Sun Tzu ‘Art of War’ has preached the importance of strategic thinking in winning the battle. The teaching of Sun Tzu is still valid in the modern days and therefore is studied widely in business schools. More information: things
Filed under Uncategorized by on Sep 1st, 2010. 
Are we becoming more and more afraid to use our credit cards due to the ongoing credit crunch saga as it tightens everyone’s financial belt up another notch? A recent survey by The British Retail Consortium has indicated a 2% increase from 32% to 34% indicating that we are spending more cash in today’s society.
The reason for this is simply down to the credit crunch. More and more people are afraid to run up high interest rates by using their credit cards and therefore prefer to use cash instead.
It was thought that the UK was fast becoming a cashless society as more and more plastic transactions were taking place each year. This was mainly down to its simplicity and convenience, no need to carry all the change around with you when you can carry a small credit card with all your money available on it.
This is the first time in over two decades that the percentages have made a u turn. The UK saw an increase of
Filed under Finance by on Sep 1st, 2010.
But how much of our society is based on truths we can relate to?
We don’t KNOW that our clothes smell nice, only that the words on the box tell us that our clothes will smell nice if we use the magic powder inside the box.
We don’t KNOW the washing machine isn’t going to take our clothes and shred the **** out of them, and yet we use them with willful complacency of this fact.
A simple truth btw, is anything but simple in this question.
By: the redcap
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Filed under Sociology by on Aug 26th, 2010.
Exactly what is crime? Simply put, crime is an act that violates the rights of a person, or persons, or their property. That’s a rather simplified definition. The actual definition is much too long for this article. But crime is not only a violation of a person or persons; it can also be an act that could endanger the lives or safety of the public in general. An example of that type of crime could include the firing of a weapon inside the city limits. By discharging a firearm in a populated area, you endanger the lives of all who live within the range of that particular weapon. The bullet could ricochet and hurt an innocent bystander, or if fired into the air, it could come down and injure someone. By firing the weapon in a populated area, the person who fired it has demonstrated a wanton and reckless disregard for the safety of others.
Crime affects us all in one way or another. Because of that, society has enacted laws designed to protect every man, woman and child. For instance, the person who shoplifts from the local department store causes all of us to pay higher prices for the products or services we need. Let me explain. When people shoplift it costs the company they steal from money because they had to pay for that product and they got nothing for it. They just lost money. Now imagine four people a day shoplift products totaling $20. In seven days they lost $140. But what if that company has 100 stores nationwide and each store loses $20 a day. That comes to $2000 a day, $14,000 a week. Multiply by 52 weeks a year and you get a whopping $728,000 lost every year. Now they have to implement security measures to control their losses. And it isn’t cheap. They have to install cameras, hire security people to watch the cameras and walk the floor, insurance for those people not to mention the salaries for each of them. On top of all that there is the cost of prosecuting
all those shoplifters.
Many companies spend millions every year to prevent theft. The money lost from stolen products, money spent on security and wages for the security staff has to be made up somewhere. Guess who has to make up the shortage? You guessed it. You, the honest shopper, ends up having to pay higher prices for the products and services you want.
But the price you pay for crime doesn’t stop there. You don’t get off that easy. Once the lawbreaker is prosecuted he/she has to be incarcerated. Housing, clothing and feeding criminals is expensive. In 2007 a local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, reported that the average annual cost of housing prison inmates in the California prison system was $43,287 per inmate. In 2008 TV station WHAS in Louisville, KY. reported that the average cost of housing an inmate in KY. was $20,000. WHAS also reported that Kentucky has the fastest rising inmate population in the country, causing huge money problems for the people of Kentucky.
Crime costs all of us in higher prices for food, clothing, etc. and in taxes to pay for housing criminals once they are prosecuted.
By: John Parks
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Filed under Society by on Aug 26th, 2010.
By: slydog
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Filed under Law Enforcement & Police by on Aug 26th, 2010.
By: jz14
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Filed under Sociology by on Aug 26th, 2010.
“Giving Back to Society” is becoming more recognized as a meaningful and powerful ingredient in the recipe for healthy lifestyle and sound wellbeing.
Addressing the World Economic Forum meeting in New York, February 11, 2002, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said, “I think it’s a healthy sign that there are demonstrators in the streets. They are raising the question of ‘is the rich world giving back enough?’ “
Many people want to ‘give back’ as a way to live meaningful lives in which they play a contribution and make a difference. Without the ingredient of ‘giving back,’ people tend to search for the less-satisfying aspects, such as the acquisition of more material goods, to find meaning and powerfulness–albeit short lived.
True satisfaction and meaning in life comes from being able to effect a positive change in a state of affairs that you feel passionately about, be it the welfare of a group of people, animals, nature, the countryside, forests, seas or this planet overall–global warming, education, laws on domestic violence.
The dilemma is that many people do not know how they want to make a difference–nor do they stop to think about it or check out several options. Thinking things through is a vital first step; you need to know what it is that you want to achieve and contribute to this world to start doing it.
Set aside two hours to accomplish the following:
o Identify a cause you feel really passionate about.
Think about your local community, child protective services, the elderly who feel afraid to go out at night or are lonely, homeless animals, the planet–anything which stirs your passions and emotions.
o Imagine you had all the time, money and skills you needed to do something about that cause.
What would you do to change things and make it better? Let your imagination flow freely. Brainstorm all the things you would do on this issue if time, money and resources were not an issue. What would you feel like when you achieved the change? How much more energy and impetus and meaning would you have in your life if you were to sit down and focus on just one thing you truly cared about?
o What are you willing to do to start the process?
Write down everything you could do–both realistic and practical and which you could fit into your lifestyle. Break actions down into chunks of actions which need to be taken. Who could you involve to help you? Go to sources of help you would not normally consider and be amazed by what generosity, skills and knowledge they can offer. Who is already working on the areas you want to get involved in? Can you join them and provide a much needed skill, talent or expertise?
o Do something about it!
Take one step to move closer to making that difference every day. Trade watching rubbish on TV or idly surfing the Internet to have a meaningful and powerful lifestyle and sound wellbeing. Get others involved.
What would you be willing to ‘give up,’ to make your contribution and make a difference? On your deathbed, which would be the more meaningful to you: a range of material goods that you can not take with you, or a difference you made, to the wellbeing and happiness of others? Which legacy would you honestly rather leave behind? What are you willing to do to make that a reality?
The deeper you delve into your being to give, the more rewarding and meaningful your act will be.
By: Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD
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Filed under Self Improvement by on Aug 26th, 2010.
Obesity is rapidly becoming one of the greatest health challenges of the 21st century. No disease is more common and causes more unnecessary illness or early death than obesity.
Filed under Health And Fitness by on Aug 26th, 2010.
Definitions
Marketing is generally thought of as the process of promoting goods and services to the end user. We can think of this as McDonald’s advertising its Big Mac in such a way that we feel that we really need one for lunch. This demonstrates the advertising piece of the marketing mix, and is the element that most people identify with marketing.
Society is generally defined as the condition in which members of a community live together for their mutual benefit. Societies are more than just the individual members that make up the group, but the sum of the collective. We are all members of a society, and interact with the other members in that community. So what is the impact of marketing in the society?
Negative Connotations of Marketing – They Made Me Do It
Ever since society passed from a Subsistence economy (I grow my own food, make my own clothes, and don’t need anyone else to help me) to a Trade economy (I’ll grow some food to sell to you, if you will make some clothes to sell to me) we have had the challenge of marketing our products and services to others (Uh-oh, now that there are two people making clothes in my town I’d better let people know why they should buy mine). And ever since that first sales pitch there have been criticisms of marketing; like deceptive practices, high prices, unsafe products, and high-pressure sales – to name a few.
But many critics go further and claim that marketing has created false wants, promoted materialism, produced cultural pollution, and allowed big companies to gain significant political power. And there is an element of truth to all of these claims. Companies that have not performed ethically have had a damaging effect in society that the ethical businesses must now work through.
And the Good?
But it is hard to deny the positives that marketing has brought upon society as well. The wealth of technology at our fingertips today is directly related to the sales of these items and the continued downward pricing caused by the promotion of computers, cell phones, GPS navigation systems, digital cameras, MP3 players, etc. Dozens and dozens of these types of products are commonplace today, but seemed like luxuries for the rich just a few years ago. In fact, most of the people below the poverty line in the US today live better than royalty did 200 years ago — with cars, heating and air conditioning, microwave ovens, cell phones, televisions, and other amenities now considered necessities.
More importantly, most medium to large companies now have significant charitable giving and service programs that donate large sums of money and time to needy organizations that make a difference in the lives of millions of people every year. Whether companies do this out of a pure heart or a need for positive publicity, the result is the same — and many of the neediest in society are better for it.
Doing the Right Thing
As the public grows more knowledgeable and educated, they hold businesses to a higher standard than was once the case. The abuses of workers that were common a century ago are not tolerated by society today. Now corporate ethics policies drive decisions in the boardroom and the marketing department so that the end user (that’s us) benefits in many ways. Doing the right thing is a good policy because people want to do business with someone they trust and respect. And the companies that are exposed as cheaters, liars, or abusers are generally shunned in the marketplace (Enron, anyone?).
The bottom line is that though there is a negative impact of marketing in the society, there is a positive to balance it out; and it is our job as society to reward the good guys with our purchases and punish the unethical companies by neglecting them in the marketplace. As we continue to do this over and over, we make Big Business aware that they will make money only if they honor their ethics policies and do the right thing on a consistent basis. In this way we can make a difference in the marketing tactics employed to sway our decisions. And that is a positive that we as a society can live with.
By: Keith Hartung
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Filed under Business by on Aug 26th, 2010.
The problem is I can’t find any good information, so I need some good books or websites.
Thanks in advance!
By: Andrew
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Filed under History by on Aug 26th, 2010.