Social Issues In South Africa Management Essay

Social Issues In South Africa Management Essay In society, the population of the world is affected by social economic issues. This research analysis will focus mainly on South Africa, showing a list of the different issues found in South Africa, as well as listing the ways in which they affect the country in both the business and environmental sectors. The different types of social issues found in South Africa are listed below: Poverty- is an economical condition in which people do not have sufficient income to obtain minimal levels of health services, food, housing, clothing and education. These minimal levels are generally recognized as being necessary to ensure an adequate standard of living. The Causes of poverty are: Individuals who find it difficult to earn an income. Members of large families, where the breadwinner of the family is either unemployed or works for low wages. Lack of educational opportunity and an education of a poor quality. A high level of unemployment. Unemployment- population and employment play a big factor as part of the social economic issues. As technology increases, more technical knowledge and experience is needed in South Africas industries, even in farming, mining, manufacturing and service industries. Unemployment affects businesses by causing poverty. HIV/AIDS-the constant spread of this disease throughout the country plays a contributing factor to the social economic factors in South Africa. HIV/AIDS decreases the life expectancy of the population and effects businesses negatively because if one of their staff members has passed away from this disease, they must spend money on finding, and training new staff, which can be time consuming and decrease the work ethic within the business. Increase of population- the greater the population, the greater the demand is for resources and raw materials. Uncontrolled settlement development can also result in problems of pollution, health hazards, and inadequate housing and service provision, contributing to informal sector activities and crime.(4) Natural resources in areas surrounding settlements are generally under greater pressures than those in areas of less dense human habitation.(1) Water supply- with the increasing population, the use of water is starting to become limited. Scientists are already looking for alternatives to supplying water, such as the desalination of sea water, which is so far an expensive exercise. The issue of poverty relating to South Africa Summed up all together, most of the issues mentioned above relate back to poverty. Poverty leads to people who are not able to afford an education, or can only afford a poor quality education. The lack of education causes unemployment, and unemployment leads to crime. Besides that the uneducated populations are prone to make uneducated decisions relating to starting a family when you are not in the position to afford children, and this leads to unsafe sex, which causes the spread of HIV/AIDS. The impacts of poverty on the environment include deforestation from excessive collection of wood for fuel, soil degradation through cultivation of unsuitable soils, and exploitation of rare and endangered species to supplement incomes. An inability to adequately provide for the basic needs of the population will lead to collapse of the natural ecosystem services and deterioration in the quality of life. (2) Poverty also has a large impact on businesses. As a result of low or no education, lack of training and working skills, inability to access various services, poor people dont contribute much to their local community and can retard or hamper economic growth in the area. Poverty means that potential business markets are reduced and can therefore decrease the businesses ability to make profit. It may be wise for businesses to team up with government to alleviate poverty and to uplift the poor in their business environments as this will help broaden the consumer base for itself and all other businesses and benefit them in the long term. Woolworths limited What is corporate social responsibility? Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been defined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development as the continuing commitment by companies to behave ethically and to contribute to economic development, while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well as the local community and society at large.(5) Woolworths is one of the leading food retailers in South Africa, as one of the largest public companies they are aware of the social, environmental and economical impact they have on the communities in which they operate. As a result of this, Woolworths is big into corporate social responsibilities. They design and implement certain strategies to enable their company to run better, as well as benefit the environment around them. Woolworths is a company with a good ethics and morals base system, where their employees must obey the values of the company. Below is a diagram drawn up by Woolworths to show the distribution of their corporate social responsibility model. (7) Figure 3.1: Corporate social responsibility model of Woolworths. Woolworths has a responsibility for, and is committed to, the implementation of effective and efficient long term management strategies which address issues arising from the companys impact on the environment in which it operates. Woolworths is aware of the impact their company has on the environment and it is important for them to have certain strategies in place to solve the problem. An example of Woolworths contributing to the environment is by implementing the green bag which is not as harsh on the environment as the traditional plastic bag. Woolworths is also associated with the community and have a lot of fund raisers where 100% of funds go to providing food for the poor or it is donated to certain hospitals. Woolworths also participates in the efforts to tackle problem drinking. They have voluntarily introduced a range of measures (above the license requirements) to assist local communities to better manage alcohol related issues. (7) The one issue which Woolworths concentrates the most on is the impact that they have on the environment. Woolworths has realized that their company has effected the environment in 4 ways: Electricity consumption and associated green house gas emissions. Store waste going into landfills and recycling. Packaging used in their operations and by their consumers. Fuel consumption and associated green house gases in their vehicle fleet. Electricity consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions Woolworths looked at the following aspects in order to reduce their electricity consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Refrigeration Woolworths three major refrigeration service providers were asked to undertake a program to cost-effectively improve system energy efficiency while maintaining product temperature and system up-time. By identifying high output sites and those that could be tuned remotely, substantial improvement was noted in the performance efficiency of many supermarket refrigeration systems. Lighting Woolworths spent their efforts on replacing their original light bulbs in their stores with energy efficient light bulbs, and by putting special lighting systems in place to reduce the amount of energy used. Below is a breakdown of the savings delivered in a sample of their supermarkets once controlled lighting had been introduced. Table 4.1: Table showing the amount of energy used in stores before and after the new lighting systems were installed.(7) Temperature control most of the Woolworths stores have implemented a change in their temperature control. Instead of having a heavy on energy air-conditioner, they have installed an extremely efficient 6-tiecase fan which in the long run will benefit the business positively. Store waste going into landfills and recycling Key to this program is for Woolworths to implement various recycling programs within the stores to minimize the amount of general waste produced. Woolworths is involved in recycling most of their waste such as: Cardboard Green waste (recycled to fertilizer) Chicken oil Packaging used in their operations and by their customers Woolworths has managed to transform their packaging to environmentally friendly. They have trained their staff in efficiently packing purchases so that not as many bags are used. They have also implemented a green bag which is heavy duty, can be reused and is healthy for the environment. Fuel consumption and associated greenhouse gases in their vehicle transport fleet Woolworths has put a lot of insight to this issue and has come up with certain ideas to help alleviate the problem. They have discovered that by planning their trips they can be more efficient by making many stops at once and not going back and fourth the whole time. They have also invested in fully efficient cars which save on their fuel prices and the amount of green house gasses they emit. Woolworths is also investing money into a program for developing other forms of fuel that they might be able to use in the future. SWOT ANALYSIS SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. Below is a SWOT analysis table that Woolworths designed to plan and evaluate their project. Table 8.1: SWOT analysis Strengths Open door policy to the press CERES guidance and co-ordination active CSR Selective supply chain strategy careful food safety standards reasonably priced and high quality products Nutritional information available on packaging Decentralised yet connected system Innovative excellence program Promoting ethical conduct Profitable Weaknesses Inflexible to changes in market trends Difficult to find and retain employees Drive for achieving shareholder value may counter CSR Promoted CSR meat imports in error Opportunities Attractive flexible employment Positive environmental commitments Higher standards demanded from suppliers Corporate Responsibility Committee Honest and real brand image Threats Fabricated stories about the quality of their food Health concerns surrounding Beef, Poultry Fish Possible Labour exploitation CSR at the risk of profit loss Contributor to global warming (3) Sustainability Ecology is a means of configuring civilization and human activity so that society, its members and its economies are able to meet their needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, planning and acting for the ability to maintain these ideals in the very long term. (6) The most important way in which Woolworths project is sustainable is in the fact that it is saving the environment and thus helping the world last longer and slowing global warming. Their whole project is sustainable as they are planning for the future and helping their business to be continuous. It is sustainable in the fact that the business will save money in the long term, and contribute to the end of global warming.

Analysis Of Nigel Driffield Research Study Essay

Nigel Driffield has made a research on the impact in indirect employment due to inflow of foreign direct investments [FDI] in U. K. In his research paper, the author has examined the effect of local employment associated with foreign inward investment in UK. According to author, a foreign manufacturer who has entered into UK will naturally have a slight edge over the existing manufacturers as they may have enhanced productivity technology as compared to domestic sector. Further, in his study, the author revealed that FDI not only created market disequilibrium in the UK’s domestic sector but also created an employment substitution of 20 percent of all the jobs generated due to FDI. It is to be noted that since 1980, UK is the largest recipient of FDI in European Union. [EU]. Between 1984 and 1991, it attracted about 42 percent of total Japanese investment in EU and about 21 percent of all US FDI since 1987. FDI comprises about one fifth of total investment in UK industry. For instance, since 1987, UK received about 220 billion by way of inflow as FDI. According to Nigel Driffield, FDI has created about 15% of all employment in UK manufacturing sector and it has appended over 23 per cent of all value –added. (Driffield 1999) Since there is a decline in employment in UK manufacturing sector from 1980, UK has encouraged FDI flow into its country. It is to be noted that FDI flow will be advantageous to a country’s economy as it will create employment , technology transfer , increase in productivity and increase in exports and as a result ,an overall increase in country’s gross domestic product [GDP] . Thus, free flow of FDI will create both direct and indirect employment opportunities in a country. It is to be observed that empirical studies carried over by Young et al [1994] , Neven and Siotis [1993], Dunning [1988] on the impact of FDI has found out that FDI flow has its impact on employment generation and regional development. Further, it enhanced allocative efficiency in the economy and also improved the balance of trade and exports of the recipient country . Dunning [1988] in his eclectic theory, Dunning have observed that FDI will bring new or superior product or some firm specific advantage. David Lyons [1991] has concluded that FDI brings productivity advantage and he estimated that productivity advantage is at least 20 percent more than that of domestic sector. Further, Blomstrorm [1989] and Haddad and Harrison [1993] found that FDI has resulted in operation of new plant and thus resulted in advanced technology transfer to the host country. [Dunning, J. H. & Narula, R 1996). However, Nigel Driffield has pondered that as far as UK is concerned, no empirical study has attempted to find out the extent to which flow of inward investment may have a detrimental impact on U. K industry especially in the manufacturing firms with a distinct productivity advantage. The author is of the opinion that it is pertinent to study how FDI in UK has affected the employment position of UK-owned manufacturing companies. Since the foreign manufacturer in UK has productivity advantage, it is claimed by Davies and Lyons[1992 ]that such foreign manufacturing companies will normally pay wages above the industry standard and according to Driffield [1996], there was wage differential up to 7 per cent in UK. (Driffield 1999) According to Nigel Driffield, if there is penetration by foreign manufacturers in a country, it will result in prevalence of high-wage paying, high-productivity firms and hence, ex ante, it will increase wages in domestic sector. To avoid a rise in employee turnover, local firms are compelled to pay more wages to keep employees in high spirit. This will have cyclic effect of increase in wage cost and reduction in employment opportunities. Hence, Nigel comes to a conclusion that a foreign investor with productive advantage will be prepared to pay above-average salary and hence there will be a reduction in domestic employment. According to Nigel, FDI flow in UK will have the following impact: o A decline in employment in the UK-owned sector. o An increase in domestic wage. Thus, UK firms which are compelled to pay increased wages may initiate labour / capital substitution in an effort to enhance productivity factor. However, these initiatives may result in reduction in employment and again, ex ante raises labour productivity. It is to be noted that degree of increase in labour productivity may negate any loss in UK employment over the long run. Nigel Driffield is of the view to study impact of FDI in UK, variables like employment, labour productivity and wages in the domestic sector of UK economy has to be taken into account. According to Marginson [1984], Blanch flower [1986] and Stewart [1991], to arrive at the rate of change of wage equation, one has to include industry specific variables like the proportion of women employees in an industry, monopoly power of the product, research & development expenses and five-firm concentration ratio. (Driffield 1999) According to Nigel Driffield, if FDI directly causes a decline in domestic sales and in domestic employment, then it will be referred by variable [SALE]. In case, if there is employment substitution, then it will be picked by negative coefficient on the foreign employment. [EMPF]. If there is factor substitution, then it will be measured by coefficient on capital investment. [CAPITAL] variables. On the basis of above assumption, Nigel Driffield has developed equation to test these hypotheses. With the help of these equations, it is easy to study the following. ? The degree to which manufacturing jobs generated by foreign companies in UK is able to create changes in the labour market for manual labour. ? To find out how FDI will increase the industry –level wages and minimize employment. Nigel Driffield has tested these hypotheses in two separate time periods from 1986 to 1989 and from 1989 to 1992. It is to be noted that the first period i. e. 1986 to 1989 observeed a key growth in manufacturing immediately following recession of the early part of the 1980’s. The second period, i. e. 1989 to 1992 witnessed a continued decline in employment and manufacturing output. Further, in these above periods, there had been a major increase in the foreign share of manufacturing in UK. Nigel Driffield has revealed in his research that during first period the FDI has pushed up the domestic wage and also caused employment substitution away from the domestic sector. (Driffield 1999) Nigel Driffield study also reveals that there is correlation between flow of FDI and decrease in employment and it also creates an employment substitution of 20 per cent which is equivalent to roughly 5 per cent of the net fall in UK manufacturing employment over the period. Nigel also tired to prove that FDI flow will enhance productivity through factor substitution. He finally concludes that it is not probable to recognize any material deviation between the sales / employment ratio changes for the above mentioned time periods and hence flow of FDI has little effect on domestic capital intensity. He also finds that though there was a slight fall in employment in the above mentioned periods due to flow of FDI in UK, this cannot be attributed to factor substitution.

T.S. Eliot Paints a Grim Picture in The Love Song of J....

T.S. Eliot’s â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock† may be accurately described as an amalgam of synergistic emotions—among them self-doubt, longing, fear, regret, and indecisiveness—which, through the alchemy of poetry, work in tandem to create and communicate an overwhelming sense of anxiety. These emotions serve as cataracts upon the lens through which the poem’s narrator views both himself and the city streets he travels. Overwhelmed by an â€Å"overwhelming question† (10) the narrator—perhaps more terrified by the sheer gravity of the â€Å"overwhelming question† (10) than the numerous other fears and self-doubts the narrator presents to the reader—never unequivocally specifies, the poem’s persona makes a journey through both city and mind to†¦show more content†¦Line 92 echoes Andrew Marvell’s â€Å"To His Coy Mistress,† a poem in which the persona sets out to convince his lover to a ct without hesitance or delay; in a more perfect world, the persona of â€Å"The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufock† would â€Å"squeeze the universe into a ball† (92) and â€Å"roll it toward the overwhelming question† (93). In lines 94-95, the persona imagines himself as Lazarus, â€Å" come from the dead, / Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all.† Here the persona, who has â€Å"seen his moment of greatness flicker† in line 84, envisions himself rising from the ashes of his agedness and decay to pose the overwhelming question to his lover without reticence. â€Å"The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufock† presents the image of a man who fears the toll that time has taken and continues to take on his aesthetic appeal. Preoccupied with the way others perceive him, the persona of the poem regards himself as an aging, decaying figure. This anxiety is particularly evidenced in the seventh stanza of the poem in which the persona declares that he wi ll be judged both for his receding hairline and the thinness of

MEDI-CAL AND TRICARE Free Essay Example, 1000 words

Eligiblity for Medi-Cal through SSI is available in case your monthly income doesn’t exceed $856 for an individual or $1,502 for a married couple (figures for April 1, 2007 – March 31, 2008), if you have no more than $2,000 in assets as an individual or $3,000 in assets as a couple. The numbers are reconsidered annually on April 1st. The income limits are higher for people who are blind, being $921 for an individual and $1,729 for a married couple, the assets remaining the same. The eligibility for Medi-Cal is extended through the Aged and Disabled Federal Poverty Level program (A&DFPL). This group has an opportunity to get prescription drugs and long-term care as well as paying for Medicare premiums, deductibles and cost-sharing. Medi-Cal also provides assistance with Medicare cost-sharing but not drug or long-term care prescription for the small share of low-income Medicare beneficiaries (SLMBs) (Kaiser Commision 2005, CalMedicare. org 2007). Cost-share is also provided for hose individuals who have higher incomes that do not meet the Medi-Cal eligibility requirements, but whose high medical expenses significantly reduce the income. We will write a custom essay sample on MEDI-CAL AND TRICARE or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now One is qualified through Medi-Cal’s â€Å"medically needy† pathway in case medical bills leave him with less than $600 per month for living expenses as a single person or $934 per month as a married couple, assets being at or below $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple. Then Medi-Cal pays for an individual’s Part B premiums even in the months he does not incur medical expenses (CalMedicare. org 2007). Medic-Cal also covers immigrants. According to Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and Uninsured, ‘Citizens, lawful permanent residents and certain other immigrants who meet other eligibility requirements may qualify for full Medi-Cal services. Undocumented immigrants and other immigrants without satisfactory immigration status can qualify for limited Medi-Cal coverage (such as Emergency Medi-Cal which covers prenatal care, long-term care, and certain other services), which are paid for using only state funds’ (Ka iser Commission 2005, p. 2). Now let us move to the TRICARE options. One can choose among three basic types: Tricare Prime, Tricare Standard, and Tricare Extra. Tricare Prime is based on an HMO concept, requiring that one specifically enroll in the program, active duty members being enrolled automatically). Those enrolled in Tricare Prime are assigned to a Primary Care Provider (PCP), usually the local military medical facility (base hospital).