Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret: The Power" and the law of attraction
Rhonda Byrne's The Secret: The Power (2010) is truly an incredibly bad book, simplistic, repetitive and divorced from real history, politics or economics, yet it has sold 19 million copies. A cynic might say that the real secret to wealth is writing a bestselling book that millions will buy. Her 2006 book The Secret sold more over 19 million copies and was translated into 46 languages, and she was also a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and many others on the daytime TV chat circuit. Like all self-help writers, she has a talent for publishing the same advice repeatedly in new books that claim to offer even greater insights than past philosophers and religious teachers and in 2007 Byrne wrote The Secret Gratitude Book, followed a year later by The Secret: Daily Teachings. Her latest offering is about 250 pages long and quickly appeared on the bestseller lists, which indicates the type of strong cult following that all publishers desire. Byrne's central thesis is that human beings can change their entire lives and have everything they want simply by wishing for it, including money, wealth, happiness, careers, and romantic relationships.
Forecasting techniques in supply chain management planning and control
Supply chain management is a process conducted by several business entities, which involves planning, implementing and controlling any production and supply activities, with an aim of providing it to consumers in efficient ways. While supplying, there are intermediaries who play a role in connecting producers and consumers, who ensure efficiency in the supply chain too. Supply management is done to ensure collaboration between the intermediaries (Catholic Relief Services. pg 14). Planning and control system aids in define rules under which the business operates and within a given set of resources. Planning and controlling department depend on the information given by supply department for effective control of the business.
The importance of strategic planning in modern business operations
Strategic planning has been used throughout the history of mankind and is a process that sets out the direction that the organization will take in the short- and long-term. The strategic planning process is visionary, conceptual, and directional in nature and serves as the building block or framework for the business plan of the organization. benefits of the business plan include such as better decisions, increased energy, increased capacity, improved customer satisfaction, competitive advantage, better solutions, and market recognition. Key ingredients to strategic planning includes the creation of vision and direction that is both simple and clear, a good plan, great execution, and communication of the plan.
Lawler, JE (nd) The Importance of Strategic Planning. Practical Decisions. Retrieved from: http://www.practicaldecisions.com/strategic-planning.pdf
Business Planning Papers: Developing a Strategic Plan (2012) Planware.org. Retrieved from: http://www.planware.org/strategicplan.htm
Zuckerman (nd) Is Strategic Planning Still Relevant? Chapter 1. Retrieved from: http://www.ache.org/pubs/Zuckerman_Ch1.pdf
IBM's hiring of untouchables in India: ethical and cultural challenges
as a global company, IBM operates in different national environments and comes in contact with a wide array of cultural traditions and customs. In India, this translates in the caste system, a very rigorous division of society into castes that leaves people at the lower end on the outside. While cultural differences are something that any global company takes into consideration, not hiring untouchables just because they belong to the lower classes is not something that IBM can do.
As a global American company, IBM has a global image that it needs to protect and support and this image also implies equal opportunities for all its potential employees. It cannot afford to damage its global image only so as to pay attention to local traditions in this case.
Selecting and positioning an ethics officer within organizations
This paper is about ethics answering the following questions. Imagine that it's your responsibility to select an ethics officer for your organization. What qualities, background, and experience would you look for? Why? Would you ever be interested in such a position? Why or why not?
- "What sorts of ethical issues will an ethics officer in your organization have to decide or resolve?"
- "Is there technical knowledge required? How could a non-technical person acquire the knowledge necessary to resolve issues?"
- "Is a background in the law essential?"
- "Could a young person -- under age 35 -- do the job, or would employees be more comfortable with an older person?"
- "What kind of experience within your company would make the most well-rounded ethics officer?"
- "How could an outsider gain credibility within your organization?"
- "Is there anything which could bar an insider from the job of ethics officer?"
2. Should the Ethics Officer report to the company's chief executive officer, the legal department, human resources office or the audit department? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
- "Think about the mission of all of the departments listed -- legal, audit, human resources, the CEO -- what are the risks associated with raising an issue with each of the departments?"
- "What advice could each provide?"
- "What protection could each provide?"
Assignment:
If you haven't yet held a job, interview your parents, family, or friends who do work. Ask them about questions 3 - 11.
Worldwide and territorial approaches to corporate tax systems
National taxing has been proven to affect economic decisions made by MNEs. Typically, the settlement of taxation will take two different approaches, which are the worldwide approach and the territorial approach. this study shows that the major difference between taxable income and economic income in tax structures across the globe are the treatment of depreciation and interest. Besides, the international debt market uses debt instruments to regulate borrower's repayment plans and investor's investment plans.
Nortel's rise and fall: unethical management practices
Over the past epoch, fraudulent business activities have negatively implicated on the confidence of investors. For instance, successful affiliations such as WorldCom, Nortel and Health South have exhibited such vices in the past that have resulted in their downfall. Canada's Nortel encompassed numerous business mishaps and failures. Failures in businesses aid in projecting the future of such companies and other related multinational affiliations. Numerous studies on Nortel provide a clear overview of factors leading to its rise and decline. Response to fraud in companies has elicited new legislation to counter the effect associated with poor management and inaccurate financial accounting (Markarian, Magnan & Fogarty, 2009). This study sheds light on the various concerns regarding the rise and decline of Nortel.