Saturday, September 7, 2019
Business Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words
Business Project - Essay Example It is also seen that a retailer should also take care of their own end of the process. For instance, it can be a good idea for a retailer such as Walmart to make sure that their fleet are efficient and drivers trained to reduce fleet idle time. The case analysis part looks at the things that Walmart has done to make sure that their supply chain is sustainable. At this stage their shortcomings are also discussed. However, at the conclusion it is concluded that despite the fact that there are a number of things that Walmart has not done, the sustainability of their supply chain has significantly improved over the past decade. There are a number of recommendations made on how Walmart can further enhance the sustainability of their supply system. Walmart Inc. is an American multinational company that runs a chain of warehousestore and department stores. The companyââ¬â¢s headquarters is in Bentonville, Arkansas. By revenue, Walmart is considered to be the largest company in the world. It is also believed to be among the top private employer in the world with a record of more than 2 million employees. The company has more than 11000 stores in 27 countries. The company uses different names in different countries. In the US the company is known as Walmart. In Mexico it is known as Walmart de Mà ©xico y Centroamà ©rica. In the UK Walmart uses the name Asda, while in Japan and India it uses the names Seiyu and Best Price respectively. Walmart is controlled by the Walton family who own 50% of the company. Walmart is considered to be the largest retailer of grocery products in the US. The operations of Walmart in the US are categorized into retail formats namely: Walmart Supercenter, Walmart Discount Stores, Walmart Neighborhood Market, Supermercado de Walmart, and Walmart Express. Walmart Discount Stores carry general merchandise and various groceries. Many of them also have pharmacies,
Friday, September 6, 2019
The American image of Thanksgiving Essay Example for Free
The American image of Thanksgiving Essay The American image of Thanksgiving is much different from the historical facts. The American vision is a big happy celebration with many people sitting around a long, wooden table. This, sadly, is not historically accurate at all. In this essay I will explain the current Americanââ¬â¢s Thanksgiving story as well as the historically accurate version. Today, Thanksgiving in America consists of big family gatherings, plentiful food, and giving thanks. One of the more obvious differences between the current Thanksgiving and the first on is the food. Today, everyone has an electric oven to bake breads, pies, and cakes. In the early American days electricity had not been invented yet. This meant that cooking meat was long, tedious, and over a fire. The early pilgrims and Native Americans had no way to bake all the foods we have today. In the earlier days, the people would hunt their food. The first Thanksgiving probably consisted of wild turkey, deer, fowl, and fish. This is very different from the big, farm-raised, store-bought turkeys that sit on our tables today. If you ask any elementary student, they will describe Thanksgiving as many happy pilgrims and Indians around a big table with plenty of food to go around. This, again, is incorrect. The Native Americans and pilgrims were quite hostile during this time. Several pilgrims had died by cause of disease and malnutrition. Many of the Native Americans had also been killed off because of Indian raids from the pilgrims. Some fragments of the current Americanââ¬â¢s story of the first Thanksgiving are correct. The famous Native American, Squanto did help the pilgrims learn how to plant food. He was there, helping create peace between the two groups of people. The pilgrims were very thankful for Squanto and his help, as we give thanks today. The meal eaten at the first Thanksgiving was similar to the Thanksgiving meal we eat today, with few differences. They ate wild turkey, along with other hunted meat and vegetables. The differences between the Americanââ¬â¢s view of the first Thanksgiving and the historically accurate version are abundant. The pilgrims and Native Americans were very hostile toward each other at the time of the first Thanksgiving. Food was not as plentiful as it seems. There were far lessà people than thought at the first Thanksgiving due to disease, malnourishment, and Indian raids.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Multi- Level Car Park System Project
Multi- Level Car Park System Project Career Episode 1 CE 1.1 INTRODUCTION During my engineering degree, I worked on a project called Multi- Level Car Park System in my 6th semester. So, my first career episode describes that project. I did my Bachelors Degree in Electronics Communication from Surya School of Engineering Technology affiliated to Punjab Technical University. I completed my engineering in 2013. This project was completed in six months and under the leadership of Prof. Neha Batra Sharma who was a microcontroller lecturer. CE 1.2 BACKGROUND In this century, every person is trying to find ways in which work can be done easily and fast. There are lot of developments that have been done that are based on automation. The projectÃâà makes use of this concept which is cooperative for everyone. In this project, I am trying to solve the traditional parking system which is noisy, trouble for users and has risk of accidents. For these problems and to reduce human efforts I have introduced an automation based multi-level parking system which utilizes minimum space possible and many cars can be parked making it time saving and risk free. Parking will be done in that same amount of place grated by the government but many cars can be accommodated. Here the driver of the car will just park the car at the entry point and then rest of the parking work will be done by this new system itself without the help of any valet driver. CE 1.3 The issue in every industry, building or office is of parking. Lot of space is needed to park a car. In traditional parking systems, man power i.e. drivers are required and as number of cars are increasing drastically in the market it creates a hazard for each driver who is on the road. If appropriate car parking is done then more cars can be parked. Also, there should be proper space that is need to be maintained between two car lens so a person taking his car out doesnt face any problem along with no wastage of space is done. The aim and objective behind this project is to lessen human efforts to park a car. In this system, I have made use of automation which is done by Arduino controller. This system will help to minimize the car parking area especially in areas where there is less space for parking. The automated car parking system will enable vehicles to be parked at each floor by floor and in limited amount of space, many vehicles can be parked. It is the modernized system of parking cars. CE 1.4 I had made a project strategy to plan the work I needed to perform along with the duration it would require by considering the level of complications and important areas of work. I started by putting the first thing in my plan as, to discuss the idea about project and do some research which was followed by designing of the model and studying Arduino controller. Which further involved implementation of the model and studying various programming techniques useful for this controller. It followed by final interfacing of components like servo motor, keypad etc. to complete the hardware and software part. I had also performed test run and troubleshoot on the system and made a detail project report. At every step, I kept my internal project guide involved and updated with my progress. CE 1.5 PERSONAL ENGINEERING ACTIVITY After finalizing the title for my project, I started doing reviews on current scenarios in car parking and noted down all the difficulties and started to find solutions on it. There after I started to discover strategies on how to follow and go ahead with this solution. I divided the project implantation process in 2 portions: cark parking process and car taking process. And I developed a block diagram for the hardware which can be seen below. CE 1.6 Automation is basically the use of control system that will reduce the work or effort done by human in performing any task of goods and services. It basically eases it. in space of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Mechanization mostly provides human with machinery that will operate to assist them with any physical or muscular exertion requirement. Whereas automation significantly decreases the need for human physical and mental requirements. It plays an important role in the world now. Generally automated parking is a method of parking and retrieving cars automatically by using a system of pallets and lifts. It is a time saving and space saving method and it can be used for underground or leveled parking system. It enhances the safety and comfort of driver in constrained environment that requires experience and attention to steer the car. CE 1.7 I made use of following hardware components after performing studies on them. 1. Arduino controller is a tool used so that the system can sense and control the number of inputs and outputs. It is simply a microcontroller board on which programs can be coded. 2. L293 Motor drive IC a monolithic integrated high voltage device which is used as heat sink and to drive inductive loads and switching power transistors. 3. DC Motor used bidirectional DC motor that will rotate in both direction and generate torque directly and speed of 10rpm. 4. Servo motor used for precision positioning and are equipped with servo mechanism to control angular positions. 5. Keypad use of keypad is done to get inputs from the user to the system. User inputs car details and will input the parking spot for that car where it can be parked. CE 1.8 The internal circuitry working of this system can be described as when the power supply is given to the controller, it asks for input from the user. User enters the input via keyboard which then goes to Arduino microcontroller. Motor drive IC which is connected to the main motor receives data from the controller that is given by the user.Ãâà The controller will work as directed by the input and pass it to device IC accordingly and thus the motor will rotate. Thus, after car gets parked in the desired area, the key is pressed for that slot and it sends a 0 signal to the controller along with other necessary information of the car. The same procedure repeats for various other cars. The software part was coded based on C/C++ programming language. Though it seemed to be a simple code, it took lot of efforts in completion. I divided the whole code into parts and tried to code each segment separately and check its functionality and then combine it together so that it acts as one and performs in the desired fashion. I also took help from experts from the field of coding to achieve the desired result in my project. CE 1.9 The parking of the car process of my project: The limit switch tracks for any empty available parking spots so when the user inputs the details for parking, the loop continues to flow until it finds a slot for parking. When a slot is found, it will ask the user to input details and select from available slot. This input goes to the controller. The controller triggers the appropriate pin to give a vertical movement to the lift until floor detection key is pressed. After reaching the desired floor, the second motor is rotated to get to the desired area of parking. The servo motor rotates the lift outside and vertical motor moves downwards till it is parked in the slot. Once car is parked, the lift positions itself to the original position at the entry level. Picking the car from Parking process: When a user wants to take out his car from parking, it enters the details and the loop flows until he enters the slot number of the car parked. The slot number acts as an input for the controller and the same procedure is repeated until the car is taken out. The lift then levels itself to the entry level. CE 1.10 While performing this project, there were many hurdles in between. The first hurdle was construction of its hardware, as it requires lots of component and it structure was very heavy and bulky. And the controller was a new one for me so it took a while to understand its details and the way it functions. The other problem was with the software as I was not so proficient in making such complex codes. I took help from my seniors and project guide and they helped me overcome this hurdle. CE 1.11 SUMMARY Based on practical and theoretical knowledge in my field of electronics I prepared a working model that performs the required functionality. Various possible different solutions and options were taken into consideration and had been studied. And thus, after technical comparative study based on its merit and demerits I performed this system. The whole control of the system is done on Arduino controller board and its the main driving unit of the system. There is a lot of scope for expansion to this system by adding sensors and LCD display showing all parking spots and details. Overall this project helped me learn new things and it being my first every project in my own field of study, was a new experience. It helped me grow a lot in technical terms as well as at personal level.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
The Tempest as Shakespeares Resignation Speech -- Tempest essays
The Tempest as Shakespeare's Resignation Speech à à à à In Shakespeare's, The Tempest, the character Prospero is in many ways similar to Shakespeare himself at the time he wrote the play.à Prospero, having entertained himself with his magic for most of his life, now gives up his powers as he seems to understand that his magic is no more and no less than life itself :à it is just as transitory and hollow.à This seems to reflect on Shakespeare's attitude toward play writing.à Having spent his life writing plays and being entertained by his own employment, Shakespeare finds that his plays, while they explore the themes of life and relationship, are finally no more meaningful than life itself seems to a man who must have been feeling his mortality.à The Tempest is Shakespeare's resignation speech.à Having found that his 'magic' has failed him, Shakespeare is retiring to the real world, for if nothing of meaning is to be gained in play writing, then all that is left is to be human. à à à à à à à à à à à à First, look at Prospero's final decision in the play.à He is capable of returning to Milan and ruling it while keeping his magical power - he does not have to choose between the two - and he abandons his power.à Just as Shakespeare was not forced to quit writing, Prospero is not forced to abandon his magic.à In addition, Shakespeare specifically has Prospero tell us : "My charms crack not, my spirits obey, ..." ( V.i 2 ).à Shakespeare means to tell the audience he is not quitting because his ability as a writer is lessening at all, but specifically tells us through Prospero that he is at his peak and is completely in command of his art.à There is no other obvious thematic or plot-development reason why Prospero should specifically ... ...total lack of morality, or Hotspur's view of absolute honor, had some doubt to it, or could be thought of differently.à Prospero's argument here is irrefutable.à Nothing he presents is in any way 'iffy' or doubtable.à This is Shakespeare's final conclusion : plays, like life, fade into nothing, and nothing is left worth doing but to be what we are: human, and mortal. à Works Cited and Consulted: à Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare's The Tempest. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1997. à Davidson, Frank. "The Tempest: An Interpretation." In The Tempest: A Casebook. Ed. D.J. Palmer. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1968. 225. à Shakespeare, William, 1998.à The Tempest.à Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1998 à Webster, Margaret. Shakespeare Without Tears. Greenwich: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1996.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
McDonalds Corporation Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing BTEC Coursewor
McDonalds Corporation McDonaldââ¬â¢s is the undisputed king of burgers. This has been the trend in the fast-food industry from their creation in the 1960ââ¬â¢s to their massive growth in the 70ââ¬â¢s, 80ââ¬â¢s, 90ââ¬â¢s, and now the new millennium. Over the past forty years, McDonaldââ¬â¢s has fully taken advantage of their strengths but because of maturity in the fast food industry, more focus will have to be put on opportunities, weaknesses, and threats. Strengths. The first strength of McDonaldââ¬â¢s has been their product strategy. Throughout the past three decades they have simply been a hamburger and fries Restaurant. Growing customer wants and needs along with increased competition has forced them to alter and improve their menu to better fit the environment. Factors such as growing competition and consumers becoming more health conscious have forced them to make these changes. Today McDonaldââ¬â¢s offers a wide variety of products that consist of 26 items. Breakfast items include biscuit sandwiches, Egg McMuffin, hotcakes and sausage, sausage McMuffin with egg, and scrambled eggs. Sandwiches include the Big Mac, cheeseburger, Crispy Chicken Deluxe, Filet-O-Fish, Grilled Chicken Deluxe, Grilled Chicken Salad Deluxe, hamburger, Quarter Pounder, and the Quarter Pounder with cheese. Dessert items include baked apple pies, chocolate chip cookie, hot fudge sundae, ice cream cone, McFlurry, and milkshakes. Other items on the menu include the apple-bran muffin, Chicken McNuggets, French fries, Garden Salad, Happy Meals, soft drinks, and other beverages. Promotion has also been a strength for McDonaldââ¬â¢s. They have always focused promotion around good food, friendly folks, and fun. They have also spent a considerable amount of money on promotional programs such as Monopoly, Happy Meals, and the Big Mac. In addition to these promotions, McDonaldââ¬â¢s signed a ten-year contract with Disney combining promotions for food items with Disney movies. They also continue the successful Beanie Baby promotion that is credited as the companyââ¬â¢s most successful promotion ever. On October 25 they introduced the American Trio Collection of Beanie Babies that celebrate the American Political Process. In addition to promotion, McDonaldââ¬â¢s has also been successful at placing restaurants in every available position. The increase of outlets per year has re... ...ket. These restaurants have the ability to be expanded throughout the United States and provide a large amount of sales domestically. This will be growingly important as sales in current McDonaldââ¬â¢s restaurants flatten. These restaurant chains may also have the ability to be expanded internationally depending on their success in the U.S. An opportunity that McDonaldââ¬â¢s has not been taking advantage of is their environmental concerns. Recently McDonaldââ¬â¢s was honored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their conservation and recycling efforts. The EPA cited McDonaldââ¬â¢s as the industry leader because of its continual review and evaluation of packaging materials. This is something that could be used in a promotional effort to better their image in consumersââ¬â¢ minds. It could be positioned directly against competitors to show that McDonaldââ¬â¢s does care about the environment. McDonaldââ¬â¢s has done well with establishing a plan for future growth and expansion. As long as they continue to build awareness for their other brands, expand internationally, and better manage product introduction in existing McDonaldââ¬â¢s restaurants, they will continue to be number one.
Monday, September 2, 2019
Hepatitis A Essay -- essays research papers fc
Introduction: Hepatitis is caused by a virus that is targeted at the liver, one of your most important organs!! Specifically, it causes inflammation and injury to the liver. Hepatitis comes in many different forms, five to be exact. There is Hepatitis A, B, C, D & E. Hepatitis is caused mainly by viruses, all of which are set on shutting down your liver. I will be specifically concentrating on Hepatitis A in this report. Hepatitis A is also known as infectious Hepatitis, an extremely contagious viral infection that often effects young children and young adults, especially those in large groups. It has been known to break out in schools, summer camps and music festivals etc. Hepatitis A is also very common in developing nations. Outbreaks occur due to unsanitary conditions such as contamination of the food and water supply. The Liver: The liver is an organ which is located upper right part of your abdomen. It has one main function. This function is to clean out your blood. How this happens is from your inferior venacava, there is a group if veins called the mesenteric veins. They branch off and take dirty blood to your liver to be cleaned. Now, when the virus moves in and stops the liver from doing its job, just imagine all the toxins and unwanted waste and chemicals that build up in your body.!! Causes: Hepatitis A is transmitted almost always by the fecal oral route. It is spread by close personal contact with fecally contaminated water supplies, fruits and vegetables. Poor personal hygiene promotes spread of the virus as well which is why the incidence of Hepatitis is higher in developing nations, where poor sanitary conditions exist. It can also be transmitted by raw or partially cooked clams from contaminated water. Properties of the virus: The hepatitis A virus is a non - enveloped 27 nano meters in size, virus. It is characterized as a RNA based virus. Inactivation of viral activity can be achieved by heating to 100 Ã °C for five minutes, and by contact with formaldehyde and chlorine or by ultraviolet irradiation. The virus is present in the liver, bile, stool and blood during the illness. Symptoms: The symptoms of viral hepatitis are not very pretty. Getting Hepatitis is not a fun experience. The first symptoms of Hepatitis A are mild and vague. They generally appear from about 2 weeks to 6 months after ex... ...me up with a new vaccine against Hepatitis A called Havrix. I know about this because last year, before my family and I went on a trip to India, we all got vaccinated against Hepatitis A with Havrix. None of the books from which I researched had any thing about Havrix because they were not that up to date. Prognosis: In most cases of infectious Hepatitis, previously healthy people fully recover with in 2 - 6 weeks. Patients in old age or people with serious underlying disorders such as heart failure, Anemia, diabetes, cancer etc. have a much longer recovery period and are more likely to develop a much worse case of the infection and have a poorer prognosis. However, the over all mortality rate of Hepatitis A is less than 1 percent. Bibliography: 1) Principles Of internal Medicine, Isselbacher, Adams, Braunwald, Petersdorf, Wilson, Mc Graw Hill 1978 2) Medical diagnosis & Treatment, Marcus A. Krupp, Milton J. Chatton, 1980 3) Principals and practice of medicine, Harvey, Johns, Mckusick, Owens, Ross, Appleton - Century - Crofts 1979. 4) Medical & health Encyclopedia, Sidney S. Schipper, Round the world books, 1988 5) World Book Encyclopedia, 1992
Sunday, September 1, 2019
What is the global role of the WTO?
The paper contains a discussion about the roles of WTO. The roles of WTO in promoting international trade, globalization, good interrelationships and dispute resolution have been explained. The background about the organization has been provided to link its role with the mandate provided by its founders. The current issues affecting the organization such as the global recession of the 2007-2009 have been discussed to explain how the organization has intervened in the problem. Criticisms of the organization have been discussed towards the end of the essay to show the shortfalls affecting it. Introduction Many leaders of the world felt that after the World War II, trade was the only tool that could be used to reverse the negative trends of the war. They developed multilateral organizations to control trade between different countries of the world. Several agreements on trade were created to enhance the member countries practice favorable trade. Most of the economies had been closed before and during the war to avoid the ripple effects of poor economic practices from foreign countries. The establishment of the trade agreements led to the removal of many trade barriers which had been placed. WTO was created to monitor the activities of trade among the countries in the global scene. Since its establishment, the organization has played the role of negotiating trade agreements and assisting the poor countries. The organization has also helped in the economic recovery of many countries after the global recession that affected the world economies recently (World Trade Organization, 2010). Role of WTO in promoting international trade World Trade Organization (WTO) was created to control trade between the member countries. Currently the organization has 152 member countries. More than 95 percent of the world trade is regulated by WTO (Fergusson, 2008). After the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was abolished, WTO was established. The organization was founded in 1995 to take over the activities of GATT. After the World War II, countries discussed ways of promoting economic development through trade. Open trade was among the key factors discussed as a tool to enhance trade through removal of discriminatory trade barriers (World Trade Organization, 2010). WTO has its headquarters located in Geneva. More than 625 staffs are employed at the headquarters to control the activities of the organization. The organization had a budget of approximately $152 million in 2007 (Fergusson, 2008). A Director-General heads the organization. Pascal Lamy of France currently holds the position of the Director-General. The member countries make decisions about the operations of the organization. The staff of WTO has no mandate to make any decision. A consensus system is used to make decisions but not a formal vote. A Ministerial Conference makes high-level policy decisions. The conference is composed of representatives from the member countries and they meet after two years. The General Council has members drawn from all the member countries. They make operational decisions and they meet each month. The rules of WTO are revised regularly through negotiations (rounds) to create new ones to accommodate the changing trade climate. The developing nations benefit more from the negotiations since most of the agreements are established to improve the economic status of the developing countries (World Trade Organization, 2010). The current situation of WTO A new round of multilateral trade negotiations was started at the Doha meeting in 2001 during the fourth Ministerial Conference of WTO. Negotiations about trade in agriculture and trade in services have been going on for a long period of time. Greater trade liberalization has been the main agenda of the rounds as the developed nations seek a free market system in the international market. The September 11th terrorists attack in America encouraged the member countries to establish negotiations about reducing the effects of economic recession and terrorism (Sally, 2003). Several regional agreements have been established under WTO to enhance trade. By 2007, 385 regional trade agreements had been created. Currently only 197 are operational (Fergusson, 2008). Trade agreements are more effective in opening trade between countries. They are easier to negotiate and provide more liberalization. However, these negotiations violate the nondiscriminatory principles of WTO. Developing countries have been disadvantaged by the establishment of the regional agreements since they cannot access the markets in developed countries (Sally, 2003; World Trade Organization 2010). The Doha meeting discussed the issues relating to the global recession, terrorists activities and the increasing number of trade agreements. Other issues discussed were improving trade in agriculture and trade in services. Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property rights (TRIPS) was amended. The interest of the developing nations has been a major concern since the developed countries have dominated discussions in the past rounds (World Trade Organization, 2010). Role of WTO in trade dispute resolution WTO is involved in settling disputes concerning trade between countries. As countries trade with each other, conflicts come up and WTO is used as a mediator to solve such disputes. The organization has the power to mediate trade disputes among the member countries. Some of the trade disputes relate to bad trade policies adopted by some countries upon others. WTO acts as a custodian to international law and uses the international law on trade to enforce the international trade laws. Countries which disobey the rules encounter sanctions which may hinder them from operating in the international trade. All countries have an obligation to follow the rules provided by WTO (Information for Development Program. 2010). Role of WTO in improving international relations International relations refer to the co-existence between two or more countries. Private businesses, governments, international investors and other parties are involved in the transactions of international business. WTO helps the countries of the world interact peacefully with each other. This has reduced conflicts which may arise due to differences in culture and other aspects. WTO helps international leaders unite in the fight against terrorism. Many countries have developed a system of establishing a common pool of ideas. Sharing in ideas among the countries has improved peace in the world. WTO settles disputes arising from bad trade practices. Such disputes if not controlled may result into war which can cause a lot of destruction. When countries are at peace with each other, international trade becomes more possible and exchange of goods and services is enhanced. Good international relationships have enhanced economic growth and development of the countries of the world. Economic growth and development is described as the increase in the wealth, infrastructure and the living standards of the people living in a country. When countries are at peace with each other, they can participate properly in trade and create more wealth. Conflicts between countries lead to destruction of property and poor trade. WTO has encouraged peaceful coexistence between countries and this has been a factor which has promoted growth and development of many economies (World Trade Organization, 2010). Role of WTO in globalization WTO has been involved in the globalization of many economies in the world. Regulation about the global activities has been done by WTO to ensure fare practices are exercised by the countries of the world. Globalization refers to the opening up of the international boundaries and the exchange of information between different countries. Globalization has improved the exchange of technologies and knowledge between countries. As economies become open more people with skills can move to other countries where there is high market potential for their labor. The public sector alone cannot accommodate all the skilled labor in a country and trade provides more employment opportunities for the people in a nation. The introduction of the internet has increased efficiency in trade by enabling people transfer information more easily. Trade attracts private investment and this generates more capital in the economy. The gross domestic product of a country increases with increase in global trade. Growth and development of an economy is accelerated by trade since more income is generated and the living standards of the people are improved (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2007). Poverty levels in both developing and developed countries have declined by greater margins due to participation of countries in the international trade. Economies have acquired more wealth and the gross domestic product of countries has improved. WTO has become the custodian of international law on trade. The enforcement of trade laws about good trade practices has been possible after the creation of WTO. The establishment of regional and multilateral trade agreements was experienced after WTO was created. This has encouraged many countries remove barriers to trade (World Trade Organization 2010). Regulation of the 2007-2009 economic recessions by WTO The financial crisis was initiated by poor lending practices of the U. S. banks. The subprime mortgage industry failed and caused many other sectors of the economy to fail. Subprime mortgages are policies which have a high risk of default. Subprime borrowers are the people with low incomes and have a poor credit history. They have higher risk of default compared to the prime borrowers. The crisis started with the rise in prices for basic products due to the international increase in fuel prices. The prices of oil and food products increased within a short duration leading to an economic crisis which affected many people in the US. The prices for many products increased and inflation was experienced all over the country. Many subprime borrowers had low incomes and the rise in prices for basic products increased the expenses for their living. Many companies retrenched employees to accommodate the increasing production costs. The borrowers were unable to repay the loans resulting to massive defaults. More than 100 subprime mortgage intermediaries filed for bankruptcy. Reacquisition of the houses from the defaulters caused a lot of people to become homeless (Platt, 2008). The US government had deregulated the real estate mortgages leading to massive investment in subprime mortgages. This caused the risky lending of subprime mortgages. The sub-prime mortgages were initially not popular but they became widely used in the 1990s. The climax of the sub prime mortgages was in 2006 when they accounted for more than 21 percent of all mortgages traded in the US market. The value of subprime mortgages in 2006 was valued at $600 billion. Many subprime mortgage intermediaries were established to reap the benefits of the expanding industry (Stapledon, 2009). The world economies have experienced a major decline due to poor performance of many industries. This is a crisis which has affected all sectors of the economy. Williams (2009) claims that the crisis was initiated by the subprime mortgage lending crisis in the US. The banking sector issued many loans to subprime mortgage intermediaries. Due to the expanding market in the sub prime mortgage market, many banks issued unsecured loans to the intermediaries. The climax of the boom was reached in 2007 when the prices of products started to increase and many subprime mortgage lenders were unable to repay their loans. This led to massive default of debts and banks registered huge losses. This reduced the lending capacity of many banks. The resulting effect was lack of credit in the economy and the collapse of many companies (Stapledon, 2009). The World Trade Organization has negotiated with the oil producing countries to reduce the oil prices as one of the measures to reduce the effects of the crisis. The global oil prices increased causing the prices of many products to rise. The high product prices caused inflation in the whole world. WTO has also encouraged trade by persuading some countries remove the trade barriers they had placed upon their trade partners when the crisis was at climax (Stephen, 2008). Criticisms of WTO The developed nations have dominated the activities and policies of WTO. For example, according to Anderson (2005) With decision-making based on a consensus system, so each member has equal decision-making power, the WTO is held to be the most democratic of all the international institutions with a global mandate. In practice, however, the working methods of the WTO lack transparency, inclusiveness and equity, (pp. 431). There have been conflicts as the developing nations are becoming concerned about the great influence the developed nations have on the decisions in these organization. The interests of each country should be represented during the negotiations to ensure that conflicts do not arise afterwards (Amadeo, 2010). Despite the establishment of the trade organizations, many countries continue to place more trade discrimination measures upon other countries. ââ¬Å"They include not just trade taxes-cum-subsidies but also contingent protection measures such as anti-dumping, regulatory standards that can be technical barriers to trade, and domestic production subsidies,â⬠Anderson (2005, pg. 415). Many trade distortions have occurred since the global economies were established. Conclusion WTO has been successful in improving trade between the member countries. More regional and multilateral trade agreements have been established after the creation of WTO. The developed countries have dominated discussions at the Ministerial Conferences of WTO. International trade has been effective in alleviating poverty. Economies have expanded their operations and more GDP has been generated by countries with improved systems of international trade. Poverty still affects many countries in the world and much effort need be done to address the issue. Globalization has increased trade between nations and has also enabled access to many technologies and knowledge about production. Trade has been used as a tool for alleviating poverty in many countries. International relationships have improved with the introduction of the WTO. The organization has encouraged the member countries interact with each other to enhance understanding. The global recession was brought to a halt by WTO when it intervened in the global economic systems which had caused the failure of many economies. The organization has promoted the economic growth and development of many economies as well as encouraging international peace. The activities of WTO have been criticized for the excess domination by the developed countries. This remains a barrier to the achievement of the goals of WTO.
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