One Nation under Wal-Mart

There are more than 8,400 Wall-Mart stores worldwide. 140 million shoppers visit the U. S. Stores each week. 82% of American households purchase at least one item from Wall-Mart every year. Wall-Mart controls about 30% of the market in household staples. Sells 15% of all magazines and 15%-20% of all CDC, videos and DVD's. It is expected to control over 35% of U. S. Food sales.When comparing other companies that sell consumer products, Wall-Mart presents a big chunk of their total business: 20% for Dial, 24% for Del Monte, and 23% for Reveal. Wall-Mart is responsible for of all goods imported to the united States from China. Wall-Mart offers the lowest prices in all of their products, because of the cost efficiency it has achieved. Wall- Mart's buying power and cost-saving efficiencies force local rivals out of business, thus costing jobs, disrupting communities, and injuring established business districts. Within 5 years after one Wall-Mart opening, two local supermarkets close.Becau se of Wall-Mart tax breaks, it causes the local tax venue to decrease and not increase. Wall-Mart is staunchly anti-union and pays low wages. Its labor cost are 20% lower than those of unionized supermarkets; its clerks earns only $8. 23 an hour, and most of its 1. 4 million employees must survive without company health insurance. Employee turnover is 44%. Because Of its size, it exerts a downward pressure on retail wages and benefits throughout the country. Because of its hard line on costs, it has forced many factories to move overseas, which sacrifices American jobs and holds wages down.Government welfare programs subsidize Wall-Mart's poverty-level wages. 200 employee store costs the government $ask a year in housing assistance, SSL ask in children's healthcare, and $kick in tax credits and deductions for low-income families. 46% of the children of Wall-Mart's 1. 33 million workers are uninsured or on Medicaid. Wall-Mart hires mores part-time employees and discourages unhealthy people from working at the store by requiring all jobs to include some physical labor in order to reduce spending on health care and other benefits.Wall-Mart does not carry music or computer games with mature ratings, forcing big music companies to supply hem with sanitized versions of the CDC. Wall-Mart offers fire arms in many locations but has declined to sell Proven, a morning after pill. Wall-Mart has declined to sell some magazines and has put binder to obscure the covers of other magazines. Wall-Mart is considered â€Å"the biggest barrier to growth†. Wall-Mart decide to respond to all the criticism by improving employee health insurance coverage and adopting greener business practices.Wall-Mart was one of the first responders to Hurricane Strain by sending truckloads of Water and food reaching the residents before federal supplies did. Wall-Mart sales growth has slipped as the internet has changed people's shopping habits and as other discounters have done a better jo b of attracting affluent consumer and providing higher quality and better service. 2. Ethical Issues Is it ethical and moral for Wall-Mart to make profit maximizing and cost effectiveness their number one goal? Is it moral to only hire part-time employees to decrease their health care spending?Is it moral or ethical to sell firearms but decline to sell the morning after pill? Is it moral for Wall-Mart not to provide fair wages to the employees? Is it moral for Wall-Mart to take advantage of government welfare program for subordination? Should there be a requirement for large companies to employ a certain percentage of full- time employees? Does Wall-Mart have a moral responsibility of helping the communities grow? Is it moral or ethical for Wall-Mart to not provide adequate health care to its employees? Is it moral for Wall-Mart to insist on tax breaks at the expense of the local community tax revenues decreasing?Should we as citizens enable these large companies by accepting jobs t hat pay poorly and offer no health insurance? Is it moral for Wall-Mart not to value the life and well-being of their employees and families? Is it ethical for Wall-Mart to be customer-oriented and not employee-oriented? Is it ethical for corporation like Wall-Mart to be held to higher standards to provide a better living standard to the employees and the community? Should a company of a certain size be required to offer health insurance? Should large companies that get tax breaks be forced to contribute to the community in other ways? . Primary Stakeholders Wall-Mart itself U. S. Economy Consumers across U. S. Employees Shareholders Other companies and its employees Local communities Government Suppliers Other countries 4. Alternative Actions Wall-Mart should either pay their employees higher wages or provide health care regardless of the hours worked. Wall-Mart should maximize profits and at the same time look out for the well-being of the employee. Require a company the size of W all-Mart to give back to the community if it wants to Open a store.Try to establish a bill requiring large companies to maintain the majority of its employees as full-time where benefits can be offered. Cities or Mounties should not offer tax cuts to businesses that could disrupt the community. Wall-Mart needs to establish a more competitive pay and better benefits program for their employees. Wall-Mart should keep doing what they are doing. It has been effective so far in becoming the largest company in the world, why change it? 5. Ethics of the Alternatives Alternative 1 Wall-Mart should keep doing what they are doing.It has been effective so far in becoming the largest company in the world and among the most profitable ones, why change it? Utilitarian Perspective Utilitarian perspective would not support this idea. This idea seeks out to produce the greatest good for the company itself and not everyone person or business affected. Wall-Mart is seeking out the best for the company and one else. In order to be supported it would have to be the greatest good for Wall- Mart and everyone affected by this decision and or actions of the business. Deontological or Rights Perspective Deontological perspective would not support this alternative in any way.This is an alternative that treats people as a means to an end. It does not recognize the value and importance of the employees, and only values the many itself and the profits that can make. This is not a good way of conducting business and would never be accepted as a universal rule. Egoism Egoism perspective would support this alternative. Wall-Mart is basically doing what is best for the company and the shareholders, which is their primary duty. They are the largest company in the world and immensely profitable. Even with all the opposition it faces it is still one of the prefer companies for many consumers to their one stop shop.They offer the best and lower prices and customers are able to find everything they need for their households in just one stop. Wall-Mart is here to make profit and stay in business, this is their goal. Alternative 2 care regardless of the hours worked. Utilitarian perspective could support this alternative. It would have to be seen as being the greatest good for both Wall-Mart and the employees. If Wall- Mart raises the wages or offer the employees' healthcare benefits, this will have benefits for both. The employee will be happy and will feel valued and appreciated by the employer.In turn the employees will have job satisfaction and their job performance will be good. This will help to the growth and success of the company. With happy employees helping potential customers, it can ensure good sales and thus increase their profit. Deontological perspective would support this alternative. This alternative seeks out the benefits of the employees. It takes into consideration their value as a human and show respect. By Wall-Mart implementing such policy in the company they are saying to the employees that we value and want to right by you. Every employee is a valuable asset to the company and key to its success.This alternative treats the employees as ends and not as the means o end. This alternative would not be supported by egoism. With this alternative Wall- Mart seeks to offer the best solution possible to their employees. They can either increase their wages so the employees are able to have a better standard of living or offer healthcare regardless of hours worked. This would ensure the well-being of each employee. 6. Practical Constrains Finding the right piece of property to build the store Government regulations The company's responsibilities to the shareholders and to make profit Ability to offer the lowest pricesAmerican products too expensive to sell in the store Cost of being in business 7. Actions to be taken Wall-Mart should change their current employee benefits program and offer a better and more competitive pay. This would allo w for employees and their families to have a better standard of life It would help by possibly increasing the retail wages among other businesses Wall-Mart should participate in community events and give back to community Wall-Mart should hold meetings in communities where they are looking to build and hear the citizen concerns and find solutions so it is of benefit for both.

How to Make Money Freelance Writing Online

How to Make Money Freelance Writing Online How to Make Money Freelance Writing Online How to Make Money Freelance Writing Online By Daniel Scocco Until 15 years ago or so becoming a freelance writer was not an easy task. You had to get in touch with print magazines and newspapers, and you had to convince the editor that you were the right person for the job. The number of applications for each job was quite high, because the number of publications was limited. As a result, the chances of actually landing the job were quite low. The Internet and the Web changed all that, for the better! Today we have tens of thousands of online publications, from small blogs to online magazines and news sites, covering virtually any niche and topic you can imagine! Each of those online publications need fresh content, so the demand for freelance writers is higher than ever, and landing a job can be as simple as reaching out via email. If you like to write and want to start making some money freelancing online, this guide will provide all the information you need to get started. 1. Prerequisites Contrary to what many people believe, you dont need to be a talented writer to make money freelance writing online. You need to be talented if you want to write fiction, poetry, or if you want to write for TV sitcoms, for example. As long as you can write clear, correct English, you are qualified for most online writing jobs, as those only require clear and direct prose. On the technical side, all you need is basic computer and Internet skills. This includes using a word processor, sending and receiving emails, searching on Google efficiently and so on. If you need to brush up on your technical skills, the Goodwill Community Foundation has a free Internet Basics course. 2. Improving Your Writing Skills If you need to improve your writing skills, here are some tips: Practice is the best way to improve your writing skills, so write every day, as much as possible. Read sites that offer grammar, spelling and punctuation tips like this one. Read books about grammar and writing. We reviewed many in the past. Get friends and family to read your material and provide feedback. Consider joining a writing group to get feedback from fellow writers. Edit the work of other people. 3. Becoming a prolific writer If you want to make money writing, the amount of content you can produce per day will directly affect your income. In other words, its essential to become an efficient and prolific writer. Here are some strategies that can help with you that: Understand that writing and editing are two different things, and that you should do these tasks separately. Practically speaking, first you should write down all you need (perhaps more than you need), and only then you should edit it. Stop the habit of editing sentences as you write them, or of going back to read each paragraph once you finish it. One exercise you can use to practice this is to turn your computer monitor off (or to cover it in case of a notebook) while you write. Consider using a full screen editor like Dark Room to reduce distractions. Develop a writing routine, allocating some time slots in your day for writing. 4. Building an online presence with a website If you want to make money writing online, having a strong online presence is essential, because that is how many clients will find you. Having a website should be the cornerstone of your online strategy, as its the best way to showcase your expertise, portfolio, and it allows potential customers to quickly contact you. The first step here is to decide on the domain name you are going to use. Aim for something that is easy to spell, easy to remember, and not too long. For example: JohnWrites.com PunchingWords.com LiveProse.com WordsByMary.com You can also go with a .net or .org extension if you cant find a good domain with a .com. Use the InstantDomainSearch.com tool to check whether or not the domains you want are available (but dont register one yet!). Once you choose the domain name you want to use, it will be time to get a hosting plan, and most hosting companies will give you a free domain name registration (you just need to inform the domain while signing up). We use and recommend HostGator.com, as they have some very affordable prices, and both the service and customer support quality are top notch. Finally, refer to this tutorial to install WordPress on your site. WordPress is the most popular publishing software around. Its free, and easy to use, so you cant go wrong with it. 5. Promoting your website The first thing you should do after installing WordPress is to choose a template (there are thousands of free ones available from your Dashboard -> Appearance). Customize it a bit if you want and you should be ready to go. Now you need visitors to your website! There are two building blocks to bring visitors: content and backlinks (also called links). Content refers to the articles youll post on your website. Aim to provide valuable content to people looking for specific information (e.g., like this post provides information for aspiring freelance writers), and try to publish new content regularly (e.g., two or three times per week at least). Backlinks refer to getting other websites to mention and link to your own. Google considers each link from another website as a vote of trust for the quality of your website and its content. Guess what, the more links/votes you have, the higher your articles will rank on the search engine, and the more visitors youll get. Here are some strategies to gain links from other sites: Create a profile on all social networks, and include a link back to your site. Email bloggers and site owners and propose a partnership. Run interviews with site owners, and ask them to link to the interview. Write great content and email it to site owners, asking them to help to spread the word. Write a guest post for one these blogs. Finally, dont forget to have a Hire Me page on your site, so that visitors will promptly know that you offer freelance writing services. 6. Leveraging social media Literally billions of people use social media sites these days, so you need to have a profile on the most popular sites to strengthen your online presence and possibly land new clients. The most popular social media sites today are: Facebook YouTube Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest I recommend creating an account on all of them and regularly sharing content there. YouTube is a special case because you would need to upload videos there. Its worth the trouble, but consider doing it later on, as you will probably need to learn how to create those videos. You can share articles you write, interesting content from around the web, and occasionally you can promote your freelance writing services. 7. Finding clients Over time, as you spread your online presence, expand your network and become known as a freelance writer, clients will come to you spontaneously. In the beginning, however, dont count on this happening. Instead, youll need to literally hunt jobs down. Heres some strategies you can use: 1. Create a profile and browse freelance marketplaces Freelancer.com Upwork.com Guru.com The above marketplaces connect companies and freelancers, providing a platform where people can post job requirements and freelancers can bid for those jobs. They all have sections dedicated to freelance writing jobs, so its worth to create an account and browse the new jobs regularly. 2. Contact sites that pay writers There are many websites that make available the guidelines for writing for them and getting paid for it. Payment varies, but depending on the niche you can get as much as $200 per article. You can find lists of such sites here. Browse and list filtering the sites you believe are a good match for your style and skills, and then contact all of them. On some cases you can pitch your article right away, and they will get back to you stating if your article was accepted or not. 3. Browse boards with job listings There are several job boards that are completely dedicated or have special sections for freelance writing jobs. Some are updated regularly, even daily. Problogger Jobs and Freelance Writing Jobs are two examples. Browsing those job boards and contacting the job listings is a great way to land new gigs and eventually clients that will require your services on a regular basis. 4. Contact websites you like Even if a certain website is not publicly asking for new writers, it doesnt mean that they are not willing to hire one, should the right person show up. Guess what, be that right person! Get in touch via email or via the contact form on the website, and explain why you want to write for them, why you believe your style will match the audience of the site and so on. Better yet, send along some sample articles written specifically for that website. If they like what they see, there are good chances that they will hire you at least for a trial period. 8. How Much to Charge Figuring out how much to charge is not easy. If you charge too little youll be leaving money at the table. If you charge too much, you might scare away clients and lose job opportunities. On top of that there are differences that arise from the type of content you are producing, the niche you will be writing for and so on, which means that its virtually impossible to say how much you should charge. If you want ballpark numbers, consider that for short articles or blog posts (around 400 words) the low end is $15 per post and the high end is $100 per post. For longer and more structured pieces (i.e., feature articles or tutorials with 1000+ words) the low end is $50 and the high end $200 per article. You can start at the low end and gradually increase your rates as you gain new clients and establish a network of companies and websites who hire you on a regular basis. 9. Billing clients If you want to make money freelance writing online, getting paid will be an important part of the equation! The first tool you need to have is PayPal. Most companies and clients will prefer to pay you using PayPal, so having and account there and familiarizing yourself with how it works is essential. Make sure to verify your account, and learn how to send invoices (you can find this under Tools). Another very useful tool is FreshBooks, which allows you to create beautiful invoices (that can be integrated with your PayPal account). With FreshBooks you will be able to manage all your work and clients from a single platform. Remember that people are not always honest online, so avoid delivering a lot of work without being sure that the client will pay you. When in doubt, require at least part of the payment upfront. 10. Delivering your work The easiest way to deliver your work is to email it as an attachment to your client. Another tool you can use to produce and share your work with clients is Google Docs. Once you create an account you will be able to work on your articles from any computer, as they will always be saved and synchronized on Googles servers. Once the article is ready to be delivered you just need to share it with your client (using his email address). Good luck! Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should Avoid7 Tips for Writing a Film ReviewRite, Write, Right, Wright

International Protection of Refugees Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words - 1

International Protection of Refugees - Essay Example For the collection of data I have gone through authentic websites and books. The first need to address the issue of refugees came with the end of the World War I. Several movements, such as the Russian Revolution and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, created a major refugee problem in the world. Jaeger (2001) writes in his article â€Å"On the History of International Protection of Refugees† that approximately 1.2 million people left Russian territory between the period of 1918 and 1922. Since the resources were getting exhausted it was decided to appoint a High Commissioner for refugees which would define the status of refugees, guarantee their repatriation and their employment outside Russia. Dr. Fridtjof Nansen was appointed by the League of Nations in 1921 as High Commissioner for Russian refugees. Later his responsibilities were extended to refugees from other countries as well such as the Armenians in 1924 and the Assyrian, Assyro- Chaldean and Turkish refugees in 1928. Several important developments that took place in the 1930s are mentioned below: International Nansen Office for Refugees: The office was created after the death of Nansen in 1931. It was an autonomous body and worked under the authority of the League. Its aim was to provide humanitarian and relief work. The office was liquidated in 1938 (Abrams, 2001). High Commissioner for Refugees coming from Germany: Following the rise of Hitler’s power a High Commissioner for refugees coming from Germany was appointed. The office was liquidated along with the Nansen office in 1938. The High Commissioner fought strict immigration rules to help resettle the Jews and non Jews coming from Germany (Cutts, 2000). The organization came into existence in 1943 and was created by the allies. It helped in organizing the return of millions of people back to the counties of origin. Many people did

The Impact of Stock Markets on Economic Growth Essay

The Impact of Stock Markets on Economic Growth - Essay Example This paper describes the mechanism of the of the impact of stock market on long-term economic indicators, regarding the growth of the economy. Main channels of stock markets influence on economic growth of a country are specified. It is known that stock markets are connected with the economic growth through the creation of liquidity. It means that really profitable investments demand just long-turn capital commitment, but investors don’t want to relinquish their capital for such long time without any control. Actually liquid stock markets make their investments more secure and in such way more attractive. Stock markets allow investors to acquire equity (an asset) and then to sell it rather quickly and without any problems. Liquid stock markets facilitate long-term investments and make them more profitable. It is apparent that stock markets are necessary and important for growth, because they improve capital allocation and in such a way they enhance prospects for long-term economic development. Stock markets as it was mentioned above make investments more secure and attractive. Actually well-functioning stock market is useful and necessary for economic development through following issues: growth of investments and savings, effective and efficient resources allocation, better distribution and utilization of existing resources. Volatility of stock markets had negative influence in France and Japan. Stock market volatility didn’t affect greatly the United Kingdom. Concerning Germany the volatility was stated to be insignificant.