Strategy Essay Example for Free

Strategy Essay The word strategy is derived from an ancient Greek word that means to guide or to move. For almost 40 years strategic planning is used as a formalized business process. However, majority of organizations still does not know how to do strategic planning effectively. Because of which most strategic plans fails to accomplish what it was developed for and have no effect on organization and its operations. Due to the recent studies and researches made, awareness has been created among large as well as small organizations towards the development of strategy for effectively achieving the objectives. Strategy is developed to formulate, implement and evaluate the decisions, which enables the organization to achieve its objectives. The success of companies such as Yahoo, eBay and Google are the example of pursuing a clear positioning-based or resource-based strategy with conviction and excelled by changing to keep in tune with the demands of shifting markets and flourishing despite of operating in markets previously considered difficult. The success of the above mentioned organizations also emphasized the need to develop a sound strategy in order to survive in the competitive business environment today. Strategy making determines the long term goals and objectives of the organization and adoption of a course of action to efffectively allocate the resources to achieve such goals and objective. In order to make this process of strategic development smooth and effective the commitment from highest organizational hierarchy is required and also the strategic-planning team should be composed of top-level managers who can represent the interests, concerns and opinion of all member of the organization. Failure to obtain senior management involved right from the start may lead to failure to obtain sufficient company resources for accomplishing task. It is strategy that enables a company to reach its maximum potential by adapting with its environment effectively and answers the three basic questions that every organization faces: What to do? For whom to do? How to do? The answer to above three questions are determined by a three phased strategy development process which involves assessment of situation, setting organization’s objectives and planning the details to achieve the objectives. Assessment involves performance of both external and internal situational analysis, self evaluation and competitor analysis at micro-environmental and macro-environmental level. All business decisions taken are based on organizational and personal values, therefore the strategy should be developed after analysing the organizational and personal values. It allows the strategy development team to have a broader view of organization and its functioning and also includes the analysis of organization’s structure and culture, operating philosophy , personal and organizational values and stake holders. This value assessment is also important because if the strategy plan is not based on the functioning of organization and any party in the organization feels that their values have been neglected they will not adopt the strategy and thus the potential benefits will not be obtained. Moreover, at this phase, an indept analysis of organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses alongwith the external opportunities and threats are made, which is also known as swot analysis. Understanding of strengths and weaknesses of organization’s resources allows the development team allocate the resources effectively and effeciently and enables them to strengthen the organizations resource base for future. Within the organization there are many key areas that need to be analyzed and addressed. It includes the identification of existing line of business as well as the unused resources, effectiveness of controls over the operations. The external investigation should be made towards current and future state of affairs of the competitors, suppliers, markets and customers, economic trends and regulatory bodies. Furthermore, analysis of competitors will enable the strategy development team to define the basis on which business will compete. Such competition depends on company’s capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses in market as compared to that of their competitors. According to Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor, competition within an industry is driven by five basic factors such as: Threat of new entrants that probably reduces the high profits, Threat of substitute products or services that can reduce the demand of the organizations product significantly, Bargaining power of suppliers can increase the cost of production, Bargaining power of buyers may force the organization to cut down the prices to maintain their market share and Rivalry among existing firms may result in wastage of resources. Porter also indicates that, in response to these five factors, competitive strategy can take one of the three generic forms: Focus, Differentiation and Cost leadership. The reason why strategic plans fail at this stage is failure of strategy development team to understand their customers that what their needs are and the reason why they buy and inadequate marketing research. Another reason for such failure is the inability of strategy development team or management to predict their competitor’s counter strategies such as price wars and fighting brands and actions taken by government in such circumstances [5]. The second phase of the strategy development process involves the setting of goals and objectives for the organization. Goals are the desired future state of organization , which are derived from from the vision and mission statements and are consistent with oranizational culture, ethics and regulatory requirements. Goals are quantifiable and are to be achieved within a specified time period, there should be no confusions regarding the goals and ideally there should be one well defined goal. Objectives are the short term intermediate/secondary goals that are achieved in order to achieve the primary goals. In order to set the objectives effectively objectives are needed to be categorized, prioritized, balanced, limited, quantified and must be challenging and attainable as well. In order to clarify what the management targets are strategy development team will categorize the objectives and targets will be based on the categories made. Some broad categories where an organization wishes to set their business strategy could be: Financial, Operations, Sales and Marketing, Human resource, Community. Financial objective may be set to measure profitability like: gross profit, operating profits or return on investments. Operational objectives might measure efficiency, productivity or cost reductions [7]. Sales and Marketing objectives may be in terms of sales volume, sales growth or market share. Human resource objectives might be the measure of employee benefits, employee satisfaction or employee turnover. Finallly the social or community objective might be the compliance with laws rearding environmental hazards, equal opportunity employment. The order in which managers generally prioritize their objectives is based on the hierarchy of objectives, that is it is the order in which they care about things. It is this behaviour that causes goal conflict between two different departments within an organization [12]. For example sales department want to maximize their profit and the usually achieve their targets by raising prices which is in conflict to the objectives of production department, therefore strategy development team must consider the objectives which are confliccting in nature and involve senior management of all departments in order to minimize goal conflict. There should be balance in setting goals, if more attention is given to particular areas only there will be a problem when communicating goals to people in organization. Those who are not considered in the objectives will be less motivated and for successful achievement of objectives efforts of all the people in organization is required. strategy development team should consider gaining the commitment of employees who might otherwise ask about their benefit. Further more, care is required for not setting to many objectives and quantification. Setting many objective results in wasting time when setting such many objectives and also shifts focus away from high prirority targets, which results in loss of resources. Objectives should be quantified, that is when objectives are accomplished it should be measurable in order to know whether they are successfully accomplished. More importantly, it should be clear to every one that how much effort is required which is measured when targets are achieved [3]. Quantifying objectives depends on the category of the objective, that is Financial, Sales and Marketing objectives are the easiest to quantify. Whereas, quantifying customer satisfaction is not possible in many cases although number of complaints can be counted or total defective products can be measured [14]. Finally, objective should be challenging and, at the same time, attainable. Strategy development team must know the capabilities of employees of the organization and this fact must be considered when objective is given to them. People in organization should understand that accomplishment of the objective requires that it should be done but such objective should be achievable. During this phase strategy plans fails because of over estimation of resource competence that the staff and other resources were unable to handle the new strategy or the required level of managerial skills were not developed. Coordination failure due to inadequate reporting or rigid organization structure is another reason for such failure. Another problem is failure to obtain employee commitment, when strategies are not properly explained to them or new strategy lack incentives given to the customer. The final phase is the implementation of strategic plan after which it is put to work for an organization. The success of the plan is the support of every member of the organization, which is possible due to the involvement of senior management from the beginning of strategy development process [4]. After acceptance, implementation of the strategic plan into daily activities increases the chances that others will do the same. Strategic plan can be implemented by allocating sufficient resources in the form of financial support, support should also be provided by the higher management personnel in the form of provision of company’s resources that are necessary, proper technical and technological support should be given for successful implementation of the developed strategy. Structure of the organization should be in accordance with the strategy that is; either there could be chain of command or cross-functional teams in the organization. Resposibilities should be assigned only to the individuals or groups that are qualified for that particular task or process. Each and every process should be controlled effectively which includes monitoring of results, comparing the results with the organization’s as well as industry standards, effective and efficient use of resources must be evaluated and required adjustments should be made to the processes in order to contol the variances. One tool available for this purpose is making GAP analysis to to identify the methods for closing the performance gap (variations). Such analysis must be done, without making it much complicated, by simply investigating the differences in achieved results and the the desired results. Feasibility of removing the deviations can be made by evaluating the answers of two questions that what is required to be done and what is not required to be done [8]. Thus for implementing such programs, required resources must be acquired, there should be proper process development and training anlog with their testing and documentation. One another way to successfully implement the strategic plan is advertising. The more the employees hear about the plan, its element and success along with the plan, the greater will be the possibility of adopting it as a part of daily work. It became more significant if the benefits offered are measurable [6]. A sound strategy development process should also prepare a contingency plan and the reason for such planning is to make a reactionary plan for unanticipated high impact events† [2]. Contingency plan identifies the indication that calls for the need to reevaluate the applicability and effectiveness of current strategy. In such events high level of monitoring must be and immediate action should be taken. The reason why strategic plans collapse is a definite redirection from the initial plan, primarily because, as the time passes by there is a major change in direction from the one, which was set at the initiation stage. Since the implementation is a key to proper supervision, not tracking the progress of plan and no accountability on non-compliance is another reason for such failure. One other reason of not successfully implementing the plan is failure to manage change, as strategy development team did not do proper planning, as there may be inadequate understanding of internal resistance to change and failure to understand the relationship between processes, technology and organization. Not making the contingency plan is also another reason for the failure to successful achievement of objective because; in case of unforeseen circumstances no body will be able to run the alternative procedures, which would have been available if contingency planning was done. In short strategy is developed to achieve the organization’s objective by formulating and implementing decisions. Strategy determines the long term objectives and goals and also allocates the resources more effectively. Involvement of senior management make process of strategy making more effective and smooth. Strategy making not only considers the three basic questions regarding the operations of organization but also give answer to these question. Strategy development process is a three phased process in which first the assessment of situation is made considering the environmental, internal and external challenges, then setting objectives by keeping in view the assessed circumstances and the requirements and then finally ways in which such objectives can be achieved by implementing the plans made by strategy department.

Comparison Of Mary Shellys Frankenstein To Movies And Tv Shows Frank :: essays research papers

Comparison Of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein to Movies and TV Show's Frankenstein There have been many misgivings about the book Frankenstein. In movies and T.V. Frankenstein is portrayed as a monster. This monster will not stop at anything to hurt or destroy others. He usually has a green hue to his complection and has bolts coming out the sides of his neck. The bolts symbolize the way the monster was brought to life, through electricity. Also he usually wears a black suit with black pants. This shows the darkness that surrounded the monster. In most of the movies and T.V. shows, Frankenstein walks like a zombie moving very slowly. In T.V. shows and movies, Frankenstein was portrayed as being very stupid. He was unable to talk or read. The monster would just rome the world looking for people to torment. But, in the movie "Frankenstein, with Boris Karloff, the monster befriended a blind man. I think he had this friend because the man could not see the face of the monster. Mary Shelly's Frankenstein was very different from the movies and T.V. shows. For one thing the monster was not even called Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein was the name of the doctor who created the monstrosity. Before the doctor created the monster he was a work of art. "I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!," this is what Victor said when he saw the monster before it was alive. Afterwards it was the ugliest thing the doctor had laid his eyes upon. Unlike the movies, the monster was very nimble and could do anything an actual living human could. The monster chased after Victor in the wastelands to exact his revenge for his being. Nobody would love or care for him so he decided to kill Victor as an act of revenge. The intellect of the monster was much greater in the story than in all the T.V. shows and movies. He was able to read books and talk like any other human. The monster composed poetry which was very beautiful.

The University Should Extend the Add/Drop Period for Classes Essay

The University Should Extend the Add/Drop Period for Classes If there is one thing I'm good at, it is shopping. I find the best deals, make the most out of every shopping trip and generally derive great pleasure from the process. Unfortunately, State College students are only given a very short time to shop for our courses and even less time to return our books to the bookstore for the classes we dropped. The more classes you attend and professors you meet, the more educated your final decision will be at the end of add/drop. If you miss the first day of a Tuesday/Thursday class, you will have to base your judgment of the class on a mere two lectures. I may be a good shopper, but when it comes to classes, no one is that good. University of Southern California students are given three weeks to finalize their schedules without penalty. Students at MIT can drop a class up until three weeks before the END of the semester. If a student at State College dropped a course that late into the semester, the dreaded "W" for "Withdrawn" would appear on his or her transcript. The first tw...

Pasta Hut and Pizza Hut: product life cycle Essay

On April 2008, Pizza Hut announced the introduction of a new product line called the â€Å"Tuscani Pasta†. Like any product, this product has a life cycle. Different strategies should be maintained through each stage of the cycle in order to move the product throughout the cycle. 1.Introduction Stage:The main purpose of this stage is to introduce the new product to the market. The company must be aware of the tremendous amount of time and money which will be spent at this stage in order to attract consumers, grab their attention to this new product, and make them try it. In this stage, there are several strategies for the company to follow: †¢The company must well advertise their new product and obtain a trademark for it so customers will be aware about this product. Pizza Hut had spread many of announcements about their new product â€Å"Pasta Hut†. They alerted the customers by several ways:Pizza Hut’s web site was redesigned and many attractive pictures of the new pasta were added in their homepage. They also created a new URL to market the Tuscani Pasta. In addition, they gave out coupons and they advertized the new product everywhere in the newspaper, magazines, and TV. †¢At this stage, sale growth might be slow. So, it is recommended to keep the price relatively high in order to overcome the high costs associated with introducing the new product. Therefore, the revenue may be low, too. †¢At the beginning, the distribution must be limited until people become more familiar with the product. Pasta Hut has followed this pattern by introducing this new product in main cities that are known with their multi-cultural population. †¢A company should also start first with one or few products in order to test the customer’s reaction. As in Pasta Hut, they produced only two types: creamy Chicken Alfredo and Meaty Marinara. 2.Growth Stage:In the growth stage, the highest rate of sales for the company is maintained. The raise in the number of customers who are aware of the  product will lead to rapid growth in revenue. During this stage, competitors have just started to arise and they are still in the introduction stage. This stage is the best time of every new product where the costs are less and the revenue is high and strategies can include: †¢Increase the amount of advertisements to build brand preferences and to attract new target market. For instance, Past Hut made more ads and added new slogans to the ads to attract more customers. They gave it an Italian name (Tuscani Pastas) to give it a classy Italian atmosphere and to attract different ethnic groups. They also put some ads, which shows the pastas as a luxuries meal and not a fast food. †¢Price can be maintained at the same level if the company noticed the demand is increasing. In some situations, the company can reduce the price as a strategy to attract new customers who cares about the price. In the case of Tuscani Pasta, a reduction in the price can be a clever idea to attract students and labors. †¢It is the best time to expand the distribution of the product to draw as many customers as the company can before competitors can reach them. Pasta Hut started at this stage to sell their pastas in almost all Pizza Huts stores in all most all the cities. †¢This stage is the perfect time to adjust the product and to add some additional features on it. Different packaging options, and different portions are now available in the pastas of the Pasta Hut. 3.Maturity Stage:This is the longest and the most challenging stage where a company wants to maintain its success, increase the market share, and extend the products life cycle with the existence of high and tough Competitors who offer similar products with competing futures and prices. In order to uphold this success for the longest period:†¢The company must put more effort on advertising to establish loyal customers. These ads must let the product seem more unique and improved. For example: Pasta Huts new logo  may contain the words bigger, better, or more flavor. They also can offer promotions on their Pastas. †¢Price should be lowered because the competition is higher and it is a great way to attract the consumer. †¢New distribution channels must be added and different incentives can be introduced. In this case Pasta Hut can give offers to students or other target customers so they keep their loyalty. †¢A good step is to bring in a new line in the product, apply some modifications, or add some other features to the product be able to differentiate it from other competitor’s products. In this case, Pizza Hut can introduce additional types of pastas with different flavors and additional contents. 4.Decline Stage:During the decline stage, or sometimes referred to the aging stage, the public taste will change, new technologies will enter the market, and the market will be full of competitors and many other similar products. In this case, the competition is high and demand on the product probably will be low. Therefore, cost for producing this product might increase and revenues will decrease. The only factor that makes the product continue its production is the loyal customers. For that reason: †¢Marketers should study their product lines to know which is the most popular one and decide whether to keep producing it or no. For instance Pasta Hut can only keep the two most popular pastas in their lines. †¢Distribution must be more selective in places where the demand on the product is high. For example, Pasta Hut can sell its product only in universities’ food court if they found high demand of this pasta in universities’ food court. This is the last stage in the product life cycle. After that, if the company  noticed that this product is not beneficial anymore (the cost is increasing and revenues are not covering this cost), they should stop producing this product and think of another product line. 1 QuickMBA, â€Å"The Product Life Cycle†, 2 MSNmoney, â€Å"Pasta Hut: Millions and Millions Sold†, 3 Pizzahut, 4 USAtoday, â€Å"Pizza Hut preparing pans of pasta for delivery†, 5 PRweek, â€Å"Pizza Hut scores big with Tuscani Pastas†,

Salt Harbor Case

Salt Harbor Exercise The Salt Harbor exercise was a real world negotiation exercise that added many factors into the decision making. In this exercise, Lukas and I were partners. Lukas was the buyer and I was the seller. In this negotiation, I had recently purchase some property that I wanted to build into a coffee shop. The neighbor, who is also the buyer, did not want me to build the coffee shop and instead wanted to purchase the property. Lukas stopped me from being able to build the coffee shop through legal channels. I was given the option to take my chances in court or attempt to tell the property to Lukas and open my coffee shop at another location. ————————————————- This exercise was challenging because, like any real world situation, there was varying degrees of information asymmetry that made negotiating challenging. We were both looking to get more information out of the other person in order to be in a better position to negotiate. What made this exercise even more interesting is that it simulated a real world situation that two people would deal with every day. This made it easier to understand the underlying implication of the exercise as opposed to the first exercise. ————————————————- My Strategy: My initial strategy was to see what Lukas would offer first before I made a bid. Even though I risked being anchored, I want to gather as much information about him and the decisions he is making before I made my bid. I also made sure to understand the implications of my costs and have a reasonable reservation price that would meet my needs. I understood the reservation price as the bare minimum I would ever take for the property and therefore put it at 100. I suppose in my mind, I understood the reservation price to include all possible situations. At 100, this would cover the price I paid for the property and allow me to look for another without losing money. My target value was 165. I chose this because 165 were above the range that I could sell the property to a third party and would also allow me to build my coffee shop at a more expensive location without paying an extra dime. My strategy to come out as even as possible from the exchange and in many ways, I think I ended up giving my opponent the upper hand when I failed to consider that Lukas might want the property even more than I want to get rid of it. My Mistake: My mistake came when I became anchored by the initial offer. When Lukas offered $100 as the initial offer, I thought he was indicating that his limit was really now. I never really imaged that he would offer me such a low value considering how high he authorize to pay for it. Obviously, had Lukas offered a much higher value, I would have most likely adjusted my numbers and strategy to reflect a much higher selling price. However, given his initial offer, I decided to stick with my strategy and attempt to get $165 out of him. My strategy worked to the exact specifications that I originally wanted. I get exactly my target and in many ways was successful in my negotiation. However, I failed to realize the value that the property had for Lucas and how much higher he would be willing to pay for it. I was anchored by his initial offer which subsequently affected my offers. At the same time, had I gone first, I believe a similar outcome would have emerged. I most likely would’ve offered 180 in the hopes of getting it down to 165. I believe the reason I was able to so easily achieve my target or what I wanted is because my price was set too low and it became an easy bargain for Lukas. Behaviors: During the negotiation I tried to gather as much information as possible. It was important to me to understand my opponent as best possible. In these exercises it was easy to negotiate downwards given the friendly nature of the negations. I wanted to find a win-win situation where we were both able to come out of the negotiation feeling good about it. On the other hand, I think Lukas just wanted to maximize his outcome and had no desire to help me win as well. This isn’t necessarily bad in a situation where we would never likely encounter each other gain. I noticed that he was very determined to get the most out of the negotiation. He made a very low offer which made me think that he had a lower reservation price. In general, the mood of the negotiation was very light hearted and open. We were able to discuss our positions and able to reach an agreement. Lukas and I were able to negotiate an agreement that made me satisfied with the outcome. It was a pleasant negotiation overall. If we were to negotiate again in the future, I would keep the lessons I learned in mind and fight harder to achieve a better than optimal outcome, knowing that Lukas will likely attempt to anchor my offer downwards. Lessons: The primary lesson that I learned is to watch out for anchors and also to fight harder for my position. This is especially true if a future negotiation is unlikely to happen. I need to try and maximize the negotiation. An anchor is a powerful tool that affects the negotiation. In future, I will consider harder use the anchor effect to my advantage. Another lesson I learned is that how someone feels following a negotiation is surprisingly relative. In other words, a person may feel happier having gained less money than if they gained more money but felt like they could’ve gotten more. I experienced this phenomenon. I felt very satisfied with the negotiation afterwards, but when I learned that he had a much higher limit and that he made it seem like it was much lower, made me very upset. In a way, I felt like I was lied to or in deceived, even though Lukas did nothing wrong. Having information is only one of the many tools a good negotiator uses to achieve a better result. ————————————————- Grades: Henrique 9, Lukas 9 I feel strongly that Lukas and I did a good job negotiating. I was able to reach my target of 165 and Lukas was able to get a better deal than what he felt was â€Å"good† (200). Overall, it was a mutually beneficial negotiation. The reason I am giving Lukas and I 9s is due to the fact that there’s always room for improvement. We both could’ve gotten a better deal if we were better negotiators. We both tried to implement the tools we learned in class in order to achieve the outcome we wanted and needless to say, we both learned the material well. Lukas used an anchor and I gathered information to understand how much he’s willing to negotiate.

Environmental Hero: Von Hernandez Essay

What do you do for the Earth? An environmental hero is someone who aims to take good care of his environment and makes a great impression for the benefit of its generation and the generations to come. Heroism comes from someone who is ordinary, but actually does something more than someone who is capable. It is a deed that is selfless that seeks to involve themselves with others’ problems. Anyone could actually be an environmental hero as long as they have the desire to learn how to align their goals in order to help protect and prevent further damages to the environment caused by mankind, despite the circumstances. Moreover, an environmental hero is someone who goes out of his or her way to fight for what is right, no matter what the odds are. They are the ones who continue to empower others by advocating the issues faced, helping people around them to be aware of their concerns. Von Hernandez, current director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia and recipient of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2003, was recognized for his achievements in combating the environmental problems of the Philippines. He has been active in fighting for environmental rights since 1995 when he started working with Greenpeace International as coordinator for the environmental group’s toxics campaign in Asia. In the same year, Hernandez launched a campaign which revealed plans to set up waste incinerators to deal with the garbage problem coming from the rapidly growing cities in Metro Manila. In this campaign, the economic loopholes aside from the environmental and health hazards from the process of incineration were exposed. As a result of this fight against the burning of waste, in 1999, Hernandez helped make history as the Philippines became the first country in the world to ban waste incineration nationwide. He is responsible for the Philippines Clean Air Act of 1999 which is banning waste incinerators that causes air pollution and human health problems. Furthermore, he is also responsible for Waste Management Act which requires the implementation of segregating garbage properly nationwide. Waste disposal is a burgeoning problem in the Philippines especially in Metro Manila. EcoWaste cited from the National Solid Waste Management Commission that out of the 35,000 tons of waste the Philippines produces each day; 8,400 tons come from Metro Manila, accounting for one-fourth of the country’s daily output of solid waste. Currently, only nine have a solid waste management plan out of the 17 cities in Metro Manila and only about a third of the biodegradable wastes from the nine cities are being recycled into compost due to space constraints. The continuing and growing problem regarding waste in Metro Manila led to the government’s attempt to adopt the incineration process in 1995, but fortunately, Hernandez along with his allies in the environmental movement made efforts to stop the plan. Hernandez and company disseminated to the local communities the hazardous effects that waste incinerators will bring, which include the largest source of hormone-disrupting dioxins, one of the most toxic chemicals known to science. Additionally, the burning of waste also brings ash contained with heavy metals, such as lead, arsenic and cadmium that could pollute groundwater for generations. Studies also show that these chemicals are linked to human health problems such as birth defects, cancer, respiratory ailments and reproductive dysfunction among people who live near incineration plants. In support to this, a recent report reveals that dioxins in the breast milk of Filipino women who resides near and work in the Payatas dumpsite to be extremely high as compared to the normal limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO). In his fight against incineration, Hernandez helped the issue to be brought into the national electoral issue in 1998. He helped in organizing mass protests, testified in hearings, arranged numerous lectures and a national public education campaign in the media to increase awareness of the public regarding the devastating health impacts of waste incineration and to bring to light other proven alternatives to burning waste. Hernandez gained widespread support for the campaign, including the support of the Catholic Church. Due to his ceaseless activism, he was continually attacked in the press by incineration industry lobbyists and government officials who supported incineration in order to protect their interests. However, despite the attacks and the immense support of international financial institutions like the Asian Development bank, the World Bank and the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation to continue to promote incineration projects in the Philippines, Hernandez remains standing still because of his love for the environment. Aside from his fight to ban incineration, he also leads in promoting clean and green alternatives to waste incineration such as composting and recycling. Hernandez is also involved in various environmental initiatives and coalitions both at the national and international levels including the Global Anti-Incineration Alliance (GAIA), Waste Not Asia, Lakbay Kalikasan, the Ecowaste Coalition, the Sagip Pasig Movement, and the People’s Task Force for Bases Clean-up. Von Hernandez is, indeed, a hero that people should look up to. He changed the perspective of society in order to live in greener atmosphere. Because of him, laws were implemented that aims to promote a healthier place for people. By speaking his mind, he saved thousands of lives from the exposure of harmful chemicals. Even though he has received threats from the opposing parties, he continues to do what he thinks is right. He is concerned for issues usually unnoticed by the public. Truly, his strong character deserves to be applauded and recognized as a model for the green revolutionary era. References: EcoWaste statement on garbage along Roxas Blvd. in wake of Typhoon Gener | Community Bulletin Board | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere. (2012, August 2). GMANetwork.com – Online home of the Kapuso Network. Retrieved September 25, 2012, from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/267953/cbb/ecowaste-statement-on-garbage-along-roxas-blvd-in-wake-of-typhoon-gener Goldman Prize. (n.d.). Goldman Prize For Excellence in Protecting the Environment. Retrieved November 26, 2012, from http://www.goldmanprize.org/2003/asia Mariano, Dan.(2007, Oct 26).Filipino Environment Hero. The Manila Times, A4. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2518&dat=20071026&id=0pQ1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=9ScMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2468,18851050

Mid-term Elections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mid-term Elections - Essay Example In contrast, Democrats bagged 256 seats while Republicans scored 179 in 2008. In addition, the Republicans won 29 seats against the opponent’s 17 in Governor House; however, they still lack majority in Senate where Democrats secured 51 seats (CBS Results, 2010). Quite unequivocally, there are several political and economic reasons that triggered the defeat of ruling Democrats, which now have to join the opposition. Nonetheless, the public endorsed Democratic candidates in last elections because they wanted economic betterment and prosperity, political stability and societal welfare. However, the so-called Democrat representatives flunked to meet public expectations because of sharp increase in unemployment (subsequent job losses), debacle of property sector (sub – prime mortgage) scheme), decline in healthcare spending, failure to develop and implement a sustainable financial system etc. Obviously, the public does not compromise as well as permit political candidates th at are unable to serve American society in an efficient and effective manner; hence they showcased their anger and despondency through the power of vote (Rooney, 2010). Schmuhl (2010) has pointed out that monetary spending on the election campaign by winning Democratic candidate Joe Donnelly was estimated to be $2.7 million whereas his Republican opponent Jackie Walorski spent over $0.8 million. As far as the consequences of the election results are concerned, it is worthwhile to mention that Democrats have received the public’s message regarding utter dissatisfaction, thus they are required to revise their existing policies and opt for betterment of USA as a whole. The promises will just not be enough; rather there is dire need for practical measures and implementation of rational strategies that could restore USA’s political, economic and social image among international community. Obama Administration should better focus on accomplishment of sustainable