Think Globl ct Locl Discuss th implictions of Thodor Lvitts sttmnt Essay

Think Globl ct Locl Discuss th implictions of Thodor Lvitts sttmnt - Essay Example Onc compny introducs its products or srvics on th scond country-mrkt, it will unvoidbly b pron to impos its prvious xprinc, spcilly if th compny oprtion in th grt numbr of ntionl mrkts. Mrkting strtgy dcisions in such cs cn b bsd ginst th xtr-mrkt critri. For instnc, pric lvls r st up in ordr to limint th diffrnc mong mrkts nd to sustin pric corridor, comprd to th sitution whr you just purly rflct locl mrkt conditions. Subsidizing of pric lvls by multintionl is lso common prctic nd is usd for strtgic rsons. Strtgy of th compny tht is xpnding brod dpnds on mny fctors, in som cs it is just pursu of lrning nd somtims it is high profitbility trgt tht r st up upfront. nothr componnt of th mrkting mix tht is diffrnt nd should b tilord to th spcific mrkt is distribution chnnl infrstructur, which should b lso rsponsibl for mrkting strtgy. Th distribution ntwork hs lso to contribut lot to strtgy for growth, nd s rsult it is judgd on orgniztionl critri such s fsibility, lvl of risk, supportbility, nd control issus. Mnwhil, distribution mngmnt in domstic mrkts is mostly proccupid by th rliztion of lrdy xisting mrkting strtgis nd is minly judgd ginst fficincy or cost-minimiztion critri. Thodor Lv Thodor Lvitt's is fmous for nlyzing nd rconciling dilmms tht compny will ncountr onc gon intrntionl. On of his controvrsil rticl Mrkting Myopi stts tht succssful businss should not only know whn to ntr, but lso whn to xit th mrkts is sttd in on's of Lvitts' Mrkting Myopi rticl: "Th rilrods did not stop growing bcus th nd for pssngr nd fright trnsporttion dclind. Tht grw. Th rilrods r in troubl tody not bcus th nd ws filld by othrs (crs, trucks, irplns, vn tlphons), but bcus it ws not filld by th rilrods thmslvs. Thy lt othrs tk customrs wy from thm bcus thy ssumd thmslvs to b in th rilrod businss rthr thn in th trnsporttion businss. Th rson thy dfind thir industry wrong ws bcus thy wr rilrod orintd instd of trnsporttion-orintd; thy wr product-orintd instd of customr-orintd." Probbly thr r two ltrntivs tht compny cn dopt whil thinking globlly, "Think globl, ct locl" nd "Think locl, ct globl", th scond ltrntiv sms to b th pur rsult of th globliztion. Thodor Lvitt wrot in his rticl (1983, citd in Hrbig 1998) tht culturl prfrncs will blong to th pst nd th world will bcom mor nd mor th sm. Th nds nd wnts will bcom th sm vrywhr in th world. Lvitt implicitly sttd tht globl cmpigns will ttin long-stnding succss only whn thy will mt th nds of ch nd vry. H suggstd tk into considrtion th similritis nd do not focus too much on th diffrncs of culturs. To confirm his sttmnt Lvitt uss th xmpls of Coc-Col, McDonlds, Ppsi-Col nd Mrlboro. But in fct, thos compnis do not us Lvitts' id of th globl cultur strtgy. Or cours, Lvitt's work undrstimts th diffrnc btwn globliztion nd intrntionliztion, btwn multintionl nd globl corportion. Th dominnc of trditionl plyrs is rflctd through th intrntionliztion, nd th multintionl is focusd on th production of good for locl mrkts. In my o pinion, globliztion involvs nw typ of rltionship mong ll compnis nd countris. Th diffrnc btwn rgionl, intrntionl, nd globl mrkts is significnt points tht should b tkn into ccount by

Bullying Essay Example for Free

Bullying Essay Since the hands of time school bullying has been a problem in the school system, recently adding a new layer due to the advances of technology, innovations that challenge the whole infrastructure of educational purpose. Precomputers and cell phones, bullying could only be classified as physical or psychologically abuse on someone that could only be inflicted by face to face contact. Now in today technology age forms a new way of bullying without actually being in the same room or even knowing the individual. Bullying use to consist of physical beating or embarrassment like putting a kid in the garbage can but technology, created to further enhance the mind, became another distraction for the mind because bullying can be done from a distance you don’t even have to be in the same state or even know the person which makes it more difficult on the victim. Every pro has a con and in this case a major one, this method of bullying may be more traumatizing so I will compare and contrast the two types of bullying. This paper will make you decide what side is worse and will show you the comparison but after reading you should want to put a stop to bullying. First, let’s start with physical bullying because of the fact it was the first form of it. In past years, bullying consisted on the size and popularity of someone being less than the so called â€Å"cool† crowd. As time progress formed the mental aspect of bullying, which I feel is more detrimental. My mind is the actual driving for my body that controls our way of living, lower the self-esteem of an individual actually hurts more than any physical blow you could muster up. The progression of using the mental aspect of bullying became more popular because children subconsciously know what hurt more and prey on it. Cyber bulling is usually done by someone who is jealous of another and wants to embarrass them this form is mostly used in high school. Posting embarrassing pictures or videos on social network is common example this is so affective because everyone has a Facebook or twitter in today’s society so more eyes see it making it harder for the victim to overcome it. Secondly, although physical bullying is very harmful it’s also less abusive than cyber bullying because of a number of reasons; first off, with physical bullying you know of your actual bully enforcing the problem. With that information you could eventually take a stand and take of the problem yourself or ask for assistance from your guidance teacher or someone with authority. Also physical bullying and physiological bullying pretechnology didn’t in my opinion last too long. The time frame didn’t last long because before the bully usually bullied multiple people kind of taking the pressure off of you faster than just one individual. All emotions have a time limit in which time could only heal, so physical and mental wounds healed faster pretechnology than it do today. Traditional bullying has to be stopped because some kids are afraid to go to school because of the physical bullying this consist of taking lunch money, tripping or pushing in the hall or into lockers, knocking buts down to cause embarrassment even teasing people because of their weight or clothes is a form of traditional bullying and believe it or not traditional bullying affects the rates of students not graduating because they are fed up and can’t take it no more so they drop out of school. Finally, the most interesting fact of traditional bullying is why they do it. Statistics say most people who bully people have or are being bullied in their life. This interesting because if a person knows how that makes another human feel why they would force the hurt and miserable life on others. Bullies also bully because of problems at home like child abuse so they take it out on other peers. Stress can also cause people to bully because they so filled up with anger and having no one to talk to the result to bullying. Physical bullying is not only in schools it also at jobs to but no matter where you can find it at it needs to be a stop to it because it makes people miserable. Basically all traditional bullying problems are within the bully it has to do with their emotion they release on others. Physical bullying is more painful and life threating then cyber bullying and it also builds a sense a fear because they know the actual person bullying them, this can have a tremendous affect in people life because it lowers self-esteem. These are reason why traditional bullying is still affective if authorities use this to get to the bottom of bullying it can be decreased or even voided but being that our world is so advanced the bullying we should be worried about is cyber bullying which is more common because of technology. Cyber bullying has taken away some of the toughness of bullying because now you could do it from miles or even country spans away. Technology really up the antics making it more widespread than ever, with cell phones, tablets, and lap top along with the allegiance of social networking a rumor spread like a virus in its effect. A simple text became a new viral experiment that went wrong once adolescent got their hands on it. Same agenda chasing popularity and fame, but lost the ability to challenge someone face to face is one of the scariest evolvements of technology. Now you, in most cases, don’t even know who’s bullying you making it harder to pin point the problem in which it started. Cyber bullying is still a form of bullying but it’s just the mental aspect either way the victim still feels the pain. Internet bullying causes low self-esteem, emotion distress, and total embarrassment where as traditional bullying can cause emotional problems but is mostly physical pain more of the punching and physical contact end. Cyber bullying will get worse before it get better, new policies are in place but do little to change the outcome which come to the conclusion that cyber is nowhere near its peak. Internet bullying has taken away from the physical aspect but the emotional aspect of cyber bullying is far worse. Since technology is the face of the world so cyber bullying is so powerful rumors, gossips, and pictures can be uploaded on the web in seconds. There is several reports some are local about high schools uploading a naked picture of a girl on Facebook or sending to phone to phone in high school and this can lead to horrible emotions or dropping out of school do to humiliation. Even bigger all over the news a Rutgers University student committed suicide because of cyber bullying. He was secretly filmed kissing another male and his roommate puts the video on twitter with the caption â€Å"just found out my roommate is gay†. This was obviously something the student wasn’t ready to tell the world so with built up emotions he jumped off the George Washington Bridge. Clementi death bought national and international issue to cyber bullying and the struggles it’s facing. But it shouldn’t take death of a student to realize the degree of cyber bullying its pros and cons to both types of bullying I just feel cyber bullying is worse because of the generation we live in today and technology is so powerful in seconds the world can see what someone uploaded on the web. Finally, the most important fact of cyber bullying is the reason why they do it because it can be ended if we address it. These reason differ from physical bullying because it to different types of bullying. Cyber bullying comes from people who are jealous of your lifestyle and want to ruin it because their life isn’t as well as yours. Cyber bullying is also triggered by peer pressure they want to be â€Å"cool† and do what everyone else is doing but maybe if people put themselves in the victim shoes they wouldn’t do it. The most common one is from teenagers and their peers they take cyber bullying as a joke or for fun and they also think they will earn respect but who would or should respect anybody who lessens someone as a person. No matter what end of the bullying your child is on, you need to make sure that you are doing your part to prevent and stop this because bullying is a serious matter. Even though the two types of bullying have pros and cons the different types of bullying cause different types of insecurities to others but they all are tremendous and all are major and it’s up to peers, adults, and society to stop bullying. â€Å"Bullying builds character like nuclear waste creates superheroes. Its a rare occurrence and often does much more damage than endowment. †

Economic Trade Blocs

Economic Trade Blocs There has been a considerable development in regional economic integration schemes designed to achieve various economic, social and political purposes. Most countries in the world are members of one or more trade blocs known as regional integration agreement/arrangement (RIA). There has been a worldwide trend towards forming new regional arrangements and strengthening the existing ones. Inspired by the European Economic Country (EEC), now more popularly known as the European Union (EU) several regional integration schemes have been formed by the developing countries, particularly in Latin America and Africa. One more regional integration, that comes close to the EU in its boldness or its potential implications for the world economy is NAFTA (Cherunilam, 2005). Barriers to Trade in Selected European Union NAFTA A trade barrier is a common term that explains any regime policy or instruction that confines international trade. It can take many shapes, including: import duties, import licenses, export licenses, import allowance, taxes, subsidies, non-tariff barriers to trade, local substance necessities. Most of the trade barriers work on the similar principle i.e. the obligation of some kind of cost on trade that lifts the price of the traded products. Other trade barriers comprise of differences in culture, traditions, society, laws, language and exchange. Following are the trade barriers for identified trading blocs like European Union NAFTA: Customs duties among member states. Obstacles to the free course of import and/or export of goods and services among the member nations. Industrial/commercial policies concerning different countries. Barriers on movement of capital and people within the block. Common farming policies, transfer policies, scientific standards, fitness and wellbeing rule. Boundary control between different countries. Different internal taxation systems. Legal structures for business. Controls on movement of capital between the member countries. Protectionist community procurement policies. Advantages Disadvantages of being a Member Advantages: Friendship, cooperation among member countries strengthens. General state of member countries increases. It gives freedom to travel between member countries by simplifying visa regulations. A single economic space is created for member countries where they use common currency. Safety improves for member country. Trade relations strengthen, commodity circulation grows and trade improves in general for the member country. Disadvantages: National traditions and distinctive traits are lost by the member countries. Deflationary propensity increases between the member countries. Loss of power by the member country. Over estimation of trade benefits (Advantages and Disadvantages, 2008). Membership Conditions for European Union If a country wants to join the EU, it must value the doctrine and ideals upon which the EU is established. According to the treaties, contender countries must value the principles set out in agreements of European Union earlier than they can join the EU. Agreements affirm that The Union is based on the ideology of liberation, democratic system, respect for human rights ideologies which are ordinary to the Member States. Following are some principles which are required to be achieved by the country which wants to become a member of the EU: Political Principle: Country should be stable in providing definite democracy, the decree of law, human rights and admiration for and safety of minorities. Financial Principle: The survival of a running market economy as well as the ability to deal with aggressive force and market forces inside the Union is necessary for the member country. Institutional Principle: The country should have the capability to take on the compulsions of association, which contain the goals of political, economic and economic union (Conditions of Membership, 2005). Conditions for Membership Achieving membership in NAFTA is not an easy task. Membership to NAFTA would require discussions for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) which takes a great deal of time because many countries are standing in line for this membership. Member country needs to negotiate different deals with dozens of WTO member countries and G-7 countries (Entering NAFTA: the twists and turns of negotiations, 1995). Impact on the Bilateral or Multilateral Relations By joining the European Union and other trading blocs like NAFTA, United States will become the member of these Unions. These membership conditions for the selected regional trading blocs will help in determining the positive and negative impact on the bilateral or multilateral relations with the United States. These impacts are given as under: Positive Impacts: U.S will attain significant achievements in economic reform. EU and NAFTA will present a large and open market for the U.S. Member States of the trading blocs will be able to socialize freely all over the twenty-five countries. US exporters will enjoy lower tariff rates in their deal among the new Member states. The present system in which US exporters are confronted with a range of import rules will depart. US industry, investors and exporters will be benefited from these trade blocs in their deals with others (Bilateral agreements and fair trade practices, 2007). Negative Impacts: The bilateral investment agreements accomplished among new Member States and the US will require proper alteration in order to make certain that US investors enjoy similar investment surroundings. Existing import quotas maintained by the EU and NAFTA will require modifications to take in consideration trade flows between the new Member States and other countries. The present EU tariffs levels will also be applicable to new Member States like the U.S (Burghardt, 2004). Cost of Compliance and Non-Compliance In the EU Treaty, the basic underlying principle is the loyalty of the Member States to the community through quick compliance with its systems. This guideline states that Member States can take measures to ensure completion of the obligations arising out of this treaty. The countries can also assist in the fulfillment of the community tasks. Further, they shall desist from any actions which could put in danger the accomplishment of the objectives of this agreement. Broadly, this issue of compliance has many features: Legal, Political, Institutional, Economic. There can be a possibility that member states may fail to act in accordance with this agreement. The reason can be unwillingness and unawareness of the compulsions. The compliance costs are higher comparatively in those countries which have at least one subsidiary than with those which have no subsidiaries. The increase in the compliance costs can be seen when there is an increase in the member of subsidiaries in foreign country. For large corporations, total weighted cost of compliance is approximately 1.460.000 and for medium size companies it is 203.000. Impact of Trade Transactions There are potential gains for member non member countries and trade blocs from economic integration which are as follows: Trade Creation: Whenever trade barriers between countries are removed, industries in respective countries will concentrate on the most efficient use of resources and produce those goods that they are most efficient at producing. All participants will gain from this kind of trade practice. Trade Diversion: It occurs when trade is diverted from countries outside the trading area to the countries located inside it. Prices and Competition: The removal of trade barriers has both consumption and production effects for member and non member countries. Economies of Scale: Many industries, such as steel and automobiles, require large-scale production in order to obtain economies of scale in manufacturing. Formation of trading blocks enlarges the market so that the large scale production is justified. Dynamic Effects: The dynamic effect of integration is that it brings about a more efficient allocation of resources throughout the different trading blocks promoting the growth of some businesses and the decline of others, the development of new technology and products and the elimination of old processes. Restructuring: This process is creating a large scale restructuring of industries and firms, with the relocation of industry and many cross border mergers alliances. All the impacts of trade transactions show that this will be helpful for the expansion of project. These trading blocs will have a positive impact on expansion as these agreements will offer measures for protection. Under these measures, any product which is the subject of preferential treatment is imported into the territory of a contracting party in such a manner or in such quantities as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury in the importing country (Hill, 2005). Conclusion Based on this analysis the regional trading bloc which can be selected is European Union which is also known as the European Community and the European Common Market. This agreement eliminates tariffs, quotas and other barriers on intra community trade which is necessary for expanding a project. This trading bloc devises a common internal tariff on imports from the rest of the world and permits the free flow of factors of production within the community. It helps in harmonizing taxation monetary policies and social security policies between member and non member countries. It presents a common policy on agriculture, transport and competition in the industry (Cherunilam, 2005).

Legalized Killing Should Be Abolished Essay -- Capital Punishment

Capital punishment, also called death penalty, is the punishment by death for a crime, and the only form of legalized killing. It may be carried out by electrocution, hanging, lethal injection, gas chamber, and firing squad. The death penalty has been banished in over one hundred and thirty countries, and it has been abolished in every industrialized nation except for the United States of America. In the United States, capital punishment has been an extremely controversial issue that divides the country and leads to disharmony. The death penalty abolition movement is growing, and some progress is being made, but there is a lot of work yet to be done. There are various organizations using different avenues to abolish the death penalty. They have been successful in New Mexico, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. These are organizations like Amnesty International, The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP), and The People of Faith against the Death Penalty (PFADP). Amnesty international is an eloquent and a well-known organization that is established in different parts of the world and active in the defense of human rights since 1961. It is one of the largest and best-known international nongovernmental organizations that is dedicated to humanitarian treatment of all people. Amnesty means a general pardon for offenses or an act of forgiveness for past offenses. They serve several purposes on the bringing about of equality, peace and social justice. However, one of their main goals is to abolish the death penalty. The organization has been quite successful in many countries and some states in the United States. Amnesty International stands out, because it has good governmental contacts all around the world, so â€Å"Amnest... ... 2012. . Draper, Thomas. Capital Punishment. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1985. Print. Gottfried, Ted. The Death Penalty: Justice or Legalized Murder? Brookfield, CT: Twenty-First Century, 2002. Print. Illustrated Oxford Dictionary. London [etc.: Dorling Kindersley, 2003. Print. Kennedy Cuomo. â€Å"Abolish Capital Punishment† in Blot, David (Ed.) Supplementary Readings on Peace and Nonviolence. Bronx, New York: self-Published, 2008. Kronenwetter, Michael. Capital Punishment: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001. Print. McCarthy, Colman. "The World's Only True False Quiz on Legalized Killing." The Center for Teaching Peace. Newsletter, 2011. Weisberg, Roger and Vanessa Roth. â€Å"No Tomorrow (DVD).† Docuramafilms. A Production of Public Policy Productions, 2010.

Macroeconomic Analysis: Russia

Since the financial crisis in 1998, Russia has been experiencing impressive economic growth due to the collaboration of monetary and fiscal policies that stabilized the performance of major economic indicators up to this day. Many economists regard the impressive performance of Russia as part increase of the volume of investment in the said country. On the other hand, some says that the notable growth of Russia should be attributed to the increase of oil prices in the international market (Traveldocs.com 2008: 1). Despite of the various claims on what really was the foundation of Russia’s economic stability for the past nine years, it would be better to examine first what are the performances of some major economic indicators like GDP Growth, Balance of Trade, Inflation Rate, Unemployment Rate and Interest Rate of the said country for the past four years. GDP Growth Rate In 2004, Russia experienced 7.76 percent growth on their GDP from 1.4 billion USD of 2003 to approximately 1.5 billion USD of 2004 (Alcarastore.com 2008: 1). This increase in the GDP growth rate was triggered by the improvement of consumer demand from 2003 to 2004. On the other hand, by the end of 2005, Russia experienced sluggish improvement on the growth of GDP from 7.76 to 6.93 percent primarily due to the instability happened on the investment component of the economy caused by unclear limit and conditions non foreign investment, obsolete infrastructure as well as delayed economic reforms of the government. But in general sense, the GDP of Russia still increased by around 150 million USD. By 2006, Russia once again performed robust increase on their GDP growth rate from 6.93 to 7.8 percent as the economy starts to recover from the adverse effects of unstable investment climate caused by delayed fiscal policies. Last 2007, the Russian GDP already reached its 2 billion USD level which caused their GDP growth rate to achieved 8.3 percent growth level as the investors and consumption continues to improve in the domestic market of Russia. Trade Balance Another major economic indicator of Russia’s economic performance would be the Trade Balance. For the past four years, the trade balance of Russia has been performing remarkable as this economic indicator continues to increase from 2004 to 2007 due to the strong consumer demand and fixed capital formation growth of the Russian economy. In 2004, the trade balance of Russia reached around 85.8 billion USD as the consequence of the increase of their non-oil exports by the end of 2003. The improvement of non-oil exports of Russia continued to positively influence the trade balance of the said country for the succeeding years like in 2005, the trade balance increased by 23 billion USD while it increased by 22 billion in 2006 (The Federal State Statistics Office Service 2007: 1). Though there was a slight growth in the trade balance of Russia during 2007 due to the significant excess of growth rates of import above the growth rates of exports. Nonetheless, the Russian economists is still optimistic regarding the performance of the trade balance of the Russian economy this year as their monetary and fiscal policies starts to combat the said issue on trade balance. Inflation Rate Prices of goods in Russia has been experiencing sluggish growth rate since 2003 as the result of the fiscal policies of the Russian government despite of the fact that they also have to lower down their unemployment rate. Theoretically, if unemployment rate decreases, inflation is being expected to increase based from the Philips Curve, but with the fiscal policies of the Russian government such as the bilateral market access agreement with the United States as a prelude to their possible entry to WTO, prices of domestic goods starts to decrease thereby creating a force for the inflation rate to decline since 2003 (Indexmundi.com 2007a: 1). In 2004, the inflation rate was equivalent to 13.7 percent while it reached 11.5 percent in 2005 (Indexmundi.com 2007c: 1). Though it increased again to 12.7 percent in 2006, inflation rate still managed to continue its good performance in 2007 by reaching 9.8 percent as the policies on regional monopolies and trade regulation of the Russian government starts to work on their economic system to stabilize the domestic prices of goods and services (Russiatoday.ru 2007: 1). Unemployment Rate As the number of job opportunities in Russia continues to increase for the past years plus the effort of the Russian government to attract more foreign investors to their economy, unemployment rate starts to decline since 2004 with 8.5 percent unemployment rate. By the start of 2005, the Russian government already felt the positive impact of their rigorous action to provide more job opportunities to the Russian labor pool which resulted to the further deterioration of unemployment rate from 8.5 percent of 2004 to 8.3 percent of 2005 and then from 7.6 percent in 2006 to 6.6 percent of 2007 (Indexmundi.com 2007b: 1). This only means that the Russian government has been successful for the past four years in combating the unemployment rate of their country which could further contribute to their impressive economic growth in the next coming years. Interest Rates One of the most concerns of foreign investors, interest rate on borrowing in Russia exhibits good investment condition as it continues to decreases annually due to the stable financial sector of Russia for the past years after the financial crisis in 1998. The loan rate or the interest rate on borrowing on Russia in 2004 was equal to 11.4 percent and decreased to 10.7 percent by 2005 as the Russian government started to implement economic reforms on their financial institutions in order to make their economy more attractive to foreign investors. As a result, with the stable financial sector and fiscal policies to attract more foreign investors, interest rate on borrowing continues to decline from 10.4 percent in 2006 to 10 percent in 2007 with accordance to Ordinance No. 1660 dated in February 17, 2006 (The Central Bank of the Russian Federation 2005: 1). Economic Strengths and Weaknesses Based from the given performance of Russia’s major economic indicators, it is clear that the business environment in Russia is very much attractive and provides a better outlook in the next couple of years. Like for instance, the impressive growth of their GDP, it only signifies how active is the domestic consumption and investment level in the Russian economy and gives the investors a bird’s eye view of the possible return to investment that the Russian economy could give to them. Moreover, despite of the fact that there were some periods wherein the Russian economy performs badly, but the point is, with the proper action of the Russian government, almost all of the economic problems was resolved and put the market back into its equilibrium condition. Another example of the strengths of the Russian economy would be the cheap borrowing in Russia as their interest rate on borrowing continues to declines for the past years in order to attract more foreign investors to their economy. This would provide further improvements on the investment sector of the Russian economy plus the possibility of increase in the number of job opportunities for the Russian labor pool. As a result, economic activity in Russia is expected to boost alongside with the improvement in the investment and labor sector of the economy. Most of the time, investors prefer countries that can offer cheaper loans in order to finance their business expansion especially those multinational companies that aggressively finds more countries which could give them competitive advantage either in a form of cheaper labor, loans, technologies, favorable government subsidies and other factors of production to name a few. Furthermore, the effort of the Russian government to become less dependent on their oil exports in order to attain impressive economic growth by increasing the volume of their non-oil exports goods and services. This would provide an avenue towards the attainment of sustainable growth on their trade balance. The fact that the Russian oil exports already provides large chunk on the total GDP of the country plus the improvement on the volume of their non-oil exports reflects the increasing trend of their trade balance for the past years. Maybe this is one of the results of attracting more foreign investors in Russia which establishes manufacturing plants in Russia and then export the finished products to the international markets. The last but not the least strength of the Russian economy would be the increase in the number of job opportunities for their labor sector. This provides enough room for the Russian consumers to have more disposable income which reflects to the increasing domestic consumption of their consumers in the recent years. As a result of the increase in disposable income of the consumers, domestic investment becomes more profitable thereby attracting domestic investors to establish or expand their business. At the end of the day, both the foreign and domestic investors in Russia works hand in hand in order to utilize the Russian labor sector; while on the other hand, it also provides an avenue towards the improvement per capita income of the Russians. One of the major weaknesses of the Russian economy would be the dependence on the foreign direct investments which could cause major damages on their economic stability once the financial sector in Russia becomes unsuitable to foreign investment. What the Russian government should do is to intensify their domestic investments in order to provide enough room for their domestic investors to utilize the improvement made the foreign investors on the economic environment in Russia through rapid expansion and regulation of regional monopolies in order for other domestic investors to enter various industries. Evaluation of the Government Policy The Ordinance No. 1660 which provides the further decrease of the interest rate on borrowing since 2006 serves to be one of the effective policies of the Russian government in order to make the Russian economy more attractive to foreign investors. Furthermore, this policy only provides an impression to the foreign market how stable the Russian financial sector is since they manage to offer lower interest rates on borrowing to foreign investors. The Russian government is very much confident that they can sustain such policy since they possesses large amount of foreign reserves that can easily be liquidated in case of money shortages in the economy (Ignatiev 2007: 1-2). The bilateral market access agreement with the United States as a prelude to their possible entry to WTO of Russia is also a good policy in further improving the stability of the Russian economy since this provides an avenue towards the attainment of lower inflation rate in the domestic market as cheaper goods from other country starts to enter Russia. At the end of the day, the domestic prices of goods and services in Russian domestic market, especially those from the regional monopolies, would be forced to lower down their prices in order to compete to imported products coming from other countries thereby creating enough room for the inflation rate of Russia to depreciate for the past year. Works Cited Alcarastore.com (2008). Russia GDP PPP and GDP Growth Rates 2003-2007 [online]. Available: http://www.alacrastore.com/country-snapshot/Russia. [Accessed 2 April 2008]. Ignatiev, Sergey (2007). The Macroeconomic Situation and Monetary Policy in Russia [online]. Available: http://www.bis.org/review/r070608d.pdf [Accessed 2 April 2008]. Indexmundi.com (2007a). Russian Economy Profile 2007 [online]. Available: http://www.indexmundi.com/russia/economy_profile.html [Accessed 2 April 2008]. Indexmundi.com (2007b). Russia Unemployment Rate [online]. Available: http://www.indexmundi.com/russia/unemployment_rate.html [Accessed 2 April 2008]. Indexmundi.com (2007c). Russia Inflation Rate (Consumer Prices) [online]. Available: http://www.indexmundi.com/russia/inflation_rate_(consumer_prices).html [Accessed 2 April 2008]. Russiatoday.ru (2007). Russia to miss 2007 inflation target: Economic Minister [online]. Available: http://www.russiatoday.ru/business/news/15319 [Accessed 2 April 2008]. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (2005). Interest Rates in 2004 [online]. Available: http://www.cbr.ru/eng/statistics/credit_statistics/print.asp?file=interest_rates_04_e.htm [Accessed 2 April 2008]. The Federal State Statistics Office Service (2007). Foreign Trade of the Russian Federation [online]. Available: http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/2007/b07_12/25-02.htm [Accessed 2 April 2008]. Traveldocs.com (2008). Russian Federation: Economy [online]. Available: http://www.traveldocs.com/ru/economy.htm [Accessed 2 April 2008]. Â  

The Unique Film-making of Tim Burton

Tim Burton uses diegetic sounds, lighting, and high angles to express his creative cinematic style. He uses these various techniques to show how he differs from other directors styles. His choice of using these techniques relates back to his childhood, Burton was a reclusive child and very different while growing up. In the movies Edward Scissorhands and The Corpse Bride, he applies these various techniques. In the movie Edward Scissorhands, Burton uses diegetic sounds to foreshadow upcoming events in the movie.He uses the snip of the scissors when Peg, the Avon lady, was in the what seemed deserted mansion to foreshadow what/who Edward was relating to the scissors. Also in Edward Scissorhands, he used the diegetic chopping of the lettuce to accompany a flashback of Edwards past. This helped us understand more about Edward and how he became to be. In The Corpse Bride, Burton uses the diegetic sounds of Victor’s vows to also foreshadow the upcoming events with the corpse bride. Later on in that scene he used the cracking sound of the hand of Emily to show that she was now â€Å"alive†.The â€Å"I do† of Emily was included to show that Victor was now â€Å"married† to Emily. Tim Burton used a series of various types of lighting in the movies Edward Scissorhands, and The Corpse Bride. In Edward Scissorhands, he used a lot of high key lighting in the town, which had very bright pastel colors. He also used high key in the jail during the conversation between Edward and Peg. He used this so we, as the audience, could focus on the scene playing out. In Corpse Bride,