ANALYSIS ON THE EUROPEAN UNION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

ANALYSIS ON THE EUROPEAN UNION - Essay Example A Commissioner can be responsible for policy areas that belong to different DGs. Cabinet portfolios are basically function-based. National officials are invited by the Commission to participate on expert and advisory committees in the preparatory stages of a policy process. They attend as area experts, and do not formally represent their governments (Docksey and Williams, 1997, p. 141). Interest group participation is functionally based. The geographical principle is apparent in several respects. At the apex of the organization, the College of Commissioners is comprised of persons proposed by the member governments. They are served by personal secretariats that are composed of compatriots of the respective commissioners. For the Commission services, the recruitment of officials is drawn from national quotas but merit criteria is also applied. The EU has 27 member countries. ... (since 2004-05-01), Lithuania (since 2004-05-01), Luxembourg (EUR), Malta (since 2004-05-01) (EUR: 2008-01-01), the Netherlands (EUR), Poland (since 2004-05-01),Portugal (EUR), Romania (since 2007-01-01),Slovakia (since 2004-05-01) (EUR: 2009-01-01), Slovenia (since 2004-05-01) (EUR) , Spain (EUR), Sweden (since 1995-01-01) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. III. Economic Total Value of Trade The EU has a tremendous trading partnership with various countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). The total value of EU trade with the ACP countries reached approximately 80 billion for 2007. The breakdown of trade transactions reflected figures of EU importation worth 40.2 billion and EU export figures of 39.7 billion. For the African countries, the EU is their largest trading partner.In terms of trade composition, the profile of key products which are currently traded are as follows: the ACP countries export petroleum (42% of total exports), cocoa beans, (5%) and diamonds (5%). The EU exports machinery (22%), oil (11%), vehicles (7%), boats (7%), and medicines (3%). The EU also poured considerable foreign direct investment to the ACP countries which had increased from 1,922 million in 1996 to 4,319 million in 2002. This value of investment represents approximately 3.3% share out of the total investment outflows of the EU.In terms of foreign direct investment breakdown, foreign dirext investment flows to ACP Africa peaked from 1,532 million in 1995 to 2,799 million in 2002. Hence, the ACP has increasingly become a destination for investment by the EU.According to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson (2008), the continued prosperity of Europe hinges on business certainty, tariff predictability,

Is Taiwan a Country Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Is Taiwan a Country - Research Paper Example Taiwan Island is separated from mainland China by the Taiwan Strait and borders the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea to the south, the East China Sea in the north, and the Pacific Ocean in the west (Wikipedia, 2006a). The perennial debate over â€Å"independence† versus â€Å"unification† in Taiwan is a case in point. This paper discusses some facts with respect to the question of whether Taiwan is an independent country or not. Though Taiwan has a distinct boundary of its own, the United States and most other significant nations recognize one China and thus include the boundaries of Taiwan as being part of the boundaries of China (Rosenberg, 2006b) Taiwan is home to almost 23 million people, making it the 48th largest "county" in the world, with a population slightly smaller than North Korea but larger than Romania (Rosenberg, 2006b). Over the past few decades, the average age of Taiwan’s population has increased by 1.8 percent. The population is one of the criteria for an independent country and since people live in Taiwan on an ongoing basis satisfies this criterion. Education is compulsory and Taiwan has more than 150 institutions of higher learning. Taiwan is home to the Palace Museum, which houses over 650,000 pieces of Chinese bronze, jade, calligraphy, painting, and porcelain. In the past few decades, Taiwan is recognized as a growing economy. It has become one of the newly industrialized countries (NICs). In 1983 the GNP of the country approached US$50 billion and its per capita income reached US$2,444. Taiwan is one of the top 15 trading nations. Taiwan has gained in terms of its economy but has substantially waned in terms of its international status (Weng, 1984). Besides, Taiwan is an economic powerhouse - its one of the four economic tigers of Southeast Asia (They have included South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.). Its GDP per capita is among the top 30 of the world.     

Corporate Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corporate Governance - Essay Example This notion of corporate governance is similar with the explanation provided by Cadbury (1992). Fine corporate governance is linked with a lesser cost of capital, elevated returns on equity, better efficiency, consideration of the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, integrity and ethical behaviour, disclosure and transparency and more constructive handling and equitable treatment of each and everyone of the shareholders in a firm such as respect for the rights of shareholders and recognition that the company has legal and other obligations to all legitimate stakeholders (Claessens, 2006), unlike in this case study. David and Victoria are the directors of the Becksville Limited and own between them sixty five per cent of the shares. There are two other shareholders who take little or no part in the running of the company. Both David and Victoria are also the directors of Worldspice Limited which is a company, like Becksville Limited, that deals with sporting and entertainment activities. Worldspice Limited went into a creditors voluntary winding up and there is a substantial deficit such that the creditors expect no more than 10 pence in the pound. Worldspice Limited had become insolvent mainly as a result of many speculative investments in attempting to develop the company’s activities. This speculative attitude was also adopted by David and Victoria in the running of Becksville Limited and this company has suffered losses resulting in the company being unable to pay a dividend for the past three years. David and Victoria have taken  £25,000 per year each by way of Directors remunerat ion during this period. David and Victoria have also in 2004 and 2005 made considerable donations amounting to  £100,000 to various charities. The minority shareholders of Becksville Limited have now discovered that David and Victoria in June 2005

Privacy Concerns of Sensor Networks Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Privacy Concerns of Sensor Networks - Coursework Example This is necessary to protect the privacy of all involved. Information that is sent over the networks may be modified by hackers, rendering it unavailable. The time synchronization of sensor networks may also be thwarted by adversaries by masquerade attacks, replay attacks, and delay attacks. (Bojkovic, 2008, pp. 107, 112). An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is one way of combating threats. The IDS protects the WSN by monitoring it, alerting the user that an attack has occurred and reconfiguring the network and marking the root of the malicious problem. The IDS works either by preventing known attacks by matching attack signatures against the monitored system, or by anomaly detection, in which anomalies in data profiles are identified. The first of these solutions have the drawback of not recognizing new attacks; the second has the drawback of creating a high number of false alarms. One of the problems with sensor networks is the risk of data misrepresentation, as all relevant information is impossible to gather in the sensornet environment, as all data that is collected represents data from a discrete time and space, hence it might be taken out of context. Also, the readings are only approximate for the same reason – that the data collected represent the state of the world at a particular time and space, which is the time and space where the samples were acquired. Therefore, the accuracy of the data that is acquired is subject to misrepresentation and inaccuracies even in situations where security is not compromised.

A short review of Nancy Folbre, Valuing Domestic Product New York Term Paper

A short review of Nancy Folbre, Valuing Domestic Product New York Times, May 28, 2012 - Term Paper Example One of its major points is the significant economic effects of domestic work to the economy. This is because the unpaid domestic workers offers a supplementary role to the employed member of households, roles that would have been paid for if they were for example taken over by a house help. The article illustrates this with the example of marrying a paid worker thereby ceasing to pay. This will reduce the gross domestic product while a divorce in the arrangement to effect payments for the services would increase the gross domestic product. This identifies the significance of unpaid domestic work to the gross domestic product (Folbre, 2012). Another identified issue in the article is the undervaluation of the value of unpaid domestic works. One of the reasons for the underestimation of the unpaid domestic work is its equivalent rating with average rate for commercial household workers. The difference in family based skills, and probably self-interest in the unpaid domestic work, howev er illustrates a higher value for the unpaid work. As a result, published estimates are less than the actual value of unpaid domestic work. ... Similarly, those who still dedicate to it have a reduced invested time in the work. The reason for such reduced time is the technological developments that provide time efficiencies and cheaper substitutes. These have also led to loss of significance of unpaid domestic work (Folbre, 2012). The article also explains the role of homemakers, as unpaid domestic workers, as social and economic equalizers. This is because their shift from the domestic chores into paid works leads to a significant difference across households a factor because of the less volatility in the value of domestic chores as compared to employment opportunities (Folbre, 2012). Why full time homemakers are income equalizers Full time homemakers are income equalizers because the value of domestic roles and domestically generated products are less volatile that the value in employment opportunities and market products. This means that the homemakers generate almost equal utility levels to harmonize the differences from the breadwinners’ market income. The transition from full time homemakers to the employment market however increases wage rate inequality. Similarly, the shift from a full time homemaker into an employee means that market products whose values are highly volatile substitute the almost uniformly valued domestically produced products. The volatility factor that is less significant in domestic roles than in the market therefore explains the role of full time homemakers as income equalizers (Folbre, 2012). Unpaid household work in Canada The value of unpaid household work in Canada is estimated to fall within the range of between 35 percent and 55 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (Perelman, 2011).

Ansewering the international business policy (questions) Essay

Ansewering the international business policy (questions) - Essay Example Dogs often put business strategists to their wits’ end as they worry what to do with them. Unprofitable business units, as a matter of fact, consume similar financial resources as their profitable counterparts. Hence, business strategists often undergo a serious decision-making to handle Dogs among the portfolios of companies they manage. Some of the ways to deal with unprofitable business units or product lines include: (i) establishing a partnership with a brand company that sells similar products; (ii) undergoing merger with another company; (iii) or selling the under-performing business units and invest the proceeds in other businesses that may yield some profits in the near future (Dalton et al., 2007). Selling of unprofitable companies have become the most popular option companies’ managers use to discard off low-yield business units in recent years. 2 2. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are examples of Baltic States. The prospect of finding new positions in their ma rkets may be remote due to the poor economic activities in these countries. For a new company entering the countries must resort to a policy of market development before it could assume the market leadership in these countries. The process of market development is a quite risky adventure because there is no 100% guarantee that it is going to be successful. The process involves using the company’s limited resources (both physical and human) to research the Baltic markets, analyse the available opportunities, undertake products’ publicity, and organise distribution channels that may be different from the ones available in the countries (Stonehouse et al., 2004). There are some common risks associated with market development. Some of these problems are cultural risk, financial risk, market risk and resource risk (Haberberg and Rieple, 2008). Some of the questions to be asked about this process are (i) what of if the cultures in the Baltic States are not receptive to forei gn participation in a particular industry in the country, say, hospitality industry? (ii) how could the company entering into the Baltic markets scrupulously manage its resources? (iii) And what are the possible market risks associated with this kind of business adventure? Once these burning issues can be successfully resolved, it will possible to for the new company to control the market it targets, and also reap the complete benefits this adventure will bring (Haberberg and Rieple, 2008). 3 3. In an economically viable country like Austria, competition among the business operators in the country is inevitable (De Wit et al., 2004). Engaging in â€Å"price wars† is one of the characteristic features of competition in the markets. Price wars force every player in the market to offer competitive prices that would draw consumers away from their rivals and promote continued patronage of what goods or services they offer (Winninger, 1994). To win these wars, some companies may of fer discounts on each of their products; they may also provide subsidies to state or non-private organisations to purchase large quantities of their products (Winninger, 1994). Other incentives for consumers include reduced Value Added Tax (VAT), free delivery mechanism and post-delivery services that many other companies

Police administration 2 questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Police administration 2 questions - Coursework Example This essay compares the duties of a police chief with the duties of patrol sergeant, mayor, judge, prison warden, high school principal, and university president in terms of sources of influence. A police chief is expected to be a manger besides other policing qualifications and requirements. Firstly, he is expected to oversee a police department through the perspective of a manger. Under this mandate, a police chief is to oversee totality of operations by ensuring that other officers complete their duties effectively and timely. Moreover, he is expected to manage the affairs of a police department by ensuring availability of resources for relevant duties. As the chief of police, he is expected to undertake certain disciplinary actions on officers who do not comply with rules and regulations of a police department (Siegel, 2011). Sometimes he required to arbitrate dismissal and sanction on officers. These duties are similar to those of a high school principal, prison warden, and mayo r. This is because they are too required to make critical decisions on their respective institutions. Furthermore, the officers/leaders listed above are in charge of discipline in their respective institutions. For instance, a high school principal has the power to punish or reward a student according to their deeds. Consequently, a mayor has disciplinary obligations besides their management duties. Similarly, leaders in the private sectors such as company president, or senior-level manager have managerial as well as disciplinary obligations. The police chief is also required to mediate a police department with the public and other sectors of the society. Under this mandate, he is expected to attend community events and meetings on behalf of the department. In addition the police chief is expected to represent a police department in the, municipality’s board of directors. In such events, the chief is supposed to represent the public and duty officers on issues related to oper ations and security. Similarly, a high school principal acts as a representative of his school in social, legal and government related meetings. A university president also represents the students in high-ranking events and meeting. A prison warden represents the interests of prisoners and the prison in relevant board meetings so does company president and senior-level manager (Shaw, 2004). On the contrary, a judge does not represent the court or defendant in any forum. Leaders discussed above derive their influence from different sources. Indeed, a police chief draws his influence from legal obligations bestowed on him by the state. Consequently, the officer is in charge of other officers who always look upon him for counsel. Similarly, a school principal, senior level manger, university president, and company presidents are driven by the need to achieve success. On the other hand, a patrol sergeant, a mayor, and a judge are influenced by the need for outside and order within a soc iety. Question 2 Police officers are often accused of working off "quotas" for traffic citations and arrests. This is because policing cannot be compared to other trades or activities that rely on competition. Policing is a noble task and therefore officers are expected to observe their pledges of service to the public. Under this mandate, an officer cannot create a crime in order to make an arrest. However, not all police officers are true to their calling and this