Impact of Meat Import Restrictions

reach of Meat Import RestrictionsAnalysis of the impact if Icelands political sympathies would decrease issue restrictions on new amount on Icelandic consumers and producers of tickerAbstractForeign trade is always change magnitude and only organisations around the human try to protect some of their issue domesticated industries by applying unhomogeneous of restrictions to restrain substance at a minimum. Importation of good tenderness to Iceland is prohibited but forces with in consumers social welf atomic number 18 organizations be pressuring for these restrictions to be reduced and opening the merchandise place up for byside(prenominal) competition. If the market would open up hence consumers would complicate light prices, producers would likely take hold to lower their prices and achievement. It is crucial for the producers to appeal to consumers loyalty on Icelandic vegetable marrow and prove their timberland.Margrt Gun VigfsdttirIntroductionIn I celand, like many separate countries, agriculture is a significant initiate of history, sustainability and intellectual nourishment security. In early 20th century agriculture started set about difficulties in which belonged to the government activity taking actions by subsidizing the industry. Import restrictions withal protect domestic industry to this day.Geographic outlines, climate and distance from valet de chambre markets ca persona juicy production cost, high transportation cost and light terms of trade. market conditions atomic number 18 often blamed for high regimen prices in Iceland especially because of small population and small market. This small market is therefore un sparingal in production, prudence and trade and the advantages of economies of scale be non doable like in another(prenominal) neighbouring countries of Europe for example (Snorrason, 2006).Icelands participation in world trade for example in the European frugal Area (EEA) and Word T rade Organization (WTO) has undefendable the possibility of increased entailment of agriculture goods but the foreign market has not yet threatened Icelandic kernel producers cod to minute restrictions (orgeirsson, Bjarnadttir, Sveinsson, 2004).The outcome restriction be in form of high obligations, import quotas and strict import permits, several certificates and documentation confirming that the product have been stored at a temperature of at least(prenominal) -18C for 30 long time and a certificate confirming the that the products are free of salmonella (EFTA direction Authoroty, 2014). The Icelandic rivalry Authorities, Consumer Protecting Agency and other organizations have complained that the restrictions prevent water-loving competition and leave consumers worse forth. Recently the EFTA Surveillance Authority reason a reasoned opinion that Icelands restriction on importing of tonal summation in breach of EEA law (EFTA Surveillance Authoroty, 2014). The Ice landic government argues that these restrictions are necessary for Icelandic healthcare due to possible infection to Icelandic do work animals. Iceland is an isolated island and farm animals stocks like lamb have stayed the same for decades. This pixilateds that Icelandic farm animals are often much vulnerable to diseases with worse immune system than the farm animals on the main lands of Europe.Along with these import restrictions on selected agriculture products the Icelandic government also subsidizes the agriculture industry by guaranteeing minimum price to farmers. more or less have criticise that Icelandic farmers are overindulgent by the government compared to other nations and because of this farmers/producers can set up higher(prenominal) prices than they would in more competitive market.The MarketAn oligopoly is a market with few large firms holding the majority of the market. They offer similar products but try to divers(prenominal)iate to be more coveted than t he next. Firms in oligopoly market are said to be interdependent which mean that they leave behinding consider their own actions influenced with how the rivals might move (Mankiw Taylor, 2014). The Icelandic meat producers market is an oligopoly. The four largest producers of meat had 56% market plow in 2010 (Icelandic Competition Authority, 2012). The market is small due to small population, which leads to uneconomic production, management and trade compared to larger countries. Price on meat was 38% lower in the EU states on average in 2009 (Kristfersson Bjarnadttir, 2011). Economies of scale are hard to obtain due to high capital cost, seasonal wavering and only the few large producers have sufficient economies of scale compared to the surface of the market (Jhannesson Agnarsson, 2004). These facts make it harder to enter the market for new comers (entry barrier).It is important for all producers to k in a flash how consumers respond to changes in price. The price pushov er of demand measures how a good deal(prenominal) the quantity demanded responds to a change in price (Mankiw Taylor, 2014). Price elasticity of goods can vary, necessities are often rather inelastic, that is, the destiny change in demand is small when prices change (PE1). Most agriculture products like meat are inelastic goods (although specific types of meat are elastic due to close substitutes, from pork to beef for example) as food is a necessity. Consumers apply the consumptions of them despite changes in price (Jhannesson Agnarsson, 2004).Welfare economics is the study of how the storage allocation of resources affects economic well-being. Consumer and producer superfluity is used to measure the benefits to consumers and producers of trading. When government introduces taxes, tariffs and quotas it creates a deadweight exit. Deadweight loss is the perch in sum total surplus that results from a market distortion such as tax (Mankiw Taylor, 2014).Import Restriction Im pact on Economic WelfareIcelandic importers can not import meat unless it has gone through various examinations and been frozen for at least 30 days. Frozen meat is of course not fresh and therefor are no imports on fresh meat allowed. at one time lets use the tools of economics to contrive how this affects consumers, producers and the economic welfare. The demand is rather inelastic as explained earlier. We assume that the supply is close to unit elastic due to various factors pulling in either direction. The world supply on the other hand is elastic since it is a very large competitive market. We allow keep these assumptions about elasticitys out this chapter. To simplify, impact of tax revenue is ignored.Figure 1 memorializes current status on Icelandic fresh meat market. No fresh meat is bought from foreign suppliers and consumer surplus (green) is the area A and producers surplus (red) is the area B+C.Figure 1 reliable Fresh Meat Market with out TradeNow lets correspond what happens if Icelandic government relieves the import restrictions on fresh meat. Figure 2 shows that consumer surplus take a craps a lot and equals the area A+B+D while producers surplus reduces (B-B=B) and equals the area C+B. The price go and since the domestic quantity supplied (DQS) is less than the domestic quantity demanded (DQD) the difference has to be imported.Figure 2 If Restrictions were Removed (with out Tariffs and Quotas)Figure 2 does not shows what would happen in current pip because of import tariffs and import quotas. The import tariff on meat from nations at bottom EU and EFTA is 18% and 30% from other nations. Nations with in EU are allowed to import to Iceland limited amount (tariff-quota) of pork, poultry and beef (no lamb) with out tariff . On the other hand, the Import quotas are sold to the highest bidder leading to little or no gain from the free trade to the importer (Icelandic Federation of Labour, 2007).To get the idea of how affaires might be i f the restrictions were relieved we look at the meat market in general, including frozen and processed meat. In 2010 the market share of imported meat was 3%, which is a very small percentage (Icelandic Competition Authority, 2012). The high tariffs and quotas keep the import level at a minimum. Figure 3 shows how the market is with tariff and quota, assuming for simplicity that they screw up the domestic demand at the same quantity. The area for consumer surplus has now increased, from what we saw in figure 1, by area B+G and producer surplus has decreased by area B. The government revenue (yellow), area E, is added since there is tariff added to the world supply and quotas sold. The deadweight loss (orange), or loss to society, from this tariff and quota is area D+F. The price falls slightly from P1 to P2, domestic quantity demanded increases and domestic quantity supplied decreases. Meat has to be imported to meet the demand from DQS to DQD (it is likely that the ratio of import is much smaller than demonstrated in figure 3 compared to current 3% import market share).Figure 3 If Restrictions were Relieved (Current Meat Market)We can see by comparing figure 3 to figure 1 that twain government and consumers gain surplus while producers are worse off resulting in total surplus change of area +G+E (table 1). This infers that removing restrictions will raise the economic wellbeing. defer 1 Changes in Economic Welfare if Restrictions RelievedWith restrictionsWithout restrictionsChangeConsumer surplusAA+G+B+B+GProducers surplusC+BC+B-B-B administration revenueNoneE+ETotal surplusA+C+BA+C+B+E+G+EImport restrictions are not the only thing that the Icelandic Consumer Organization and others want to be taken action on. As mentioned before high tariffs and quotas keep the imports of meat at a minimum. It is not cost efficient to import fresh meat and therefore the tariff income on fresh meat to the Icelandic government is not substantial. In a report the Icelandic S tatistical Bureau published in 2006 about reasons for high food prices in Iceland it was indicated that if tariffs would be reduced by half on main agriculture products the income loss for the government would be 145 million ISK, but on the other hand the outset in income due to increased turnover would be 900 million ISK (Snorrason, 2006). Now lets assume that import quotas will be removed and import tariffs take down as shown in figure 4.Figure 4 If Restrictions and Quotas were Relieved as well as Tariff Reduction.The price consumers pay will fall from P2 to P3. Domestic quantity supplied will decrease and domestic demand will increase leading in larger import. Table 2 shows the changes of cut back import tariffs and removing quota. The total change in total surplus will be the area +D+F+D+F.Table 2 Changes in Economic Welfare if Quotas were Removed and Tariffs Reduced out front lowering tariffsAfter lowering tariffsChangeConsumer surplusA+G+BA+G+B+B+D+E+F+B+D+E+FProducers surp lusC+B-BC+B-B-B-BGovernment revenueEE-E+D+F-E+D+FTotal surplusA+G+C+B+EA+G+C+B+D+D +F+F+D+F+D+FThe total surplus change from figure 1 to figure 4 is then the area G+E+D+F+D+F. This area is the measure off how much the market increases its welfare. in that location are always losers and winners in trade. In this case the producers would always be the looser since import tariffs and quotas are always to protect the domestic producers. Consumers and the government are winners in this case with lower price to consumers and increased revenue for the Government. The Government could then use that revenue to increase subsidizes to the domestic production to keep up their competitiveness to the world market.Impact of lifting import restrictionsWhat would Icelandic consumers gain if import restriction where relieved. The Consumer Protection Agency argues that because of the poor status of the Icelandic currency ISK and current tariffs the Icelandic producers have nothing to fear. When impor t restrictions on tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers from Europe where relieved in 2002 some predicted that domestic production would stop. The upshot was on the other hand that prices of these goods decreased, domestic production increased and producers gained more salary. This will be the case for fresh meat as well. preparation and variety of meat will increase and consumers will have break out alternatives (Icelandic Consumer Organisation, 2013).Tariff protection does not protect the agriculture producers but gives security for high price on competitive and substitution goods. The impact of reduction tariff protection would have a big impact on the agriculture producers and some might not be able to make out with the world market. Therefore it would be important to support the agriculture producers by increased subsidizes and other operations optimizing while lowering tariffs (Snorrason, 2006).The impact of relieving import restrictions on fresh meat and lowering tariffs on meat in general could lead to Iceland being dependent on foreign market concerning food security. Foreign markets might face shock to their production, such as animal disease or crop failure and would that lead to deficit and/or significant price change for Icelanders at least in the short run (Jhannesson T. , 2004).Will consumers be loyal to Icelandic productionIn economics there is a principle that says that people respond to incentives. The consumer knows what he wants when two or more alternatives are available, he is accordant in the way that if he choses product A rather than B and product B rather than C, that he will then use up A rather than C. He also chooses more quantity of quality rather than less quantity of quality, for example he chooses three apples preferably of two apples if the price is the same. Most people are though advised that they can consume less that they desire because their spending is constrained, or limited, by their income (Mankiw Taylor, 2014) .In reality this is not so simple as indicated above. The check of Finland and Sweden joining the European union (free trade) showed that consumers are willing to pay higher prices for domestic produced goods compared to similar imported goods. In the case of Icelandic vegetables, Icelanders are willing to pay 10% more than for imported vegetables (Kristfersson Bjarnadttir, 2011). Research has shown that 62% of Icelandic consumers think Icelandic meat is of more quality that foreign meat, 26% would pay 6%-10% higher price for Icelandic meat and 21% would pay 11-15% higher price. When consumers where asked if they would rather buy foreign cheaper meat, 35% said yes, 45% no and 20% where undecided (rhallsdttir, 2012). These numbers indicate that if import restrictions where relieved or reduced then Icelandic producers of meat have to step up and show their advantages to consumers to keep their loyalty. For example show their proximity to the market, production methods, quality and n utrition level (rhallsdttir, 2012).ConclusionThe world is always getting smaller and smaller with globalization and increased trade. The twinge on Icelandic government to reduce restrictions on importing fresh meat will only increase by time. If the Icelandic government cannot prove that import of raw meat harms the health of humans and animals they will have to reduce import restriction from countries with in EU. Icelandic farmers and producers of meat need to prepare for the market opening up by promoting them egotism among consumers and differentiate. All restriction reduction on import including quotas and tariffs benefit the consumers, its just a matter of how much. Increased competition could also lead to production improvement with in the meat farmers/producers and increase their turnover and profit like the vegetable industry experienced.Since the coverage on changes in economic welfare in this paper were only theoretical it would be kindle to see a research report on the real influences in numbers, similar to the report of the Statistical Bureau in 2006 about food prices.ReferencesEFTA Surveillance Authoroty. (2014, October 8). EFTA Surveillance Authoroty. Retrieved December 5, 2014 from Questions and answers Fresh meat case http//www.eftasurv.int/media/press-releases/ESA_Questions_and_Answers_(EN)_-_The_Icelandic_Fresh_meat_case.pdfEFTA Surveillance Authoroty. (2014, October 8). EFTA Surveillance Authoroty. Retrieved December 11, 2014 from Internal Market Icelands restrictions on the importation of fresh meat in breach of EEA law http//www.eftasurv.int/presspublications/press-releases/internal-market/nr/2345Icelandic Competition Authority. (2012). Verrun og samkeppni dagvrumarkai Price developments competition on convenience market. Reykjavk Icelandic Competition Authority.Icelandic Consumer Organisation. (2013, March 14). Icelandic Consumer Organisation. Retrieved December 5, 2014 from Um innfllutning hru kjti About imports on raw meat http/ /www.ns.is/is/content/um-innflutning-hrau-kjotiIcelandic Federation of Labour. (2007, March 23). Icelandic Federation of Labour. Retrieved December 10, 2014 from Breytingar tollum 1. mars 2007 Changes on tariffs 1. March 2007 http//www.asi.is/media/6401/230307tollarbreytingar.pdfJhannesson, S., Agnarsson, S. (2004). Bnid er bstlpi, b er landstlpi Farmer is the man of the house, a farm is a pillar of the commuity. University of Iceland, Institute of Economics. Reykjavk Oddi hf.Jhannesson, T. (2004). Framleislukerfi bfjrrkt Production system for livestock raising. Education conference of the agriculture industry (pp. 55-60). Reykjavk Iclandic Farmers Association.Kristfersson, D. M., Bjarnadttir, E. (2011). Staa slenks landbnaar gagnvart aild a Evrpusambandinu Icelands agruculture status towards membership of the European Union.Mankiw, N. G., Taylor, M. P. (2014). Economics. Andover Cengage Learning .Snorrason, H. (2006). Skrsla formanns nefndar sem forstisrherra skipai 16. janar 2006 til ess a fjalla um helstu orsakatti hs matarvers slandi og gera tillgur sem mia a v a fra matvlaver nr v sem gegnur og gerist ngrannarkjunum Report from the presitend of a committe that was nominated 16th of January 2006 by the prime minister to adress the main triggers to high food price in Iceland and make a suggestion to induce food price down to same level as in neighbouring countries. Reykjavk Icelandic Statistical Bureau.orgeirsson, S., Bjarnadttir, E., Sveinsson, . E. (2004). Atvinnuvegur krossgtum Staa bgreina breyttum tmum Industry on crossroads Farming position in different times. Education conference of the agriculture industry (pp. 61-73). Reykjavk Iclandic Farmers Association.rhallsdttir, S. A. (2012). Vihorf slenskra neytenda til landbnaarframleislu hrifattir kjtneyslu- Icelandic consumers attitude towards agricutlure products Factors influencing meat cunsumption -. Agricultural University of Iceland, Natural Resources Department. Reykjavk Agricultural University of Iceland.

Role Of Employee Attitudes And Perceptions Business Essay

comp wizardnt Of Employee Attitudes And Perceptions Business EssayEmployee posture and perceptions play a very alert role in the productivity of the cheek. Overall the employee s demeanor and place buttocks vary based on a number of factors such(prenominal) as speculate merriment, leadership, rewards, cognitive process appraisal and assorted other need factors. This look paper aims to look into these factors somewhat the employee attitude and how potentiometer it fall the organisation.1.1 Background StudyThe employees atomic number 18 the main force for any organisation and it is these employees who decide the running of the company in many cases when it enumerates to productivity and achieving the goals, with tabu this tender force the organisation is just nothing, it is this force which makes use of the raw materials and turns them into a furnished products or goods.But when we speak about the attitude and the temperament of the employees it may differ from per son to person, because all(prenominal) individual has his own abilities, education experience, innovative thinking and so on and by this they bring in incompatible kinds of aspirations into the theorize (Mullins 2002) and apart from this they are of contrasting gender and age, perceptions etc which give lead to a different behaviour from each of them and hence payable to this sometimes on that point may be rational thinking as well , so here it is clear that individual values do matter and how this bay window be colligate to line of business felicity and their performance which can indirectly affect the organisation.There are a some techniques in management which can be utilise to investigate the perceptions and behaviour of employees in the organisation and also some theories which we pull up stakes touch upon.1.2 look Aim Objectives1. This research paper aims to investigate the employee behaviour and their attitude with revere to leadership2. The paper also aims to investigate whether employee attitude and problem blessedness go hand in hand3. Can the employee attitude be changed which is also referred to as OB MOD1.3 Research QuestionThe attitude of the employees towards become in the organisation and what force it can submit in the organisation1.4 Keywords Organisation behaviour, employee propitiation, attitude, perception1.5 Area of Research Employee Attitude, clientele satisfaction (Organisation Behaviour)2.0 Literature ReviewGenetic research suggests that 30% to 40% of argumentation satisfaction is inherited. Job satisfaction and life satisfaction are co-ordinated and influence each other. A gallop poll indicates that approximately 10% to 13% of pruneers are dissatisfied, bit about 85% of workers are satisfied. some other surveys asking questions in a different manner suggests that more workers are dissatisfied. Job satisfaction and performance varies with the casing of occupation, for example, higher management fashion m ore satisfaction. Personal characteristics of workers also provoke an match on job satisfaction. Job satisfaction increases age. The level of education is slightly negatively related to job satisfaction. If personal skills and abilities are not required by a job, job satisfaction decreases. When a person is more adjusted personally, they testament be more satisfied with work. Most of all having a job with decent and fair wage may be the almost authorized variable to job satisfaction. High job satisfaction is associated with low anywherethrow and low absenteeism and with high commitment. Although the evidence is not conclusive, high job satisfaction is associated with high performance and pro social behaviour.2.1 Employee Attitude And PerceptionsEmployee attitude and perceptions use in research and facet versus global esteems. The expanses discussed are not meant to let knowledge of all relevant considerations for designing employee surveys, but rather provide background o n the research and an overview of some major areas of study. In the research literature, the two most extensively validated employee attitude and perception towards their job satisfaction survey measures are the Job Descriptive Index (JDI smith, Kendall, Hulin, 1969).2.2 judicial decision Criteria for Job gratificationThe JDI assesses satisfaction with five different job areas pay, promotion, co-workers, supervision, and the work itself. The JDI is reliable and has an impressive array of validation evidence. The MSQ has the advantage of versatility long and diddle forms are available, as well as faceted and overall measures. other measure used in job satisfaction research (e.g., Judge, Erez, Bono, Thoresen, in press) is an updated and reliable five-item version of an earlier scale by Brayfield and Rothe (1951). All of these measures have led to greater scientific understanding of employee attitudes, and their greatest value may be for research nominates, yet these measures may be useful for practitioners as well. In practice, organizations often wish to obtain a more fine assessment of employee attitudes and/or customize their surveys to assess issues unique to their firm.In the fisher (2000) study, it suggest, that positive and negative emotions both have a profound effect in predicting overall satisfaction on job. In conclusion, affect while working is a missing piece of overall job attitude. E.g. twenty-four male and female managerial workers were asked to complete a diary during work hours. The diary was to include a report of the workers the state of body fluid at four different intervals during the working hours. And this was completed in 16 days. predilection was measured using a 24-item checklist called the Current Mood Report (CMR). The CMR was used to assess the dimensions of gratefulness and activation. At another time, the participants were asked to complete a measure of overall satisfaction using the Valence-Instrumentality-Expectancy ( VIE) measure of beliefs about the job. Affect impregnation was measured using the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM), a 40-item questionnaire intentional to measure individual differences in affective responsively. Dispositional happiness was measured using two brief self-report measures of general happiness. The results indicated that were obtained from stated the average levels of the employees about their pleasant mood in the sixteen day period and VIE beliefs about the job made important and this contributions from the individuals have a great impact on the overall satisfaction of the job.The purpose of the Weiss, Nicholas, and Daus (1999) study was to investigate the different influences of episodic levels of pleasant mood at work. They examined the relationship between one s job performance and job satisfaction, and prediction of patterns of affective states over time. Weiss et al. predicted that reported mood would be highly associated to general job satisfaction and that indiv idual differences in general happiness would be related to mood levels as well as changes in mood over time. Finally, it was judge that they could discover cycles in mood changes over time.Job empowerment enables employees to take part in decision-making process and experience autonomy across and down the pecking order. Although in real business, it s easier to have an empowerment policy than to actually go for it (Rosenfeld Wilson 1999101), it s said that empowerment prorammes can lead to promptd staff, graphic symbol customer service and improved profits (Jamison 199920) by means of job satisfaction.Self-managed group-working approach relates to job empowerment, and is widespread and increasingly popular in regular army (Mullins 2002). Individual members of the group have higher levels of job satisfaction (Cordery Smith 1991464), because they get greater autonomy and responsibility for the work of team. Also, members of team can work out best means to achieve goals by te am effort, and member can improve skills and knowledge by learning from each other during working. Autonomous working groups can be means to deepen productivity, flexibility and work satisfaction.2.3 Motivation Theories for Improving Productivity and Job SatisfactionMotivation is a analyzable subject, it is a very personal thing, and it is influenced by many variables. Each and every individual has his own take and requirements and every one would manage to satisfy it in one way or the other.. The unhomogeneous needs and expectations at work can be categorised in a number of ways for example the simple divisions into physiological and social motives, or into intrinsic and extrinsic motif. Broad three-fold classification as a starting point for reviewing the motivation to work, and also given the complex and variable nature of needs, Economic rewards such as pay, fringe benefits, award rights, security and other forms of material goods. Intrinsic satisfaction is derived gene rally from the type of work, the interest shown in the job, and the employee s personal growth and development from various perspectives. The major theories of motivation includeMaslow s Theory of hierarchical needsHerzberg s two- factor theoryAlderfer s modified needs hierarchy model s theoryMcClelland s theoryOften out of these theories Maslows Hierarchy and Herzberg s theory have been discussed a lot by many researchers and has a significant role in the motivation constituent of any organisation.2.4 Previous Study on MotivationAn article named What motivates employees consort to over 40 years of motivation surveys by Carolyn Wiley aimed to explore the factors that motivate employees in their jobs. The methodology was Secondary survey nurture. Between 1946 and 1992 surveys were administered by different researchers to people employed in all industries. These were designed to identify the run motivating factors for employees at each particular time. Carolyn Wiley then compares the findings of these surveys.Carolyn discovered that the most highly motivating factor in the workplace has changed over the buy the farm 40 years and full-blown somewhat from recognition for a job well make to the need for a challenge and extolment at work. It would be interesting to see to it if the new research topic can build on these surveys and identify the most highly motivating factor in 2004. It would then be possible to say whether societies needs at work have matured any further since 1992.3.0 Research flesh and MethodologyThe entropy required to investigate the specified research area is qualitative form of data. The primary data impart be self-collected mainly via questionnaire and interviews which will be again compared with the available collateral data which is sought from various journals and other online sources of previous works already done by research experts. Thus the data collected through various sources would be analyzed later in the following stage for carrying the research to next level and to see how fart eh research is can go ahead.The secondary data would also be used to identify and describe motivation and its importance to the work place, and will attempt to gain an insight into what motivates employees to be successful across a number of different industries and how their attitudes differ. I would curiously like to identify the most common motivator to see how this compares with those that have been identified through 40 years of research highlighted by Carolyn Wiley. I would like to see if the most common motivator across the industries has matured further since 1992 when it was found to be the need for a challenge and to enjoy your job. I predict that the most common motivator now will be somewhat more sophisticated. I am also canvas my sample of employees into revealing information surrounding their perception of employee benefits such as pension schemes, medical cover etc and whether these things make them p erform better at work or make their jobs more satisfactory. It would be interesting to invoice if employees automatically expect to receive such benefits and do not see them as a motivator to increase performance.Thus the data poised from the questionnaires will be qualitative categorical data. I will analyse this data by firstly reading the completed questionnaires and identifying any that cannot be used. Categorical data cannot be measured numerically but can be classified into sets or categories according to criteria set by those analysing the data. This will have to be done a number of times in order to look at different aspects of the research topic.4.0 Data abridgmentThere is no doubt that the data abridgment is the most thick and complex phase of any qualitative research project, and this is the phase which is least discussed in any literature of a research, many of the strategies which are abstruse in the research program are familiar to many undergo researchers and i t s a crunch time for those who just get in to this practice of research.Generally people start creating a database once they cockle any information, however just creating a database is not going to run the purpose it is s must to turn this raw data into a useful data which can be used for some purpose and gives the scope for advanced research, so this requires an analytical process of the data and there are many bundle s in the market like Excel and SPSS which can be used for the analysis of the data. SPSS is similar software like Microsoft Excel and is highly used in the data analysis of any research these days.Once the required information is gathered, processing that information is very vital to get the right statistics. Because without analysing the collected data we cannot come to a proper conclusion and there is no use for the research. In our case the target audience of the research are mainly the employees, and the data is to be acquired mainly form the employees working in the organisation where a lot of scope is given for motivation and employee job satisfaction..5.0 Time graph6.0 Conclusion

Customer Satisfaction: Hotel Industry

client comfort Hotel persistenceThe Hotel Indus try had a great pickup in early 1980s, at that cadence hotel businesses any(a) in every(prenominal) over the globe tried their best to grew up to planetary level, different mergers and new continental hotels group came into existence in new-fashi hotshotd 1980s. As research figures depict tourism and hotel industries hand turned into unmatchable of the most profitable sources of income finished let on the benefitman especially in finale two decades.In 1990s Electronic businesses had approach hotel sedulousness very(prenominal) quickly where that became a milestone for the said pains that was beginning of this hard-nosed approach to be followed up by hotel industry.Capital expands from rich countries to least(prenominal) demonstrable countries and than the life standard of the people improved on the globose very quickly, more wellbeing requisites anteceded to fulfil human takes in the shape of technology, more comfort necessities became familiarized and if we could try to portray the afoot(predicate) picture of the foundation we could see hotel industry printed directly in this regard, hotel industry is amenable for the fulfillment of the human desire up to uttermost level. It is an instinct of human nature to be creative all the time, measuring rod once level of rapture in hotel industry is quite unvoiced but in that respect be obvious rules which can be followed to call back the level of clients delight attainment in the hotel industry, expressage by pass Inn GSTS outline has great responsibility to judge all clients issues and pronounce true pictures of the values levels of the hotel.AbstractThe study mainly reviews and discusses the topic of node comfort and its application to the Hospitality industries. Defines the concept and analyzes its spl ratiocinationor to proceedss and its importance to serves in general and to hospitality / tourism helpers in personaicu lar. future(a) a discussion on the dimensions and attributes of blessedness, lists the main methods of measuring blessedness and concludes with a review of global and cross-cultural issues that affect enjoyment in hotel industry. wherefore this research aims to investigate the node satisfaction level in tell by Holiday Inn hotel, London City (Firoka Group of companies UK Ltd), to move over a tool of SERVQUAL hold fast in converse by pass Inn hotel, London City. Study has to a fault enlisted descriptive survey, feedbacks, trends, approaches research assemblage questionnaire the research questionnaire data contain 25 questions.We discussed approaches toward integration and comprehensive model of satisfaction and loyalty,The flavour of the RelationCustomer OrientationThe competitive preferWe go away focus on rational questionsWhy should we measure node satisfaction and who should be rentd?What volition be the process necessitate?Where Do I Start?How Do I measure triumph?How can I get insight from the result?How do I communicate and action the results and then what?The analyzed obtained data revealed that lymph glands informations of the offered services were d featurestairs than expected average level of an index indicating, which gives us an idea that service level non at optimal level.The overall services note standards postulate to be calculated in terms of satisfaction to go on the differential gap of optimization.List of TablesList of FiguresDeclarationChapter 11.0 accounting entryLiving in competitive world today wasnt being challenged ever so before, Economic, Socio Cultural environmental effects atomic number 18 deciding future of the world businesses today, this era is more complex due to its immense finance requirements, more competitive tools arrive been evolved to encounter human involve, Presently go industry prevailing great deal of challenges where Every guest has high demands on lowest hurts, Life standards are increased with the passage of time so as chances and it is very classical for one business to calculate its expectation level towards its guests and judge where it is standing in the markets, In the Hotel industry the presumption of the node is very much fragile, It is almost necessary for all hotel businesses to maintenance themselves well updated close guests postulate and market demands,To count prompt responses of the hotel nodes there are some systems are being utilizing by the hotel industry, Express by holiday Inn is a franchise hotel of InterContinental hotel group, IHG Group has alter reservation department which looking after all guests issues, They besides responsible to prepare performance report of an individual affiliated franchise hotel world wide on monthly basis, the report GSTS encounter all field of operations which need to be focus in terms of guests satisfaction, later we go away discusses in details all main areas of that report.Customer satisfaction is the leading crucial factor for determining the quality and standard which is actually delivered to the guest through the product, service or by the ac caller-uping servicing. (Vavra, 1997) Its simply stated, Customer satisfaction is inwrought for corporate survivalSeveral studies have found that it be about five times as much in time, bills and resources to attract a new customer as it does to retain an alert customer (Neumann, 1995). This take ins the challenge of maintaining high levels of service, awareness of customer expectations and rise in services and product.Hayes states that Knowledge of customer expectations and requirements is essential for two dry lands it provides accord of how the customer defines quality of services and products, and facilitates the development of a customer satisfaction questionnaire (Hayes, 1997, p7). Furthermore, customer satisfaction is recognized as of great importance to all commercial firms beca using up of its influ ence on take over purchases and word of mouth recommendations (Berkman and Gilson, 1986). The police detective interest is to carryout a study of customer satisfaction at Express by Holiday Inn, London.1.1 AimsObjectives of the StudyThe main objective is to expect the customer satisfaction and its measurement in the hotel industry with special reference to Express by Holiday Inn Hotel, London.Subsidiary ObjectivesAnalyses of costs demonstrating that customer safekeeping is substantially less expensive than customer acquisition.Customer behaviorists in the area of lodging, restaurant, food services and tourism.Customer satisfaction is a psychological concept.Customer purchase goods and service with pre purchase expectations about anticipated performance.Assessment of satisfaction is figure out during the service delivery process. enjoyment is not a ecumenical phenomenon and everyone is not getting the analogous satisfaction out of the same hospitality endure.Reliability, Resp onsiveness, Assurance, Empathy and Tangibles.Research ProblemCustomer satisfaction research is not an end into itself. The purpose, of course, in measuring customer satisfaction is to see where a company stands in this regard in the eyes of its customers, thereby enabling service and product overtures which will lead to high satisfaction level. delight is not a universal phenomenon and not everyone gets the same satisfaction out of the same hospitality discover. The reason is that customers have different needs, objectives and outgoing experiences that influence their expectation. The results of a customer satisfaction survey need to be evaluated to determine what needs to be improved. Goals should be as specific as possible. Hotels are often challenged on how to best increase guest satisfaction, and how to optimize both price and occupancy. Employee satisfaction, guestroom cleanliness, amenities, appearance, food and services all conduct to customer satisfaction, and increas e customer satisfaction is a proven driver of guest remembering and higher occupancy rates. Understanding customer experience through research is wide recognized as a key factor in up(p) long-term business performance. Express by Holiday Inn Hotel had a requirement to obtain daily feedback at an individual level by rooms/reception questionnaire in general for its GSTS (Guest satisfaction tracking system). It has to introduce web based questionnaire survey to create an opportunity to built feedback porthole for general public to get provided a cost-effective and practical methodological analysis so hotel future guest see the reviews in term of past feedbacks.In the customer arena, we believe that regular, vicenary measurement of customer satisfaction provides a much fall in lead indicator of future organisational health than profitability of market share change (Tom Peters, Management guru) moment of StudyCustomer Satisfaction measurement (CSM) consists of on two study rolesPro viding InformationEnabling Communication with CustomersThe initial or primary reason for taking the time to measure customer satisfaction is based on to collect the information. It means that what customers say that need to be done differently or on the other hand to assess how well an organisation is currently meeting its customer needs or requirements. But the unessential is not less important function of CSM in hospitality industry that by surveying customers. An scheme is emphasis its interest in communication with its customers. In hotel industry, its always finding out customers needs, pleasures, displeasures and overall well being. though it is impossible to measure the satisfaction of every single customer needs. The customer satisfaction may different from ecesis to governing or hotel to hotel. hither we would like to quote Neumann (1995) five objectives suggestions as followsTo get pissed to the customerMeasure consecutive receiptsTo achieve customer drive onwa rd motionTo measure competitive strengths and weaknessesTo link Customer Satisfaction measuring rod (CSM) data to natural systems hypothesisCustomer Satisfaction is a psychological concept.Customer purchase goods and services with pre purchase expectations.Assessment of satisfaction is made during the service delivery process.Satisfaction is not Universal phenomenon.Recognition of the employees who contribute to the Customers satisfactionCustomer based improvement goalsPlans for improving operational variables inseparableization of customer satisfaction skills into employees develop weapons platformMeasurement and plan for improvement of employee satisfactionImportance of my StudyTo satisfy individually and every customer or to meet his / her expectation every time is not an clear t pack especially in hotel industry. This work is to investigate and examine the psychological science of the customer, their expectations and behaviour.Tools of data CollectionThe data collection wo uld include the engross of questionnaire, plan interviews, guest feedback, and management feedback, guest services track system (GSTS), guest survey, and personal experience along with personal observation. In the questionnaire design, I will use the respondent completes short closed ended questions and long contribute ended questions. In the interview design, I would like to use personal forms, sharing their experience and work directly with the respondent. In the guest feedback, I would like to get the guest feedback while they are checking out from the hotel, examine their past and current experience. In the management feedback, I would like to get the information from management regarding the standard and complaint level of the guest activities in the hotel.1.2 Objectives1.3 Rationale1.4 Background of the Organisation1.5 Structure of the Dissertation1.5.1 Introduction1.5.2 literature freshen1.5.3 Methodology1.5.4 Analysis Results1.5.5 Discussions1.5.6 Conclusion Recomm endationsChapter 22.0 Literature Review2.1Customer SatisfactionCustomer satisfaction is an important topic for both researchers and managers, because a highlevel of customer satisfaction leads to an increase in repeat patronage among currentcustomers and aids customer recruitment by enhancing an organizations sign reputation.Being able to successfull judge customers satisfaction levels and to withstand that companionship arecritical starting points to establishing and maintaining long term customer retention and longterm competitiveness (Yuksel Yuksel, 2002). Customer satisfaction b peal many benefits.Satisfaction increases customer retention and customer retention is dependent on the middle of the kind between parties which is also affected by the service delivered.Satisfaction is an overall customer attitude towards a service provider, or an aflamereaction to the difference between what customers anticipate and what they receive (Zineldin,2000), regarding the fulfillment of about need, goal or desire. For most products or services,aspects of performance can be objectively assessed. Although these attributes can beobjectively mensural, customers estimates may not objectively reflect measuredperformance. Some clients may be taken to several(prenominal) homes that fit their criteria but areunsuitable to the clients personal taste which leads to the clients assessment of the service asbeing unpleasant because they did not see listings that they liked.Kano, Bentler and Li-tze (1984) developed a model to categorize the attributes of a product orservice based on how well they are able to satisfy customer needs. Considering Kanos model,one sees how it may not be enough to merely satisfy customers by meeting only their basic andperformance needs. In a highly competitive marketplace, organizations need to adopt strategiesand to create product attributes targeted specifically at raise customers and over-satisfyingthem (Tan Pawitra, 2001). In hearty estate t o excite or over satisfy customers, an agent wouldneed to have a essential and vast cognition of all listings in the local area.In essence, it is the experience and attitudes of the individuals in contiguous r for each one out with customersthat are most likely to affect whether or not customers are at rest and willing to return to thecompany. It is also the people in direct contact with customers who determine who the retainedand convenient customers are, and their experience determines how they treat the customers(Hansemark Albinsson, 2004) gum olibanum impacting on the service quality delivered.2-4-1-Customer satisfaction and measuring systemTo realize customer satisfaction, everyone deep down the organization should see continuousimprovement as something normal.As part of this outline it is important to define the product or service and the customers needs,making an memorial of customers data and complaints, and selecting processes which causemost of these complaints. The central questions in this case are which products or services dowe provide? Who are our customers? What do they want, what are their requirements? Is itmensurable? Which critical processes need improvement? By answering these questions perpetually, the customer will be better understood, and the product or service will be better inand to create product attributes targeted specifically at exciting customers and over-satisfyingthem (Tan Pawitra, 2001). In real estate to excite or over satisfy customers, an agent wouldneed to have a thorough and vast go throughledge of all listings in the local area.In essence, it is the experience and attitudes of the individuals in closest contact with customersthat are most likely to affect whether or not customers are satisfied and willing to return to thecompany. It is also the people in direct contact with customers who determine who the retaineand satisfied customers are, and their experience determines how they treat the customers(Hansem ark Albinsson, 2004) thus impacting on the service quality delivered.To realize customer satisfaction, everyone within the organization should consider continuousimprovement as something normal.As part of this strategy it is important to define the product or service and the customers needs,making an schedule of customers data and complaints, and selecting processes which causemost of these complaints. The central questions in this case are which products or services dowe provide? Who are our customers? What do they want, what are their requirements? Is itmeasurable? Which critical processes need improvement? By answering these questionscontinuously, the customer will be better understood, and the product or service will be better intune with the market demand.Which Products/ Services do we provide?First of all, define the most important product or services as concretely as possible. ThisDefinition must indicate what you are really doing as a supplier. The more specific the defin ition,the better the customers need can be met.Who are our customers?It is important to understand the whole chain of customers. This means that you should know allof your customers. The needs of each customer must be examined separately. Not only theexternal, but also the inwrought customers should be considered. In fact, if the company does notsatisfy the needs of the internal customers, how will it be able to accord with the needs of theexternal customer? All employees determine the grad of customer satisfaction. Employeesfrom within different departments must be considered customers of each other. By bringingindividual employees together as customers and suppliers, the traditional barriers betweendepartments will be broken. Each employee delivers something to a colleague, whereby oneunction as the internal supplier and the other as the internal customer.What do they want, what are their requirements?As a supplier, you should try to figure out what the customer needs and want s. Communicationis hereby very important. Talk to your customers and ask them what they think of your productor service. Try to figure out how they use it and what they really want. Listen especially to whatthey have to say and indicate which customer-supplier descent needs improvements. Thecentral questions hereby are-Which needs and expectations do your customers have?-Which needs and expectations do you know?-To what extent do you comply with the needs and expectations of your customers?-If you do not satisfy their needs, what is the reason according to your customers?Making an inventory of customers data, customers complaints and benchmarking are importantopportunities to improve the customer taste of the organization.Information about the opinion of the customer regarding a product or service is of essentialimportance, and can be obtained in several ways, such as customer surveys, phone interviews,and customer panel discussions. Customer surveys are a virile tool to get info rmation aboutwhat the customer thinks and expects. In general, questionnaires are used with differentquestions, which may vary from organization to organization.Is it measurable?To comply with the needs of the customer, it is necessary to translate these into product specifications. Quality function deployment is a practical technique to do this. Usually, it is necessary to negotiate with the customer, which results in practicable and agreed on customers requirements, which are measurable and understood by all parties. All statements of thecustomer about qualitative aspects must be translated into quantitative specifications for thesupplier. Define clearly and explicitly what they are talking about.Customer Satisfaction Measuring SystemA customer satisfaction measuring system is shown in Table (2-1), to illustrate the activitiesneeded to improve your customer satisfaction. butt a possibility in this checklist with a cross ateach question, and discuss the results of these measureme nts, and check why this customerMany of these recommendations also apply to your relationships with external suppliers. Treatyour suppliers as though they are an integral part of your organization. Listen to their ideas onhow you can work closely and productively together, create joint improvement teams with them,invite suggestions from them, assist them in improving their own processes, build mutual trustand respect, refund them if they achieve improvements, let them go in in the celebrationof success, involve them in the development of new products and processes, and conk abetter customer yourself. Expanding your culture of continuous improvement to all yoursuppliers will ensure that the quality of your inputs is sufficient to meet your own improvementobjectives. If possible, minimize the number of suppliers go with the few best and improvement lie suppliers with a demonstrated continuous improvement culture and effective leadersby top-management, based on a long term confeder acy contract. Table (2-1) Customer satisfaction measurementI customers1. Do you know who your customers are and how many customers you have?2. Do you listen effectively to all your customers?3. Do you regularly make up an inventory of all the needs and expectations of your customers?4. Did you segment your customers based on their needs?5. Do you routinely conduct surveys among your customers about your products and services?6. ar all your employees informed about the results of these surveys?7. be more than 75 percent of your customers satisfied?8. Do you anticipate customer needs?9. Do you treat each customer as rummy?10. atomic number 18 complaints replied to whit in two days and solved within one week?11. Do you stimulate customers to register their complaints?12. Do you use e-business tools to communicate with customers?13. Do you have a customers helpdesk or a call center?14. Do you know which percentage of the customers who terminated their relationship with yourorganiz ation did this out of dissatisfaction?15. be complaints systematically registered and analyzed in your organization?16. Did you establish complaints handling procedures and are these routinely used in yourorganization?17. Do you measure the degree of customer loyalty?18. Do you make recommendations to customers about the products or services that best suittheir needs?19. Do you know what the costs are when you lose a customer?20. Do you know what the costs are to gain a new customer?21. Do you know how much sales you lose due to unsatiable customers?22. Do you regularly visit your customers?23. Do you regularly steer meetings with customers groups to look about their needs,wants, ideas, and complaints?II. Leadership24. As a manager, do you know how many complaints are received yearly?25. is there commitment at top-management for customer taste?26. Did you integrate customer satisfaction into the norms and values of the organization?27. ar these norms and values clearly communi cated to all your customers?28. Does management recognize visible trends and do they anticipate these in a timely manner?29. Is management convince of the importance of satisfied customers and do they act accordingly?30. Does management try to express the importance of satisfied customers to the organization at every occasion?31. Does management set a good example with regard to customer friendly behavior?32. Is management open to suggestions and ideas of customers?33. Does management personally reward those employees who deliver a valuable contribution to increased customers satisfaction?34. Are relationships with customers reasonably supported and stimulated by management?35. Is management at all times available to the customer?36. Does customer satisfaction also belong to the evaluation criteria of management?37. Are the customers wishes continuously taken into affection when taking decisions?38. Does top management also personally handle complaints of customers?39. Do all mem bers of management in the company have personal contact with externalcustomers at least once a week?III- insurance policy40. Is customer satisfaction part of your organizations vision?41. Did you formulate concrete goals regarding the degree of customer satisfaction?42. Have you developed e-business strategies for the next two geezerhood to increase customersatisfaction?43. Is the customer satisfaction policy continuously communicated to all employees?44. Do you have a partnership relation with all your customers based on mutual respect andtrust?45. Do you involve your customers in the development of promotional activities?46. Do you guarantee your customers a marginal service level and/or complete satisfaction?47. is there continuous benchmarking with regard to customer satisfaction?48. Do you involve your customers with the execution of improvement processes in yourcompany?49. Are more than 50 percent of your employees complex with the improvement of customer taste?50. Do you have guidelines with regard to optimally satisfying the customer?51. Are all employees following these guidelines?52. Do you have an up-to-date databank in which all characteristics of your customers areregistered?IV- Products / services and process53. Are products delivered within the period expected by the customer?54. Have you fully integrated the telephone, fax, internet, and any other technology that thecustomer wants to use to do business?55. is the phone in you organization answered within three rings in more that 90 percent of thecases?56. Is every function and each process in your organization arranged to optimally comply withthe expectations of your customers?57. Do these expectations form the basis of internal performance indicators?58. Are these indicators continuously measured and analyzed?59. Do you use measured customer satisfaction as an indicator for process improvement?60. Did you appoint process owners for controlling processes?61. Do you involve your customers in the development of new products and processes?62. Do you measure the satisfaction of your internal customers?63. Do supporting departments within your organization guarantee quality of the work they deliver?V. Human resource management64. Does customer orientation belong to the profile of the desired employee?65. Do you have an introduction program in which new employees are also educatedconcerning the importance of satisfied customers?66. Are your employees who continuously perform in a customer-oriented manner rewarded?67. Is training mandatory for each employee in your organization?68. Are customer orientation and continuous work towards improvement criteria forpromotion?69. Do you regularly organize excursions for your employees and your important customers?70. Do your marketing employees receive a training of at least two weeks each year in customerorientation?71. Are your marketing employees free in taking decisions to satisfy customers?72. Are your marketing employees free t o spend what is necessary to correct a slide madewith a customer?73. Do you involve your employees in improvement projects about increasing customersatisfaction?74. Do you stimulate your employees to commence ideas about increasing customersatisfactions?75. Are the employees interest and the interest of the customer related?2-5. Service qualityThe concept of service quality as a whole construct is large and varied. The theory has beenelaborated on by many researchers. Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml (1985) write servicequality as perceived by consumers stems from a comparison of what they feel service firmsshould offer (i.e. from their expectations) with their perception of the performance of the firmproviding the services. Perceived service quality is therefore viewed as the degree and directionof diversity between consumers perceptions and expectations. For example in real estate,this would be what the client is expecting from the agent in comparison to which is actuallydeliver ed by that agent.In real estate, that interaction occurs from the moment the client and agent s peak either verballyor electronically. It is evident that research on goods quality is inadequate in the service field,which has three inherent characteristics intangibility, heterogeneity and inseparability betweenproduction and consumption (Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithmal, 1985).2-5-1. The Customers Perspective of Service QualityService quality is usually expressed as a function of customers expectations of the service tobe provided (based upon their previous experience, the organizations image, the price of theservice for example) compared with their perceptions of the actual service experience(Gronroos, 1984 Berry et al, 1985 Johnston and Heineke, 1998). Perceptions are defined asthe consumers judgment of the service organizations performance. However, Parasuraman etal (1988) delve deeper and define the service performance gap as the discrepancy between thespecifications of service an d the delivery (Chenet, Tynan Money, 2000).

Do objects exist independent of the mind?

Do objectives populate free-living of the perspicacity?This essay ordain investigate the suspense of whether take heed self-directed objects exist according to John Locke and George Berkeley. John Locke reasons that objects do exist fissiparously of our whole tone but this is non without some caveat. George Berkeley on the early(a) consecrate argues that no substantial substances exist other than ideas or informations in our headsprings. accordingly there ar no mind self-directed objects.I provide argue that John Lockes reasoning is demonstrablely stronger than Berkeleys and therefore the case for mind self-sufficing objects existing is coincidentally stronger as tumesce. Lockes line of personal line of credit in carry is that we female genitalia be sure of the limits of our experience of their creation because of the ideas we obtain from our senses. I go away firstly detail how Lockes reasoning supports this contention. Secondly I entrust explore Ber keleys affirm which denies that whatever form of material substance and consequently mind independent objects do non exist independently. I go out argue that Berkeleys claim fails because of inadequacies raised during his recallion of Lockes argument. Berkeley relies on an appeal to the supernatural (e.g. God) to call the universal pro commit that he inevitably draws himself into with the existence of other minds in immaterial merciful bodies and in his contention that out-of-door objects only exist as ideas in the mind.Locke adopts a pragmatic approach to this inquiry because he uses the senses in a practical everyday way to assess the microscope stage of certainty of acquaintance. Importantly, Locke accepts the limitations of human intimacy which therefore(prenominal) defines the inquiry question of what level of certainty there is for the existence of international objects (Bennett, two hundred7).Locke says that an idea is whatever is the object of the understand ing when a man thinks (Bennett 2007 p2). This is an important exposition because it suggests an idea to be more(prenominal) than just a representation of an out-of-door object. What Locke alludes to here is that we gestate a cognitive ability to obtain knowledge of the external universe through a relationship in our mind amid impartial (sensations from experience) and complex (abstracted from particular to universal principles) ideas and atomic fleck 18 thus able to ladder judgement (subjective) roughly the certainty of that knowledge. Locke states thatKnowledge, wherefore, seems to me to be nonhing but the intuition of the connection and agreement, or disagreement and incompatibility, of any of our ideas. That is all it is (Bennett, 2007, p196).So knowledge then becomes the outcome of complex ideas created in our mind from sensations. The mind has no innate ideas and starts out as a tabula rasa (or blank sheet) but with mental faculties which thus enable the creati on of ideas from experiences of the external founding (Bennett, 2007). This is non primary though because it raises the question of exactly which faculties are then innate. However, the ideas created come into macrocosm from when a person first has sensations. Locke says thatSince there appear not to be any ideas in the mind before the senses impart conveyed any in, I think that ideas in the understanding arise at the same clipping as sensation (Bennett, 2007 p22).These ideas fashioning our knowledge are thus derived from our experience. They are likewise built upon the immediate impression of external objects in our mind through our senses. More complex and abstract concepts result from our own introspection.Locke then talks most trine types of knowledge which are important in our understanding of the certainty of the existence mind independent objects. He claims that these three types of knowledge are1. Intuitive Knowledge which is the immediate agreement or disagreemen t between ideas without an intervention of other ideas2. Demonstrative Knowledge which does not immediately perceive the agreement or disagreement of ideas. It therefore brings into itself more ideas and creating complex ideas thus calling it reasoning3. Sensitive Knowledge which is knowledge pile uped through the senses (Bennett, 2007 p22).Sensitive knowledge is the key element of his claim that external objects exist independent of the mind.Whilst it is readily conceded by Locke that elegant knowledge is not as certain as intuitive knowledge or illustrative knowledge, it nevertheless goes beyond probability (Bennett, 2007, p202). It follows then that the level of certainty in establishing a case for the existence of external objects knowledge using the senses is limited. save I puddle it off that the degree to which it is limited does not discount its use. Locke in addition asserts that whilst some philosophers question whether external objects exist even though they may redeem an idea in their mind, there is a degree of evidentness which puts the question beyond doubt (Bennett, 2007, p202). So he postulates that we backside feel the sun, check off the difference at night without the sun and appreciate the contrast between a dream and an idea coming into our mind through the senses (Bennett, 2007, p202).So for all practical purposes, I contend along with Locke that this is all we pick up to establish a high level of certainty about the existence of mind-independent objects. This is not to say, that his logic is not without some openings for criticism such as the probabilistic certainty of sensitive knowledge.However I argue that the specialisation of Lockes reasoning for the existence of mind independent objects lies in its pragmatic simplicity. If we agree the idea that something exists independently of our mind and we confirm this with our senses, then it is highly presumable that it does exist independently of our mind. If we have the idea that the ground we walk upon is solid, then the idea comes from our experience of solid ground through our walking upon it. employ Lockes reasoning then, the idea of solid ground (as a mind independent object) give the sack be held to be certain to the limit that sensitive knowledge allows.In contrast to Locke, one evict postulate as does George Berkeley, that material substances (and hence mind independent objects) do not exist. In his inquiry, scepticism surfaces amidst the proposition that we think only about the idea and not the actual external object. This scepticism charges the materialism of Locke for example, with implying that it leads to disavowing God (Downing, 2011). This aspect of Berkeleys rejection of Lockes materialist conceptions of the existence of external objects is also a key element of my rejection of Berkeleys Idealism.Berkeleys main argument for the mind independent objects not existing is structured thusThat we perceive cut-and-dried objects and I would nt have known them if I hadnt sensed them by my sensesThings comprehend by the senses are immediately perceive andThings that are immediately perceived are ideas andIdeas cant exist outside the mind.So it follows thatThe existence of things I perceive by my senses consists in being perceived.When they are actually perceived the existence of things, therefore, there can be no doubt about their existence (Berkeley P41).Unfolding what Berkeley means by this hinges upon his use of the word perceive. If the definition of perceiving is to become aware of something through the senses, then it seems that what Berkeley is precept is that we can have knowledge of the existence of external objects. But in fact that is not what he is saying. In 1, 2, 3 4 he is arguing that our perception or ken of ordinary objects (external) is based upon the use of our senses creating ideas which can then only exist in our minds. Premise 5 makes his argument look remarkably circular but I testament grant that it isnt for this purpose. What he is saying is that external objects only exist because we are able to be aware of them. His conclusion at 6 reiterates the thrust of his claim that when we are made aware of external objects by our senses, then we cannot doubt their existence. He does not mean the external object. He means the idea of the external object.So, if the external object is not a representation and it is not anything other than an idea brought about by a perception or awareness through the senses, how is it that we come by the idea of knowledge of the external universe? And more so, how is it that when we are not present or are denied our senses for any reason, that other people continue to experience the external world. Berkeley answers this by saying that When I say that sensible things external objects cant exist out of the mind, I dont mean my mind in particular, but all minds. Now, they clearly have an existence exterior to my mind, since I find by experience th at they are independent of it (Berkeley p42).I argue here that this sentence inherently disrupts Berkeleys claim that there are no mind independent objects. How is it that there can be other independent minds (assuming them to be within external human bodies) which have an existence exterior to his and which perceive external objects whilst Berkeley is say, asleep? How is it that they are not considered to be external mind independent objects? There must(prenominal) be some other explanation.So Berkeley finds himself having to refer to the supernatural idol for relief God. There is therefore some other mind in which they external objects exist during the intervals between the times when I perceive them .. it necessarily follows that there is an omnipresent, eternal Mind which knows and comprehends all things and lets us experience them in a certain manner (Berkeley p42).In my assessment this appeal to the omnipotence of God diminishes Berkeleys argument dramatically. It is not a question of having or not having a tactile sensation in God. It is about establishing a level of certainty that the external world exists independently of our mind. In contrast to Lockes argument which allows for a probabilistic conside balancen about the certainty of knowledge Berkeley simply refutes the external mind independent world and fills the void he creates with that of a supernatural deity. It is contextually comprehendible but I argue that it severely reduces the plausibility and explanatory superpower of his claim that mind independent objects do not exist.This essay has argued that Lockes assertions about the existence of mind independent objects are stronger than Berkeleys claim that no mind independent objects exist and to this I offer my support. Lockes probabilistic approach to sensitive knowledge assists him to overcome the vicarious connections between the mind and the external world. This is not without its problems though as I have discussed in the piece. L ocke struggles with innateness of ideas and faculties along with proving the level of certainty against a measure of probability.In contrast, Berkeley simply rejects mind independent objects outright, which leaves him with the problem of how to then deal with the issue of other minds and human bodies. To this he simply defers to a supernatural deity in God. This I contend creates a most significant weakness in his argument and causes me to reject it.ConAgra Foods, Inc Economic AnalysisConAgra Foods, Inc Economic AnalysisAuthor Artem Zaiets(36981)SummaryThis papers purpose is to look through and analyze the activities of ConAgra Foods within viands impact industry. It will touch the areas of the financing of the smart set as well as those of the business strategies and compare the companions major(ip) competitors trading ope proportionalityns over the past 5 forms. The statistics will also project the pass judgment prospective issue under the rate of 5% over a 3 year period and look at the sensitivity analysis. use the projected data, this paper will also show the internal harvest rate of the troupe as well as the external notes required for the future.IntroductionConAgra Foods, Inc. is an American packaged foods community that is located in Omaha, Nebraska that was founded a whole century ago in 1919. The company produces and sells products under 27 different brand names, most of which are ordinary and known only within the North America. Some of ConAgras major brands accept Hunts, Healthy Choice, Marie Callenders, Orville Redenbacher, Slim Jim (snack food), Reddi-wip, Egg Beaters, Hebrew National, P. F. Changs, and Bertolli ready meals. The products of the company various from cooking oil to hot dogs, frozen dinners, peanut butter, hot burnt umber and many more.As was mentioned earlier, the companys brands are known broadly in North American, including Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, nevertheless, the company still competes with European and Asi an publicity food companies in the market and holds a preferably strong position in the list.Financial StrategyThere are many tools and balances that can be useful in gild to find out a firms financing scheme over a configu proportionalityn of period. In this passage, I will be discussing 3 of them debt to equity ratio, payout ratio and retained gelt during the period from 2010 to 2014, and will compare them with other major competitors that the company has in the food processing industry.The first tool that will be used is debt to equity ratio. This ratio indicates the proportion of equity and debt that a company uses to finance its assets to know whether it is conducting a hazardier but more advantageous business or vice versa. From the chart we can observe the equality of this ratio with 2 other industry-related companies (Appendix parry 1). As can be seen from the chart, over the course of these 5 years, the ratio for ConAgra Foods, Inc. jumped drastically from 0.7862 to 1.752 in declination 31st of year 2013. This can be explained by the fact that the company unconquerable that it did not have sufficient revenue in order to operate further, and as was mentioned earlier the higher the ratio is, the more risk the company takes but the more money it receives as a turn-over at the same time. We can observe the same situation with Kraft Foods, an American company which was founded in year 2012 as a grocery manufacturing and processing conglomerate. A new company has relatively less to lose than an honest-to-goodness one, especially when a company such as ConAgra Foods is nearly speed of light years old. Indeed, in the short run, according to microeconomic rules of companies, the latter necessitate to have as much revenue as possible in order to operate in the long run. That is why the ratio for the certify company is relatively high. As for come near which was founded in year 1905 and that is headquartered in Switzerland, we can observer that the situation is rather more stable compared to the 2 other companies. In year 2012, it reached a maximum of 0.4494 ratio in debt to equity which is quite low considering this industry is capital-intensive.The payout ratio, on the other hand, shows the come up of dividends per share to dough per share that a company makes. For investors, the ratio can show whether the companys dividend payments seem to be appropriate and sustainable or whether the companys paying out more than it can sustain. New and-or fast growing companies usually focus on re-investing their bread so the business can grow, and as a result, tend to have lower dividend payout ratios. Conversely, larger companies usually have a higher payout ratio. let us analyze the data from Table 2 (Appendix Table 2).ConAgra Foods companys payout ratio during the period of 2010 to 2011 has been always higher than 40%, and in 2012 even reached 84.8%. This shows that the company decided to append the relations with their shareh olders, or increase the amount of people contributing to the company by having a more attractive dividend payment. As for the new company Kraft Foods, in 2012 the ratio was at 18.2% which is not surprising. However, the company in the next year decided to increase the dividend payments to 48.2%. The reasons may be the same as ConAgra Foods companys and also that the company does not have much operating constitute at this stage. Nestle in years 2010 to 2011 was quite low, but change magnitude to a reasonable amount in the next years.Yet some other tool can be used in defining a companys financial dodge and it is the retained earnings. Retained earnings are usually used to pay off debts and/or gain additional assets (Appendix Table 3). Table shows the relationship between the retained earnings with long- margin, short-term debts, as well as non-current assets and stockholders equity for ConAgra Foods company. The short-term debt in the company is kept relatively low at all times in the company, which shows that it spends its earnings to keep them down. Non-current assets, however, get increased by twice as much in year 2013. The explanation for this may be that the company decided to increase investments for its many brands recognition, as well as some new equipment.1.2. The relationship between the financing strategy and the business strategySince ConAgra Foods, Inc. has so many brands under its name, a wise strategy for the company would be to increase their investments on those brands that have the highest potential, make them more recognizable around the U.S. The company has, therefore, undertaken a few financial actions that would fall on their business operations. An example of that is the dividend action. The dividend continues to represent one of the highest payout levels among consumer food companies today. As was shown earlier in the chart with the payout ratios of the company and its competitors, we could indeed see that the ratio was the highest for ConAgra Foods, Inc. Restructuring charges is the next strategy that the company recently implemented. The balance of this charge will reflect upon the volatile and non-volatile costs relating to the implementation of restructuring activities, including programs designed to reduce the companys ongoing operating costs. In other words, the company also focuses on reducing operating costs. This does make sense, knowing that this industry is quite capital-intensive. The company also announced plans to divest its seafood and domestic imported give up businesses.1.3. inhering Growth RateThe internal growth rate of a company illustrates the highest level of growth which is achievable by the company without obtaining external financing. The formula for calculating the growth rate is as following IGR = Plowback ratio return on equity . The plowback ratio is simply 1 subtracted by the payout ratio (1 payout ratio), and the return on equity is the net income divided by the shareholder s equity (ROE = ). Using the latest financial data of the company for year 2014, we get that IGR = (1 0.527) =0.4730.0580.272=0.00746 or roughly 0.75%.A conclusion of this is that without external financing, the growth rate of the company is mediocre. In case of any questions considering number (Appendix B labyrinthine sense sheet of the company).2.1. ConAgra Foods spreadsheetAssumed growth rate0,05CommentsCommentsIncome statement2014201520162017 tax revenue17 702 60018 587 73019 517 11720 492 9725% increase appeal of goods sold13 980 00060,4% of sales14 679 00015 412 95016 183 5985% increaseEBIT955 four hundred1 003 1701 053 3291 one hundred five 9955% increaseInterest expense379 000379 000379 000379 000 recompense before taxes576 400EBIT-I.expense624 170674 329726 995Taxes298 00051,7% of EBT322 696348 628375 856Net income315 100EBIT I.expense taxes301 474325 701351 139Dividents166 057Payout ratio = 0,527158 877171 644185 050Reatined earnings149 043Net income-dividents142 5 97154 056166 089Balance sheetAssetsNet working capital1 588 4001 667 8201 751 2111 838 7725% increaseFixed assets15 123 60015 879 78016 673 76917 507 4575% increase sum assets16 724 00017 547 60018 424 98019 346 229 honor and liabilitiesLong-term debt8 767 6008 767 6008 767 6008 767 600Shareholders equity5 258 5005 401 0975 555 1545 721 242Increase due to Retained earningsOther liabilities2 601 2002 601 2002 601 2002 601 200nonage interest96 70096 70096 70096 700Total indebtedness and s.equity16 724 300Equal to total assets16 866 59717 020 65417 186 742Required external finance0681 0031 404 3262 159 487Total assets Total liab. and s.equityFrom this table we can observe how much external finance company needed to maintain future growth. It means that company will either sell equity or borrow debt to obtain extra cash for future growth. Required external finance was calculated, simply, by subtracting future total assets from future total liabilities and shareholders equity. In case of any questions considering number (Appendix B Balance sheet of the company).Appendix A2.1. Financing strategyTable 1DEBT TO EQUITY20102011201220132014ConAgra Foods (CAG)0.65430.61830.78621.7521.522Kraft Foods (KRFT)N/A0.00212.791.9242.298Nestle (NSRGY)0.32490.39280.44940.34750.3024The numbers were taken from December 31st of each consecutive year.Table 2PAYOUT, %20102011201220132014ConAgra Foods (CAG)4346.884.882.152.7Kraft Foods (KRFT)N/AN/A18.248.253.1Nestle (NSRGY)1718.560.672.247.5Table 3Year20102011201220132014Retained Earnings44174854476551305011Short-term Debt26136478703226Long-term Debt32262870285988878768Non-current Assets7778750982231602615136 sproutholders fair play49244702444052645259Appendix B1.3. Internal growth rate 2.1. ConAgra Foods spreadsheetBalance sheet of the company2014Assets rate of flow Assets coin And Cash Equivalents183,100Net Receivables1,393,200Inventory2,292,600Other occurrent Assets361,900Total underway Assets4,230,800Property Plant and Equipment3 ,822,800Goodwill7,836,500Intangible Assets3,205,800Other Assets270,500Total Assets19,366,400LiabilitiesCurrent LiabilitiesAccounts Payable2,416,400Short/Current Long Term Debt226,000Total Current Liabilities2,642,400Long Term Debt8,767,600Other Liabilities2,601,200Minority Interest96,700Total Liabilities14,107,900Stockholders EquityCommon Stock2,839,700Retained Earnings5,010,600Treasury Stock(3,494,400) large(p) Surplus1,036,900Other Stockholder Equity-134,3Total Stockholder Equity5,258,500Referencesconagrafoods, (2015).Investor Relations and Investor Information ConAgra Foods. online acquirable at http//www.conagrafoods.com/news-room/news-ConAgra-Foods-Announces-Strategy-for-Strengthening-Long-Term-Operating-PerformanceStreamlined-PortfolioIncreased-Marketing-on-Key-BrandsAggressive-Cost-Programs-and-Lower-Dividend-Shape-New-Financial-Profile-1008563 Accessed 29 Jun. 2015.Financials.morningstar.com, (2015).Balance Sheet for ConAgra Foods Inc (CAG) from Morningstar.com. online Ava ilable at http//financials.morningstar.com/balance-sheet/bs.html?t=CAGregion=usaculture=en-US Accessed 29 Jun. 2015.Gurufocus.com, (2015).ConAgra Foods Inc (CAG) Debt to Equity (%). online Available at http//www.gurufocus.com/term/deb2equity/CAG/Debt+to+Equity+%28%25%29/ConAgra+Foods+Inc Accessed 29 Jun. 2015.Markets.ft.com, (2015).Nestle SA, NESNVTX financials FT.com. online Available at http//markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Tearsheets/Financials?s=NESNVTX Accessed 29 Jun. 2015.Finance.yahoo.com, (2015).CAG Balance Sheet ConAgra Foods, Inc. Common Stoc Stock Yahoo Finance. online Available at https//finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=CAG+Balance+Sheetannual Accessed 30 Jun. 2015.Finance.yahoo.com, (2015).CAG Income Statement ConAgra Foods, Inc. Common Stoc Stock Yahoo Finance. online Available at https//finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=CAG+Income+Statementannual Accessed 30 Jun. 2015.

Main Factors Leading To The Cuban Revolution History Essay

Main Factors Leading To The Cuban Revolution History examineWhat at the time codmed so surprising about Cuba in 1959 was that much(prenominal)(prenominal) a thoroughgoing amicable variation happened in that respect, assumption its relative prosperity. The dissolver is to be found in the goicular historical conditions of the res publica. Cuba had, since e spellcipation from Spain, been given to semi semipolitical instability and had underg unmatchable umpteen attempts at transfigure ranging from amendist brasss, transition and dictatorship. All of these attempts, and the reasons underlying them, played a part in the eventual(prenominal)(prenominal) triumph of Fidel Castros regeneration and, in the failure of anterior attempts at changing Cuba, lay the seeds of the new order on the is agriculture. As Ruiz (1968, p.7) points out, the 1959 revolution be no sharp break with the past. The conditions for revolution had long been ease up and previous responses to the m conditioned the path that the revolution of 1959 would take. What, thusly, were the factors in Cubas news report and in its social and political tone which do that revolution possible? Having identified them, one must turn to a discussion of the conditions during Fulgencio Batistas dictatorship from 1952 to the end of 1958 and the mannikin that resistance to it took, and how that resistance, with Castro at its head, eventu eachy triumphed.The historical conditions which contri plainlyed to the triumph of the revolution were catego bristle by W reform (2001, p.2) into four main areas premierely, anti-the Statesn sentiment, provoked in Cuba by economic and political addiction on the States since in dependency, secondly the for tenderize effects on Cuban club and its economy of overdependence on wampumpeag production, thirdly, the fragmented and divided nature of Cuban society and lastly, the lameness of Cuban political inventions, their lose of authentimetropolis, and the unpopularity of a political class vitiate by desecrateness. To this last point may be added the propensity of Cuban judicature activity to descend into violence, a trend dating back to the license throw together against Spain.joined States forces occupied Cuba after it had gained independence from Spain in 1898 and its influence was to be a constant in the political and economic system of the is primer coat. The about glaring and most resented example of fall in States hindrance in Cuba was the Platt Amendment of 1902. This sick limits on how much Cuba could borrow from abroad countries and the negotiation of treaties. It in like manner allowed the United States the right to intervene for the maintenance of a government adequate for the bul fightk of life, property and individual liberty (Williamson, 1992, p.439). In effect, Cuba became a protectorate of the United States.The Platt Amendment represented a necrosis to about Cubans and a betrayal of the independe nce struggle, and remained a contentious issue even after its repeal in 1934. It linked advancement and progress to the need to rid the country of foreign interference and became a key question in Cuban politics. American intervention at such an premature stage cut crosswise the process of building confidence in, and legitimacy for, the new institutions of the state lately freed from colonial dominion and identified the whole political system from its simoleons with foreign domination. It similarly influenced the conduct of politicians who relied on the support of America to finalise political disputes, which were numerous in the first 20 to 30 hoary age of the Republics life (Thomas, 1971). Early Cuban elections were droolulent affairs and United States intervention was called upon on a number of occasions. An build up challenge to the government take in 1906 willed in United States intervention and resulted in direct encounter until 1909. Further interventions took g o in in 1912, and again in 1917 when the election result was challenged by an armed revolt by the defeated party. An early(a) central intervention came during the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado. The American ambassador first replaced the dictator Machado and then supported the army backed overthrow of his advantageor, Ramon San Martin Grau (Argote-Freyre, 2006).A sense of the humiliation and moral decay suffered by Cubans is offered by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (McPherson, 2006, p.40) who said of capital of Cuba in 1950 that it resembled a giant casino and brothel. American tourists were picking up 14 year old Cuban girls and tossing coins to hold up men outsmart in the gutter. He went on to say that nobody could be strike if Cubans hated America.American political and economic influences on Cuba were closely linked. enthronisation from the United States had been steadily growing from the last days of Spanish ascertain. It change magnitude in the 1920s as legion(predicate) Cu bans had been ruined by the decline in the price of lucre in 1920, and by 1927 amounted to to a greater extent than a billion dollars (Wright, 2001, p.4). Two thirds of all Cuban exports went to America in the fifties (Paterson, 1995, p.35). By the fifties, American interests functionled 90% of the telephone and electricity system, 50% of railways and 40% of the banking sector (Girling, 1980, p.49). This economic authority had a number of effects on Cuba, one of which was in the way it limited the room to manoeuvre of Cuban governments.According to Ruffin (1990, p.77) economic dependence severely restricted political devolve in Cuba. Politicians for the most part acted in defence of American interests. For much of Cubas Republican history the need to appease American interests, and those of their fol cut backs in Cuba, made it difficult to influence any reforms which conflicted with those interests. The increasing American control over the Cuban economy meant a tightening o f American political influence over Cubas affairs and meant that defending those interests became a prime commercial enterprise for Cuban political parties.Legislation, such as much needed land reform, became subservient to the interests of the loot producers who owned vast areas of land. In 1933, the government of Grau uncouth in part because the Americans refused to recognise it due to the reforms which it attempted to implement. Most Cuban politicians were unable or unwilling to upset the Americans and to disrupt the industry to which Cuba owed so much of its prosperity precisely which also fatally undermined its institutions (Ruffin, 1990). Taking on America was daunting, given Cubas dependence on American markets. Nowhere was this dependence on American markets more apparent, nor the need for change extensiveer, than in the trustingness of the Cuban economy on sugar production.The overdependence on sugar, which accounted for 85% of Cuban exports in the 1950s, (Wright, 20 01, p.5) skewed non entirely the Cuban economy notwithstanding also its political life and brought many social problems in its train. Decisions taken in Washington concerning quotas, duties and so on can and did film a profound effect on the Cuban economy. Cuba produced 3.6 trillion tons of sugar in 1923, rising to 5.2 million tons in 1925 and 7 million tons in 1952, falling to 4.7 million tons in 1954. Prices underwent alike(p) swings which made economic planning difficult (Williams, 1970, p.480).The consequences of this dependence were many. Peasants were displaced creating an army of landless agrarian workers. Furthermore, as work on the sugar plantations was seasonal, from December to April, many were unemployed for a goodness part of the year (Ruffin, 1990). This unemployment, unlike the rise and fall of employment in other industries, was endemical to the system in Cuba appearing predictably every year when the sugar harvest was over.In addition, sugar attracted inves tment away from other crops and industries. Sugar companies owned or rented 70-75% of Cubas arable land (Sheer Zeitlin, 1964, p.24) and Cuba had to import much of the food which it needed. Other nix effects were to be seen in the financial sector. American banks were attracted to Cuba to underwrite the cost of the sugar industry. The 1920s was a key decade in this respect. legion(predicate) who had borrowed in the boom age saw their fortunes wiped out during the depression and the shopworn market crash of 1929. The Cuban banking system collapsed, and the gap was plugged by foreign, mainly American banks.Whether the crop was good or bad or whether prices were high or low also had political and social consequences. modify (cited in Paterson, 1995, p.35) in a comment to chairman Eisenhower said that a reduction in the amount of Cuban sugar coming into America might easily tip the scales to cause revolution For example, Machados regime from 1925 to 1933 was attach by the convul sions caused by the fluctuations in the price of sugar and the collapse in the economy following the Wall Street crash of 1929 and which provoked a wave of strikes and roadway violence which were countered by a range of restrictive tactics. On the other hand, the good years could help to return a measure of political and social stability, as during the 1940s. in that respect were social aspects to the sugar system as well. To meet the aim for labour in the good years, manpower was imported from Haiti, Jamaica and China sharpening already tense racial dealing (Patterson, 1994). The existence of large numbers of workers who were unemployed for most of the year outdoors of the sugar harvesting season in the midst of December and April was always a potential focus for social and labour unrest.According to Sheer et al. (1964) all the mischievousness of the sugar system were aggravated by the fact that many Cubans saw them as having been inflicted by American business interests. T he insurgents who had fought in the war of Independence targeted the cane fields and sugar mills burning many. It was during the American occupation when the industry was built back up again. Hostility to dependence on sugar and America constituted a grievance more or less which diverse groups in the fractured Cuban society could unite.Cuba also suffered from the fragmentation of its society throughout its history (Gott, 2004). Cuba, unlike other countries in Latin America lacked political elite, often composed of large landowners, with ties to the Catholic Church and the Military. In Cuba the old aristocracy had been wiped out during the independence struggle between 1868 and 1895, and at that place did not exist a powerful landowning class with close ties to the land (Williamson, 1992, p.439). The large sugar plantations dated from the last days of Spanish rule and much of them were in foreign hands. Nelson argued (Thomas, 1971, p.1111) that in that respect was no national lay class. What middle class existed was base overwhelmingly in urban areas. The stop number reaches of Cuban society threw in their lot with the system installed by the Americans. inbred industry was underdeveloped and the ruling class interests were identified with those of their American allies. The lower classes were also fragmented. Most of the poor lived in the country while only a small urban working class existed in the towns and cities. tell apart divisions in Cuba were largely along rural urban lines.Some figures relating to rural housing conditions may help to illustrate this division. While Cuba in the 1950s could boast of relatively high figures in Latin American ground for ownership of consumer goods such as TVs, radios and telephones, the countryside painted a different picture. 97% had no refrigeration facilities, 85% no running water and 91% no electricity (Williams, 1970, p.479). Furthermore, seasonal workers were unemployed for a large part of the year and such an insecure life, in destinations of employment, coloured their relationship with other groups and with society as a whole. Ruiz (1968, p.147) sums it up by his comments that no social or ideological bonds united workers or integrated them into the complex body part of society.Racial and ethnic divisions were also a feature of life in Cuba. Fear of a black takeover retarded the development of the independence dejection in Cuba. Blacks made up a considerable parity of the Cuban population and were disaffected with their treatment after their role in the independence struggle and by the history of slavery on the island. This disaffection was on occasions exploited by politicians in the early years of the Republic. They made up a considerable part of the army assembled by the promiscuouss after their defeat in the 1906 elections. A revolt of disaffected blacks took place in 1912 which was ruthlessly suppressed with the loss of 3,000 lives. This event would alienate blacks promot e from the mainstream of Cuban society (Gott, 2004).Fear of the black population also surfaced in the wake of the 1933 revolution. As the most impoverished section of the population, blacks seized upon the excitement of the measure as an opportunity to improve their lot and played a leading role in the agitation on the sugar plantations where soviets were established. Despite the exuberance of many blacks for the revolution, thousands of blacks from Haiti were deported evidencing the degree of racial feeling in Cuba (Gott, 2004, p.141).Other institutions in Cuban society lacked popular support or respect and did not constitute a focus for unity or action. The Catholic Churchs spotlight in Cuba had been weakened from independence with the separation of church and state in 1900. The Church was also seen as a white Spanish institution and therefore lacked influence among the black population. Also, unlike other Latin American countries, the Church did not form an alliance with the ruling elite or the array (Gott, 2004).Lastly, the political apparatus itself reflected the fragmentation in society. The parties were unrepresentative and by the 1950s the old mainstream parties were ignore and the way was open for others to fill the gap. Batista tried and true it with his dictatorship from 1952, and it was Fidel Castro who capitalised on the failure of elected parties to address Cubas many and varied problems. This failure of democratic politics affected those groups who were to later make up the impedance to Batista and who helped in the success of Castros revolution (Gott, 2004).Weakness, incompetence and corruption were endemic to the Cuban political system from its earliest days. The first President Estrada Palma, led a class of politicians who, check to Thomas (1971, p.472) only want the spoils of war after their role in the independence struggle. There was not a great deal of ideological differences between the Republican and Liberal parties. They s uffered from the start from the involvement of America which wrested prestige and legitimacy from political institutions. Furthermore, the lack of democratic institutions prior to independence had not prepared Cubans well for eventual self government. The tradition of taking up arms, forged under Spanish colonial rule, was also frequently resorted to, which called into question the credibility of the entire political system.The possibility of calling in America as the arbiter of disputes was the indifference fallback position. The far from auspicious start represented by the fraud surrounding the first elections and the armed revolt against the government of Estrada Palma and the subsequent American intervention set the tone for electoral politics in the early years of Cuban democracy. Competition was not so much based on principle, rather as a crude struggle to see who would control the resources of the state which provided the means for personal enrichment, with the unfortunate t urning quick to violence when hindered (Thomas, 1971).In a society dominated by sugar, and foreign owned industry, control of government jobs and access to the states resources proved to be a source of patronage and of enrichment for many. For example, between 1943 and 1949 the government payroll increased from 60,000 to 131,000 (Goldenberg, 1965, p.110). legion(predicate) other corrupt practices existed such as the granting of permission for the sale of drawing tickets and it has been estimated that the dictator Machado made $3,000,000 a year from lottery collectorships (Sheer Zeitlin, 1964, p.46). These corrupt practices also provided a means of securing the loyalty of those who benefited from them.Electoral fraud was also a fact of life in a system where none of the parties had trustworthy mass ingathering. Gott reports (2004, p.114) that in the early elections, armed supporters of the different parties would be present at polling stations and in the elections of 1916 the nu mber of votes cast outnumbered eligible voters (Gott, 2004, p.127). The government of Gerardo Machado promised a new start. It initially was reformist and enjoyed a degree of popularity. However, it suffered from the perplexity and turbulence of the 1920s in Cuba, occasioned by fluctuations in the market price for sugar and the eventual collapse of the Cuban banking system.In 1928, and despite a pledge not to govern for more than one term, Machado was elected unopposed for a second time. He also extended the length of his term from 4 to 6 years. It was a measure of the low standards of the Cuban political system that this flouting of democratic practice was supported by all the other parties in the Congress. There was a huge amount of social unrest, strikes, assassinations and bombings to which Machado responded with feral repression (Gott, 2004). By the late 1920s a new propagation was emerging of Cubans born in the Republic who expected more from it and who charged the old gua rd of betraying the ideals of the revolution which had won independence. Students, always to the forefront in Cuban political affairs, were particularly impatient for change, and groups such as the Directorio Estudiantil were to play an important role in the revolution which would topple the dictatorship of Machado (Thomas, 1971).The situation in Cuba was fast escaping from Machados control. The strikes, violence and worsening economic situation raised fears of social revolution and engendered a feeling of insecurity and uncertainty. Groups like the ABC, a terrorist administration made up of middle and upper class students, replied to Machados notoriously brutal police force in kind, killing many of them in the street (Gott, 2004).The American government began to take an interest and sent their ambassador Sumner come up to Cuba to try and settle the dispute. He tried to convince Machado to go, and when he at long last resigned, faced with the dire situation on the streets, the A mericans desire to replace him with somebody acceptable to them and amenable to American business interests on the island. Carlos Manuel Cespedes was appointed but proved unable to facilitate the unrest. He was brought down by a group of low ranking army officers led by Fulgencio Batista, a mixed race Cuban whose origins were far removed from the traditional military elite. Ramon San Martin Grau was eventually installed as the new president in 1933 (Argote-Freyre, 2006).The 1933 revolution promised great things for Cuba. The revolution was led in by a new generation untainted by the past and pledged to honour the promises of the independence struggle. There was a strong nationalist hint to their programme and it seemed as if some of Cubas most pressing social and economic problems would be addressed by a new wave of clean politicians. Their hopes were however to be dotted by a combination of American hostility, the betrayal of the revolution by Batista and internal divisions betwe en moderates and radicals.The new government nationalised sugar mills and declare that 50% of the workforce in all businesses had to be Cuban born. The American government refused to recognise Graus government, fearful of the effects it would pay off on American economic interests on the island. Batista, waiting in the wings, and mindful of the importance of American backing, especially given the internal opposition to Grau, helped to topple the revolutionary government in 1934 and so began the first of his reigns in Cuba, ruling through his control over a succession of puppet presidents until 1940, and in his own right until 1944. The army had become a player in the government of Cuba for the first time, a development which set a dangerous precedent (Gott, 2004).The 1944 elections were won, amazingly to many, by Grau in elections which were accepted by all to be fair. Batistas rule had been positive in many aspects and had introduced a new, strongly social democratic constitution in 1940, the restoration of which would be a key demand of the 1950s revolutionaries. The peaceful handover of power to the man who had been vanquished in 1933 promised well for Cubas democratic future. However, the two terms of office of Graus Autentico party, formed after the defeat in 1933, were to prove some of the most corrupt in Cubas history and were plausibly the last nail in the coffin of peaceful, progressive democratic change on the island. Thomas (1971, p.737) asserts that Grau did more than any other single man to kill the hope of democratic practice in Cuba.Corruption was nix new in Cuban politics however, for many, the governments of Grau and Prio Socarras were particularly foul and tainted not only by corruption but the actions of armed gangs, according to Thomas (1971, p.741) at least 10, who were tolerated and even used by governments between 1944 and 1948. The actions of Grau and the Autentico party were all the more disheartening for having been responsible by the sensation of the 1933 revolution and the party which he founded in its aftermath. The party was able to gelt the countrys inflated repositories by the rise in prices for sugar during the years of the sustain World War. The government of Prio Socarras which succeeded that of Grau was described by Sweig (Gott, 2004, p.145) as the most corrupt and violent in Cuban history.When Batista took power following a coup detat in 1952, it did not meet up with much initial opposition. Cubas political class had by now become totally discredited and many were doubtful if electoral politics could even begin to solve the countrys problems. In a sense Batistas coup was a response to this disillusion but in itself was a continuation of the misfortunes facing Cuban society and could provide no new way forward. Each generation of Cubans had been disappointed by politicians and had seen their hopes dashed leading to a rejection of the leaders of the previous generation. Cubans had no in force(p ) political role models to look to (Wright, 2001, p.6) in changing and difficult times, devising it easier for new departures and new methods to gain a hearing. This would have been significant in the revolution of 1959.Having looked at the factors in Cuban history which led to Batistas dictatorship, the problems which the country faced, and their influence on the revolutionary movement of the 1950s, it is time to look at the years of the dictatorship and the opposition which it brought forward in order to amply understand how Fidel Castros revolution triumphed and the path which the final phase of the Cuban revolution took.Cuba was, despite all its problems, a relatively prosperous society and there was some evidence of diversification in industry and a great involvement by Cubans in the sugar industry. However, many inequalities and divisions remained, and the revolution which toppled Batista did not only render to unseat an unpopular dictator, but also sought solutions to Cub as economic and social problems. In this respect it echoed the previous attempts at reform of the 1933 revolution and the promises of the 1940 constitution. Other factors were the absolute unpopularity, which was shared by a grand range of groups across society, and weakness of the Batista regime and the appeal and leadership qualities of Castro who at the end emerged as the leader of the new order in Cuba. Batistas regime in contrast was supported only by America, the rich, and the old discredited politicians of Cubas past and had no real social basis of support. The key to the selection of the regime lay in the continued support of America, and once lost, there were few to turn to among the decadent and discredited Cuban politicians who could broaden its appeal (Thomas, 1971).Fidel Castro was a product of the Cuban middle class and a member of the Ortodoxo party, formed in 1947 in response to the corruption of the two Autentico governments of the 1940s. unitedly with Ernesto C he Guevara he came to personify the revolutionary movement in Cuba. However, his 26th of July movement was not the only force opposed to Batista. Opposition, originated, as so many times before, with the students who were joined by the Autentico and Ortodoxo parties, Cuban intellectuals, and other revolutionary groups. clog up for Castro was later to extend across a broad spectrum of Cuban society. The polite Resistance Movement which supplied logistical support had as leading figures a former director of the National Bank, brokers and doctors (Paterson, 1995, p.30).There was little in Castros radical, but not overtly socialist programme, which would alienate the less radical elements of the anti-Batista opposition or justify outright American hostility and was based on the nationalist sentiment of the war of independence and the anti-American feeling which was an number of its comprehend betrayal and harked back to the frustrated revolution of 1933. It promised an end to the en demic corruption which had plagued Cuban politics and a restoration of the 1940 constitution (Gott, 2004).The years of Batistas dictatorship were marked by resistance answered with repression. As the repression grew ever more brutal, more Cubans were alienated from Batistas regime. The contribution of the urban resistance to Batista has often been overlooked in favour of the more romantic guerrilla war waged by Castro and his followers when they took off to the mountains of the Sierra Maestra after the failed attack on capital of Chile in 1956. Resistance involved strikes, sabotage, assassination and propaganda. It was, as Wright asserts, (2001, p.16) the resistance in urban centres which pinned down the Batista forces and enabled Castros to grow in strength in the mountains and who also played a crucial role in supplying Castros guerrillas.The enfeebling of this resistance in the face of Batistas repression strengthened Castros position. An interview carried out with the American journalist Herbert Matthews and published in the New York Times in 1957 was a key event in the development of the war and a get ahead to Castros personal standing at home and abroad. It contradicted Batistas claims that Castro had been killed and the guerrilla defeated and steamy a lot of sympathy for the rebels in America. A failed attempt to execute Batista carried out by the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil in March 1957 could have changed the course of the revolution but its failure increased repression and eliminated another potential rival to Castro (Wright, 2001). retardation Batista floundered on. An American arms embargo was evidence that he was losing American backing. A failed general strike in April of 1958 gave credence to the idea that only armed struggle would shift Batista. That Castros forces would be the most likely to lead it, was given a boost following Batistas disastrous offensive against the guerrillas in whitethorn 1958. Without American backing and u nable to defeat the rebels militarily, Batista was condemned. In a bid to win American support and add a veneer of legitimacy to his regime he called elections in November 1958 from which most withheld, highlighting the isolation of his regime. stave a strengthened Castro began to emerge as the most likely to unseat Batista and his campaign spread outside of his mountain stronghold. After the fall of the city of Santa Clara in December Batista realised his regime was doomed and escaped to the Dominican Republic on New Years Eve 1958 (Paterson, 1995). The revolution had triumphed.The translation of the 1958 Cuban revolution can be found then, in the history of the country the anti-American sentiment of a broad spectrum of Cuban society, and the perceived betrayal of the ideals of independence by successive governments, the closely linked phenomenon of overdependence on the sugar trade and the subsequent underdevelopment of the countrys industrial base, the deep social divisions an d finally, the weak legitimacy of its political institutions, the violent and undemocratic nature of Cubas political life and the low prestige of its politicians, all served to alienate Cubans from the political process and to seek answers from a new breed of leader. Events rooted in Cubas history made the revolution possible. As Johnson (1970, p.60) observed revolution often happens in countries which have already experienced change and where more change is necessary.Castro in his inductance of historic Cuban grievances which also harked back to previous reform programmes in 1933 and 1940 appealed to a wide range of anti-Batista opinion, but that Castro would be the one to lead it and to take it in a Communist direction was not inevitable. Castros revolution, regardless of what happened after taking power, was not a socialist revolution. It triumphed because it, as Perez contended, did not preach class war (Gott, 2004, p.166). The Soviet Union played no part in his triumph, and i ndeed the Cuban Communists did not ally themselves with Castro until 1958. kinda in its focus on the betrayal of independence, and his echoing of past failed attempts at reform, Castros programme was the culmination of a process begun on Cubas winning of independence. The ambivalency of America also played a part in Castros victory. The American position on Castro was not clearly defined (Gott, 2004, p.164) and in Castros success in not provoking greater intervention from the force that could have decisively swayed the outcome of the revolution was a key factor in the revolutions success. Another contributing factor was the weakness and indecision of the Batista regime and its assignment with the failed policies and methods of the past. Batistas regime fell in part because it was as Julien (Goldenberg, 1965, p.146) observed ill-scented to the core.