is to sell this gun, but instead of doing as he always does he calks the gun and fires it. I thought this scene was extremely funny. As the movie progresses you can tell how much he regrets whats hes done in the Indian wars cause every once and awhile when hes sleeping he has dreams of whats hes done and then he wakes up in a cold sweat. He is hired to train Japanese soldiers so the can fight against the rebellious Samurai warriors. He excepts the job because he is going to be paid five hundred dollars a month which is an awful lot of money back then. So he gets to Japan starts to train these soldiers. Then awhile later the Samurai attack the railroad and they want them to go and fight them. He tries to convince them that the soldiers arent ready by forcing one of the Japanese men to try and shoot him and like he suspected he missed. They still make them go and attack them. So they are in the forest then can here something coming so line up in attack position. Then all of a sudden the Samurai appear out of the trees and begin to gallop there horses towards them. They start shooting, but even though they all had guns they retreated because the samurai warriors were very skilled with there blades. Until the last person who was fighting them was Tom Cruises character he was surrounded, but still he held them all back until a man with red armor stepped forward and challenged him. It looked as if he gave up ,but then he lunged forward with is sword and killed him. The leader then ordered them all to stop and they took him ...

Food Safety and Quality Essays

Food Safety and Quality Essays Food Safety and Quality Essay Food Safety and Quality Essay Food safety quality Roberts Bakery is committed to a policy of quality assurance throughout all activities in order to maintain its commitment to all stakeholders. The company has developed a series of food safety and quality management systems, which are an integral part of day-to-day business operations and are designed to protect the consumer, the employee and the business from any hazard to health. The products and services offered by the company are required to comply with customer specifications, legislation and company regulations. Methods of assuring quality and food safety re based on a problem prevention basis and the company is dedicated to the application of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Technical Standard, backed up by the application of Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP). The management of this policy is undertaken by the technical managers of the company with the support of the full management team and all company personnel. The team constantly review procedures, taking into account business benchmarking, latest industry standards, legislation and customer feedback. Allergens Roberts Bakery will always clearly communicate to both staff and customers about he use of allergenic ingredients in our products. This includes clear allergen declarations on product packaging and the website, and staff training and risk assessment measures in the production process. Genetically modified foods All of the ingredients that we use in the manufacture of Roberts Bakery products are from non-GM sources. Where appropriate identity preserved sources are used, for example for soya flour, which is fully auditable and traceable. It is the intention of Roberts Bakery to remain free of GM material and to avoid its introduction into any ew or existing products. We therefore support the use of ValidlT to confirm the status of susceptible ingredients. : Palm oil Roberts Bakery is working with its suppliers to source sustainable palm oil as quickly as possible. Further detail on the over-arching polices of Frank Roberts and Sons Limited, and its trading divisions, can be found at www. frank-roberts. co. uk or if you have a question regarding a particular policy then please get in touch. See more at: robertsbakery. co. uk/about-us/food-safety-quality/#sthash. CqydiqSH. dpuf Food Safety and Quality By sakwe

The Wright Brothers Make the First Flight

The Wright Brothers Make the First Flight At 10:35 a.m. on December 17, 1903, Orville Wright flew the Flyer for 12 seconds over 120 feet of the ground. This flight, conducted on Kill Devil Hill just outside of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, was the very first flight by a manned, controlled, heavier-than-air aircraft that flew under its own power. In other words, it was the first flight of an airplane. Who Were the Wright Brothers? Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) and Orville Wright (1871-1948) were brothers who ran both a printing shop and a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. The skills they learned from working on printing presses and bicycles were invaluable in trying to design and build a working airplane. Although the brothers interest in flight had stemmed from a small helicopter toy from their childhood, they didnt begin experimenting with aeronautics until 1899, when Wilbur was 32 and Orville was 28. Wilbur and Orville began by studying aeronautical books, then talked with civil engineers. Next, they built kites. Wing Warping Wilbur and Orville Wright studied the designs and accomplishments of other experimenters but soon realized that no one had yet found a way to control aircraft while in the air. By studiously observing birds in flight, the Wright brothers came up with the concept of wing warping.​ Wing warping allowed the pilot to control the roll of the plane (horizontal movement) by raising or lowering flaps located along the planes wingtips. For instance, by raising up one flap and lowering the other, the plane would then begin to bank (turn). The Wright brothers tested their ideas using kites and then, in 1900, built their first glider. Testing at Kitty Hawk Needing a place that had regular winds, hills, and sand (to provide a soft landing), the Wright brothers selected Kitty Hawk in North Carolina to conduct their tests. Wilbur and Orville Wright took their glider into the Kill Devil Hills, located just south of Kitty Hawk, and flew it. However, the glider did not do as well as they had hoped. In 1901, they built another glider and tested it, but it too did not work well. Realizing that the problem was in the experimental data they had used from others, they decided to conduct their own experiments. To do so, they went back to Dayton, Ohio and built a small wind tunnel. With the information gained from their own experiments in the wind tunnel, Wilbur and Orville built another glider in 1902. This one, when tested, did exactly what the Wrights expected. Wilbur and Orville Wright had successfully solved the problem of control in flight. Next, they needed to build an aircraft that had both control and motorized power. The Wright Brothers Build the Flyer The Wrights needed an engine that would be powerful enough to lift a plane from the ground, but not weigh it down significantly. After contacting a number of engine manufacturers and not finding any engines light enough for their task, the Wrights realized that in order to get an engine with the specifications they needed, they must design and build their own. While the Wilbur and Orville Wright designed the engine, it was the clever and able Charlie Taylor, a machinist who worked with the Wright brothers in their bicycle shop, who built it carefully crafting each individual, unique piece. With little experience working with engines, the three men managed to put together a 4-cylinder, 8 horsepower, gasoline engine that weighed 152 pounds in just six weeks. However, after some testing, the engine block cracked. It took another two months to make a new one, but this time, the engine had a whopping 12 horsepower. Another engineering struggle was determining the shape and size of the propellers. Orville and Wilbur would constantly discuss the intricacies of their engineering problems. Although they hoped to find solutions in nautical engineering books, they ultimately discovered their own answers through trial, error, and lots of discussion. When the engine was completed and the two propellers created, Wilbur and Orville placed these into their newly built, 21-foot long, spruce-and-ash framed Flyer. With the finished product weighing 605 pounds, the Wright brothers hoped that the motor would be strong enough to lift the plane. It was time to test their new, controlled, motorized aircraft. The December 14, 1903 Test Wilbur and Orville Wright traveled to Kitty Hawk in September 1903. Technical difficulties and weather problems delayed the first test until December 14, 1903. Wilbur and Orville flipped a coin to see who would get to make the first test flight and Wilbur won. However, there wasnt enough wind that day, so the Wright brothers took the Flyer up to a hill and flew it. Although it did take flight, it crashed at the end and needed a couple days to repair. Nothing definitive was gained from this flight since the Flyer had taken off from a hill. The First Flight at Kitty Hawk On December 17, 1903, the Flyer was fixed and ready to go. The weather was cold and windy, with winds reported around 20 to 27 miles per hour. The brothers tried to wait until the weather improved but by 10 a.m. it had not, so they decided to try a flight anyway. The two brothers, plus several helpers, set up the 60-foot monorail track that helped keep the Flyer in line for lift-off. Since Wilbur had won the coin toss on December 14,  it was Orvilles turn to pilot. Orville  clambered onto the Flyer, laying flat on his tummy on the middle of the bottom wing. The biplane, which had a 40-foot 4-inch wingspan, was ready to go. At 10:35 a.m. the Flyer started off with Orville as pilot and Wilbur running along the right side, holding onto the lower wing to help stabilize the plane. Around 40 feet along the track, the Flyer took flight, staying in the air for 12 seconds and traveling 120 feet from liftoff. They had done it. They had made the very first flight with a manned, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air aircraft. Three More Flights That Day The men were excited about their triumph but they were not done for the day. They went back inside to warm up by a fire and then went back outside for three more flights. The fourth and final flight proved their best. During that last flight, Wilbur piloted the Flyer for 59 seconds over 852 feet. After the fourth test flight, a strong gust of wind blew the Flyer over, making it tumble and breaking it so severely that it would never be flown again.   After Kitty Hawk Over the next several years, the Wright Brothers would continue perfecting their airplane designs but would suffer a major setback in 1908 when they were involved in the first fatal airplane crash. In this crash, Orville Wright was severely injured but  passenger Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge died. Four years later, having recently returned from a six-month trip to Europe for business, Wilbur Wright became ill with typhoid fever. Wilbur never recovered, passing away on May 30, 1912, at the age of 45. Orville Wright continued to fly for the next six years, making daring stunts and setting speed records, stopping only when aches left over from his 1908 crash would no longer let him fly. Over the next three decades, Orville kept busy continuing scientific research, making public appearances, and battling lawsuits. He lived long enough to witness the historic flights of great aviators such as Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart as well as recognize the  important roles that planes played in World War I and World War II. On January 30, 1948, Orville Wright died at age 77 of a massive heart attack.

LG Optimus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LG Optimus - Essay Example Perhaps the most notable feature of the phone is first encountered upon attempting to access its menu screens. Although the phone has a number of menu options, including Internet access, a calendar, and a number of characteristic smartphone features, the limited screen size makes accessing these options troublesome. For instance, in attempting to click on one of the menu options, oftentimes the screen surface misinterprets your choice and loads a different screen. The screen itself is almost impossible to type on as well. In terms of usability, the phone offers Internet access, but has a number of complications. One of the main complaints is that the phone lacks Flash access. While to some this would seem a small complaint, when actually attempting to browse the Internet it becomes clear that the pervasive use of Flash on high-use websites makes lacking this feature a significant problem. Another problem is the processor speed in terms of Internet access. While some reviewers have no ted this as one of the phone’s positive elements, it significantly falls behind the Apple iPhone. The contention is that the LG Optimus V is of lower cost than the Apple, but upon use it’s clear that the extra charge for the Apple product is well worth the cost. Furthermore, while it’s a small issue in terms of functionality, the phone often indicates that 3G access is available when in reality it is not. This becomes an issue as the user is oftentimes left wondering if the phone’s Internet connection mechanism has broken, of if it is simply another error. The device also cannot be used as a mobile hotspot. In addition to issues related to functionality and Internet access, there are a variety of miscellaneous problems with the phone. Among these issues is the phone’s lack of battery support. Indeed, among all the major smartphone products, the LG Optimus V is recognized as having the worst battery. This becomes highly problematic when the individu al attempts to use the phone on long-drives or trips. Like clockwork, the battery support runs out and the user is left with an unusable product. Another issue is the phone’s overall memory. This is one of the major sacrifices the product makes for its low cost. While individuals may feel the limited memory use is of little concern, after using the phone for a steady period one quickly recognizes the need for increased memory, as the culmination of apps and documents soon compounds. Finally, the phone comes loaded with a variety of apps and settings that the user generally does not need. It then becomes the user’s responsibility to delete these features and continually retune the settings to optimize the product efficiency. Reflection In reflecting on my review in relation to the original review I believe that my review is more persuasive. My strategy in rebutting the original review was not to simply provide a piece-by-piece refutation. I believe in attempting to refu te the original review in such a way is not rhetorically effective as this would center on the review and not the product. Instead, my review focused on the product in terms of its overriding effectiveness. While my review was a qualitative assessment of the product, it is more persuasive than the original review because of both its accuracy of assessment and quality of articulation. In

Microbial Content of cooked meat kebab Lab Report

Microbial Content of cooked meat kebab - Lab Report Example However, because the meat is cooked on one surface only, there is an increased opportunity for pathogen outgrowth and microorganism multiplication (Vazgecer, Ulu and Oztan, 2004). There have been reported cases of food contamination and foodborne disease occurrences circumstantially connected to kebab consumptions which can lead to more complex outcomes (Angelillo, I.F., Viggiani, N.M.A., Rizzo, L. and Bianco, A., 2000. Food handlers and foodborne diseases: knowledge, attitudes, and reported behavior in Italy. Journal of Food Protection 63 3, pp. 381–385. View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (35)Angelillo, Viggiani, Rizzo, and Bianco, 2000). Some human ailments may be caused by foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella serotypes, Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens, and Bacillus cereus (Swaminathan and Feng, 1994). The changing epidemiology of foodborne diseases and the resurfacing of some microorganisms and pathogens are attributable to various conditions, such as everyday habits and routines of consumers, food handling and preparation, food manufacture and distribution, and understanding of food risks (Lacey, 1993; Roberts, 2000; Slutsker, Altekruse, and Swerdlow, 1998). This experiment will determine levels of aerobic microorganisms and identify probable pathogens in two kebab meat samples of chicken and lamb. Moreover, it will verify probabilities on disease transmission and assess kebab’s quality and safety for human consumption. 10 grams of the chicken sample was placed in a sterile stomacher bag with 90ml of buffered peptone water; homogenized with a blender; incubated for 24 hours. 1 ml of chicken sample was then suspended into 9ml of SCB and incubated for another 24 hours at 37 Â °C. 10 grams of the lamb sample was placed in a sterile stomacher bag with 90ml of Ringer solution; homogenized with a blender; diluted with 20uL of sample and 180ul of

Issues about pedagogic design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Issues about pedagogic design - Essay Example Therefore, teacher is assumed to be the organizer rather than the main source of knowledge. After browsing Allwright and Hank (2009) â€Å"Method and the Learner†, I realized that my teaching style is similar to the teaching approach, design and procedure of socio-psychological approach to community language learning (CLL). CLL encourages the students to interact with one another to help them develop their ability to use a second language. Instead of leaving the leaving the learning and teaching process to the students, the second language teacher can also act as the teacher whereas the students are treated as learners. By showing the proper way of using a second language, teachers will be able to make the students apprehend the proper pronunciation of a word aside from making them learn the basic construction of grammar. My teaching style is closely related to Richards and Rodgers (2001) communicative language teaching in the sense that this approach and method in language te aching is focused on increasing the students’ communicative abilities. Increasing the students’ knowledge on second language is totally different from making them able to speak the language in public.

Whale Rider. Movie and the book, which one is better Essay

Whale Rider. Movie and the book, which one is better - Essay Example Whale Rider is yet another book that has been taken by the screen industry, and morphed into a movie. Yet, there is little that can be complained about. While the book itself is powerful, the changes made to create a movie from the story bring it to life, making it a story of power and a happily ever after for those who watch it. Everything comes out right, and everyone learns a powerful lesson. While many would argue that all movies should stay loyal to the text they are inspired by, many are just that, only inspired. The story stays enough the same that people recognize the link, but the story being told is different. In those cases, it does not seem logical or reasonable for the movie to strictly follow the book. In many cases (such as Jurassic Park) it does not make sense, as the book has scenes and moments that either cannot be portrayed cinematically, or that draw from the primary plot, and damage the story. Movies are limited in both time, and in their ability to accurately portray everything that a book can get across, and the same is true in reverse. Where a movie portrays emotion, a book might share each character's innermost thoughts, which is hard to do on a large screen. So it becomes necessary to change the story enough that it will be successful cinematically, but also still follow the story.

Compare and contrast Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Compare and contrast - Research Paper Example To begin with, the integrative negotiation strategy is stipulated as expanding the agenda negotiation strategy. As the name suggests, it aims to expand the boundaries of the negotiation by bringing in new ideas and issues to the negotiation situation that did not previously exist. Through this strategy, the parties are able to trade issues that are less important to them while retaining the more relevant issues to them and hence achieve the outcome they needed in the negotiation (Hatfield, Agoglia & Sanchez, 2008). Problem solving approach is the second form of an integrative negotiation strategy. This is a learning approach that is mainly aimed at identifying the interests of the involved parties and gathering information aimed at coming up with new solutions to the involved parties in the negotiation situation. It is mainly applied in an auditing negotiation situation whereby the auditor uses additional information to safeguard his desired outcome while still giving the client an avenue to feel that his objective was also achieved (Hatfield, Agoglia & Sanchez, 2008). Integrative negotiation strategy can be applied in the work setting whereby both parties will lose heftily if an agreement is not reached and where one party does not have undue influence over the other. An example is in negotiation situation involving a manufacturer and a sole supplier of its raw commodities. The two parties need each other and hence problem solving or expanding the agenda using data collection will have to be employed to come up with a decision that favors both parties (Hatfield, Agoglia, & Sanchez, 2008). In contrast, a distributive negotiation strategy is achieved using the interplay of three principles; conceding, compromising or contending. When contending is applied in a negotiation situation, it is mainly aimed at making the other party comply or resisting