Ihg’s Corporate Strategy: “The Winning Ways”

IHG’s corporate strategy: ‘The winning ways’ IHG’s mission statement is: ‘to become the greatest company in the world through creating great hotels guests love’. IHG’s road map for growth is dependent on engagement and high performance from the entire workforce. In order to achieve this, IHG designed a set of values, known as ‘the winning ways’. The winning ways serve as ‘a road map’, which enables IHG to reach their long-term vision. IHG’s winning ways will act as the foundation for how they go about their business. More specifically, the winning ways are fundamental to enhancing relationships with guests, colleagues and business owners. This new way of working will also support and drive the organization’s growth. But what are the winning ways and how exactly will one measure the strategy’s success? The winning ways are as follows: Do The Right Thing – â€Å"We aim to do what we believe is right and have the courage and conviction to put it into practice. We are honest and straightforward and see our decisions through. † Show We Care – â€Å"We want to be a company that understands people’s needs better than anyone else in our industry. This means being sensitive to others, noticing the things that matter and taking responsibility for getting things right. Aim Higher – â€Å"We aim to be acknowledged industry leaders, and have built a team of talented people who have a will to be the best. We strive for success and we value individuals who are always looking for better ways to do things. † Celebrate Difference – â€Å"We believe it is the knowledge of our people that brings our brands to life. We do not impose a rigid, uniform view of the world. Our global strength comes from celebrating local differences, while knowing that some things should be the same. † Work Better Together – â€Å"We are at our best when we collaborate to form a powerful team. We listen to each other and combine our expertise to create a strong, focused, supportive and trusted team of people. † The winning ways outline IHG’s culture as being a world leading hotel group. This unique strategy has been rolled out across the entire group and in order to measure the success of the winning ways, employee satisfaction surveys are used. Basically, IHG acknowledges that their people are the most important element for success, because they are responsible for bringing IHG’s brands (within IHG, there are seven hotel brands) to life for guests. IHG uses its’ winning ways strategy to put personnel ‘in the spotlight’ and therefore making employees satisfied, in which they will portray their gratification towards guests. In conclusion, IHG’s winning ways strategy is a smart, yet simple approach to reach their mission statement. The winning ways can also be referred to as their guideline or bible to guide the hotel group towards their long-term vision. IHG’s winning ways are how personnel should behave on a daily basis; a set of behaviors based on their values which is ultimately absorbed by the entire workforce and transferred to the guests. By creating a consistent and reliable workforce, IHG can be sure that their winning ways strategy is the perfect route to success, because after all, guest satisfaction is everything in the hotel industry. References Robert Dransfield (2001), Corporate Strategy – 1st edition, Guildford, England, Heinemann Laura Pratt (2011), Hotelier Magazine – People Pleasers: IHG Aims to Please as Pinnacles 2011 Company of the Year Allison Shirreffs (2011), Atlanta Business Chronicle – InterContinental Hotels Group: Best places to work InterContinental Hotels Group corporate website: http://www. ihgplc. com/index. asp [pic]

Joseph Andrews as a Picaresque Novel Essay

Joseph Andrews, or The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams, was the first published full-length novel of the English author and magistrate Henry Fielding and among the first novels in the English language. Henry Fielding along with Samuel Johnson is considered to be the founder of English novel. Henry Fielding was in fact a satirist and initially he was known for his satirical works on the political corruption of his times. His work shows the realistic approach towards portraying the picture of the contemporary society. Fielding’s first venture into prose fiction was the effect of Samuel Richardson’s† Pamela† and Fielding himself defined his novel Joseph Andrews as comic epic poem in prose. Published in 1742, Joseph Andrews is the story of the adventures of a very chaste, good natured footman Joseph and his dear friend and mentor the idealist Parson Adams who is not only an honest man but a man of character upright . Joseph Andrews was initially written as a parody of Samuel Richardson’s â€Å"Pamela† but as the story develops and grows we realize that the story is entering into another genre and is naturally following a different pattern. As the events unfold and the ripple effect of the occurrences spans through we feel that the genre the novel is entering into is somewhat picaresque. The picaresque tradition belongs to Spain and is derived from the word â€Å"Picaro† meaning rouge or a villain or a rascal. The word picaro started to first appear in Spain with the current meaning in 1545. In 1554 the novella â€Å"Lazarillo de Tormes† is credited with founding the genre and the expression Picaresque novel was coined in 1810. Before giving arguments to support whether or not Joseph Andrews is a picaresque novel, it becomes necessary here to first get a clear idea as to what a picaresque novel is and what are the paradigms and parameters that define a particular style of writing as picaresque. There are some qualities that distinguish the picaresque novel or narrative form, all or some of which may be employed for effect by the author. These are; A picaresque narrative is usually written in first person as an  autobiographical account. The main character is often of low character or social class. He or she gets by with wit. There is almost no plot. The story is told in a series of loosely connected adventures or episodes. (4)There is little if any character development in the main character. Once a picaro, always a picaro. His or her circumstances may change but rarely result in a change of heart. The picaro’s story is told with a plainness of language or realism. Satire might sometimes be a prominent element. The behavior of a picaresque hero or heroine stops just short of criminality. Carefree or immoral rascality positions the picaresque hero as a sympathetic outsider, untouched by the false rules of society. The characters are numerous in number and so are the events of the novel. Taking these salient features of a picaresque novel into consideration I will build and finally establish the argument whether Joseph Andrews is a picaresque or not. In the very introduction of novel, Henry Fielding acknowledged his debt to Miguel de Cervantes, a Spanish novelist, poet and playwright whose â€Å"Don Quixote† is the best known example of a picaresque novel. As we read the novel we realize as if the author is directly addressing his reader and he is relating the events to us in first person narration. This style of autobiographical writing is maintained throughout the book. Fielding also presents a different case to his readers at the start of the each part of the book. For example in book I chapter I he defends the practice of writing a biography. He also highlights the discrepancy between appearance and reality by mocking Colley Cibber who in his autobiography called Fielding a â€Å"broken wit†. Then in Book II chapter I he tells his readers the purpose of dividing his novel into books and chapters. Likewise in Book III chapter I he reminds his readers of the purpose of his novel and dismisses historians. The realism is quite obvious here which satisfies and fulfills the purpose of the very first property of a picaresque novel. Then comes the second paradigm of a picaresque according to which the main character is usually of low character or low social class and very witty. Mr. Andrews though being a very moral and chaste person is of course not of low character but definitely belongs to a lower class being the son of poor parents and brother of Pamela the chaste maid servant of Booby family. And  Joseph is not without wits at all. He is a simple honest person who after understanding the malice of intentions in Mrs. Slipslop’s and Lady Booby’s minds, immediately decides to quit the job and return to Fanny. In the events that follow we also see that he has got more brains than Mr. Adams who is a dreamy idealist whose doctrine is† good begets good† and â€Å"evil begets evil†. But Joseph, in spite of being very respectful and submissive towards Parson Adams, never fully believes in his doctrine and is very much able to see through things clearly and judge people in a better way. For example Joseph is able to gauge the character of the squire who makes generous but false promises to people but Parson Adams does not and also Joseph contradicts parson’s idea of private education being better than the public. This shows that though Joseph considers Parson Adams his mentor and values his advice yet he has his own understanding and is not following blindly whatever is coming his way. Another property of a picaresque hero that Joseph is utterly not having is the rascality. He is facing adventures, he is meeting wicked people, he is also in love with a girl but he never indulges in any ill means or shows any sort of wickedness or rascality in the face of all the hardships that are befalling him. Thus he is untouched by the false rules of the society. A prominent picaresque element of this genre is the looseness of the plot which is very much obvious in the case of â€Å"Joseph Andrews† plot construction. Looseness of the plot is so dominant that it see ms as if the whole plot is going haywire and is following a haphazard path as if one is on a roller coaster ride not in terms of speed but in terms of abruptness. The writer starts with one thing and before concluding it he takes up an entirely new dimension and starts talking about something entirely different and irrelevant. He takes it to an extent that reader loses the account of the events and is left confused. Sometimes Fielding introduces a character without a rational explanation of its sudden arrival at a particular place. For example the arrival of Mrs. Slipslop at the Dragon’s inn all of a sudden is quite out of the blue. And sometimes there are certain things which the reader is compelled to assume without any rational reasoning. Meeting of Fanny and Joseph is also quite odd and abrupt. Likewise the story of Leonora and Horatio is again something which is utterly irrelevant to the plot and adds to its looseness. Arrival of Mr. Peter Pounce to Booby Hall without her mistress Lady Booby and his appearing  at the scene of Fanny’s abduction is also unjustified. The overflowing list of adventures, brawls, quarrels, irrelevant and unnecessary events, unexplainable occurrences signify the looseness of the plot and its insignificance in connection to the actual story but at the same time they are fulfilling the requirement of the picaresque narrative style. The character development of the protagonist Joseph Andrews is somewhat flat. Actually he is shown as a chaste and honest person till the very end of the novel. There are no sharp turnings and giving ins to the circumstances at any point in the story for Joseph Andrews and this makes his character a stereotyped one. He could have made at least one mistake and that would have given a real twist to his character as well as to the story. The mistake could have been giving in to the chambermaid Betty at Tow Wouse’s or may be once to Lady Booby but he is shown to be a chaste one at all times. Thus there is almost no character development in Joseph’s case and his every next action is quite easily calculated and predicted by the reader. The only thing that changes about him is his being the son of Harriet Hearty and Mr. Wilson and not of Mr. and Mrs. Gaffer which also relieves him of the tag of being Pamela’s brother. His chastity and his immoveable love for Fanny are the two strongest sides of his character that are being talked about throughout the novel. In the book I, after giving an account of who Joseph Andrews is and how he became friends with Parson Adams, Joseph Andrews is taken to London with Lady Booby. Here we get a glimpse of society’s ways and the element of satire and realism sets off. Fielding’s plainness of language that is his realism as well as his satirical vein shows its reflection throughout the span of the novel. Fielding’s satire is pungent. Malice, selfishness, vanities, hypocrisies, lack of charity, all is ridiculed as human follies. Different strata of the society are shown through the picaresque mode. The travelers meet hunting squires, mean innkeepers, corrupt landladies, drinking parson, philosophers, lawyers and surgeons, beggars, peddlers and robbers and rogues. Particular social evils prevalent in the day, and follies and foibles of human nature in general are effectively exposed. In case of women, Lady Booby, Mrs. Slipslop, Betty, all these women are shown to have the unbridled lust for the opposite sex. Lady Booby is mourning her dead husband while playing cards and is rather happy for having another opportunity to have a new lover. The clergymen are shown  to have no moral values rather they are indulged in the worldly affairs and are crafty and callous. There are vicious and inhuman squires. There is no concept of charity among the higher or so called privileged class. They cannot help a poor fellow who is robbed and stripped by the ruffians. A parson cannot help a man of his own fraternity with some shillings. A surgeon shows no sympathy for the poor footman. The in keeper on finding out that Adam is not the real kin of well to do Mr. Tulliber, refuses to give any charity which she was ready to part with earlier when she mistook Adams for being the rich man’s real brother. A very cruel realism and satire is shown when Pamela also becomes an accomplice of Mr. B in persuading Joseph to do away with the idea of marrying poor Fanny which is so ironic since Pamela herself belonged to that class to which Fanny belonged and had herself succeeded in marrying a person of a higher prospect. A blurry kind of humor also arises when Fielding tells us of the man talking of courage and bravery but he runs away at the mere mention of the danger, and of the catholic priest who after giving a wholesome lecture on the evils of money ends up in asking for some money from Parson Adams. Poor Adam’s forgetfulness is both humorous and serves as a reason for new adventures and encounters with new characters. Sometimes this humor is also shown in a slapstick style for example in the head over heels tumbling down of Adams and in the ridiculous fight at the Tow Wouse inn where Mrs. Slipslops also joins in and pulls the hair of the inn keeper’s wife. Also the mention of Mrs. Slipslop’s hairy chin and in the midst of the night Adams being half naked and falling on her in a mere confusion and of the new suitor of Fanny, â€Å"Beau Didapper† when he crawls into Mrs. Slipslop’s bed mistaking her for Fanny is very much humorous. Here, again Mrs. Slipslop takes advantage of this opportunity to satisfy her ego and yells at the top of her voice as if she is being raped by Didapper is quite hilarious. Thus pungent satire and to an extent sufficient amount of humor is there to categorize this novel as fulfilling this characteristic feature of a picaresque. This novel is a gallery of characters, another very important feature of a picaresque mode. The travelers meet squires, in keepers and their wives ,landlords and land ladies, gentlemen and gentlewomen, parsons and their wives, ruffians, postillion, horsemen, coachmen, people in the  neighborhood, priest, chambermaids, accountant, gamester, player, poet, philosophers, lawyers, justice, surgeon, beggars, peddlers. And to one’s surprise, this steady train of characters contributes in these adventures very actively and each one has a part to play which also justifies the looseness of the plot. The hero travels from place to place encountering thieves an ruffians, rescuing damsels in distress, fighting duels, falling in love, being thrown in prison, and meeting a vast section of society. The opportunity of representing a large section of society gave the author the power of exploring the follies of the widest possible range of humanity. By introducing this gamut of good and bad, virtuous and vicious characters Fielding explores and satirizes the discrepancies in the human affectation and pretences. The central journey in the Joseph Andrews is not just for the purpose of wandering as it is in a picaresque. Joseph is not a wanderer. He is on a noble journey homewards and there is a cause and an objective behind this journey that Joseph has taken up. It is the need that has made him set out even in the darkening hours. He is rather compelled to leave England and go to his beloved due to the circumstances that arose. Yet the whole journey is fabricated in the utter manner of a picaresque narration. It is in the chapter ten of the book one that picaresque element enters the novel when Joseph is shown to set out on his journey in the borrowed coat. From here begin his misadventures and finally he is shown to meet and marry his beloved. This picaresque element is maintained till the end of the book III in terms of being adventurous. From book IV onwards satire and realism is more prevalent than the adventure. There is a tug of war going on in terms of emotions between Lady Booby and Joseph who does not want to leave Fanny come what may and lady Booby does not to leave alone Joseph come what may. In this quest, most surprisingly and coincidently, he comes to discover his true identity in terms of his real parentage. Interpolated stories and Coincidences are there which make up the fine ingredients of a picaresque novel. In this concluding paragraph, on the basis of above mentioned arguments and textual evidences, I would establish this statement that Joseph Andrews is a Picaresque Novel. There are certain sections where picaresque tradition is not strictly being followed and it seems as if the  author is subtly preaching moral values and is hence being didactic. Also, Henry Fielding might himself call it a comic epic poem in prose and whatever the motive behind writing it he may describe, be it anti-Pamelism or whatever, but when we look at it in a broader perspective we can clearly make out that it has the rambling and discursive narrative which enable to it to have all the elements of a picaresque in it and therefore making it a Picaresque Novel.

Obesity and Genetics

Obesity is characterized by a high amount of body fat or adipose tissue. This condition is common, but varies from individual to individual. There are other factors that play a role in obesity other than eating too much of the wrong foods, not exercising, or age, and gender. This factor is genetics. People with genetic risk factors that affect energy metabolism and result in an inborn susceptibility to gain weight are much different than a person who loses weight normally. Most people don’t understand that obesity can be caused by a genetic disorder that they have no control over. People that suffer from obesity are looked down upon by society because people consider them lazy or unable to control themselves around food, when actually they may eat healthier diets than an average size person does and exercise more frequent as well. People that are obese are greatly discriminated against, their denied employment because their considered a health risk, their also denied positions that are public related such as bus’s and cabs, airplanes, as well as amusement parks, and people treat them as social failures because of this. Obese people can’t walk outside of their homes without being gawked at or harassed and hurt verbally. This making it harder for them to cope with their disorder and just to avoid the criticism most isolate them self’s from the world, psychologically leading to depression, feelings of rejection, or shame, and anger issues, as well as unhealthy living and socialization skills. Motivation is dissipated and social interactions may become limited as a result. References: Obesity and Genetics. (2005, January 1). Retrieved from http://www.medicalmoment.org/_content/risks/jan05/286751.asp

Case study for waste management Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

For waste management - Case Study Example Waste was collected in pits in many areas of the world so that the people could remain hygienic and also reduce the rate of mortality among the population. (Bilitewski, Hardtle and Marek, 1997, p. 1) Medical waste is mainly produced in hospitals where it is mostly considered infectious but in most cases not all of it is. The medical wastes include cultures and stocks of infectious agents; pathological wastes and also sharp objects such as needles and scalpels as well as body parts. (Brunner, 1996, p. 6) The amount of Medical waste generated in the world is difficult to tell since for example the amount of this waste that is generated in the US is not even known and the figure cannot even be estimated. Different reports estimate different figures based on how they calculate it. Most medical waste goes into the incinerators which are mainly used for pathological and infectious waste but this is a problem because the emissions from these incinerators are not managed, (Dutta, 2002, p. 259) The waste that is generated in the hospitals will need to be reduced through pretreatment which will help lower the quantity at the time for disposal. They will also need to be separated depending on their source and type to ease the process of managing it after that. Due to the increased cost of incineration in the recent years, non-incineration methods will greatly cut the cost of this form of disposal if they are employed. This will also reduce the emissions that come from these incinerators. Methods that are cost effective like autoclaving, chemical disinfection and compaction can be used towards this cause. Since incineration is the primary method for treating medical waste and this is likely to remain so, pollution control equipment that is more advanced should be included to be a standard part of the incinerator design. Major limitations

Application of Organizational Managerial Theories in Law Enforcement Term Paper

Application of Organizational Managerial Theories in Law Enforcement - Term Paper Example Managerial strategy, the component that manages and guides the organization toward its missions and visions, has been and remains a crucial element to police administration. For decades, the police administrator has been held accountable for the weaknesses of law enforcement agencies. Nevertheless, recently, it is simply stated that police administrators have turned out to be and continue to be highly qualified in comparison to their forerunners (Dantzker, 1999). However, in spite of the idea that police administrators nowadays may be more trained, experienced, and knowledgeable than those of the earlier periods, subordinate police managers and police executive nowadays perhaps perform a much more challenging task than earlier administrators. Due to the greater issues and challenges that confront present-day law enforcement, like a constantly changing workforce, an overstrained criminal justice system, and an overwhelming set of tasks, the police administrator’s job keeps on d emanding for more progress (Champion, 2002). This essay discusses how the three major organizational managerial theories, namely, classical or traditional, human relations, and systems have been applied in law enforcement managerial procedures and their impact on police administration. Classical Management Theory Classical theory, or also referred to as the ‘scientific management’ model, is the groundwork for American police administration, but this theory in law enforcement is quite difficult and unfavorable when it is rigidly applied. Above all, it tries to put into practice dominant, dictatorial standards to manage people who normally abide by egalitarian principles (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). According to Gaines and Worrall (2011), more difficulties are produced as agencies have implemented policing principles, which involve empowering subordinates for them to gain more control over policing issues, criminal activities, and their tasks. The progress toward such managerial technique tends to burden and pressure classically managed agencies. Primarily, the traditional police administration and the classical organizational theory have been applied to police administration successfully. Even though the classical organizational model was conceptualized a century ago, it is stil l the main organizational design for law enforcement agencies and other governmental departments. Police administrators have relied on this model to lead them in managing their divisions and completing the police task (Allen & Sawhney, 1999). In spite of this, there has been considerable strain on law enforcement agencies to change the traditional police managerial framework. First, the general public has criticized police conduct and outcomes. Citizens trust law enforcers in terms of preventing criminal activities and resolving crime issues when they take place. At present, the public criticize police conducts like the maltreatment of civil rights and racial profiling (Allen & Sawhney, 1999). This has encouraged law enforcement agencies to build stronger and better rapport with community organizations and the general public, mostly by adopting community policing. According

The Christian Coalition of America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Christian Coalition of America - Essay Example As such, we work together with Christians of all denominations, as well as with other Americans who agree with our mission and with our ideals. issues that need to be discussed, one in particular which is in regards to the way in which they use their power to affect the government, and this includes what they have been able to do in the past, such as organize elections, change policies, and more. By thoroughly addressing and examining these issues, we will be able to attain a much more informed and knowledgeable understanding on the subject matter at hand. This is what will be dissertated in the following. There are really many different ways in which the Christian Coalition has been able to use their power in order to affect the government, all in an incredibly positive manner. "The Christian Coalition (CC) has two central goals: to control the agenda of the Republican party by working from the grassroots up; and to train and elect pro-family, Christian candidates to public office. The group has had considerable success in both areas, and their impact in state and national elections can be detected through their work during primaries and ability to mobilize Christian conservative voters" (People for the American Way, 2007). They are an organize which does - and always has - strive to strengthen the government and make it more focused on family matters, which is respected not only by Christians, but by people as a whole around the world. The Coalition's strategy actually first attracted attention in the year 1990, when a coalition of right-wing groups led by the Christian Coalition he lped candidates in San Diego win 60 out of 90 races for a variety of offices, and this included such things as school and hospital boards, for instance. As well, the organization, which, through extremely wide dissemination of voter guides, has supported some political candidates and opposed many others and the organization itself was very influential during the 1990s, when it was under the leadership of executive director Ralph Reed. The Coalition uses many different methods in order to get its point across and in order to attempt to positively change the government, and this includes educating, lobbying, and disseminating information through courses, debate forums, lectures, issue voter guides, and scorecards for certain candidates on its issues of concern. The Christian Coalition "was founded on the belief that 'people of faith' have a right and a responsibility to effect social, cultural, and political change in their local communities. Its members denounced promiscuity and what they deemed as individualist, feminist, and judicial excesses, and preferred a larger role for independent groups instead of the federal government. Its goals included strengthening 'family values' by fighting abortions, pornography, homosexuality, bigotry, and religious persecution, and by endorsing prayer in public places such as schools" (Answers, 2007). Although there is much respect for this coalition, there has also been a lot of negativity which has surrounded it, particularly in more recent years, as there are many people who are openly frustrated about the organization. There are

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 57

Case study - Essay Example This needs a consent and disclosure form that should be separate from all job application form. The list of present and past addresses is the foundation for a systematic background check. Knowing where the person has lived is crucial for deciding where to search for criminal records and looking for time gaps as well, and mismatches of location compared to the information given by the applicant. An individual’s social security number (SSN) gets  given between their first job (victor, 2010). Hence, an SSN validation one can know if the applicant has a particular SSN one gave or the applicant is lying. The best searches for criminal background get carried out at person counties since there is no centralized entity to control every criminal record. One of the reason is the likelihood of getting criminal record is high in an individual’s present county residence because several crimes take place near their work or home. County searches are useful since misdemeanors and felonies normally get prosecuted at county courts court, and their results may not be reported to the state. Victor (2010) states, Background checks should get offered before employment. This is due to the sensitivity of the information in the applicant reports and particular records. To avoid getting information that would discriminate against the applicant, they are free to know where the origin of information used against them. Also, they should consent before the employer obtains a credit report. How to carry out background checks online: research and choose a company to conduct background checks on the applicants. Register for the website. Then request background checks. Once one clears registration, start requesting for background checks from the company by putting pertinent data for the applicant as prompted (Victor, 2010). It is risky since one

Movie Review of Batman - The Dark Knight Rises Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Of Batman - The Dark Knight Rises - Movie Review Example Just like mere mortals, Batman underwent hindrances. Bruce Wayne took up the cudgels for his bankrupt Wayne Enterprises. Wayne erroneously funneled most of his Wayne money in Miranda Tate’s clean energy program. Wayne was wrongly persuaded that the nuclear power project would improve Gotham City’s community life. However, the project was shelved because of the possible environmental damage. Nuclear power generates a deadly by-product, radiation. Bruce Wayne was distressed, just like an average person. And just like most happy endings, he was able to bounce as Batman. As Batman, Wayne saves Gotham city by bringing the bomb outside the city’s boundaries. The bomb explodes over the bay area, thanks to recuperated Bruce Wayne. I admire Alfred Pennyworth. He is a person who has character (Darius 59). Alfred Pennyworth decided to spend his life caring for the needs of Bruce Wayne. He was not discouraged because he was not born with a silver spoon, living in a rich family. Pennyworth gave his 150 percent to each of his Wayne Mansion responsibilities. He used all his persuasive power to convince Bruce Wayne to make the original Batman crop up again. His loyalty was finally broken when the butler could no longer stand Bruce Wayne’s wasting his valuable time away in rotting flesh fashion. The former felt he was no longer effective as Bruce Wayne’s personal adviser, counselor, Butler, and friend. I deeply hate Bane. Bane is the epitome of a criminal, especially with the likes of Joker, Penguin, Cat Woman, and Mr. Freeze.

The Purpose of Determining the Main and the Basic Problems of the Unit Essay - 3

The Purpose of Determining the Main and the Basic Problems of the United States of America - Essay Example Obviously, the intensity and the mode of the practice of racism has been changed and evolved but it has not been eliminated from the society. This evolution can be explained with the help of an easy example. When a person starts to give extra privileges to a man of African American descent and treats him different from others, this is where racism kicks in. The mode of racism has been changed from ‘treat them like hell’ to ‘treat them different from others, be it in a good sense so that they feel that they are not one of us’. But the fact cannot be denied that there have been made certain efforts by the public as a whole including the state in which this element has been tried to be eliminated. For instance, let us take the example of the Boston busing desegregation. Although it was a very hard time for the administration and the people as a whole when the people of South Boston turned on the Blacks, it was an effort by the government nonetheless. It was not only the busing desegregation but Boston had even prior to this made their intentions clear in the riots and protests against the racial imbalance act. The children that were brought to South Boston suffered deep emotional stress but they laid some of the building stones in the development of eliminating the racial discrimination. The president Ronald Regan, however, had some policies which can be said to be not so much in conformity with the interests of all the races, especially the African American ones. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration if one said that the policies of Mr. Regan suggested that he had no care for the blacks of his country. For instance, let us take the example of his support of Bob Jone’s university. The university was denied the tax exemptions from the IRS. The IRS basically denied the tax exemptions to the colleges and universities which had the policy of segregation on the basis  of races.  

Formative Assessment and Secondary Higher Secondary Essay Example for Free

Formative Assessment and Secondary Higher Secondary Essay Main subjectsEnglish, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Civics, Geography and Economics. Additional subjects (optional)Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Oriya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, French, Tibetan, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Nepali, Limboo, Lepcha, Bhutia, and Mizo. Continuous and comprehensive evaluation is an education system newly introduced by Central Board of Secondary Education in India, for students of sixth to tenth grades. The main aim of CCE is to evaluate every aspect of the child during their presence at the school. This is believed to help reduce the pressure on the child during/before examinations as the student will have to sit for multiple tests throughout the year, of which no test or the syllabus covered will be repeated at the end of the year, whatsoever. The CCE method is claimed to bring enormous changes from the traditional chalk and talk method of teaching, provided it is implemented accurately. Introduction Implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation was one of the recommendations of the Indian Education Commission, 1964-66 popularly known as Kothari Commission. The recommendation was accepted by the Govt. of India under National Policy of Education(NPE),1968 which was formulated on the basis of the recommendations of the Kothari Commission. A humble beginning was made since then by introducing unit tests in place of Term end exam or year end exam.Subsequently the NPE was re-formulated in 1986.The Govt. of India came out with Programme of Action in(PoA)in 1992.All the documents such as National Curriculum Frame work for School Education,2000 and the National Curriculum Frame work, 2005 also stressed on the implementation of the CCE.With the launching of the SSA, the CCE was introduced for the classes from Ist to VIIth.The RTE also speaks about the CCE. Thus CCE is implemented now during the tenure of Shri Sibbal,Minister of Human Resource Development. This is the new evaluation method introduced recently to decrease the accumulated stress of board exams on the students and to introduce a more uniform and comprehensive pattern in education for the children all over the nation. CCE helps in improving student’s performance by identifying his/her learning difficulties and abilities at regular time intervals right from the beginning of the academic session and employing suitable remedial measures for enhancing their learning performance. CCE is the modern method of evaluating all the prime dimensions of a students personality that of how much he has been through out. New scheme of evaluation As a part of this new system, students marks will be replaced by grades which will be evaluated through a series of curricular and extra-curricular evaluations along with academics. The aim is to reduce the workload on students and to improve the overall skill and ability of the student by means of evaluation of other activities. Grades are awarded to students based on work experience skills, dexterity, innovation, steadiness, teamwork, public speaking, behavior, etc. to evaluate and present an overall measure of the students ability. This helps the students who are not good in academics to show their talent in other fields such as arts, humanities,  sports, music, athletics, etc. Marks and grades In CCE, the marks obtained in an exam are usually not revealed. However, equivalent grades, which would be deduced using a special method by the teachers during evaluation would be revealed. This is considered as a drawback since a child with 92 marks will get the same grade as the child with 100 marks and their talents cannot be recognized by anyone else other than their teachers. Though this system might have some drawbacks it instills this value that students need to compete with themselves to get a better grade and not with others. The grading system is as follows- CGPAGradeQualified?Merited? Unlike CBSEs old pattern of only one test at the end of the academic year, the CCE conducts several. There are two different types of tests. Namely, the formative and the summative. Formative tests will comprise the students work at class and home, the students performance in oral tests and quizzes and the quality of the projects or assignments submitted by the child. Formative tests will be conducted four times in an academic session, and they will carry a 40% weightage for the aggregate. In some schools, an additional written test is conducted instead of multiple oral tests. However, at-least one oral test is conducted. The summative assessment is a three-hour long written test conducted twice an year. The first summative or Summative Assessment 1 (SA-1) will be conducted after the first two formatives are completed. The second (SA-2) will be conducted after the next  two formatives. Each summative will carry a 30% weightage and both together will carry a 60% weightage for the aggregate. The summative assessment will be conducted by the schools itself. However, the question papers will be partially prepared by the CBSE and evaluation of the answer sheets is also strictly monitored by the CBSE. Once completed, the syllabus of one summative will not be repeated in the next. A student will have to concentrate on totally new topics for the next summative. At the end of the year, the CBSE processes the result by adding the formative score to the summative score, i.e. 40% + 60% = 100%. Depending upon the percentage obtained, the board will deduce the CGPA and thereby deduce the grade obtained. In addition to the summative assessment, the board will offer an optional online aptitude test that may also be used as a tool along with the grades obtained in the CCE to help students to decide the choice of subjects in further studies. The board has also instructed the schools to prepare the report card and it will be duly signed by the principal, the student and the Board official. Often during the evaluation of Social Science papers, the following concepts are observed. Investigation of the situation What is the question and what is to be explained. Deductive Method What does the student know and how can he use it to explain a situation. Co-relation with a real life situation Whether the situation given matches any real life situation, like tsunamis, floods, tropical cyclones, etc. Usage of Information Technology Can the problem be solved with the use of IT? If yes, how? In addition to that, various assignments can be given such as projects, models and charts, group work, worksheet, survey, seminar, etc. The teacher will also play a major role. For example, they give remedial help, maintain a term-wise record and checklists, etc.

The Changing Smartphone Industry Marketing Essay

The Changing Smartphone Industry Marketing Essay Research in Motion (RIM) is a Canadian wireless device company, best known as the developer of the BlackBerry smart phones. The company, in its early years, was known for its enterprise-focus, rapid product innovation and its commitment to security. Its latest smart phone offering in October, 2010 was a significant failure. Overall, it lost 5% market share in the US smart phone market during the period between October, 2010 and January, 2011. Its latest tablet offering, named the Playbook, announced right after Apples first tablet, iPad1, is yet to be launched, while Apple is already selling tens of thousands of units of its second tablet, iPad2. And more recently, RIM decided that its new tablet, the Playbook, will support applications created by its competitor, Google. Given this background, we analyzed the industry, RIMs strategy, its product and processes and their alignment with strategy. In that light, we propose that the firm do the following: a) Support the Android Application Platform on its smart phones too (not just the tablet), while setting new rules in the Blackberry Application Store to incentivize developers further. b) Focus on enterprise-based product offerings via strategic acquisitions that allow complementary product offerings to establish high switching costs and product-bundling opportunities. c) Forge new partnerships with unique content providers, telecom companies and cloud firms to keep the firm unique and differentiated while maintaining its strategic continuity. Mobile Handset Industry Market Dynamics The global mobile handset industry is one of the fastest growing sub-industries in wireless sector. This industry was valued at approximately $133bn in 2009, a decrease of 6.7% over 2008, largely owing to the weakness in the global economy. However, as the global economy recovered, this industry saw huge shipment growth announcements from vendors in 2010. Based on industry forecasts  [1]  , this industry is expected to ship 1.4 billion handsets in 2011, up 19.2% from 2009 levels and is forecasted to grow with a CAGR  [2]  of 7.8% during the period 2009-14 to reach 1.7 billion by 2014 (refer : Appendix Figure 1). This growth is largely driven by the high smart-phone growth rates, declining smart-phone prices, increased adoption of 3G technology and the high subsidies given by vendors. Product Segmentation The global handset market consists of two product segments Feature phones and Smart-phones. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Feature phones (or mobile phones) are used for basic mobile communications such as voice, text messaging and data transfers, over a standard GSM mobile telecom network. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Smart-phones are handheld devices, offering advanced capabilities in addition to those provided by a feature phone such as e-mail, social networking or Internet access. Based on market research  [3]  data, we anticipate that during the period 2009-14, the Feature phone segment will decline at a CAGR of -15.5%, while the Smartphone segment will grow at a CAGR of 37.8%. The tremendous growth in the Smartphone market is primarily due to booming consumer demand and the recent industry trend of convergence between hardware, software and services. As consumers increasingly prefer technologies that help them to stay in touch with family, friends and their workplace while they are on the move, the demand for smart devices which are content-rich and support features such as e-mail and social networking applications (apps) will also increase. Market Drivers Most of the growth in mobile handset industry has been fuelled by developing countries. Apart from this, the increasing Smartphone usage is fuelling mobile handset market growth. Another major driver for the handset industry is the huge growth in mobile broadband revenues and subscriptions. Mobile broadband adoption is increasing due to the strong growth of Smart-phones, connected laptops and tablets, coupled with the rollout of high speed networks. Current Trends in Smartphone Industry Shift to Applications Apple, RIM and Google have transformed the Smartphone market into a software based environment, transferring value from hardware to software and content. In 2010 Apple dominated the Smartphone app market, offering over 225,000 apps (refer: Appendix- Figure 2). Its strict control over approval of apps has allowed it to maintain quality. Apple has already sold more than 150 apps from which it generated $2.4bn in revenues. Nearly 5bn apps were downloaded from its App Stores. While RIM offers 10,000 apps, Symbian offered only a mere 6,118. Android on the other hand offered 140,000 apps to its users to take up second position in the apps market. The Android Marketplace does not have the same kind of restrictions as Apple, and while this allows for a certain amount more freedom for both developers and users, the quality and compatibility of apps cannot be guaranteed in the same way. Video Communications Smartphones and other mobile devices (e.g. tablets) are transforming the communication industry, resulting in exponential growth in mobile data traffic. Based on an estimate from Cisco, nearly 66% of the mobile data traffic will be for video consumption by 2014 (refer: Appendix Figure 4). Mobile video is expected to grow at a CAGR of 131% between 2009 and 2014. Emerging Markets new growth engines Many handset manufacturers are turning to emerging markets to drive growth against the backdrop of the financial crisis in mature markets. In Asia, India and China are considered the fastest growing markets in the world for handsets. Compared to mature markets such as North America which had only a 2.5% share of global net subscriber additions in 2010, Asia-Pacific takes a much more significant share, accounting for 68.4% of total subscribers added. Low cost manufacturers affecting industry dynamics Inspired by the success of established players such as Samsung, many smaller handset vendors are entering the market to take advantage of the low entry barriers. Local handset manufacturers such as ZTE and Huawei in China and Taiwan and Micromax in India are challenging the established players, driving down prices and profits. These local companies have their own research and development divisions and design their own phones. The Value Chain Smartphone Industry The current value-chain of the smart phone industry is highly operator-centric; the network operators have a high degree of control over the device manufacturers they collaborate with, the technology operators they employ, and the content delivery entities with which they align (see Appendix Figure 3). Smartphones and intense competition in the mobile handset industry have only emphazised this trend. A snap-shot of the key players in this value chain: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Network operator: Serves as an intermediary for delivery of content and services. Examples: Rogers, Bell, Mobilicity. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Technology enabler: Provides backend technology required for delivering content. These include providing platforms and apps. Act as a mediator between operators and content publishers. Examples: Apple, Google, RIM. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Content Provider: Publish content from various sources or develop original content. Examples: iOS, Yahoo, Google. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Smartphone manufacturers: Manufacture handsets and other related devices. Examples: RIM, Apple, Samsung. However, these boundaries are blurring and there are no longer any demarcations of roles, with each actor stepping into the others domain. For instance, Apple and RIM are device manufacturers, technology enablers and also content publishers. Similarly, Google is a technology enabler and content provider. As roles increasingly overlap, the result could be a radical change in the value-chain and revenue sharing models. In the current business model, the operator (e.g. Rogers) receives 60-80% of data revenues while technology-enabled receives 10-20%, the content aggregator receives 10-15% while the remaining 5-10% is shared with the content owners as shown in Appendix (Appendix figure 5). Research in Motion Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Research in Motion (RIM) is the most widely recognized Canadian technology success story. RIM has perfected the BlackBerry solution a mobile solution that combines device, wireless data and voice access, a network operating centre and an operating system (OS) into a vertically integrated single offering and now considered the de facto standard for enterprise mobile solutions. Beyond the enterprise, RIM has been making inroads in the higherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ volume consumer market, most notably with the successful launch of the BlackBerry Pearl and Curve. RIM has developed the BlackBerry platform with the needs of both end-users and IT managers in mind. End users look for small device sizes, longer battery life, and ease of use (i.e., intuitive user experience, alwaysà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ on connectivity, and low latency). On the other hand, IT managers look for security, reliability, compatibility, manageability, low cost of ownership, and integration with existing corporate applications. The BlackBerry platform provides IT managers with centralized management and provisioning capabilities, giving them full control over all aspects of the platform, including applications and configuration (e.g. mandatory use of a password to gain access to the handset, overà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ theà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ air locking and erasing of the data on devices, and the capability to disable unwanted features such as Bluetooth or cameras). All told, this has made RIM one of the most trusted providers of data communications. RIM has been extremely successful in monetizing its enterprise email subscriber base. RIM has positioned its BlackBerry as a carrier-friendly platform that enables content/services to be delivered by the operators. Time will tell if this positioning leads to any long lasting preferred vendor status at the carriers because every OEM understands how critical a flexible business model, where carriers share in the revenues/ profits, is to keep them involved. Core Competencies of RIM Highly encrypted and secure email system RIM has a very strong RD division RIM provides the capability for third party companies to develop and provide software applications that run on the RIM hand held devices and they do that by supplying the application Programming Interface Strategic Analysis of RIM The current strategy of RIM focuses primarily on the Enterprise market with a smaller footprint in the consumer market though low cost smart-phones. The company is also targeting both enterprises as well as consumer market for its upcoming tablet Playbook. The advantages as well as disadvantages of RIMs current strategy are mentioned below- Strengths in current strategy RIM has a significant focus on enterprise market which offers a number of advantages to RIM. The enterprise Smartphone market is growing rapidly and it is expected that further growth will be driven by convergence of fixed and mobile telecommunication. Understanding this future technological trend, RIM introduced the BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (MVS) as a voice convergence solution which converts desktop phones/cellular phones to Blackberry devices. With MVS and the PBX integration, Blackberry devices are now equipped with all the features of an enterprise desktop phone (5à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ digit calling, call forwarding, visual call management etc.). This strategy helped to increase the penetration of RIM blackberry devices in enterprises. Another advantage for RIM is its strong relationships with many independent software vendors which provide RIM many enterprise applications beyond email. For instance, RIM enabled SAP applications to run on the BlackBerry platform. This software incorporating SAP support represents a key difference for RIM customers and will enable customers to access SAP applications from BlackBerry applications such as the address book, inbox and calendar. The current strategy also focuses on the non-enterprise consumer segment. While Apple and Nokia are delivering applications and content (that operators could also be delivering), RIM has positioned the BlackBerry as a carrier friendly platform that on the one hand drives ARPU (average revenue per user) for the carriers through its BlackBerry email (and pays RIM between $3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ $5 per subscriber per month) and on the other, provides a high performing platform that helps operators further monetize the consumer opportunity. By optimizing hardware, software and network services in a vertically integrated offering, RIM BlackBerry platform offers the carriers demonstrable advantages in spectrum efficiency, battery life and latency. Also, RIMs platform is significantly more efficient than competing platforms for email and browsing. This efficiency stems from higher compression rates achieved with the BlackBerry platform. Higher compression reduces download times (lower costs to carriers) and ultimately provides a better experience for users (lower latency, longer battery life and better connection stability). RIM offers its consumer email through its BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service). The BIS provides pushà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ based email as well as attachment viewing and Web browsing with the same optimized wireless efficiency as that found in the enterprise offering. Weaknesses in current strategy In the consumer market, Apple is the market leader with its user-friendly interface and application offerings. One of the weaknesses of RIM in this market is the lack of applications offered by its Blackberry App Store. The Blackberry App Store is an online retail store where consumers can download certain apps that are targeted at increasing productivity (spreadsheet managers, note-taking applications, social network connectivity, etc) or providing recreation (another aspect of social network connectivity, games, etc).   Blackberry apps have been an in-house closed platform operation until now, i.e. RIM and only RIM has been developing these apps for download, and the platform on which these apps are built is closed to external developers. In contrast, the app store for the explosively popular iPhone is open for developers from anywhere in the world to build apps for the general public to download. As a result, iPhone apps number around the 350,000 mark, while the Blackberry app s tore has approximately 7000 apps. These apps often form a key differentiator for the layperson looking to invest in a smartphone. As a result, RIM is poised to be edged further out of the market, unless they can take a quantum leap with their app offerings. In our recommendations section, we examine the prospect of a partnership that RIM can forge to rival Apples app store. Another weakness in RIMs current strategy is the delay in its entry in handheld tablet computing market through its upcoming tablet -Playbook. The company has announced the launch of this tablet in mid 2010. However, the launch of the device has been delayed until mid 2011 following a number of issues in manufacturing, unavailability of touchscreen displays due to absence of any long term contract with manufacturers. The company has also spend considerable amount of time in application development which could have been offered after the launch of the product through the Blackberry App Store. (For more details: refer Appendix Figure 6) Competitive Landscape Apple with its twin offerings of the iPhone and the iPad, along with the Apple App Store compete directly with RIM on all fronts. Google with its Android O/S (operable on multiple handset makers devices) is another (and rapidly growing) player in this landscape, with their open source platform that allows developers to write Apps that users can download, much like Apples model. In order to perform a competitive analysis, we further divided the market into two categories, that of Enterprise (corporate) users and that of non-Enterprise (consumer) users. Competitive Analysis in Enterprise Market As mentioned earlier, RIM took advantage of an early head-start in marketing their devices to large MNCs, many of whom now have deep, entrenched relationships with RIM. This was due in part to a first mover advantage, and also due to the enhanced security that RIM offered for email sent to its devices. The easy integration with existing email systems made the Blackberry phone the device of choice for a majority of corporations looking to equip their staff with mobile email units. The cost of switching from RIM for Enterprise users is essentially that of the legacy systems they have invested in (handsets, servers, trained personnel) and contractual commitments. With Apple beginning to offer enhanced security and a push towards productive applications for the corporate workforce, several younger corporations are either starting their staff with iPhones (and iPads) or looking to make the switch from their existing RIM contracts. Under the circumstances, there is an urgent need for RIM to offer additional value to keep these customers anchored, while also remaining a relevant option for new enterprise customers looking to decide for a mobile email-phone provider. RIM needs to follow the concept of Strategic Intent  [4]  and structure of Ambidextrous Organizations  [5]  to be competitive with other players in Smartphone industry. Competitive Analysis in Non-Enterprise Market This segment of users includes both the casual consumer as well as the professional consumer. While the former looks at a plethora of criteria for selecting their handsets and tablets, the latter is focused on devices and phone plans that offer enhanced professional productivity minus the baggage (like firewalls, disabled applications, etc) that accompanies enterprise-provided devices. For both sub-segments, two key decision-making criteria are the processing power of the devices, and the choice (as well as usefulness) of the applications available for download. In this regard, as stated before, RIMs BlackBerry and Playbook are at a disadvantage because they are coupled with the ill-performing, sparsely populated shelves of the BlackBerry App Store. In comparison, the iPhone and iPad, both very competent devices in their own right, are backed by Apples App Store and iTunes websites, the latter offering a large selection of media downloads, such as songs and movies. (For comparative analysis with various manufacturers: refer Appendix Figure 7) For RIM to succeed in this segment, it is key for them to compete directly with Apple on their availability and choice of Apps for download. RIM: Strategic Options Based on our analysis of RIM and current trends in smart-phone industry, we see the following options for RIM: Leverage Android App Platform and Set New Rules in BlackBerry App World Deepen Enterprise Product Range Strong Marketing in BRIC Nations Forge Tactical Partnerships Assessment of RIMs Strategic Options Option 1: Leverage Android App Platform and Set New Rules in BlackBerry App World RIMs App Store strategy must be to increase incentives for its rapidly-dwindling Blackberry App -developer community by offering them higher pay-offs. Additionally, it must monetize a pre-approved Android App store on its phones, just as it did on its tablets. If it can open the Playbook to Android, then it should also open up the BlackBerry phones to Android. Advantages of Option 1 If RIM is leveraging Android App Platform for its Blackberry Smartphones, then it will allow the company to increase its available application base from 10,000 to a close to 150,000 (Appendix: Figure 2). This will make the blackberry phones more appealing to Android buyers (i.e. phones based on Android Operating System). Another advantage of this approach is that the sales of Android applications through Blackberry App world will ensure a guaranteed cash flow for RIM coming from application sales. Additionally, this option will free up internal company resources currently involved in the development of Blackberry applications and help the company to concentrate on the companys core competency build high-quality smart phones and tablets that run on cutting-edge software. This option will also increase consistency between the PlayBook and BlackBerry smart-phones. Disadvantages of Option 1 While there are many benefits of this approach, there are few concerns as well in this direction. First of all, the shift to Googles Android applications for Blackberry smart-phones will further increase the market power of Google. This will make RIM vulnerable to Googles business decisions such as introducing a significant charge for offering Android Apps through Blackberry App world. Another source of disadvantage is related to the security of Blackberry smart-phones. Currently, these phones have applications offered by RIM which are tested thoroughly for interoperability and security. The Android based applications might compromise the security of Blackberry smart-phones due to their lower security standards. Option 2: Deepen Enterprise Product Range Via Strategic Acquisitions One of the biggest barriers to enter the enterprise market segment is the relationships that a firm possesses with enterprises and their corporate clients. If RIM is to retain and expand its enterprise client base- both in the short-term and longer time horizons it needs to expand its offering via tactical and strategic acquisitions. Our suggestion is to do so by acquiring and integrating an enterprise video communication company such as Polycom which is a global leader in Enterprise Video communications, and shaping it around RIMs existing offering via integration and bundling. To beat the Innovators Dilemma that the firm is entrenched in, it has to go after acquisitions that are aligned with its high-level strategy and within the same space, those that can be integrated with the company in a short time-span. Advantages of Option 2 There are a number of advantages of pursuing the acquisition of an enterprise video communication firm such as Polycom. First of all, this option provides quick access to technology and creates a high switching cost for enterprises due to deeper penetration of RIM in enterprise video which forms an important part of enterprise communications. It also creates a huge opportunity to cross-sell complementary product offerings to the existing and non-existing customers. Additionally, RIM can leverage various Polycom offerings such as telepresence  [6]  in its upcoming playbook. Apart from non-enterprise users, RIM should offer its Playbook initially to the existing Polycom customers. This will help the company to see adoption by Early Adopters. Once the Polycom customers like the product, the RIM will be able to Cross the Chasm  [7]  and reach the Pragmatists. (refer: Appendix- Figure 8) The acquisition of Polycom can also create an opportunity to offer video content and generate revenue through live video streaming on Blackberry/Playbook. Based on our financial analysis, we also saw that Polycoms current valuation provides an opportunity for RIM to capture value and to create value through cost and revenue synergies. (refer: Appendix-Figure 9, 10) Disadvantages of Option 2 One of the possible disadvantages with this option is related to the risk involved in any acquisition- cultural and management clashes -which can hamper the growth prospects of RIM. The acquisition will involve approval from regulatory bodies which will require major efforts from RIMs management. There is a possibility that competitors of RIM could also provide a counter bid to an acquisition (e.g. Polycom) and make it difficult for RIM to acquire the firm. Option 3: Strong Marketing in Emerging Markets According on the smart-phone industry forecast  [8]  , Asia-Pacific market will be the largest smart-phone market during 2009-2014, recording a CAGR of 30% in that period. As a result, an option for RIM is to gain a huge market share in emerging markets through strong marketing efforts. Advantages of Option 3 If RIM can capture a strong market share in Emerging Markets, then it will allow the company to increase its revenue many-folds. Another advantage of this approach is the competitive advantage RIM will have over Apple since Apple does not have a strong customer base in the emerging markets due to high price of iPhone. RIM on the other hand, offers a variety of smart-phones which satisfies the need of price sensitive users as well as business users. Additionally, the marketing costs are far less in emerging markets as compared to North America and Europe. Disadvantages of Option 3 First of all, the shift to emerging markets will expose RIM to competitive pressure from local handset manufacturers such as Huawei whose generic strategy is cost leadership. Another source of disadvantage is related to the security of Blackberry smart-phones. The secure email facility offered by RIM is encrypted and there has been security concern in many countries regarding the encrypted nature of these mails which can become a method of communication of for terrorists and criminal organizations. Option 4: Forge Tactical Partnerships Just like RIM has large partners like Microsoft in the enterprise space, it should strive to aggressively partner with other large companies that create content, mobile networks and cloud platforms. For example, it can forge ties with Amazon to get access to valuable content and services like its new cloud player; it can tie-up with gaming companies to create exclusive gaming on its tablets and blackberries, that appeal to its user base games that would appeal to its enterprise-oriented clients. Additionally, it must use exclusive contracts with mobile network companies, when appropriate in order to maintain its exclusivity and security. Advantages of Option 4 Tie-ups with large partners would be a game-changer, and would set RIM a notch above its competition and allow it access to unique content providers. Additionally, it will also provide quick access to cutting-edge technologies to RIM without diverting its focus from its core competencies. Disadvantages of Option 4 One possible disadvantage is that this option exposes RIM to the risk of exposing its intellectual property to partners. As a result, the company might lose its core competencies due to imitation by partners. Future Recommendations for RIM After analyzing the firms core competencies, its current product portfolio and resources which are unique and inimitable, future options we recommend that the firm should return its focus on its original capabilities within the enterprise markets and corporate customers. The high-level strategy for RIM should be to: speed up product development, enhance security and function to appeal better to enterprise/corporate customers and increase its product range through strategic acquisitions and partnerships. RIM possesses a critical mass in its relationships with enterprise segment/corporate clients and the best lever to protect that is enhance its product offering, security and functionalities, and align them to its existing product portfolio and quicken product development. This should be done after the market has been tested enough through small, rapid experiments. In a fast-changing smart-phone market (Figure 6), where the firm virtually had highest market share once, the best bet for the company is to slightly change its strategic position by making new trade-offs and make speedier product iterations, to remain differentiated. More specifically, we recommend the following three key steps to implement the strategy for RIM on a short and long term: 1) Leverage Android App Platform and Set New Rules in BlackBerry App World 2) Deepen Enterprise Product Range via Strategic Acquisitions 3) Forge Tactical Partnerships Additionally, we analyzed what our strategy would look like in the growing emerging market segments, and we believe that the above strategy of rapid product development, broader product offerings and unique partnerships with content providers/networks would be applicable to those markets as well, where RIMs strategy should maintain exclusivity and security and remain enterprise-oriented. We do not see aggressive marketing in emerging markets (option 3) to be a promising option for RIM going forward. In conclusion, there is still a significant enterprise/corporate market that demands high-quality, sophisticated and secure products. RIM, with its strong commitment to security, loyal user base and time-tested partnerships should deepen its focus on this customer base and remain unique and differentiated. Appendix Figure1. Global mobile handset shipments (m), 2009-14 Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 CAGR Unit Shipments(m)  [9]   1234 1373 1485 1602 1697 1796 7.80% Growth% 11.3% 8.2% 7.9% 5.9% 5.8% Figure2. Smartphone Apps Market Platform Symbian RIM Android Apple iOS Number of Applications  [10]   6118 10000 140000 225000 Figure3. The Value Chain Smartphone Industry Figure4. Market Share: Video Communication Source: Cisco Figure5. Revenue sharing model Source: Business Insights Figure6. RIM SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Strong market presence in the enterprise segment is driven by its flagship BlackBerry device. A weak content strategy coupled with a poor ecosystem is impacting on the companys competitiveness. Robust profits continue to shield the company from competitive threats. RIM derives a substantial 63.1% of its revenues from North America. Concentration of revenues from a single region could expose the company to considerable risk. Opportunities Threats The company is targeting the youth segments in emerging markets by offering social networking and multimedia featur

The State Of Food Security In Botswana

The State Of Food Security In Botswana About 25,000 people die every day according to the United Nations report (www.unicef.org ) due to hunger, this happens because of increase in food prices resulting in at least one billion people around the world suffering. The UN and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) are working very hard to come up with the solutions to the global food scarcity and high food prices, which started the beginning of mid- 2008. The under investment in the agriculture sector has caused a silent crisis, which was worsened by the creation of a booming bio-fuel industry in which food crops are used for fuel instead of as food for eating (FAO 2008). In addition, the recent global financial crisis affecting the economies of the countries, led to loss of job to millions of people around the world thus deepening poverty. The World Food Summit 2009 (WFS) estimated that the number of hungry people could increase by a further 100 million in 2009 and pass the one billion mark. The FAO director Diouf showed a concern on the issue by saying the following words: The silent hunger crisis affecting one sixth of all of humanity poses a serious risk for world peace and security. We urgently need to forge a broad consensus on the total and rapid eradication of hunger in the world.(www.fao.org) The world is faced with all the challenges which reduce the level of access to food by all leaving many people with hunger. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, one third of the population is well fed, and one third is starving while the remaining one third of the population is under-fed. With these statistics it shows that there is not enough food for everyone in the world. The global food insecurity situation has worsened and continues to pose a threat for humanity. With the increase in food prices and transportation costs remaining high in developing countries, the number of people suffering from hunger has been increasing rapidly in recent years (FAO 2009). This increase in food insecurity has negative effects on gender equality and education, and it undermines the efforts of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Objectives and scope of the study Poverty estimates indicate that 30.3 percent of the population in Botswana is below the poverty line (CSO HIES Report 2002), that is, nearly one-third of the population. Though Botswanas poverty rate declined from 59 percent to 47 percent in 1985 and 1994 respectively, there is still evidence of high poverty as indicated by the report. In 2002/3, the national income poverty was estimated to be 33 percent and subsequently stood at 30.2 percent in 2005/06. The recent FAO (2009) statistics indicates that about 500,000 people in Botswana are food insecure mainly because they do not have access to quality food. For an import dependent country like Botswana, increase in prices due to high transportation costs and use of food crops for bio-fuels results in a decline of the countrys import capacity (Steven 2000). With macroeconomic policies that have proven to be efficient, competitive and sustainable in past years (BOB Annual Report 2008), the results from the FAO report and statistics of poverty rates in Botswana informs this discussion on what could be reasons leading to high rates of food insecurity in Botswana. The paper will discuss how policies and strategies on food security can be implemented to assist Botswana to achieve her intended goals of reducing poverty and the level of food insecurity, the effectiveness of the policies that have been put in place; the impact of the climate conditions on the food production and the effects of trade liberations. Management of natural resources and good implantation of agricultural policies are the most important determinants of food supply. Furthermore, the efficient support of markets, from the government have the capacity to improve the performance of appropriate roles each sector either the private sector or government in order to assist in curbing failing policies is important (Robinson 1997). These issues will be discussed in detail to analyse the situation in Botswana. Chapter 2: FOOD SECURITY Introduction There are various conceptual development of thinking on how to define food security, different writers have differing definitions. Whenever the title is introduced in the study, it is important to look closely to find an explicit definition because of its intensity. Food security is a widely debated topic, given that it affects people across the globe. Diseases, famine, wars are the major contributors to food insecurity especially in the sub Saharan African continent (Lado 2001) The World Bank (1986) defined food security as permanent access to sufficient food by all people at all times for an active, productive and healthy life, and this definition together with the FAO definition are widely accepted by institutions and organisations (Stevens 2000). The FAO (1998) defines food security as the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger. Looking closely into the definitions, they seem to capture the most important components of food security which is the guarantee (availability) of having access (accessibility) to enough food (utilization) at any given time (Stevens 2000). These three components will be discussed further in the next section. Furthermore, a situation whereby people have the right to enough food leads to a healthy and productive life, and this is determined by access to and availability of food. Accessibility to food has a close relationship to economic growth and poverty. The poor usually do not have enough means to gain access to food in the required quantities (Alversen 1997). Habbard (1995) and Lado (2001) also provide a similar definition, these definitions indicates that people should be confident that food will always be accessible easily by having the economic right in order to maintain a healthy status. There are no satisfactory definitions of food security, hence there are some other alternative ways of describing it. Some researchers use terms such as food crisis, famine, and food insecurity to come up with suitable definition (Sen 1981). FAO defines food insecurity as a situation whereby people do not have adequate physical, social or economic access to food. In order to be able to define food security, it is prudent to differentiate between the household level and the national level of food security. Kotze (2000) explains household level as having enough food to ensure a minimum intake for all members of the household, while at the national level food insecurity exist because the countrys food production and trade entitlements becomes problematic. If the countrys production level becomes insufficient, it jeopardizes access to food by all, and also leads to inadequate supplies. In conclusion, food security can be defined as access to physical and economic means by all groups of people at all times in order to meet their dietary demand and food preferences for an active and healthy life. History of food security Food security has been in the public eye for many decades. The example provided by Tannehill (1988) of Julius Caesar struggle with the spiraling cost of food subsidies in ancient Rome shows the historic trend of interests in the evolution thinking of food security. The FAO report indicates that the food security concept started in the 1970s at a global food crisis meeting that was discussing the international food problems. The reduction in the food supply and instability of prices on basic foods led to the World food conference that was held in 1974 (ODI 1997). Maxwell (2001) characterized the history of thinking about the food security since the 1970s as a progressive conceptual development. Since the mid-1990s, more approaches based on the livelihoods approaches have dominated the discussions of poverty and food insecurity analysis. Since then, there have been more programs initiated to embark on fighting the food insecurity level in the world. Different approaches have been adopted to assess, monitor and map the way forward of food insecurity and vulnerability. A number of models have been developed and adopted by development countries in order to curb the problem of food insecurity. In the case of FAO for example, they came up with a program of refining the social economic analysis by expanding national food availability to include household and individuals (Devereux 2004). Components of food security Food security can be determined by different components which are related to the definitions provided earlier. Stevens (2000) explains these components of food security as the determining sets of factors. These components are availability, accessibility, utilization and vulnerability. All the form components conforms to the definition of the World Bank (1998) which is the guarantee (availability) of having access (accessibility) to enough food (utilization) at any given time by all people (vulnerability) (Stevens 2000). Causes of food insecurity Different studies show that there are many causes of food insecurity in the world. In the Sub Sahara continent, the increase in food insecurity is a result of poor economic and social conditions such as the population growth, natural disasters, and also political disturbances plays a major role. The southern Africa countries most have a bad climatic condition as reported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP 2005) and SADC monitoring unit. Furthermore, these poor weather conditions results in low production of Agricultural goods thus affecting food availability and utilization. Other contributors to food security will be discussed in depth, and these are as follows: Natural disasters, Low production of agricultural commodities, falling process of agricultural commodities, Scarcity of land, Unequal distribution of food and resources, Lack of purchasing power, Political instability and Population growth. CHAPTER 3: FOOD SECURITY IN BOTSWANA Brief description of Botswana Economic policies Botswana gained independence in 1966, during that time, the economy was dominated by the agriculture sector which comprised of mainly cattle farming, and it contributed about 40 per cent to the countrys GDP. Since then, the country enjoyed rapid economic transformation which placed Botswana on top of the list of countries in the African continent (CSO statistical bulletin 2006). In 1968 the economy of Botswana was mainly dependent on minerals such as diamonds. The mining sector now contributes about 51 per cent to the countrys GDP dominated by the diamonds, while the agricultural sector showed a decline in share of the GDP thus contributing about 4 per cent (CSO 2006). The most drastic changes in the economy were seen in the 1990s due to the decrease in diamond prices globally, (BOB 2008). These challenges resulted in the country to come up with other alternatives, hence decided to diversify the economy by looking into other sectors such as tourism, agriculture and textile manufactu ring (BIDPA). The IMF 2008 report indicates that economic growth has picked up especially in the non mining sector. Inflation has decreased stabilizing the targeted range by the central bank, though inflation risks remain (BOB 2008). Despite these structural economic changes, however the country is faced with high incidence of poverty, unemployment, and HIV/AIDS (IMF 2008). The country depends heavily on imports mainly from the neighboring country South Africa. Minerals and beef exports accounted for 85 and 4.4 per cent, respectively, of total exports in 2009 (CSO monthly trade report 2009). On the other, 22.0 percent and 13.3 percent of machinery equipment and food respectively shows the highest number of imports. Therefore, food remains the most important component of the import bill in order to meet the shortfall in most basic food commodities that the country cannot produce. Due to its land lock position, Botswanas economic development is vulnerable to external influences. The country is easily affected by the unstable political regional situation in southern Africa. Population trend The population of Botswana is approximately 1, 7 million. , leaving it in the 144th position amongst 193 nations in the world (UN). The population growth rate is estimated to be 2, 4 per cent per annum (CSO, 2009). The population in Botswana is unevenly distributed, with 54 per cent of the population living in the urban areas and 46 percent living in the rural areas (CSO stats update 2009). The main problem leading to the slow growth of population is mainly due to the high prevalence rate of HIV aids which stood at 17.1 percent in 2002. Agricultural polices Botswana started to adopt food security policies since the 1970s, and the policies were mainly to promote self sufficiency. In 1991, a shift in the policy from self sufficiency to food security was seen whereby the government, banks and donors, farmers worked together in order to fulfill the intentions of the policy (BOB 1990). In 1972, the Botswana Rural strategy was launched aimed to increase the level of production and improving the market facilities in the rural areas and creating rural employment opportunities. As part of its National Development Plan (NDP), a policy known as Accelerated Rural Development Program (ARDP) was formulated in 1973. Later in 1975, another program called The Tribal Grazing Land Policy (TGLP) aimed at maintaining optimal balance between the people, land and livestock (GOB 1972). As a way of showing commitment to availability of food to the people, the government in 1985 approved a National Food Strategy Policy for formulation and implementation of whole range of food security related programs (www.moa.gov.bw). Furthermore, the government introduced other programmes in line with the NDPs such as The Arable Land Development Programme (ALDEP) which was aimed at assisting small-scale farmers in increasing cereal production to promote self-sufficiency. The small farmers were provided with subsidies by the government to buy capital inputs such as farm implements, draft power and fencing. Another program called The Accelerated Rainfed Arable Program (ARAP) was launched. It provided farmers with short term assistance to help them recover from the drought season. During the NDP 6, the government allocated more funds to the agricultural sector, subsectors such as arable farming was targeted. The Financial Assistance Policy (FAP) programme was introduced to provide capital and labor grants to dairy farming, irrigated agriculture, poultry and small stock farming (Sigwele, 1991). Recently, the government reviewed all these policies to come up with new schemes that will increase the level of food production in the country. Certain constraints were identified such as non committal by farmers after receiving funds from the government (MOA 2006). The government also provided farmers with training skills and increased the budget on research and development to increase knowledge on achievements of self-sufficiency. However, with all the good initiatives by the government, the unfavorable climate conditions in Botswana made it difficult for the government to achieve the priorities of attaining self sufficiency programs due to periodic droughts (MOA 2006). Health Botswana has achieved remarkable advances in terms of achieving good health status. In order to achieve the goals of reducing poor families economically and socially, providing access to good health facilities will help to maintain good health status among people. The government should provide health programs , medication which everyone can access for free in order to enhance productivity and self reliance. The government of Botswana has shown commitment to improve its health status by increasing the allocation of resources to the health sector. In the past decades, we have seen the health sector given between 5 and 8 percent share. More hospitals have been constructed in various villages and proper training of personnel has been a major investment of the government. (www.gov.bw). Though Botswana is faced with challenges of high HIV prevalence rates and Malnutrition which has severely affected the economic and agricultural situation of the country, there is has been a substantial change in the health system, this is proven by the improvement of survival indicators (CSO stats update 2009). The government is trying to allocate resources evenly across the country through its implementation of the NDPs, but sometimes it fails to achieve this goal. Hence they may be some instances in which other regions get more developments than the others. This leads to most rural areas being disadvantaged and resulting in more health facilities it urban areas. People in the urban areas are better off as they can easily access the hospital due to good transportation systems. These differences may contribute more to the inequality and household poverty in Botswana. When people are ill or malnutrition, they cannot contribute positively to the production of food hence affecting the agriculture sector. Education Education is very important to the development of humanity creates better opportunities an choices for individuals. It empowers people to improve their welfare through increasing productivity and offer potential chances to improve standards of living. If more people are not educated, they cannot adapt easily to new innovation skills and technologies for agriculture, hence hampering government programmes to support food- self sufficiency, economic achievement and social prosperity. Climate and Environmental impacts Research has indicated that Botswanas climate change projections are vulnerable to climate change, posing a negative impact on the water resources and crop production. As currently there is no policy which deals with the problems caused by climate change, instead there are some recommendations that the government is trying to implement from the various studies that were conducted, a number of national policies are already in place responding to climate change. The government has demonstrated a high level of concern for environmental issues in the country. The climate of Botswana is distinguished by both high temperatures and low rainfall. There is disparity in rainfall in various districts. The northern part of the country usually gets more rain than the other parts of the country. The CSO report further indicates that the total land area of Botswana is 581,730 square kilometers where most of the land is infertile due to the predominant sandy soils and the unreliable and low rainfall. The land is differentiated into two types which are, The Kalahari Sandveld covering 77.2 percent of the land area and Eastern Hardveld covering 22.8 percent of the total land area (CSO 2008). The soils around the country are comparatively all poor. With its given conditions of weather, Botswana does not have suitable area of producing more food because the physical and climatic characteristics are not suitable for food production. This variability is of critical importance to food security and the populations use of the environment. Water and Sanitation Botswana is a water scarce country in southern Africa region due to its unfavorable weather conditions. Statistics shows that Botswana records high evaporation rates and low rainfall rates. There is concern about the low levels of water which are not able to meet the demand of the growing population and the economic expansion activities. The consumption of water has increased over the years and yet on the other hand water levels are declining manly due to drought seasons, especially in urban areas. The government of Botswana has adopted some imitative policies to provide and accelerate sanitation services with the aim of improving health conditions of the public. This was seen by an adoption of the Waste Management Bill of 1998, which resulted in the establishment of the Sanitation and Waste management Department (www.gov.bw). Sanitation promotes dignity, safety and privacy especially for women and girls. Clean, safe toilets and hand-washing facilities at home and school help increasing the childrens ability to learn. Improving health status helps individuals to earn a better living. With effective sanitation in place, it means that the environment will be safer and cleaner for all activities thus allowing children to play activities in clean environments. Families will also be able to prepare safe food and keep cleaner homes. Having access to clean water and good sanitation infrastructure leads to reduction in poverty and food insecurity (CSO Stats Update 2009). According to CSO report, about 84 per cent of urban residents have access to safe water. Government approach to food security The government of Botswana demonstrates the commitment to poverty alleviation through various programs. Botswana signed the United Nations global declarations for the improvement of human conditions and the Millennium Declaration of 2000. Botswana is also a signatory to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990); the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979); the SADC Gender and Development Declaration; the International Conference on Population and Development (1994); and the World Food Summit (Rome 1996). The government of Botswana has managed to adapt and implement good strategies towards poverty reduction and food security through its polices to alleviate poverty such as the Vision 2016, The National Policy on Rural Development, NDPs , the National Poverty Reduction Strategy and other policies, As part of its commitment to poverty reduction and food security, Botswana has adopted a United Nations Millennium Declaration from which the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) integrates the eradication of poverty and hunger. In order for the government of Botswana to mainstream poverty eradication and hunger, the government came up with the Vision 2016 strategy which its main aim is to propel the socio economic and development into a competitive, winning and prosperous nation. This strategy is aligned to the countries National Development Plan 9 which is currently active and also it is aligned to the MDGs. Furthermore they provide guidance on how the agriculture sector will be productive and sustainable, and how they will make positive changes to the economic development, poverty alleviation programs and food security by the year 2016 (Vision 2016 document, 2003). CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS In this chapter, I will look into the trends of data on Households methods of obtaining food, field and harvest size, Number of meals per day consumed by each member of the household, Level of trade statistics and other elements that are contributors to food insecurity. And also some case studies that have been done in the past about the situation of Botswana on food security. 4.1 Food Production Deficiency Botswana has a semi- arid climate, only five percent of the land is suitable for arable farming (FAO 2008 Statistics). This makes it difficult for the country to have support for food production in order to meet the demands of the consumers. In developing countries, the arable land use is deviating from its use of farming to industrial base thus resulting in number of farmers reducing (Brown 1995). In Botswana, a similar case is shown by a decline in the level of food production as indicated by figures 1, 2 and 3. Since 1995, the production level of food is insufficient, maize, millet and other crops are manly affected until 2005. This poses to be a threat to the level of food security in Botswana because if food production reduces, many people will not be able to have access to food. As compared to other countries, for example China, as a developing country is undergoing through some process of industrialization, their agricultural land has seen some land use changes to industries, housing and infrastructure leading to a decline in the arable land base. Similarly, a decline in the farming base has been experienced in developed countries, such as Japan. Japan produces about 47% of its calories and relies on imports from other countries. Before in 1960, Japan had about 11.75 million farms which declined to 3.13 million in 1992. Furthermore estimates shows that the economically active population in agriculture will be older hence a less number of people will be left in the agriculture sector (Mikishi Okada Association, personal communication, 1996). From this research, we can see that the global world is becoming more food insecure with shortage of land for farming playing a major role. For the world to run away from poverty, they should take land as a very important resource. If developed countries and developing countries increases the levels of urban agriculture, may be countries will begin to bear fruits by creating conducive environment for food stability (UNDP 1996). In order to achieve this, countries should come up with good policies in land tenure and maximise the local food production as a strategy to stabilise world food resources. Water is becoming increasingly scarce in Botswana. A number of countries throughout the world experience water shortages (Nicholas 1994). To enhance proper implementation of policies on food security, governments has to increase their expenditure on agriculture sector in order to promote agricultural production. But this has important implications for water availability. Water scarcity is not currently a major issue in Botswana only, even in the entire world, hence it more attention is needed by policy makers and should not be neglected. Not only the irrigation agriculture will be affected, all other sectors are affected by lack of water. It should be recognised that a land-use decision is also a water-use decision. A plan based on improving rain-fed agriculture through adoption of measures to make better use of rainfall brings trade-offs in that there may be less runoff to satisfy the water needs of downstream users and environmental functions. Planning for future food security req uires integrated analysis of land-use and water resources issues (Gowing 2003). The agriculture sector in Botswana is composed of the livestock sub sector and farming sub- sector. The sectors include a traditional system and a commercialized system. The livestock contributes about eighty percent to the agriculture sector (Agriculture Census Report 2004). The above figure 4, shows a decline in the livestock population. Botswana is deficient overall in food production under the current state of technology due to drought. The decline in population of the cattle is mainly due to higher recorded numbers of animal mortality cases. Botswana is mostly affected by the Foot and Mouth Disease which affects the growth of livestock population (CSO Stats brief 2008). 4.2 Employment and Inequality in urban and rural areas The agriculture sector share on Botswanas GDP has shown a decline, it stood at 3.7 percent and 1.8 percent in 1994 and 2008 respectively (CSO stats brief 2008). The cause in the decline is mainly due to the fact that from the previous analysis, we have seen that the food production reduced, and the population of the livestock reduced. The 2002/03 HIES report shows that 21.20 percent of the population in Botswana is employed by the agriculture sector and this was the highest sector at national level. The agriculture sector further employs 50.3 percent of people in the rural areas leaving a problem of rural inequality due to economys primary reliance on cattle sub sector. Moreover, even in the livestock sector, there is a substantial inequality. The data shows a skewed distribution of ownership of resources. The report further shows that even though agriculture sector employs a large proportion of the population, the income earned is lower in general as compared to other sectors. Only a minority of the population owns cattle and farming land while the rest depend on agriculture by working, they do not have cattle of their own. About 80 percent of rural households produced insufficient food to feed themselves, and the average household produce less than half of its daily caloric requirement (HIES 2002/03). In rural areas, there are more single households headed by females than in urban areas. They are mostly affected by food insecurity as they are unable to feed and provide substantial care for their families (FAO 2000). This resulted in Botswana adopting strategies that can help the country in its diversification programs in order to alleviate poverty. 4.3 Food Consumption According to the FAO, the food  [1]  consumption refers to the amount of food available for human consumption as estimated by the FAO Food Balance Sheets. The data used was extracted from the FAO statistical database, however the actual food consumption recorded may be lower than the quantity shown as food availability depending on the magnitude of wastage and losses of food in the household, e.g. during storage, in preparation and cooking, as plate-waste or quantities fed to domestic animals and pets, thrown or given away. Food consumption per person is the amount of food, in terms of quantity, for each individual in the total population. Figure 5 shows food groups and the quantities consumed. From the figure, it can be seen that cereals excluding beer and milk excluding butter are the mostly consumed food category, even though showing a decline over the period. From a food security point of view, this is not a good sign of progress for the countrys state of food security. The starchy roots and alcoholic beverages follows as the most consumed food category in Botswana. The 2002/03 HIES report also indicates a shift in consumption patterns of households. Alcohol and Tobacco category remains the highest consumed food after the food category (HIES 2002/03). Research has shown that alcohol has a negative relationship towards food security because households members spend more of their disposable income on alcohol rather than buying food, thus resulting in lack of access to food by other members of the household. In Botswana research has shown that high intake of alcohol has a positive relationship in contribution to high prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS (BIAS II 2005). CHAPTER 5: CONCULSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions will be made on the basis of the data analysis, and also after discussing the policies aimed at improving the level of food security by the government, how effective are they implemented by policy makers, and then will discuss what the government should learn from other countries who fairing well in maintaining low values of food insecure people.