On Merck Corporation and Social Responsibility Essay

On Merck Corporation and Social Responsibility - Essay Example People today can notice that global responsibility is becoming more and more promoted. Everywhere, we see forms of encouragement on sensitivity to issues like environmental and ethical issues. In the past two decades, the business world has also adapted this movement in the form of the corporate social responsibility awareness. As Solomon (2004) says people can no longer accept the unethical idea that "business is business". This belief Solomon adds, was no longer excusable and just a pretext to be "socially irresponsible and personally insensitive". With this concept, businesses are to function in a responsible manner and by that make an effort in putting the business's stakeholders in consideration when company goals are dealt with. One such company is the Merck Corporation. In a time where businesses normally went for profit, Merck Corporation changed its direction to make a difference.It was in the late 1970's when researchers of Merck Corporation first had an indication that Ive nnectin (antiparasitic compound for animals) might have the ability to cure the disease called river blindness. River blindness was a disease that was predominant in third world countries like Africa and in some parts of Latin America and the Middle East. Clearly, the profit of such medicine for river blindness was already questionable. Dr. Vagelos, who was then Merck executive head for the research laboratories, was faced with the decision of approving further research that would cost a lot of money. Nevertheless, further research was done because of its potential to cure and not on its potential to profit. A considerable amount of money was already spent in developing the animal medicine ivermectin and developing another one fit for human consumption was premeditated to cost less than developing a new medicine. And so, Merck Corporation was able to produce a cure and named it Mectizan. When government agencies of the third world countries were unable to purchase the medicine for their people, Merck Corporation headed by Dr. Vagelos, who was then CEO of Merck Company, agreed to give Mectizan to countries that badly needed it for free. Through the years, it has become to be known as the MECTIZAN Donation Program, a fusion of partnerships between private and public agencies to aid developing countries in their fight against river blindness. We see a commendable company that takes risks for the betterment of those who they know badly need it. As one of the top pharmaceuticals company in the world, Merck Corporation is expected to profit from the drugs produced in their laboratories and not to give them away for free. On a HolmesReport (2002) article, Dr. Vargelos was quoted in saying that "many companies do not realize the benefits in better employee morale and favorable press coverage that comes from doing good deeds." It is a boost in the morale for people who work under a business that gives help for many people. Like Merck Company, who have always invested a lot of money in research, this move has no doubt fueled the minds of their researchers who are given freedom to explore possible cures to diseases that are known to have no cure. Especially since, those diseases that have no cures are dominant in poor countries. Every time the company is given an award or praise, the pride and prestige also goes down to the company employees especially the researchers who developed the much needed medicine. For any worker, the drive to succeed and work properly is much more invigorated with the knowledge that you are working in a way to help others. A good image also aids in the problems of human resources because applicants are more than willing to apply for an admirable company in comparison to typical companies. A lot of younger generations today say that they would prefer to work because it is worthwhil e and not just for the compensation. Many applicants mean a wider choice of candidates where the suited employee will be chosen from. Not only does good morale and good image

Lin200 tut Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lin200 tut - Assignment Example Content words refer to words that hold meaning or content of a sentence. They are words that are known as open class words in that they allow for the adding of new other words by derivation, compounding, inflection, borrowing or coining of these other words. On the other hand function words refer to the words that contain ambiguous meaning and are used to put across grammatical relations with added words within one sentence. While content words are open class, functional words are closed class. b. Antonyms refer to two words with opposite meaning for example the words â€Å"clean† and â€Å"dirty†. Gradable antonyms refer to a single word pair with differing meanings and occur when the two meanings are in on an uninterrupted range. An example is in the pair of words â€Å"light heavy†. Complementary antonyms refer to a single word pair with conflicting meanings, and exist when the words meanings do not lie on an uninterrupted range. An example is the pair of words â€Å"dead and alive â€Å".Relational antonyms on the other hand refer single words pair with differing sense, and occur in a situation or a certain context of the relation in the words pair. An example is the words â€Å"patient and doctor† (Baker, 2012). The first is the narrowing semantic change from the subordinate to the super ordinate level to level. For example the word â€Å"skyline† was earlier referred to as â€Å"horizon†. The second semantic change is the widening change where specific words are used to mean a general thing for example the word â€Å"vegetables† and â€Å"tomatoes†. Another semantic change is hyperbole, which is a change from a strong to a weak meaning for example â€Å"†slaughter and â€Å"torment† referring to the process of killing (Baker,

Management---IR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Management---IR - Essay Example It offered them the right to negotiate with the employers, the right to collective bargaining, and allowed for paid parental leaves. Furthermore as a part of reforms, the Rudd government abolished various laws which were detrimental for the workers, such as the Australian Workplace Agreements, which was introduced to restore the workers rights by protecting them against their unfair dismissal by the employers, introduced a new system of awards, ensured its compliance through setting up of appropriate bodies, and appointed an independent workplace monitor, with the responsibility of ensuring fair workplace practices. Furthermore, it also allowed the workers the right to join unions. Thus, the phrase â€Å"Labor’s reforms are about restoring the rights of workers, not the power unions†. Labor’s reforms: The various laws pertaining to federal employment and labour reforms in Australia have been subject to a series of hot debates and controversies, over the last deca de. Historically, laws relating to labour reforms and aimed at protection and safeguarding of labour rights have formed a strong basis for fostering political success and have been a major contributor to the emergence of grass root activism movements within Australia. Similar laws aimed at fuelling wide spread labour reforms were enacted and implement in Australia by the Labor party under the Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard government, during the 2007 election. These laws were aimed at developing and enhancing industrial relations through the Forward with Fairness policy. This new policy was developed in response to the sharp criticism received by the previous act i.e. the Work Choices legislation which was received with fierce opposition mostly from the unions, as well as from the workers, who were greatly disadvantaged on account of certain terms and conditions included therein (Work Choices Act, 2005). The new policy / laws were proposed in order to counter the existing law (i.e. th e Work Choices) and the purpose of this new proposed set of laws as announced by the Labour government was to overcome the drawbacks of the previous law, which would be completely dropped and modified (Stewart, 2009: 33-40). While developing the Fair Work Act, 2009 the Rudd- Gillard Labor government endorsed this new legislation as a marked departure from the previous law, which was aimed at ensuring workers’ rights and was described as a relatively more accountable and balanced law, developed taking into consideration the interests of both the employees as well as employers. It was further claimed that the act is likely to bring about the much desired economic development through increased productivity and further the national objectives (Spoehr, 2009: 311-313). The Fair Work Bill was first introduced in the year 2008 and presented in the House of Representatives in November 2008. After a thorough inspection and deliberation over the same, it was finally passed in the senate with a couple of amendments and was then approved by the Governor General in the following months, in April 2009. The new bill (i.e. the Fair Work Bill) was viewed as a major milestone in the history of labour reforms, as it targeted the workers’ rights, more than the rights of the unions, and it sought to bring about major changes which were never witnessed ever before in the entire Australian history. It was seen as a welcome change as compared to the

Is there a gender equality in Afghanistan, and have they empower women Research Paper

Is there a gender equality in Afghanistan, and have they empower women and give them the chance to represent the afghan society - Research Paper Example The HDI of Afghanistan as of 2014 is 0.468. The country became independent on 19th August 1919.The population of Afghanistan is 31,108,744 as of 2014. This includes approximately 2.6 million refugees who still live in neighboring areas like Iran and Pakistan. The only city in the country which has a pop0ltuon of more than one million is the capital city of Afghanistan, Kabul. Afghanistan is one of the poorest, least developed and most impoverished nations in the world. Throughput the history of Afghanistan, gender inequality has persisted in almost all segments of the Afghan society. The afghan women have experienced major oppression and violence that have resulted in the women of the country becoming oppressed and dominated beings in the country. The processes of oppression in the Afghan culture are deeply rooted and penetrate into the lives of the women in Afghanistan. As a result of all these practices and factors, the women in Afghanistan have started having very low level of self-consciousness have also internalized their images in the society as propagated by their male counterparts. The challenges that are inherent to the problem of gender inequality in Afghanistan are twofold in nature. On one side, the male counterparts of the society consider that the oppression and violence done against the women counterparts of the society are justified as per the socio cultural norms that have been practiced in the Afghan society in the traditional formats. In contrast, the women of the country have become oppressed by these episodes of violence and discriminations because the attitude and behaviors associated with subordination and suppression and being dominated are deeply entrenched in the cultural and social systems of Afghanistan. Thus, the extensive control of the male entities in the society on the woman and the existence of patriarchal arrangements in the rural and urban areas of the country have led to the men of Afghanistan

Journal Article Research and Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Journal Article Research and Analysis - Essay Example Heneman (2002), states that for human resources compensation is the prime source that enables companies to attract and retain talents, thus the compensation management is a critical component of human resource management and of the entire organization. The importance of compensable factors, such as knowledge required by position and skills requirements, problem solving and accountability (Jones, Steffy & Bray, 1991) are dictated by the complex decisions that executives should make in order to positively impact company’s recruitment and retention efforts and to reach organizational goals. Therefore, choosing a compensation strategy is one of the main human resource decisions made by any organization. The development of such strategy is highly important because it promotes employee recruitment, retention, motivation and good performance thanks to the set of offerings that a company makes. However, not every organization compensates its employees or uses compensation strategically. While wages and benefits policies are used without strategical intentions, compensations instead are aimed to improve morale, reduce employees’ turnover and help achieve targets within an establishment (Das & Baruah, 2013). However, as stated by Hong, Hao, Kumar, Ramendran and Kadiresan (2012), compensation is not one of the main factors that impact the employees’ turnover despite being a critical factor in reducing managerial turnover. When determining the compensable factors, the developers should consider such policy choices as internal alignment, external competitiveness, employee contributions and the management of the pay system. As internal alignment deals with the pay relationships within the organization, it dictates the level of skills and knowledge that are needed, thus the compensation and benefits programs are granted for the special set of such skills. As companies are facing severe competitiveness, they should offer applicants such compensation packages that

An analysis of the positive and negative economic impacts of Heathrow Essay

An analysis of the positive and negative economic impacts of Heathrow Airport - Essay Example This paper is a report that mainly sought to identify the economic impact of the London Heathrow Airport, which was classified in this study as a tourism venue/ organization Airport is considered as a location where aircrafts of varying sizes and types take off and land thereby acting as a stage for alighting and boarding aircrafts for passengers as well as the aircraft crew. Airport is a tourism venue/organization because it is the first and/ or last place that visitors pass through at a foreign destination. The London Heathrow Airport is touted as the busiest airport in Europe with a very big passenger capacity. This fact has positioned London as an international financial center with an economy that runs on a 24 hours basis and businesses are supported by demand from the many passengers who are departing or entering the region via the Airport. However, the increase in demand arising from passengers has led to the creation of an artificial inflation within London The main direct economic impact of the airport is that it acts as a major source of tax revenue to London local authorities and overall UK budget. The indirect positive impact of the airport is that it provides a ready market for other businesses enterprises that are located within the airport or in adjacent areas. The direct negative positive impact of the airport is that it facilitates that development of artificial inflation while the indirect negative impact is that it reduces the suitability of London as international center for doing business. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 The positive economic impacts of the London Heathrow Airport 4 2.1 Direct positive economic impacts 4 2.2 Indirect positive economic impacts 6 3.0 The negative economic impacts of the London Heathrow Airport 7 3.1 Direct negative economic impacts 8 3.2 Indirect negative economic impacts 9 4.0 Conclusions 10 References 11 Inkson, C. and Minnaert, L. 2012. Tourism Management: An Introduction. London, UK: Sage Publications 12 1.0 Introduction This present paper is a report that is entirely focused on analyzing a hospitality venue or organization and the economic impact of the venue/ organization. For this particular, report, the London’s Heathrow Airport was selected as the case study and therefore, this report seeks to provide an in-depth analysis of the economic impact of the airport, both the positive and the negative. It is important to note that the discussion of the economic impact would not be limited to the tourism perspective but rather the discussion will cover the general economy of the United Kingdom as well as the local economy of the City of London. Therefore, the report will have two major sections of which the first will detail on the positive economic impact of the London Heathrow Airport while the Second part will cover the negative impacts. However, briefly before the start, the report will provide brief background information of the chosen tourism venue/ organization. To begin with, Graham (2008) in his studies described an airport as a location where aircrafts of varying sizes and types take off and land thereby acting as a stage for alighting and boarding aircrafts for passengers as well as the aircraft crew. Tribe (2012) wrote that an airport is considered as a tourism venue/ organization because it is the first and/ or last place that visitors pass through at a foreign destination. The London Heathrow Airport is located in the London Borough of Hillingdon, which is in the western side of Londo n. Inkson and Minnaert (2012) in their writings referred to the London Heathrow Airport as the busiest airport in the United Kingdom as well as the entire Europe and the third busiest in the world in terms of the passenger traffic in the airport. Hoare (1971) added that the airport is owned and managed by the Heathrow Airport Holdings that also owns three other airports in the United Kingdom. The airport acts as the primary hub for British Airways and the primary operating location for the Virgin Atlantic. In order to handle all the passenger traffics and the movements, the Airport has 5 terminals each serving aircrafts bound to or arriving from different routes. Among the top busiest international routes to and from the airport is led by New York, followed by Dubai, Dublin, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam. The busiest domestic routes include the

Financial Information Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Financial Information - Essay Example There are many evaluation methods followed and the most relevant of them are the evaluation based on the Economic Value Added (EVA) which is Net Operating Profit Minus Adjusted Taxes reduced by (Invested Capital*Cost of Capital). This method takes into account the opportunity costs of capital. EVA too suffers from the drawbacks as from accounting. Another theory, Shareholder value theory suggests that through the interests of the stake holders, the shareholder value can be reaped. This is for ensuring return satisfaction to all the interested parties in the long run. The stakeholder theory aims at a collective interest of all stakeholders or sees the realization of their goals as the ultimate objective. Double value creation system is also followed where a company increases its customer value through its operations as well as creates its shareholder value through the sale of its produce. Thus, it could be noted that the company value could be increased only if both the shareholders and stakeholders interest are considered simultaneously while doing the performance evaluation. Present Value of Abnormal Earnings (PVAE), which will b... Present Value of Abnormal Earnings (PVAE), which will be available with the Present Value of Expected Dividends (PVED) and Abnormal Earnings based on Capital Employed, states the value in efficient markets as: MVE = CSE + PVAE This results in the distortions or disparity between the MVE and the CSE (market value and book value) and the conditions for this are (i) Economic rents (unbiased accounting) (ii) Accounting distortions (Perfectly competitive equilibrium) Thus, the information bearing upon the performance evaluation of a company helps in explaining the reason for the difference between the market value and the book value. Ideally, it could be inferred that the most important things to be considered in value creation processes are: - The Performance evaluation should be able to provide information for proper decision-making and ensure feedback. - The kind and nature of the information collected and the source from which the information is collected for valuations are therefore significant. The source, its nature, the methods used for valuation, the coherency, the adaptability with the strategic objectives etc serve as crucial indicators. Discuss the relevance of financial information in the context of the valuation of internet stocks. The main characteristics of internet stocks are that they are younger, fast-growing, riskier and larger when compared to the non-internet stocks. Nevertheless, the capital requirements of internet companies are very high. They need capital to establish the technological architecture, create a pool of customer base, and also have to spend a major portion on the sides of Research and Development, Marketing etc. On contrary, the