Free Essays on High Stakes

HIGH STAKES How the war may affect global economies, U.S. politics, and diplomacy The war in Iraq has had and will have lasting effects on economies throughout the world. â€Å"The U.S. and world economy are extremely fragile,† says Allen Sinai, Chief global economist of Decision Economics Inc. consultants. â€Å"A prolonged war would likely trigger a full-fledged global recession.† Many U.S. executives are in unisons saying that a short, decisive war is necessary to spark the economy. The degree of impact, negative or positive, depends greatly on the longevity and outcome of the war. Oil prices have skyrocketed to $38 per barrel from a low last November of $25. The consumers with their war jitters are not spending thus driving consumer spending down to its lowest in nearly a decade. However, triumph on the battlefields could put an end to this gloom. Even before the troops moved into Iraq, oil prices fell 27% to $29.88. Yet with the still underlying threat of new theorists attacks, the price of oil still looms in the valley of the unknowns. If Saddam knocks out key oil fields, the resulting shock would possibly trigger a slump. Other industries such as the airlines are also very vulnerable to war. Many airlines on the verge of bankruptcy may succumb to the drop in air travel. Many flights have been cancelled- people are bracing for the worst. The stock market, the U.S. indicator of â€Å"financial emotions†, is also displaying vast uncertainties among Americans. Will the war in Iraq have an effect on our economy? The answer is, of course, yes. But how much will the war have an impact is really uncertain. The major stake in this â€Å"undeclared war† is certainly our freedom, which at this moment, does not stir major concern on our home front; however, our nation does thrive on the â€Å"demand and supply† of fuel oil, corporate survival and the stock market. All of these factors play a major role in our economy. ... Free Essays on High Stakes Free Essays on High Stakes HIGH STAKES How the war may affect global economies, U.S. politics, and diplomacy The war in Iraq has had and will have lasting effects on economies throughout the world. â€Å"The U.S. and world economy are extremely fragile,† says Allen Sinai, Chief global economist of Decision Economics Inc. consultants. â€Å"A prolonged war would likely trigger a full-fledged global recession.† Many U.S. executives are in unisons saying that a short, decisive war is necessary to spark the economy. The degree of impact, negative or positive, depends greatly on the longevity and outcome of the war. Oil prices have skyrocketed to $38 per barrel from a low last November of $25. The consumers with their war jitters are not spending thus driving consumer spending down to its lowest in nearly a decade. However, triumph on the battlefields could put an end to this gloom. Even before the troops moved into Iraq, oil prices fell 27% to $29.88. Yet with the still underlying threat of new theorists attacks, the price of oil still looms in the valley of the unknowns. If Saddam knocks out key oil fields, the resulting shock would possibly trigger a slump. Other industries such as the airlines are also very vulnerable to war. Many airlines on the verge of bankruptcy may succumb to the drop in air travel. Many flights have been cancelled- people are bracing for the worst. The stock market, the U.S. indicator of â€Å"financial emotions†, is also displaying vast uncertainties among Americans. Will the war in Iraq have an effect on our economy? The answer is, of course, yes. But how much will the war have an impact is really uncertain. The major stake in this â€Å"undeclared war† is certainly our freedom, which at this moment, does not stir major concern on our home front; however, our nation does thrive on the â€Å"demand and supply† of fuel oil, corporate survival and the stock market. All of these factors play a major role in our economy. ...

How To Use Email Marketing For Lead Conversion

How To Use Email Marketing For Lead Conversion Besides social media, email marketing is the first thing that I tell anyone to do when it comes to online marketing. To succeed online, you absolutely must be using email effectively. The evidence doesnt lie. In a 2012 survey conducted by McKinsey Company, they found  that for e-commerce companies e-mail remains a significantly more effective way to acquire customers than social media- nearly 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined. Woah! E-mail is still a significantly more effective way to acquire customers than social media. While you may not be running an e-commerce company yourself, the implications seem to be well accepted across  the industry. Social media scientist Dan Zarrella of Hubspot came to a similar conclusion in research that he completed in 2012. Email converts well, and  is a key part of the customer acquisition process. Conversion rate scores as compiled by Hubspot. If youre not using email marketing, you could be missing out on huge potential for your company or blog. More than that, if you arent using email to convert readers into paying customers – YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG. You might be leaving sales on the table! Here at , we have nearly 20,000  email subscribers that continually bring in new customers to our service. We like to think about it as a slow and steady drip. We keep sending out great content, and our readers  keep coming to us for help with their scheduling and social media needs. Its a great fit, and one that works because our email marketing is focused on building trust with our audience. So, how can you create an email program that converts for your own brand or business? Its actually not that hard if you are focused on the right things. Here are the top 5 ways that you can embrace email and turn your email marketing program into a lead conversion machine. Heres How To  Turn Your Email Marketing Into A Lead Conversion Machine #1. Designate A Clear Call To Action On Your Blog The first  lesson about creating an effective   email marketing program is getting good at collecting email addresses. There are many ways to go about this, and several plugins that you can start using right now to jump start your lead collection process, but the point is that you need to be making a concentrated effort on collecting emails or else your marketing list will never actually materialize. Mention.com offers a great call to action when you visit their blog. It is also important to make sure that your blog is properly configured to drive visitors to the lead collection option. This means reducing you sidebar clutter, and continuously driving your reader to a lead collection form. This is about creating a simpler blog layout. Email marketing is 40 times more effective at acquiring customers than social media. For example, on the blog there are only three things you can do once visiting a page. You can read another blog post, learn about itself, or signup to recieve our email-based content. It is as simple as that. I always say that each page on your website should really be about having your readers complete one thing. At , we tend to make that one thing an email newsletter conversion. You will easily see that it is one of the  most prominent things on our page. #2. Keep Your Calls To Action Strong If youve ever worked in sales, youve heard the phrase always be closing. While it may be tacky, it certainly isnt wrong. Not only do you need to be creating opportunities for your customers to convert (by including lead collection points), but you also need to be positioning your copy in a way that specifically asks them to subscribe. While it technically does its job, its not quite a call to action. I cant tell you how many times Ive seen a bland call to action like this one above. Im sorry folks, but please join my email list just isnt going to do it for many people. Whats in it for them? Why should they? Take a look at a few examples of people doing it right. What do you see? They all identify a clear benefit that the reader will receive when they subscribe. They all offer a clear command or directive  such as subscribe now. This isnt a suggestion, it is a command. Many of them offer the reader social proof and provide good reasons for them to consider subscribing or at least taking the offer seriously. The point is that you cant  forget to be a pitch man  and downright ask for the sale on occasion. It may sound  tacky, but it certainly doesnt have to be implemented that way. #3. Send Email More Often Than You Think You Should Many marketers and bloggers like yourself instinctively shutter at the idea of sending more email, but  you  can probably send a whole lot more than you think. In a recent study, Hubspot found that there was essentially no correlation between both unsubscribes and click-through rates and the frequency of email being sent. There is almost no correlation between send frequency and click through rates. There is little correlation between the number of times you send your email and the number of unsubscribes you will receive. What they actually found was that if your email list is willing to put up with 5-10 emails per month, they are probably just as likely to put up with 15 or 20. From Hubspot: The more emails that were sent to the lists in my dataset, the fewer people unsubscribed. This is probably because if you’re sending very  infrequently, it can be easy to forget why I joined your list in the first place, but if  you’re sending regularly, I remember your newsletter.   #4. Make Your Email Something That People Actually Want To Read Never underestimate the importance of reader value. Everything that you do in marketing should offer your readers value. I like to think of it in terms of what you are trading them for their time. What you are  giving your readers in exchange for their time spent with your marketing. Social media consultant Jay Baer describes it another way as marketing so good that they would be willing to pay for it. Shoot for [Email] Marketing so good that your readers  would be willing to pay for it! #ContentNo matter how you describe it, you dont have an easy job ahead of you, your readers want it all. They want helpful content, they want it free, and they want it at a time when its convenient  for them. Who are you to let them down? One of the most common mistakes I see companies make is creating email-based content that is all about them. Wrong! What are your readers getting in exchange for their time? We always try to pack our emails with helpful information that our readers will appreciate. This is why at , we brand our email marketing around the theme of our Content Marketing Update. This weekly email includes helpful content from our blog and some of the best articles around the web. It is usually chock full of great tips and almost always worth the time and the price for admission. #5. Experiment With Your Email Template/Headline/Send Times One great way to continually improve your email marketing is to continually experiment with how and when you are sending it. At , there are a few ways that we do this. A/B  Test Your Subject Lines Honesty, this one is so easy that you should be doing it with every email that you send. Each time we send an email here at , we make sure to test our subject line using the automated A/B testing tool built into our email software (Campaign Monitor). This tool allows us to pre-send our email to a few hundred people with a couple different subject line options. Once a clear winner is found (and there almost always is one), our email tool will send the winning subject line to remaining portion of our list. After doing this for months, we were even able to pullout some key data points and define some email subject line best practices. Try  A New Design (Or None At All) Another great way to improve your email  marketing is to continually adjust your email template. Using the A/B testing tool build into Campaign Monitor and many other email marketing programs, you should be able to easily evaluate the effectiveness of one template over another. Many companies (including itself) have found that sometimes email is best sent without a design template at all. Each week we send thousands of emails using a variety of well-designed email templates and plain text versions. The results usually show us that plain-text emails (or emails that look like plain text) constantly drive higher click-through rates than those with more design. Of course, results may vary. Take this with a grain of salt, and always test your own results. Experiment With Different Send Times In his slide deck The Science of Email Marketing social media scientist Dan Zarrella  dug up a ton of fascinating data about when to send email. For example, he found that email click-through rates tended to be  almost twice as high  on Saturdays and Sundays – a slap in the face to  the traditional  idea that marketing only takes place on weekdays. Email sent on Saturday and Sunday get more clicks. He also found that emails sent  earlier in the morning tended to get more clicks as well. The results may not apply to everyone, but it is very good food for thought. 6a.m. just might be the best time to send an email if you want someone to actually read it. The point here is that you should never be satisfied with the status-quo, even if it is yours. Always be testing your marketing so that you can get the best results.

Concert report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Concert report - Essay Example s are performed outdoors, this lighting issue becomes a particular concern due to the fact that the performance is not lighted at all or incorrectly lighted; severely taking away from the more theatrical elements that the show might entail. However, as previously stated, this was not the issue at the concert which was performed September 12th. The lighting worked to augment the overall performance as it was in sync with the performance while at the same time it was not so overpowering that it took away from the overall performance. Likewise, due to the fact that concert was indoors, the sound quality was also superb. Although I fully enjoy outdoor concerts due to the surrounding nature and the feeling of being outdoors while enjoying some of my favorite music, the primary problem with such concerts (apart from the one previously mentioned) is the fact that the sound equipment has to be arranged at the front near the stage; this leads to a very one dimensional sound and is actually unbearably loud for those participants in the front area. Accordingly, when a concert is performed indoors, the audience can fully enjoy the same quality of sound at the very back of the venue due to the fact that the surround sound system is advanced enough to present the same quality sound to everyone that is at the concert. In this way, the sound quality and noise level was perfect so that it was not so unreasonably loud nor difficult to enjoy the full texture and sound of the music in various parts of the venue. Likewise, when I was there, I made my way to the front when it was time for my favorite song; even there, the sound stage had been set up in such a way that the noise level was higher but not painfully loud so that it made the experience enjoyable. Audience participation was perhaps the best part of the concert however. Even though there were several thousand people at the concert, it was not obvious to the concert goers that they were not witnessing a live intimate

MGMT444 U2 IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MGMT444 U2 IP - Research Paper Example Personality can be defined as some sets of unique mental characteristics and traits that provide consistency to behavior of an individual across several possible situations. Self-confidence, warmth, enthusiasm, extroversion, emotional stability, assertiveness, trustworthiness, flexibility, sense of humor and assertiveness are some personality traits that help leaders to act differently in an organization based on the characteristics and demands of different situations. In terms of cognitive differences, several cognitive factors associated within some effective leadership process, such as creativity, innovation, openness, knowledge, skills and conceptual thinking generally help the leaders to guide entire team quite effectively towards the developed goals and objectives. Values are important aspects. Each and every leader should try to possess moral, ethical, professional and personal value in leadership style in order to become a great leader. It is true that effective value in lead ership process helps a leader to gain respect and popularity in an organization. Emotion can be considered as one of the important personality traits of a leader that helps to understand the needs of followers and guide them towards the objectives respectively. Each and every leader should develop a positive and idealized vision to meet the objective (George, 2003). Charisma in leadership process can help a leader to lead from front and motivate sub-ordinates quite effectively. It helps to maintain an effective and conflict free workplace environment. Leadership process can be considered as an important aspect of each and every leading multinational or domestic organization as effective leadership style helps an organization to become successful. Courage and moral are two important elements that should be considered in leadership styles of each and every leader to become one of the greatest leaders. Courage in

Objectification of Women by the Media Essay -- Feminism Feminist Women

Objectification of Women by the Media      Ã‚  Ã‚     The objectification of women is commonly used to refer to the presentation of women in the media as an object. Women's bodies are routinely used as objects to sell various products. In certain pictures women are presented as being vulnerable and easily overpowered especially in ads were they have on revealing clothing and take on submissive roles. These images are found in music videos as well, where the focus is only a particular body part. Lyrics to some songs promote this objectification as well.    "In many magazine advertisements women are often viewed as objects rather than human beings. Instead of focusing on the woman as a whole, many ads will just focus on one part of her body" (Objectification of Women).Often the focus is on a leg, a neck, a headless torso, etc. One Guess Eyewear ad has a man's head resting on a woman's torso. While her breasts are visible, her head is not. Skyy Vodka continually uses women's legs in their advertisements. One ad for Lily of France which spans the bottom of two pages not only focuses on a headless torso, but compares the breasts to speakers. Women's bodies are used as desirable objects to attract attention to the product. This is occurring in increasingly ridiculous ways. An ad for Visa found in several teen magazines shows only a woman's stomach. A naked woman with her face tucked away holds a Palm Pilot. The text reads, "Simply Palm". About-Face (an organization which combats negative and distorted images of women) features commenta ry on that particular ad. "Simply gratuitous use of naked female body to sell high-end electronic gizmo to gullible (mostly male) public.   Esquire magazine featured on its Febuary 2001 cover, a naked Ital... ...phy Ignites the Self-Destructive Pursuit of Perfection." Student Advantage. 1998 Bonzo, Amanda. "Objectification of women stems from media images." Pennsylvania: Collegian Inc. 2001. Dittrich, E. A. "Sociocultural factors that influence body image satisfaction in women. "(Doctoral   Dissertation, California Institute of Integral Studies, 1997.) Dissertation Abstracts International.   1997 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Vol. 75, No. 1, 269-284 Mtv News Now: "When Sex Goes Pop: Not That Innocent" Viacom International. Inc. 2000. Avner, Judith A. New York Governor's Task Force on Sexual Harassment Sexual. "Harassment:   Building a Consensus for Change." 1993 Objectification of Women. "Sexual Objectification of Women" PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, V7N2, March-April 1999 Zarchikov, Rebecca, "Show Me, Don't Tell Me."   

Of Mice and Men: Euthanasia

Death is one of the things humans have to understand in order to be able to live through life. Being born, growing up, learning to survive, and earning a living, these are all the milestones into becoming a statistic. Like dying, mercy is a fortunate circumstance that a person has in any situation towards a variety of offenders. Some say that mercy is a blessing resulting from a divine favor. In the story, â€Å"Of Mice and Men† by John Steinbeck, Lennie was euthanized by George, Lennie’s caretaker/ friend.I believe that George, as a friend, only killed Lennie in grand admiration of Lennie’s already ill-fated continuance, like Candy’s dog. In the world of â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, Candy’s dog represents the fate awaiting anyone who has outlived his or her purpose. Quotes from Carlson, a ranch-hand, reveals this saying, â€Å"†Whyn't you get Candy to shoot his old dog and give him one of the pups to raise up? †, â€Å"I can smell t hat dog a mile away. †, â€Å"Got no teeth, damn near blind, can't eat. Candy feeds him milk. He can't chew nothing else†, and â€Å"He’s all stiff with rheumatism.He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. † After this scene, Candy finally lets Carlson euthanize his dog. Both Lennie and Candy's dog would suffer if they lived. Candy's dog relates to the reason why Lennie was killed by George. Candy’s dog wasn't in good health and Lennie killed Curly's wife and would be in trouble with the law. Although Carlson promises to kill the dog painlessly, his insistence that the old animal must die supports a cruel natural law that the strong will dispose of the weak.Afterwards, Candy has regrets about the ordeal, and wishes he would have killed the dog himself instead. Like how Candy’s dog was euthanized, Lennie also was. He was killed with far greater compassion though. George loves his friend Lennie, whom he has looked after faithfully, and he doesn't want Lennie to die horribly. He euthanized him out of love, therefore he is justified. Since Lennie unwittingly killed Curley's wife, George knows that there is no way to save him now. Even if they do escape, Lennie will never be safe because he doesn't know how to avoid getting into trouble.Furthermore, if Curley gets his hands on Lennie, he will make his revenge be slow, terrifying, and painful. Therefore, George knows that the only way to protect Lennie is to shoot him. Lennie’s puppy is one of several symbols that also represent the victory of the strong over the weak. Lennie kills the puppy accidentally, as he has killed many mice before, by virtue of his failure to recognize his own strength. When Curley's wife screamed, he didn't know how to make her stop, except by force. Evidence supports that George must save his friend by mercifully killing him.†Of Mice and Men† reflects upon many situations of mercy in man y varieties. In this manner George is a divine favor over Lennie’s life bestowed upon him by Aunt Clara. As Lennie’s blessing, George had the god given right to distribute mercy upon his â€Å"other-half† in unfortunate circumstances. For this reason, Carlson and Curley represent the harsh conditions of a distinctly real world, a world in which the weak will always be vanquished by the strong and in which the rare, delicate bond between friends is not appropriately mourned because it is not understood. Of Mice and Men: Euthanasia Death is one of the things humans have to understand in order to be able to live through life. Being born, growing up, learning to survive, and earning a living, these are all the milestones into becoming a statistic. Like dying, mercy is a fortunate circumstance that a person has in any situation towards a variety of offenders. Some say that mercy is a blessing resulting from a divine favor. In the story, â€Å"Of Mice and Men† by John Steinbeck, Lennie was euthanized by George, Lennie’s caretaker/ friend.I believe that George, as a friend, only killed Lennie in grand admiration of Lennie’s already ill-fated continuance, like Candy’s dog. In the world of â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, Candy’s dog represents the fate awaiting anyone who has outlived his or her purpose. Quotes from Carlson, a ranch-hand, reveals this saying, â€Å"†Whyn't you get Candy to shoot his old dog and give him one of the pups to raise up? †, â€Å"I can smell t hat dog a mile away. †, â€Å"Got no teeth, damn near blind, can't eat. Candy feeds him milk. He can't chew nothing else†, and â€Å"He’s all stiff with rheumatism.He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. † After this scene, Candy finally lets Carlson euthanize his dog. Both Lennie and Candy's dog would suffer if they lived. Candy's dog relates to the reason why Lennie was killed by George. Candy’s dog wasn't in good health and Lennie killed Curly's wife and would be in trouble with the law. Although Carlson promises to kill the dog painlessly, his insistence that the old animal must die supports a cruel natural law that the strong will dispose of the weak.Afterwards, Candy has regrets about the ordeal, and wishes he would have killed the dog himself instead. Like how Candy’s dog was euthanized, Lennie also was. He was killed with far greater compassion though. George loves his friend Lennie, whom he has looked after faithfully, and he doesn't want Lennie to die horribly. He euthanized him out of love, therefore he is justified. Since Lennie unwittingly killed Curley's wife, George knows that there is no way to save him now. Even if they do escape, Lennie will never be safe because he doesn't know how to avoid getting into trouble.Furthermore, if Curley gets his hands on Lennie, he will make his revenge be slow, terrifying, and painful. Therefore, George knows that the only way to protect Lennie is to shoot him. Lennie’s puppy is one of several symbols that also represent the victory of the strong over the weak. Lennie kills the puppy accidentally, as he has killed many mice before, by virtue of his failure to recognize his own strength. When Curley's wife screamed, he didn't know how to make her stop, except by force. Evidence supports that George must save his friend by mercifully killing him.†Of Mice and Men† reflects upon many situations of mercy in man y varieties. In this manner George is a divine favor over Lennie’s life bestowed upon him by Aunt Clara. As Lennie’s blessing, George had the god given right to distribute mercy upon his â€Å"other-half† in unfortunate circumstances. For this reason, Carlson and Curley represent the harsh conditions of a distinctly real world, a world in which the weak will always be vanquished by the strong and in which the rare, delicate bond between friends is not appropriately mourned because it is not understood.

Sarbanes Oxley Act Of 2002 - 1410 Words

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the SOX Act, is enacted on July 30, 2002 by Congress as a result of some major accounting frauds such as Enron and WorldCom. The main objective of this act is to recover the investors’ trust in the stock market, and to prevent and detect corporate accounting fraud. I will discuss the background of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and why it became necessary in the first section of this paper. The second section will be the act’s regulations for the management, external auditors, and companies, mainly publicly-traded companies, and the cost and benefits of the act. The last section will be the discussion of the quality of financial reporting since SOX and the effectiveness of SOX provisions to prevent†¦show more content†¦Following these series of failures, SOX was enacted to restore investor’s confidence which was rattled and to prevent accounting frauds in the future with improved corporate governance and accountability which all public companies must comply. SOX was named after Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael G. Oxley, who were the main drafters of the Act. It was approved by the House of Representatives and signed into law by the President George W. Bush on July 30, 2003. Lack of ethics and integrity seem to be the key factors that caused accounting fraud. SOX revised the framework for the public accounting and auditing profession, provided guidance for better corporate governance and created regulations to define how public companies are to comply with the law. Although many have questioned whether SOX is actually effective to prevent frauds like Enron and WorldCom in future, it is considered to be the most extensive legislation related to publicly- traded companies and external independent auditors since the 1930s. President Bush called it â€Å"the most far reaching reforms of American Business Practices since the time of Franklin Roosevelt† (BUMILLER, 2002). The purpos e of this paper is to determine whether or not Sarbanes Oxley’s regulations will be effective in preventing another financial statement fraud like Enron and WorldCom. Enron Enron was formed in July 1985 by the merger of InterNorth and Houston Natural