Rachels Bus Company Social Impact Model

COMMERCIAL LAW Lifting the Veil of Incorporation essay

COMMERCIAL LAW Lifting the Veil of Incorporation essay COMMERCIAL LAW: Lifting the Veil of Incorporation essay COMMERCIAL LAW: Lifting the Veil of Incorporation essayLimited Liability Company is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding inventions of mankind. Along with technological advances, it provided an opportunity for rapid economic development of our civilization over the past century and a half. Such a company, first, is a subject to law separate from its members, and, second, the parties are not liable for its obligations. The latter makes it possible to attract funds of investors into various businesses, including high-risk ones, which creates favorable conditions for the realization of all kinds of innovative projects.Unfortunately, limited liability companies are often used in bad faith, in particular, as a tool to defraud creditors. This raises the question whether it is necessary to always adamantly follow the principle of limited liability, or sometimes this principle can be omitted placing the responsibility to the creditors on the participants of the company or other responsibl e persons. It is obvious that such exceptions are sometimes quite feasible and can be realized in the frameworks of piercing the veil of incorporation doctrine. At the same time, these conditions must be sufficiently restrictive so as not to discredit the very concept of limited liability. Further in this paper, we will explain the concept of lifting corporate veil by using real life examples and show the imperativeness of its importance.Lifting the veil: law practicePerhaps for the first time the issue of lifting the corporate veil was discussed at a high judicial level in a classic case of Salomon v A. Salomon Co Ltd of 1897. The majority shareholder owned 20001 shares of the company, while his wife and children owned six more (under the law of time the company should have had at least seven shareholders). Despite the fact that the majority shareholder completely controlled the shoe factory, which eventually went bankrupt, the House of Lords, acting as a court of highest resort, denied liquidator to entrust the shareholder liable for the debts of the company. The court in this case took quite a formalistic position, stating that all the requirements of the law regarding the establishment of a limited liability company had been met, and the court had no right to add any additional requirements to them (Presser, 2012, p.24). However, development of corporate forms in global business environment led the jurisprudence to the fact that in some cases the courts recognized the need to retreat from the principle of limited liability of shareholders (participants) of the company and the company’s management bodies, as well as the liability of parent companies for the actions of their subsidiaries.The essence of the doctrine of lifting the corporate veil is in assigning responsibility of an independent legal entity to third parties. In practice, this term is used in three cases (Presser, 2012; Franklin, 2013):When the court in dealing the issue of liability of the legal entity departs from the principle of the limited liability of the founders (participants) and places the responsibility on them;When the court ignores the separateness of legal entities belonging to a holding or a group of legal entities, and, based on the principle of â€Å"single economic unit†, imposes liability of an independent legal entity on separate legal entities comprising the holding or group;When the court imposes liability on the bodies of the legal entity.However, the most difficult issue in such cases is to determine the criteria by which the company will be subject to lifting the veil. In general, basing on Presser (2012), Franklin (2013), and Nyombi (2014), in the context of civil proceedings the courts have identified at least three situations where it is appropriate to lift the corporate veil. First, if the offender is trying to hide behind the corporate facade or veil to hide one’s crime and benefits from it. Second, if the offender commi ts an act on behalf of the company, which (with the mandatory presence of guilt) constitutes a criminal offense leading to one’s conviction; in this case the corporate veil is not even lifted but rather offhandedly torn off. Third, if the transaction or commercial structures are â€Å"device†, â€Å"cloak† or â€Å"sham†, that is, an attempt to disguise the true nature of the transaction or structure to defraud third parties or courts. Thus, we can conclude that the corporate veil lifting in civil disputes is based on the criteria of â€Å"ownership and control’ and â€Å"bad faith† subject to mandatory proof.The first element is denoted by the term â€Å"dominance† and the idea is that the controlling person has the ability to fully define actions of the controlled entity. To establish the fact of control, a number of factors can be used that considered together may indicate the presence of total control feature (situation where the company is the alter ego or instrumentality of its owner), as researched by Nyombi (2014), Franklin (2013) and OECD (2001):Insufficient independence, i.e. providing a minimum ownership capital insufficient for conducting activities;Milking the company use of company’s funds for personal needs of the owner (direct payment of personal telephone calls, personal vehicles, personal purchases, expenses of relatives, etc. from the corporate accounts);Misrepresentation – distortion of facts regarding business activities, information about location, company’s assets, managerial staff, providing false addresses, nominees as the administrative body of the company;Commingling and holding out the use of joint accounts, facilities, transport and other property;Non-compliance with corporate procedures/formalities: the absence or irregular conduct of meetings of participants, absence or merely a nominal presence of directors and other employees, inobservance of recordkeeping requirements, lack of bank account or conducting corporate transactions from the owner’s account, conducting business on behalf of the company and not on behalf of the owner, submitting no reports or irregular reporting documentation to the public and other authorities;Non-payment of dividends, non-distribution of profits;Using the company to pay the debts of other companies or those of the owner.The main criteria for the recognition of a company as the shareholder’s agent were established in 1939 in the case of Smith, Stone Knight Ltd v Birmingham Corporation (BC wanted to compulsorily acquire the land owned by SSK’s subsidiary Birmingham Waste Co Ltd, and parties disputed the compensation directly to Smith, Stone Knight Ltd, cited in Presser (2012, p.65), which included the following noticeable ones (Presser, 2012, p.69):Profit of the company is considered as the profit of the shareholder;Shareholder appoints the persons carrying out activities on behalf of the company;Shareholder is the brain center of the company;Shareholder has permanent control over the company’s business;Turning to more modern precedents, we should remember the case of DHN Food Distributors v Tower Hamlets London Borough Council of 1976, though it was not quite usual in the sense that the very controlling entity of the company demanded to lift the corporate veil (Presser, 2012, p. 93). Thus, the parent company wanted to take the place of the subsidiary it controlled. In this case, a plot of land in London formally owned by the company belonging to DHN-holding group that owned a grocery store was subject to the mandatory buyout for public use. DHN store warehouse was located on the buy-out land, and by the agreement with the affiliate DHN enjoyed the right perpetual lease of land. Its withdrawal led to the cessation of DHN business, and it could claim for damages if it owned the plot. DHN applied to the court for the corporate veil lifting, referring to the fact that it completely controlled its subsidiary. Namely, (1) it participated in the affiliate’s capital by 100%, (2) directors were the same people, and (3) the affiliate was used by the holding exceptionally to own the land and did not conduct any independent activity. The Court agreed with the arguments of the plaintiff and lifted the corporate veil, allowing DHN receive compensation for withdrawal of the land instead of the subsidiary.In all cases of principal-agent relationship between the company and its shareholder, the company actually lost its independence, which gave courts the grounds for departing from the principle of Solomon. At the same time, ownership and control are not sufficient criteria to lift the corporate veil. The court cannot lift the veil only because, in its opinion, it meets the interests of justice, but the corporate veil should be lifted if the case also involves impropriety, abuse of rights, deception or offense (Anderson, 2012, p. 133). As ex plained by OECD Taxation (2001, p.39), the essence of this criterion is that the controlled entity is used by the controlling person to the detriment of a third party and at the same time as the tool to escape from responsibility of the controlling person itself. In this situation, the case goes about using the corporate structure of the company as a facade to conceal the facts.For example, in Jones v Lipman (1962) (cited in Franklin, 2013, p.10), the defendant made a commitment by the contract to sell the land to the plaintiff, after which the one decided not to carry out the sale, set up a company being its shareholder and director, passed the land to its possession and refused to execute the contract with the plaintiff. Respondent filed suit for specific performance. The court obliged the director of the established company, and the company itself which was the creation of the controlling director, tool and veil, the mask which he held in front of his face to become invisible to the law of justice. Furthermore, in Adams v CapeIndustries (1990), it was found that there is no general principle according to which a group of companies should be regarded as one person (Anderson, 2012, p. 134). Thus, in Polly Peck International Plc (1996) it was found that a subsidiary being a financial mechanism created with the sole purpose of obtaining a loan should not have been considered part of the holding company (respectively, holding’s responsibility was not attached), even despite the fact that lenders issuing the loan, obviously, gave the money based on the trust to the latter (Presser, 2012, p.111). The precedent for further monitoring of offshore companies and for the recovery of lost revenue due to the activities of their owners was also created y the case of Antonio Gramsci v Stepanovs (2011) (Anderson, 2012, p. 135).Thus, in case of the presence of dominant control and impropriety related to the use of corporate structure to avoid or conceal liability, cor porate veil should be lifted in order to prevent corporate fraudulent activities and avoidance of executing contractual or other legal obligations. At the same time, shareholders may be accepted as personally liable if their illegal purposes or deliberate concealment of the true state of affairs is proved.ConclusionUnder current law, a legal entity is separate, individual and independent from its founders, having the ability to own property, to enter into commitments, and sue and be sued. An immanent feature of the legal entity’s independent nature is the limited liability of its founders: they are not liable for the obligations of the legal entity, that is, they are behind its veil. Development and complication of civil turnover led to the need to develop a list of exceptions to this principle, mainly to counteract the abuse of this right. â€Å"Lifting the veil† doctrine is included today in the corporate law of many countries aimed at providing diligent and proper e xercise of civil rights and civic duties.Piercing the corporate veil is an instrument for balancing the interests of the companies’ members (shareholders) and the interests of creditors, and is valid to uncover the ultimate beneficiary and fulfill the rights of creditors, if the entity is created only for the use of participants’ limited liability in terms of debts, which is particularly evident in activities of â€Å"one person† companies. In our opinion, despite the existing differences in interpretation, the institution should be used not to destruct the limited liability, but to prevent the unlimited one. In particular, it makes sense to consider the doctrine of lifting the corporate veil in the overall context of the fight against abuse of corporate relations, as well as a kind of addition to the norms of the written law, stipulating that under certain circumstances company participants can be deprived of their privilege of limited liability.

Comparison of two works in Museum of Modern Art Term Paper

Comparison of two works in Museum of Modern Art - Term Paper Example The paper "Comparison of two works in Museum of Modern Art" compares Fernand Leger’s "Woman With a Book" with Meret Oppenheim’s "Red Head, Blue Body". Painters use the techniques they employ in their paintings and the features of the society they portray in the same. The discussion below therefore analyses features of two paintings developed in different times with the painters employing particular techniques in ensuring the efficacy of the artifacts. Woman With a Book painted by Fernand Leger in 1923 and Red Head, Blue Body painted by Meret Oppenheim in 1936 have fundamental differences and similarities that help portray the social, cultural and technological development in the art within the decade that separates them as the discussion below portrays. Just as the name suggests, Woman With a Book, is an artistic oil on canvas painting of a woman holding a book. The painting depicts the painter’s artistic intuition and urge to create a new style in painting there by debuting the mechanical age. In the painting, Fernand Leger portrays his artistic skills as he employs particular elements in developing the painting. He employs such elements as appropriate shapes and colors thereby developing effective foreground, middle ground and background in his artifacts. These enhance his communication as he envisioned the final artifact. The choice to use oil on canvas is appropriate, as it has contributed to the longevity of the painting in the museum. Oil on canvas was a major discovery in the early years of art.

The Global Governance of the Internet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Global Governance of the Internet - Essay Example Above all, the Internet offers global presence. ‘Everywhereness’ is possibly the distinguishing feature of the dynamism of the Internet. Geography is an irrelevant matter for Internet users; hence, regulating the Internet has legal and jurisdictional dilemmas. Moreover, no particular nation or body has power over the Internet. Without a doubt, this dispersed nature has been one of the paramount attributes of Internet dynamism, but it also has raised serious problems. Favourably, Internet dynamism have led to a spectacular outburst of human innovation in terms of new consumer prospects and choices, new commercial channels, and new global information and communication systems. But, unfavourably, the dynamism of the Internet has compounded any effort to regulate it, hold cybercriminals responsible, and resolve conflicts (Mueller, 2010, pp. 175-176). This condition where in a responsible entity or cybercriminal is unknown expresses itself in everyday occurrences: online iden tity theft, e-mail spam, network viruses, etc. Making matters more complicated is the fact that several nations and jurisdictions also seek someone to be held responsible when their legal principles or societal standards are violated (Thierer & Crews, 2003, p. 16). New, innovative technologies can pose problems for policymakers, who often try to control new technologies that they have little knowledge about. The Internet has been particularly challenging for local and global policymakers because its affordability, accessibility, and inclusiveness helped its popularity to flourish at an unparalleled speed. Unfortunately, the Internet is almost impossible to regulate or control because it is not owned by anybody, and hence anyone can use, or abuse, it from anywhere in the world. Even when an unidentified person does something other people believe to be offensive—like downloading and sharing copyrighted video or music files or posting pornography—it is very difficult to i dentify the wrongdoer. Thus policymakers have been trying to develop regulations and policies for the Internet in order to identify and prevent cybercrimes or illegal activities on the Internet, like pornography and gambling. In other words, these policymakers are trying to mitigate the adverse outcomes of Internet dynamism. It is the contention of this essay that global rules for the Internet would not undermine its dynamism; in fact, global rule will safeguard and reinforce it. The Need to Regulate the Internet The dynamism of the Internet, which in turn spawned commercialisation, popularity, and ubiquity of the cyberspace, has resulted in some common social dilemmas and conflicts in the Internet. The illegal downloading of video and music files, the proliferation of corrupted forms of speech, and the disintegration of privacy are some of the examples of these dilemmas. Simultaneously, e-commerce merchants have been violated by hackers (Schwabach, 2006, p. 309). It is immature to believe that the best solution can be social rules, the market, or the law alone. The complicated problems raised by the Internet can only be solved through the combination of the market, social rules, and the law. Even though there is a certain extent of controversy on how to regulate the Internet, nobody disputes the importance of some form of global rule and technical management. Regardless of opposition to regulatory supervision, the Internet cannot endure with the absence of this global rule. There should be regulatory entities that take care of usual and everyday technical issues like the supervision of IP addresses and domain names and the establishment of technical norms (Mueller, 1998, p. 93). Two main policy organisations that offer Internet governance are the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF),

Water Treatment at Boston Beers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Water Treatment at Boston Beers - Essay Example The reporter declares that "I feel the company should preserve the surroundings by ensuring that water released into the environment following manufacturing is fully treated, which is a low-cost program for Boston Beers and will reduce water pollution. The following is a discussion on its benefits to the community and the company. Resources such as clean water and air are getting more elusive daily, both in the community, we operate within and in the world over. In Boston, Massachusetts, one of the major problems faced is water pollution. Some members of the public continue to raise concerns over the frequent pollution of their primary water sources that they use as sources of drinking water, domestic consumption, and industrial uses, among other things. Often, members of the public have articulated that unclean water infiltrates their water lines, causing the water supplied to be unusable, especially domestically. In a study conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, it was discovered that the water pollution in the Boston area went as high as 35.71% on the pollution index. The study was based on water collected from beaches, rivers and residential areas. The beach water was voted most polluted owing to the quantity of chemical effluent discovered on testing the samples collected from them. Apart from chemicals, the water consisted of other wastes such as plastics and sewage. This has raised major concerns over the measures taken by the relevant parties in ensuring access to clean and usable water in the community. Boston Beers Company has a role to play in ensuring a reduction in the level of water pollution in the environs of the company. The company is not solely to blame for water pollution. Even so, there are several reasons as to why the Boston Beers ought to be at the front line in making efforts to reduce water pollution."

Benefits of Seaweed Enhancement for Crop Growth

Benefits of Seaweed Enhancement for Crop Growth CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background Soil enhancement with organic materials is a common component of soil fertility management for crop production, with the aim of providing essential plant nutrients and improving overall soil physical, chemical, and biological quality (Diacano and Montemurro, 2010). Marine macro-algae, or seaweed, has been historically used as a soil enhancement material, and may have application for modern agriculture as a low cost source of nutrient-rich biomass (Angus and Dargie, 2002; Cuomo et al., 1995). While seaweed compost and extract products have been widely evaluated for agricultural applications (Woznitza and Barrantes, 2005; Khan et al., 2010), evaluation of unprocessed seaweed biomass as an enhancement material is limited, particularly with regard to soil quality. Application of seaweed material may uniquely affect soil quality parameters as a result of its chemical characteristics, including carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) composition, and salt, sulfur (S), heavy metal, and trace element co ntent. In this study, the putative benefits of seaweed enhancement for crop growth and production were assessed on various crops in field experiment, including analysis of soil physical, biological, and chemical properties. 1.2 Historical use of seaweed in agriculture. In coastal regions, collection and application of seaweed is a traditional soil fertility management strategy, especially where agriculture relies on use of local resources (Cuomo et al., 1995). As a readily-available, low-cost material to supplement soil fertility, application of seaweed biomass is often an integral component of traditional, small-scale, diversified agriculture (Angus and Dargie, 2002). For instance, agriculture in the Machair region of the Scottish Outer Hebrides Islands involves a rotation-intensive system that integrates the application of locally available seaweed biomass (Angus and Dargie, 2002; Kent et al. 2003). Traditional agriculture of the Machair, practiced for at least 1,000 years before present (YBP), relies on a â€Å"crofting† system that generally includes an intensive rotation of livestock grazing, field crop cultivation, and two years of fallow, with hypothesized effects on soil biodiversity (Angus and Dargie, 2002; Vink et al., 2009). Soil fertility is still largely maintained by the traditional practice of application of manure and seaweed, primarily the brown alga Laminaria digitata (Angus and Dargie, 2002), which is collected and piled onshore for 1-2 weeks prior to application. Promotion of seaweed application as a part of sustaining small-scale, diversified agriculture is supported by Scottish Natural Heritage, a governmental conservation organization, as well as local conservation group efforts (Angus and Dargie, 2002).In addition to the Machair region, historical accounts of seaweed use in agriculture range from the British Isles, to coastal mainland Europe, to the northeastern region of the United States, including New York, Maine, and Rhode Island (Fussel, 1973; Smith et al., 1989; Cuomo et al., 1995). For example, prior to the adoption of synthetic fertilizer, potato production in Rhode Island incorporated seaweed collection as a means of maintaining soil fertility, including for agricultural research at the University of Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station (R. Casagrande, personal communication). Seaweed in the modern agricultural context In organic or reduced-input cropping systems, both in the U.S. and worldwide, seaweed-based agricultural products (e.g. extracts for foliar application and composts) are commonly employed (Khan et al., 2009). However, application of unprocessed biomass is less prevalent. To reduce dependence on application of inorganic fertilizers, make use of an abundant (sometimes over-abundant) resource, and improve soil quality, the traditional practice of seaweed application may have modern application in coastal regions. Because adding seaweed to soil can increase plant macro and micronutrients, and may improve soil biological, chemical and physical properties (Khan et al., 2009), the practice may be an additional strategy to manage soil fertility and quality that addresses the dual problems of reliance on inorganic chemical fertilization and wasting o f valuable, nutrient-rich biomass. Inorganic fertilizer inputs account for a large fraction of conventional farm expenses, energy consumption, and carbon emissions (Lal, 2004). Application of inorganic fertilizers without addition of organic enhancements, cover crop use, or use of alternative tillage practices can result in depletion of soil organic matter (SOM), with concomitant negative effects on many soil properties important for crop productivity (e.g. nutrient retention, moisture-holding capacity, aggregate formation, and microbial activity) (Brock et al., 2012; Franzluebbers, 2012). Furthermore, levels of nutrient elements other than N, P, and K (e.g. Ca, Mg, Mo, B, and S) are generally low in inorganic fertilizers, and are of increasing concern for crop quality and nutritional value (Welch and Graham, 2012). Consequently, reliance on inorganic fertilizer as a sole source of fertility is often questioned as a sustainable management strategy, and 4diversification of inputs is encouraged, particularly inputs that provide not only primary nutrients (i.e. N, P and K), but also organic matter and trace elements (Lal, 2004). Organic enhancements used to improve soil fertility include traditional (e.g. animal manure) and non-traditional (e.g. industrial by-products) materials (Power et al., 2000). Seaweed, which contains primary nutrients, organic C, and other nutrient elements, is thus a good candidate organic enhancement material as part of a diversified soil fertility management strategy. In addition to the potential crop nutrition benefits of seaweed enhancement, the prevalence of seaweed biomass in coastal areas as a result of both natural phenomena and anthropogenic impacts may allow for use of seaweed with minimal cost. Nutrient (N and P) enrichment of coastal waters – sometimes attributed to fertilizer runoff from agriculture and home use – can cause excessive seaweed growth (Morand and Merceron, 2005). In addition to detrimental ecological impacts (e.g. oxygen depletion), the accumulation of seaweed biomass on beaches can have negative economic consequences (RI DEM, 2010). For instance, in the summer of 2012,  accumulation of the red seaweed Polysiphonia sp. on Massachusetts beaches required mechanical removal and disposal in order to maintain beaches for public use, costing money for equipment use and labor, as well as preventing beach use. Beach-cast biomass is often removed and disposed of in landfills. Although the species composition and pro perties of beach-cast seaweed varies based on location and environment (e.g. estuarine vs. marine), the coordination of accumulated seaweed biomass removal with agricultural application may provide a low-cost, locallyavailable resource for soil fertility management. To initiate this arrangement for 5 coastal regions, characterization of seaweed biomass in terms of location and abundance, species composition, and chemical characteristics relevant to soil quality and plant nutrition is required. Additionally, quantification of seaweed biomass effects on soil quality and crop production is required to validate putative benefits or negative effects of seaweed enhancement practices 1.2.3 Scope Marine algae is estimated to contribute about 70 % to 80 % of earth’s atmospheric oxygen, amounting to about 330 billion tonnes of oxygen per year (Hall, 2008). This is an indication of how important algae are to the environment. Algae are simple, autotrophic organisms that are either microscopic or macroscopic. Specifically, seaweeds are macroscopic algae that thrive in benthic marine waters. Just like terrestrial plants, these groups of multicellular organisms are autotrophic and thus have the ability to carry out photosynthesis. However, they do not posses several distinct organs such as true leaves, roots, flowers and seeds that typify terrestrial plants (Sumich Morrissey, 2004). There are roughly 10000 different species of seaweeds recorded. Generally, seaweeds can be divided into three groups, namely Rhodophyceae (6000 species), Chlorophyceae (2000 species) and Phaeophyceae (2000 species) based on their colour pigment (Guiry Guiry, 2011). The genus being studied,  Sar gassum, belongs to the group Phaeophyceae, which obtains its distinctive brown colour from the xantophyll pigment of fucoxanthin. Cell walls of these algae are mainly composed of cellulose and alginic acid, a valuable component that adds commercial value to Sargassum species. In Asia, seaweeds are commonly used as fertilizers and as food for both humans and animals. Trono (1999), McHugh (2003) and Phang (2006) are among the many authors who have listed down the beneficial usages of seaweeds which include Sargassum as raw products for cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry.

Putting a Face on Freedom :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

Putting a Face on Freedom What is Freedom? Freedom in and of itself defies definition since its very essence and parameters can be shown only with its constraints and limitations. If one state of being is unable to stand on its own merits and must rely on another to have structure, can it never truly be â€Å"free.† Therein lies the irony: freedom is forever encapsulated by its limitations, regardless of its range. Without evident barriers, it could not exist. If it is within barriers, can it truly exist? This paper will discuss the existence of freedom and several of its forms. Although much sought after, gaining freedom usually involves strife and war. With the splitting of the Catholic Church in the Reformation, many restraints on science, religion and education vanish, causing a rebirth of knowledge and philosophical thought. Although fragmented, the Catholic Church is by no means vanquished, so inevitable conflicts arise. The conflicts are not confined to the battlefield, though, they occur more often than not in the form of books and documents. With wars, famine and social upheaval accompanying the Reformation, men sometimes lament the passing of the former system (a unified Church) which, though imperfect, at least provides some stability. Thomas More, a critic of King Henry VIII, cleverly disguises his criticisms in his literature. He writes about a tightly regulated society, Utopia, where there are no social strata and people of all religious persuasions can live harmoniously with one another, to freely practice their religions without fear of reproach. Though there seems to be an abundance of freedom, including religious, there are a few hitches—such as having to obtain permission from your father and wife before exploring the countryside, wearing the same clothing as everyone else, having no possibility for social advancement and compulsory theism (your choice of deities, however): â€Å"†¦he (Utopus) made a solemn and severe law against such as should†¦think that our souls died with our bodies, o r that the world was governed by chance, without a wise overruling Providence† (More, p. 747). More’s Utopia offers freedoms some might cherish, but others would find it unbearably restrictive. Even those of a religious bent might have looked askance at Utopia’s forced theism policy. Is it freedom? Some might think so if they believed freedom of religion didn’t include freedom from religion.

Competitive strategy of wine industry Essay

The wine may appear to be a simple drink with limited variation available, has turned into a multibillion dollar a year industry with enormous variation and an increasingly sophisticated consumer base. The variation available and changes in the age groups who are becoming the major markets for wine producers have created visible market trends that cannot be ignored. These trends also affect the global market. Focusing on market scale and branding expertise, these opponents have capitalized on the globalization of the wine industry. Recently, more and more wine production is taking place in â€Å"New World† regions such as parts of Australia, Chile, and the United States, which have gained a strong comparative advantage in the wine industry. Another problem is that some wine firm (usually French or Italian) are not capable to satisfy the demand of country such as China which has a huge population and even if the people who drink wine are not a lot the level of wine consumption is increasing and as a consequence the amount of export is growing as the graph below shows. Source: All material  ©2010 – 2012 Twisted Pine Productions. Imports of bottled wine in China increased by 94% year-on-year (y-o-y) to US$1. 27bn in 2011, according to data provided by the China Culture Association of Poetry and Wine (CCAPW). According to CCAPW, the total volume of imported wine climbed 76. 5% y-o-y in 2010, while it increased by 80. 9% y-oy in 2011. CCAPW also revealed that sales of domestically produced wine grew 36. 3% y-o-y to CNY34. 2bn (US$5. 4bn) in 2011. Wine continues to be dominated by domestic brands, and although imports from major producing nations such as France have grown, they remain beyond reach in price terms for all but the most affluent of Chinese consumers. As a consequence of these barriers, winemakers from leading winemaking countries have entered the Chinese market via joint ventures, providing expertise and advice to local vineyards, thus finding a means of capitalising on this growing market. It’s very important distinguish the industry of wine in 2 main category: Small producer: who has high prices, low level of competitors but low production capacity; focused on niche Big producer: who has medium/low prices, more competitors and high production capacity; focused on economies of scale Rivalry Barriers to Entry: The wine industry represents substantial barriers to entry. The most significant of these barriers is the price of land. Prices of land for vineyards has risen sharply. Along with the initial investment in land, there is a large capital investment in equipment. There are requirements for processing facilities and for storage facilities of large barrels of wine. Time is also against the new comer to the wine industry. It will often take years of aging before a wine can be brought to market making the return on investment very slow. Degree of Rivalry: The wine industry is an industry with many competitors. A high number of competitors suggest that price competition is very high. Along with the high number of competitors, there is also substantial consolidation of larger brands. Companies such as Foster Brands, Constellation, and Gallos have been purchasing smaller wineries and often have brand portfolios with as many as one hundred plus wine brands in the portfolio. These larger producers are using their power to push smaller manufacturers off the shelves. Power of Buyers: Buyers in the wine industry can be grouped into two categories, distributors and retailers. The distributor market has undergone intense consolidation with the five largest liquor distributors having over thirty percent of the market. The retailers also have a great deal of power over producers. The two largest wine retailers are Costco (with 10%) and Wal-Mart (with 9%). Threat of Substitutes: Brand loyalty is depend of the country, there are some countries accustomed to the use of wine which have acquired expertise allowing to learn about wine and to be loyal to a certain producer. Though there are other customers, such as Americans which has not the knowledge of the product that may be loyal to a certain product such as a merlot, they do not care who makes it. Supplier Power: There are several suppliers. One supplier is the vineyards. These vineyards lack power, the global market has been flooded with grapes from California, Australia, and several other countries. With all of these pressures, there is very high competition and low power of suppliers. Other suppliers such as bottlers are also easily substituted so they lack significant buying power. Conclusion regarding rivalry: The problem with the wine industry is the consolidation of distributors and buyers. With so much power in the hands of buyers, a winery needs to be large so that they cannot be pushed around by the buyers. This is why many small wineries have consolidated; they need to be larger to gain bargaining power. key success factors in the wine industry BEING DIFFERENT J. Lapsley and K. Moulton [2001] explain in their book â€Å"Successful Wine Marketing† how crucial it is that wine products seek a real identity. An appellation’s success is based on its ancestral and rigorous attributes, and of course, on the grower’s competence. A newer approach consists of developing branded wines and assuming that a brand conveys a particular identity derived from its specific competitive positioning and astute advertising. SEGMENTING THE MARKET The advantage of having real market segmentation is that consumers can be grouped homogeneously. This helps to improve the efficiency of any commercial actions undertaken. McKinna [1987] showed that wine consumers could be classified into four main market segments: connoisseurs (25%), students (51%), new consumers (10%), and bulk consumers who drink wine served in boxes, etc. (14%). These averages may cover significant national variations. The market breakdown will vary depending on whether the country in questions is â€Å"Old World† and accustomed to well established benchmarks like appellations, or â€Å"New World† and more spontaneously interested in specific branded wines or grape varieties. MOVING CLOSER TO THE MARKET Mudill, Riding, Georges and Haines [2003] have highlighted distribution channel concentration as the key variable in the world wine market. Like wine producers, actors in these channels have engaged in countless mergers and acquisitions in their attempts to gain more power vis-a-vis the major retailers and to shorten the logistics chain. In many sectors of activity, value added has steadily moved downstream, benefiting retailers instead of entrepreneurs who are in the process far upstream. This has triggered a merger-mania with companies trying to move as close as possible to the end user by eliminating intermediaries. FINDING A DIFFERENT WAY TO COMMUNICATE It is known that amongst the various marketing mix tools available to wine sector product managers, communications [advertising] plays a role that is clearly important. Furthermore, although one of communication’s main goal is to attract new (and often young) consumers. The Internet can help sponsors here by providing an additional vehicle for media communications. Kehoe and Pitkow [1996] have clearly shown that the Web targets a mainly male population that is relatively young, influential, and which enjoys above-average education. Their E-commerce has increase sales by 11% in the year 2011. Conclusion To achieve a good ranking in the wine industry it is necessary to analyze the own product, the global market and figure out what yours goals and objectives are. After having settled this, follows the development of an international strategy. Srategy suitable for the wine industry In the wine industry, the used strategies change depending the dimension of the companies. In the small company is recommended use the home replication strategy, selling the same products in both domestic and foreign markets, having a strong name and characteristic to loyalty a specific consumers grouped in a niche. Instead in the big companies is recommended penetrate the market using a transnational or even global strategy since rivals are the same in most country markets so there is a strong competitiveness that has to be attacked by low costs and global standardization strategy. MARCO SIMONINI

A Profile of Photographer Zana Briski, Director of Born Into Brothels

A Profile of Photographer Zana Briski, Director of Born Into Brothels In the late 1990s, Zana Briski, a London-born Cambridge University theology student turned photographer, ventured to India to document, as she puts it, the particular hells that women can go through - sex selective abortion, dowry deaths, the treatment of widows, child marriages. It was never her intention, she says, to photograph prostitutes - until, that is, she was introduced to Sonagachi, the red light district of Calcutta. When I entered the red-light district I had a very strong feeling of recognition and I knew that this was why I had come to India, she says in an e-mail interview. I spent two years gaining access - it took me that long to be offered a room in a brothel so I could live there. I photographed the women when conditions allowed and spent day after day just hanging around, watching, listening. Fate took yet another turn when Briski began interacting with the children of the prostitutes. I would play with the children and let them use my camera. They wanted to learn photography - that was their idea not mine. So I bought point-and-shoot film cameras and chose several kids who were most eager and committed and started to teach them in formal classes, she says. From the very first class, she adds, I knew something special was happening and that I needed to film what was going on. I had never picked up a video camera before, but I bought one and started filming as I was teaching the kids and living in the brothel. Eventually Briski persuaded her friend, filmmaker Ross Kauffman, to join her in India. Over the next two years the pair documented Briskis efforts not just to teach the children photography, but to get them into good schools where they might have a chance at a more hopeful future. The result was Born Into Brothels, a gritty and poignant account of Briskis time with the red-light kids of Calcutta, as they came to be known. At turns joyous and heartbreaking, the film focuses on eight of the kids in particular, including Kochi, a painfully shy girl who almost certainly faces a life in prostitution unless she can escape the poverty and despair of Sonagachi and gain admission to a boarding school; and Avijit, the most gifted of Briskis students who nonetheless nearly gives up on photography after his mother is murdered. With the kind of eloquence that comes only from children, Avijit tells an interviewer early in the film, there is nothing called hope in my future. Shot on a shoestring budget, in a setting light years from Hollywood, Brothels might have languished in obscurity. But the film not only garnered raves from critics; it won the 2004 Academy Award for best documentary feature. Meanwhile, a book of the childrens photos was published and Briski set up a foundation, Kids With Cameras, to help pay for their schooling. Sadly, fairy-tale endings are all-too rare. Even with funding and encouragement not all of the red light kids, now young adults, have fared well in the intervening years. Briski confirmed a BBC report that one of the girls featured in the film later became a prostitute. She did so by choice and I respect her choice, Briski says. I dont consider that a failure or a shame. I trust she knows what is best for her. But many of the other children did go on to school in India, some even in the United States. Briski said Kochi studied at a prestigious school in Utah for several years before returning to India to finish her education. And recently Avijit, the child prodigy in Brothels, graduated from NYUs film school. Amazing, Briski says. I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished. Most people, having won an Oscar for their very first film, might be expected to continue on that path. But Briski felt pulled to return to her first love, photography, and a project called Reverence, in which she photographs insects around the world. Asked why she chose not to continue with filmmaking, Briski, 45, says even after winning an Oscar I do not consider myself to be a documentary filmmaker or a journalist. I move through the world in an open way and I respond to what is around me. Born Into Brothels and Kids With Cameras were not planned in any way. They were a response to what I discovered in the world. Photography is my medium, she adds. I am a traditional black-and-white photographer and I still shoot film and work in the darkroom. Reverence, Briski says, came to her through dreams of a praying mantis. The experience was so strong that I had to pay attention. Strange praying mantis coincidences would happen and I began to follow the clues - clues that have taken her to 18 countries to photograph and film mantids and other insects over the past seven years. Currently shes photographing jaguars in Brazil. If all goes as planned, the culmination of Briskis work will be a traveling museum with large-scale photographs, film and music. The project, which Briski hopes to open when she receives enough funding, is about respect of all life forms and changing our point of view. Not so different, she adds, from what I did in the brothels - bringing attention to those who are feared, ignored, abused, from their point of view.

Handwriting v Typing Essay Example

Handwriting v Typing Essay Example Handwriting v Typing Essay Handwriting v Typing Essay Handwriting v Typing BY titus2211 The process of reading and writing involves a number of senses, she explains. When writing by hand, our brain receives feedback from our motor actions, together with the sensation of touching a pencil and paper. These kinds of feedback is significantly different from those we receive when touching and typing on a keyboard. Learning by doing Together with neurophysiologist Jean-Luc Velay at the University of Marseille, Anne Mangen has written an article published in the Advances in Haptics periodical. They have examined research which goes a long way in confirming the significance of hese differences. An experiment carried out by Velays research team in Marseille establishes that different parts of the brain are activated when we read letters we have learned by handwriting, from those activated when we recognise letters we have learned through typing on a keyboard. When writing by hand, the movements involved leave a motor memory in the sensorimotor part of the brain, which helps us recognise letters. This implies a connection between reading and writing, and suggests that the sensorimotor system plays a role in the process of visual recognition during reading, Mangen explains. Other experiments suggest that the brains Brocas area is discernibly more activated when we are read a verb which is linked to a physical activity, compared with being read an abstract verb or a verb not associated with any action. This also happens when you observe someone doing something. You dont have to do anything yourself. Hearing about or watching some activity is often enough. It may even suffice to observe a familiar tool associated with a particular physical activity, Mangen says. Since writing by hand takes longer than typing on a keyboard, the temporal aspect may also influence the learning process, she adds. : The term haptic refers to the process of touching and the way in which we communicate by touch, particularly by using our fingers and hands to explore our surroundings. Haptics include both our perceptions when we relate passively to our surroundings, and when we move and act. A lack of focus There is a lot of research on haptics in relation to computer games, in which for instance vibrating hand controls are employed. According to Mangen, virtual drills with sound and vibration are used for training dentists. But there has been very little effort to include haptics within the humanistic disciplines, she explains. In educational science, there is scant interest in the ergonomics of reading and writing, and its potential significance in the learning process. Mangen refers to an experiment involving two groups of adults, in which the participants were assigned the task of having to learn to write in an unknown alphabet, consisting of approximately twenty letters. One group was taught to write by hand, while the other was using a keyboard. Three and six weeks into the experiment, the participants recollection of these letters, as well as their rapidity in distinguishing right and reversed letters, were tested. Those who had learned the letters by handwriting came out best in all tests. Furthermore, fMRI brain scans indicated an activation of the Brocas area within this group. Among those who had learned by typing on keyboards, there was little or no activation of this area. The sensorimotor component with learning difficulties. But there is little awareness and understanding of the importance of handwriting to the learning process, beyond that of writing itself, Mangen says. She refers to pedagogical research on writing, which has moved from a cognitive approach to a focus on contextual, social and cultural relations. In her opinion, a one-sided focus on context may lead to neglect of the individual, physiological, sensorimotor and phenomenological connections. Interdisciplinary collaboration Within the field of psychology, there is an awareness of the danger of paying too much attention on mentality. According to Mangen, perception and sensorimotor now play a more prominent role. Our bodies are designed to interact with the world which surrounds us. We are living creatures, geared toward using physical objects be it a book, a keyboard or a pen to perform certain tasks, she says. Being a media nd reading researcher, Anne Mangen is a rare bird within her field of study. And she is very enthusiastic about her collaboration with a neurophysiologist. We combine very different disciplines. Velay has carried out some very exciting experiments on the difference between handwriting and the use of keyboards, from a neurophysiologic perspective. My contribution centres on how we as humans with bodies and brains experience the writing process, through using different technologies in different ways. And how these technologies interfaces influence our experience, she concludes.

Market Competition Timing and Risks while entering or exiting a market Essay

Market Competition Timing and Risks while entering or exiting a market - Essay Example The researcher states that for example, Amazon.com started its business as an online bookshop but as gradually the demand for the grocery items had increased, Amazon.com adhering to that demand and started its first online grocery shop. As we see in the case of Monopoly where there are no competitors and therefore firms set a price to maximize profit and gain the first mover advantage. Whereas in a perfect competition there are no entry and exit barriers so the role of time in deciding the entrance or exit from the market is minimal and perfectly competitive firms are free to enter and exit an Industry and so in the case of Monopolistic competition in which there is a relative freedom of entry and exit out of industry but a difference between those two terms is that in Monopolistic competition the firms are not ‘perfectly’ mobile but they remain unrestricted by any government rules and regulations, start-up costs or any substantial barrier to entry which is the total opp osite of Oligopoly in which there are significant barriers to entry where time plays a major role in determining the entry and exit from the market. A firm has to evaluate several factors in order to determine the risks of new entrants and the reasons to exit a market which include â€Å"economies of scale, product differentiation, capital requirements, access to distribution channels, cost disadvantages independent of scale and government policies†... The term Economies of scale refers to increase the production of a commodity due to which the per-unit cost is of a commodity is reduced. This will create a risk for the new entrant firms in a sense that they would have to produce a larger quantity at a lower price. Economies of scale encourage the firms to exit the market that cannot produce the required quantity and it deters the smaller firms from entering into the market. These bigger firms forces the new entrants to either come in on a large scale or to accept a cost disadvantage (Porter, 1979). Product differentiation is a risk for entering into the market because it requires incurring expenditure and great deal of money to make the product differentiate among its competitors. Another type of risk is capital requirement where new entrants are required to invest larger amounts to compete efficiently in an industry; particularly if the capital is required for the research and development. The initial cost to operate can be so lar ge that it restricts all but the larger firms. The capital is not only required for fixed facilities but also for the inventories and absorbing start-up losses. While bigger firms have the financial resources to tap any industry but the huge capital investments in industries such as mineral extraction and computer manufacturing has major risks and limits the pool of entrants. Even the big firms do compete in this trio there is still no guarantee for success. Access to distribution channel is another type of risk in which a firm needs to obtain distribution for the channel and the distributors are not likely to deliver the product until they are paid good incentives and that will lead to profit reduction for the firm. For example, a new food product enters

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Ethics - Essay Example As a future executive leader, I found the results of these assessments to be both enlightening and offered as proverbial food for thought on how this researcher can best reach his goal of professional success. The concept of psychometric testing is a field of study which measures skills, personality traits, and abilities of an individual in order to determine the theoretical behaviors that a test subject reveals in areas of career and personal lifestyle. Based on the results of this psychometric data, the Personal Career Development Profile (PCDP) offers insights into how an individual copes with stressful situations, interacts with others during career and personal situations, and sets a potential career direction in which a person may excel. The PCDP results consist of a narrative, again based on the results of personality testing mechanisms, which offer insight toward a trend of behaviors that a person might exhibit; so as to offer personal understanding of where an individuals strengths and weaknesses lie in terms of career and professional development. In similar respect, the 16 PF testing instrument is designed to assess a set of personality characteristics within the individual being tested in an attempt to pinpoint the degree to which a person exhibits a pattern of behaviors – such as relaxed versus tense or concrete thinker versus abstract/conceptual thinker. The 16 PF offers a scale of 1 (being lowest) to 10 (being highest) to measure the degree in which a person might lean when determining potential career direction; or to offer insight into areas that the individual might need to improve upon. For instance, the test subjects goal may be to secure an executive-level position within a major corporation. This goal, undoubtedly, will require substantial leadership skills in terms of maintaining an authoritarian personality. The results of the 16 PF study measures, as one example, the