Food Inc. Documentary Essay

Food Inc. is a documentary directed by Robert Kenner targeted towards the general public about the ugly truths behind the food industries. The documentary outlines the procedures taken to process the food that surrounds us, with the aim to expose and change the basis, footprints, and corruption behind this process. Kenner successfully does this through several techniques and strategies used to persuade and motivate others to make a difference. Throughout the documentary Kenner covers the basis of how these products are manufactured through many techniques. One of the main techniques used in this piece is correspondence about how the products are truly made. Most do not think to question where it is that the food they eat comes from and Kenner shows just that with statistics, footage, and interviews. He shows the unethical methods used by food industries in order to maximize profit. Methods such as feeding animals food which makes them obese, at a significantly fast and unnatural rate , to the point that they cannot stand on their own and their organs are beings crushed. Kenner gains the viewer’s sympathy by showing footage of these animals in pain, which in turn pushes them towards his point of view on the subject. Another technique used by Kenner is the illumination of truth of how these food industries have corrupted the government as well as the farmers to their advantage. He does this by showing his viewers government officials who side with the food industries and in fact used to be a part of them. This documentary also shows the workers and farmers, most of which are afraid to talk the crew in fear of losing everything, who admit they have very little control over their farms and the business. One of the farmers even goes as far to say that â€Å"it is degrading; it’s like being a slave to the company†. The narrator also states how once these jobs were seen as the best jobs in the country and now they are struggling to get by. He uses real life experiences and facts to open the eyes of his viewers and is successful in doing so. Once again correspondence plays a big role in this documentary to show the footprints left behind by these companies. Kenner shows footage of people speaking out, who have lost their loved ones due to illnesses they have gained from the infected product, which may have been avoided if not for the unethical procedures used to manufacture it. This immediately gains the viewer’s sympathies towards the families, as well as become more aware of  the danger which these companies present. He also shows statistics of the dangers in genetically modified organisms and how they surround us making us more aware of what it is we are eating. One of the main aspects to the documentary that makes it so successful is that Keener gives alternatives. Throughout the documentary the viewers are asking themselves what can they do and he answers this. He shows the benefits to organic foods and the prosperity in farms independent from the big corporations. All in all, Kenner’s techniques, to spread awareness of what one consumes as well as promoting beneficiary alternatives, is successful in leaving his aud ience wanting to make a change. Work Cited Food Inc.. Dir. Robert Kenner. Magnolia Home Entertainment, 2009.Film.

Talent Management Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Talent Management Strategy - Essay Example Israelite (2010) defines talent management strategy as the process which ensures that an organization has the right and competent people for particular jobs at the right time in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. This strategy includes the processes of induction, performance management, career planning, compensation management, succession planning processes, assessment, goal-setting, and recruitment. These processes are aimed at retaining employees and fostering their continuing development of competencies and skills to achieve the short term organizational goals and long-term strategic objectives (Armstrong, 2007). This paper has envisioned a nonprofit organization with two hundred people, in which twenty are identified leaders. Based on this, the paper will devise a talent management strategy concentrating on the entire talent needs of the organization. The paper will also define the principal components of talent management and examine how the process of talent management provides a competitive advantage for an organization. Finally, it will assess the need for a talent management strategy to change with the anticipation of the organization doubling in five to six years. ... Also, this step of formulating talent management strategy will seek to answer questions regarding the organization’s current and desired states, as well as the organization’s culture. In answer these questions, an understanding shall be sought regarding its mission statement, vision, organization statement, strategy, corporate values, and balanced scorecard as well as how these goals and statements cascade through the organization’s units, departments, and divisions. It will also be critical to understand which roles and skills are required to support improved organization’s performance and encourage creativity and which criteria the organization can employ to identify both underachievers and high performers and to measure performance (Israelite, 2010). Based on the information obtained by analyzing these aspects, a decision should then be made on how the organization should look like in terms of capabilities, structure and leadership in order to achieve i ts objectives and goals. In other words, desired state of performance and improved position should be defined. The next key step in the formulation of talent management strategy should involve examining any talent management components that are already in place within the organization and analyzing how each of these components is working. The organization’s talent management priorities should then be documented based on the talent requirements and goals of the organization, as well as based on the analysis of existing talent management systems and processes (Armstrong, 2007). More importantly at this stage of formulation of strategy it will be critical to define the competencies that the organization needs. The

Eco reading Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Eco reading - Essay Example Technology amplifies material resources necessary for driving economic development. Technology, in a modernized world, is a moral force that works to promote innovation, productivity and result. As it appears, technology is responsible for vastly propagating modernist ideals across the planet. Technological transfer from advanced to less developed nations is crucial for spurring development projects in least developed areas. Development depends on the production of knowledge capable of providing scientific mirror of both social and economic challenges facing a nation as well as the available resources that can be used to counter the challenges. As such, the need to build institutions to generate scientific knowledge was imminent and inescapable (37). Modern scholars perceive modern science to be more accurate and fair compared to the past periods when social science was marred with error and prejudice. Even though technology played a crucial role in developing world, especially Latin America, it blocked other modes of learning (37). Every region has different problems that call for varying approaches in finding the solution to the problems. Therefore, specific scientific approach must be focused to a country in order to effectively understand and resolve the underlying issues. Developed nations were believed to be better placed to steer economic development all over the world because of their relatively strong financial background and high technological capacity. However, science and technology has put the poor in an awkward position because they have lost control over their lives and become targets of complex scientific practices (38). Science is portrayed to work in favor of the rich, while keeping the poor immersed in their state of poverty. Thus, science and technology raised a crucial humanitarian

Discounted cash flow Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discounted cash flow - Essay Example One of the valuation tools that analysts use to determine the stock valuation is discounted cash flow. They try to determine current value estimating future cash flows. Cash Flow is taken into account while making all estimations. Cash Flow (Free) gives far clear picture about the company for it takes into account the change in working capital as well as all investments made during the period. It can be expressed as under. Cash Flow = Net Profit+ Depreciation/Amortization-Expenditures-changes in working cap. Analysts take into account cash flows because it is difficult to manipulate while earnings can be manipulated and adjusted. (Free Cash†¦) When estimated cash flows are discounted to the present value as per the cost of capital for the number of years of operation, it gives a clear picture for the benefits accrued from the investments made in the company. Mathematically, it can be expressed as Present Value = CF1/(1+K)+ CF2 / (1+K)2 +CF3/ (1+K)3 +.......[TCF / (K  - R)] / ( 1+K)n-1 CFi = Cash flow in the year 1, 2, 3†¦ K = discount rate TCF = Cash flow in the terminal year R= growth rate assumption beyond terminal year n = the number of years including the terminal year In short, above model gives the present value of the company based on the cash flow estimates of the future. DCF analysis implies that the company is worth all the cash that can be made available to the investors in the future. Future cash flows are discounted to the present value so that comparison becomes possible on investments made and benefits accrued. All future benefits of the investments made accrue at different time intervals, for example, at the end of year 1, 2, 3, and so on. Methodology and formula is same for all the analysts yet end results will differ for the following reasons. 1. The Discount Rate taken into calculation will be different for different analyst. The discount rate is usually the cost of capital. Each company is made of debt and equity in its capital st ructure. The cost of debt can be known easily as per the going rate in the market but estimating the cost of equity is a bit complicated task where each analyst applies his or her judgment. The equity is shareholder’s money and not without the cost. It has also certain indirect cost implications. The share holders of the company expect to obtain a certain return on their equity investments. Equity is a risk capital and depending upon the general economic conditions of the market, share holder wants certain minimum return over and above risk free return available to them in the market. If the company does not meet shareholder’s expectation, they will simple exit from the company. That will cause the fall in the market price of the shares. In other words, the company must give some minimum return to the shareholders to maintain the price of shares in the market. This is, in a way, the cost of equity for the company. Every analyst will have own perception on this cost of equity. Thus, each analyst will have some different discounting factor in their mind. This will also vary as per the economic conditions of the country and risk factors associated with the company. 2. Cash Flow Forecast is another critical parameter where two analysts estimate always differ. It is always easy to forecast the cash flow for a few years down the line but it is not possible to have these estimates without error beyond few years. Each analyst’s perception about future market conditions and overall economic scenarios come into play. Some analyst may have a cautious approach in estimation of future cash flows while other may be a bit liberal or optimist in the projections. It is obvious that this will have a bearing on the valuation of the stock and cause variance on valuation of the stock. (Free Cash†¦) 3. The Growth Rate beyond the terminal year is a long visionary assumption. Farther we go, more difficult it becomes to arrive at the agreement on values. When company reaches to the maturity cycle after a few years of operation, it

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan - Essay Example The historical context in which the mother lived is awesome, the miseries of war, the loss of offspring, and the issues related to coping up and adjusting to an entirely different culture! She thinks with a vengeance about the past and expects An-mei will wipe out the scars of bad memories of her life. She is not willing to settle for the ordinary success rate for her daughter; she wants her to be a prodigy. She has the latent desire that people should tell her that her daughter is so and so! In brief, she desires to be known through her daughter’s fame! She does not realize that skill can be achieved up to a certain level, but prodigies are born great and guidance is just an excuse for them. Waverly Jong’s chess genius is the case in point. Mother is unable to gauge the essential difference between the two. Waverly takes to chess as the fish takes to the water. His fascination to the game of chess is instant. Mother wants An-mei to be a piano maestro, but the poor girl is not willing to take it seriously. Waverly stumbling across an old man in the park and getting a few pointers is just an excuse, for sprouting of the latent chess genius within him. An-mei gets extensive personal training from an inept teacher, and the outcome in the competition is on the expected lines—she plays badly! An-mei is not willing to go by the dictates of her mother. She challenges her at every step and retorts, â€Å"I didn't have to do what my mother said anymore.... An-mei gets extensive personal training from an inept teacher, and the outcome in the competition is on the expected lines—she plays badly! An-mei is not willing to go by the dictates of her mother. She challenges her at every step and retorts, â€Å"I didn't have to do what my mother said anymore. I wasn't her slave. This wasn't China. I had listened to her before and look what happened. She was the stupid one,"(Amy Tan) An-mei is just not interested in following the dictates of her mother. . Earlier, mother has tried to conduct several experiments to unearth the genius in her daughter—she tries to mold her into a child actress, tries intellectual tests from popular magazines, without success. That she tries to mold her into a piano virtuoso is her final try. Mother does house cleaning services to meet the expenses of An-mei’s piano lessons and saves enough money to buy a secondhand piano for her. Even after her failure in the talent contest, mother expects her to continue practicing. This annoys the daughter and she protests bitterly, â€Å"I wish I'd never been born! I wish I were dead! Like them!† (Amy Tan)The persistent mother offers An-mei piano as the gift for her thirteenth birthday. She is shocked at the stubbornness of her mother. After her mother’s death, she accepts that gift and sits down to play it for the first time after the lapse of several years. When she discovers two parts, â€Å"Pleading Child,† and â€Å"Perfectly Contented,† of one song, she understands the big question behind the song. It hints at the inevitable tension between the two due to generation gap molded by the factors like age, ambition, experience and cultural heritage. The insistence of mothers that their children should achieve the best in life needs to be understood in

Advantages of queuing theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Advantages of queuing theory - Essay Example Reneging happens when a prospective client decides to leave and forgo that service he is queuing for mostly because the queue is too long. In this calculation the main principle is that the costs of waiting in queues are normally inversely proportional to the timely cost of service. Queuing theories are clearly known to be simple as they normally require less data and it is known to produce results that are generic. This is the advantage of using queuing theory over the use of simulation as models of queuing theory. The theory is widely used in service rendering sectors such health services area. Also in the same field of health care (Aaby et al. 575) describes the use of spreadsheets and spreadsheets software to implement the desired queuing network models of mass vaccination in the dispensing clinics. Another important example of software that forms part of such a system is found in an emergency department. (Broyles and Cochran, 615) say it is quite able to calculate the percentage number of patients who usually leave the emergency department without actually getting help. This can be done by assessing the arrival rate, utilization, service rate as well as the capacity of the health care. It is out of this percentage that they can be able to actually determine the revenue that has been lost from the patients who left without being served. Disadvantages of queuing method Since the queuing theory models are mostly based on what is referred to as the exponential distribution, they work through applying these traits of exponential distribution. The main problem that comes with this is that in that this exponential distribution normally has a coefficient with a variation of one. This fact has the effect of precluding the modelling of any other process that has a coefficient which is of variation significantly different from one. Therefore Because of the low likelihood that any of a random process will just be having a coefficient of variation that is just one, thi s queuing theory is considered to have the disadvantage of low applicability and practicality. While the number of assumptions for most of these applications of queueing models is normally few, they sometime tend to be quite irrational. This is clear especially when human queues are involved. From the theory, it is understood that human behaviour is uniform and can be determined. This is quite untrue because human character and behaviour vary from one human being to another. Thus from these assumption some critics have argued that the queuing theory cannot apply where human being are involved in the queue. The assumptions are not normally correct as human behaviour is not actually determinable. Where as one person shall behave in a certain manner, another person might act the actual opposite of what the other person did. For instance, one assumption can be that a person is likely not to enter a queue if he finds that there are too many people already ahead in the queue. In reality, this may not be true; otherwise, the situation would be that there would be no lines outside stores. Another point to discard the assumption there would no store opening on holidays for those maybe seeking to buy late gifts. The restrictive nature of the assumptions of the queuing theory is also another disadvantage that exposes the theory to criticism. The nature of the production lines is quite complex and cannot be fully explained by the simple models that are provided for by the queuing theory. Therefore in order to cure this there are specialized tools which have been developed in order to simulate, visualize, analyze, and finally

The Water Pollution Essay Example for Free

The Water Pollution Essay What can the government do as of now to resolve problems in pollutions, specifically water pollution? Considering the fact that health hazards poses the greatest threats to the people’s survival. On the other hand, how water pollution occurs is the first issue that has to be clarified. According to Hayes (2007), water pollution takes place if there is great accumulation of foreign materials in a body of water. A source of water pollution are categorized into two levels, first is the point source which comes from canals or other sewage tunnels flowing directly to the water system, and second is the non point source when there are instances that pesticides, other chemicals and or garbage fluid leaks to the water system. Water pollution however does not only occur in the bays or streams as a result of runoff of contaminants, and it is not only the big industrial companies are responsible or the source of such contamination, in fact the pollutants being carried in the runoff might have first come from the neighborhood. Posted in Mbgnet (2006) there are many causes and or types of water pollution, these came from toxic substances like herbicides, industrials compounds and other chemicals; organic substances like dung, sewage or other household wastes that increases the eutrophication process of the water system; the thermal pollution which results when large industrial plants uses water from the river to cool their production process resulting to less dissolved oxygen in the water; and ecological pollution like siltation. Based on GEMI (2007), almost 40% of the world will live in fresh water scarcity by 2025 because of the depletion of the water source. This is one of the most adverse effects of water pollution to the ecosystem. As this is seen by continues pollution in underground water and increasing contamination of the river, lakes, oceans and other water systems mostly by industrial wastes and garbage. As cited in Edugreen. teri. res. in (2007), health impact caused by water pollution is primarily water borne diseases like viral, bacterial or protozoan infections. This is a great hazard to the human health because it cannot be acquired only through the water that people drink but also to the organisms that live in or nearby the contaminated waterways. Based on Krantz and Kifferstein’s (2007) study one of the most common practices that are being used to reduce water pollution is the waste water treatment. This is done to lessen the harmful solids and other compounds that were dissolved in the water. The possible compounds are materials that consume oxygen, dissolved inorganic compounds like that of the detergents, and harmful bacteria. According to Norris (1994) water pollution could be lessen if the citizens will do some regulatory influence over the agricultural, industrial, and municipal sector that contributes most of the pollution in water in terms of chemical runoffs and other contaminants. The citizens could either demand for a clean water act that the government will take a lead of. Problems with water pollution can never be answered by the government alone as stated by Krantz and Kifferstein’s (2007). Hence if that kind of negative phenomenon will continue to flourish, little by little life on earth will be put to risk. The people have the greatest responsibility about how it occurred and responsibility also on how to clean it up. Familiarization on what and how water pollution takes place is a big help to stop it from overrunning the whole water system of the planet. Hence pollution is like a network and it covers not only the water or the land but also the air or atmosphere, it is our choice to react and make some motions on how we can stop it or if not, at least lessen its unfavorable consequence. In cases like greenhouse effects, it is not only the emission of the cars and or the wastes coming from industrial companies that the government or the environmentalists should have concern of. But instead to a broader level like considering the population size, its activities and its contribution to carbon dioxide emission. References Edugreen. teri. res. in, 2007. Health Impacts Of Water Pollution. Retrieved on May 14, 2007 at http://edugreen. teri. res. in/explore/water/health. htm GEMI, 2007. Water Trends. Retrieved on May 12, 2007 at http://www. gemi.org/water/watertrends. htm Hayes, W. 2007. Non Point Source Water Pollution. Retrieved on May 12, 2007 at http://ohioline. osu. edu/aex-fact/0441. html Krantz, D. and Kifferstein. B, 2007. Water Pollution And Society. Retrieved on May 14, 2007 at http://www. umich. edu/~gs265/society/waterpollution. htm Mbgnet, 2007. Water Pollution. Retrieved on May 12, 2007 at http://mbgnet. net/fresh/pollute. htm Norris, J. 1994. How To Lessen Water Pollution. Retrieved on May 12, 2007 at http://scholar. lib. vt. edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1994/vp941108/11050020. htm