To what extent are a company's annual report and accounts useful in Essay

To what extent are a company's annual report and accounts useful in understanding and analysing its market, productive and fin - Essay Example This paper discusses the usefulness of annual reports in understanding a company’s market, production and financial performances. Management perspective A company needs to strive to remain in competition within the framework of several internal and external factors like political, economical and social structures. The owners delegate most of their responsibilities to the senior management thus elevating the power of the management to decide a company’s objectives and to design policies for the purpose of realisation of those objectives. It is only with the guidance obtained by studying annual reports and accounts, the management can make operational and strategic reconfigurations of resources for the purpose of consolidating the position of the company in the competitive market. The independent controlling power of the management separate from the owner ensures that the sole objective of profit optimization cannot be realised since the company’s policies and beha viours are also controlled by various other factors. Technically, profit can be maximized if the organisation can detect â€Å"marginal cost, marginal revenues and production output up to a point where marginal cost of the last unit produced just equates to the marginal revenue received from its sale.† (Haslam, et al, 2000, p.4) In fact, a set of rules and regulations of accounting helps the management to identify the production cost and sale price of each unit to determine the company’s performance in the fields of production and sales. The annual reports reflect the performance patterns of a company from one period to the other (Haslam, et al, 2000, pp.4-5). Users of accounts Annual reports and accounts can be defined as means of â€Å"communication of information about the financial position and performance of an entity to interested parties.† (Laidler & Donaghy, 1998, p.1) In any company, every year balance sheet and profit and loss account are published in a document form along with other financial statements, together known as annual reports and accounts. These accounts are useful for both internal personnel like directors and managers, and also external people like investors, creditors, customers etc. Investors are those people who invest their money by purchasing shares of a company thereby taking risks in the hope of getting dividends in due time. For this purpose they need to know the management efficiency of the company in order to determine whether their investments will be profitable. Employees and trade unions study the annual reports to become aware of the financial stability of their company to decide whether they will be continued to be employed at appropriate levels of remuneration. The annual reports are also important for the lenders like banks and individuals who lend money to a company. They need to be aware whether the company will be able to repay their money together with their interest in due time. Similarly, for creditors and suppliers, the annual reports give them the information whether they will be getting their payment at the right time. Then there are customers like other organisations who purchase goods from the company; they need to know the financial stability of the company to remain satisfied that goods and services will be

The Objectives Of Human Resources Development

The Objectives Of Human Resources Development The objectives of this report are to look at the Human Resource Management (HRM), Human Resource Planning and Development (HRP D), and Performance of McDonalds restaurant. Furthermore, it explains the human resource management activities, models of human resource management, effectiveness of organisational objectives, performance monitoring of McDonalds restaurant. The human resources of any organisation are the most important resource that is the direct connected between the quality of the workforce and ultimate goals. The human resource department of McDonalds is responsible for right people, right number, right jobs, right time, right cost with right knowledge, skills, experience in the right place and also responsible for training of all staff and keeping evidence on them. It also indicates us what is the usage of human resource management and how does it work in the company. McDonalds fast food restaurant began in America in 1954. It is leading food service retailer around the world with more than 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries serving 47 million customers each day. Moreover, McDonalds is one of the world most well-known and valuable brands and increasing share in the globally. Now it is recognised worldwide establishment and first restaurant in the UK. Today more than 2.6 million people of the UK trust about McDonalds and go to eat due to provide good food with a high standard, quick service and value of money. Task-1 Human Resource Management (HRM) Human resource management is the people management function where organizational function is fulfilled and focuses on the issues related to people for example compensation, performance management, organization development, safety, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration ,training and, etc. As defined by Storey in 1995, HRM is a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic development of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an integrated array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques. Human Resource Management (HRM) Activities Human Resource Management (HRM) deals with the Human feature of an organisation. There are many activities of an organisation to achieve their ultimate goals. To cite an example Recruitment and selection, training and development, human resource planning, provision of contracts, provision of fair treatment, provision of equal opportunities, assessing performance of employees, employee counseling, employee welfare, payment and reward of employees, health and safety, dismissals and redundancy, and etc. I am explaining three of them as below Recruitment and Selection In an organization, a change happens in the level of employees where HR department maintain the requirement of personnel to meet the demand. For effective recruiting, recruitment process can be costly and takes a great deal of time to set up. It includes on what jobs needs, advertising, application, identifying who best meet the criteria, interviewing candidates, finally selecting the best candidate for the post, and etc. McDonalds advertise their job vacancies on their specialized websites and use their own personnel department to recruit staff. Objectives of the Recruitment and Selection The objectives of the recruitment and selection process of human resource management are as below: To identify the most appropriate candidate to fill each post. Keep the cost of selection down Making sure that necessary skills and qualities have been specified and developing a process for identifying them in candidates Make sure that the candidate selected will want the job, and will stay with McDonalds To make the most of the effectiveness of the McDonalds recruitment and selection practices. Achievement of the Recruitment and Selection In the McDonalds, recruiting process is run throughout the year. Like other organisations, McDonalds recruit internally and externally, and they for the most part recruit their managers and Assistant managers internally rather than externally, because it is easier and less training is needed due to the candidate is well known about the job. Just about 50% of McDonalds salaried managers are promoted from within McDonalds. In addition, for preparing the job description, McDonalds describe the job title, department, location, the responsibilities, the job purpose and duties. McDonalds uses the application form with questions which are typical questions, to know what qualification the applicant has, such as knowledge, skills, experience, and etc. Application form fill-up and make the answer of question is the first step for applicant at crew member level. For the recruitment process, Interview is the most crucial part for McDonalds potential employee. From the short listed candidate, McDonalds call for interview with area manager or store manager at their flexible nearest branch. From the face to face interview, interviewers can know about applicants, such as behaves, confidence, knowledge, and basically how the applicants come across as a person. At crew member level, interview is the second step for applicant. At this step, short listed candidates involve selecting a small number of applicants for the next stage. This selecting process will be carried on until the right numbers of candidates are found with the wanted quality. As a result, the recruiting team can be able to distinguish easily the strong applicants from the weak hundreds of applicants. McDonalds inform to the successful candidate over mobile phone or by email within one week. One day, McDonalds arrange an induction for a new employee that may turn him or her into a long term, loyal member of staff. In the McDonalds, the induction process begins even before the candidate is offered the job. Training and Development From the initial training that is called skill training, Employee can know the basic job knowledge of each position and can develop. Moreover, ongoing training program provides a more advanced level of job knowledge and make an economical employee. An ongoing programme of training evaluation enables employees to keep training up to date and according to the demand of the business. McDonalds training and development programme is an important part to the 100% customer satisfaction that the company aims to achieve ultimate goal. Objectives of the Training and Development McDonalds arranges training and development programme for many reasons. For example, training and development programme may be introduced to: Increase job satisfaction and motivate employees, as a result, reducing absenteeism and labour turnover. Reduce wastage and accident rates by gaining a excellent performance across the workforce. Develop the skills of existing employees to cope with labour shortages Establish the most effective and efficient working methods in order to maximize productivity and remain competitive Use of new equipment and the application of new technology. Achievement of the Training and Development We believe that training is the foundation of any success and McDonalds think so. Immediately, training begins with a one-hour orientation in McDonalds. Each branch of McDonalds has its own video player and training room. Stepby step manuals and video tapes are played every detail of the operation. So, McDonalds is dedicated to the training and development of all their employees, providing career opportunities. So, it is an ongoing process of all McDonalds employees it is everyones job, every day. According to the employee position, all employees are to receive induction training followed by a structured development program. After completing the initial training, they are to pass one Observation Check list (OCL) in the particular area with successfully. In McDonalds has 21 days of employment probationary period. During this probationary period, employees performance is to evaluate. For example, standard of work, personal attitude, teamwork, focus of customers, hygiene and etc. After completing the probationary period, they must be achieved a competency rating of satisfactory. If they fail to meet the standards of required of performance, they can be terminated at any time during their probationary period. Human Resource Planning To achieve the McDonalds goals, human resource planning is concerned with getting the right people, using them perfectly, and training and developing them. In order to meet McDonalds aims and objectives successfully, people using are to identify perfectly and effective way and to identify any problem that are likely to occur (such as recruiting the best candidates) and then getting with proper solution. Human Resource Planning (HRP) is the process of ensuring an organisation has the correct staff at the right time, with the right skills and abilities in the right place. Objectives of the Human Resource Planning The aims of Human Resource Planning (HRP) are to create the best use of human resources look forward to the problems with surplus staff build up a well trained and flexible workers decrease organisations dependence on outside recruitment agencies Achievement of the Human Resource Planning Like all other businesses, for daily activities carry out McDonalds need the assistance of staff. All the important number of staff in McDonalds fulfils a key role in its operation. Without sophisticated technology McDonalds would not be successful, for setting up properly human being are responsible. If the manager of McDonalds do not select the potential employees in careful way and do not match against the ability of post that means who are unsuitable, it can create a number of problem, for example poor productivity levels no good feeling among staff job dissatisfaction high absenteeism levels customer complains dismissal replacement For demand of labour, McDonalds analysis its future plans and estimate the levels of activity within McDonalds. As a result, they can predict that the organisation has right number of potential employee with right quality. The external labour market is very important for any organisation because of it can make up of potential employees, locally, regionally, who have the right skills and qualification necessary at any time. For McDonalds, local unemployment figures are very important who give the indication of the general labour availability required at that time. Also, Human resource planning of McDonalds includes searching at how labour is organised within a business or an organisation. Theoretical Models of Human Resource Management Generally, human resource strategy is performance or behaviour based. In addition, employees are a main resource for any service organisation. Organisations which successfully manage change are those which have integrated their policies with their strategies and strategic change process. Johnson Scholes (1992) Exploring Corporate Strategy There are a lot of models associated within an organisation. Such as: The Fombrum, Tichy and Davanna model The Harvard model The Warwick model Guests model and etc Two models are explained among them as below: The Harvard model According to the Harvard Model, HRM polices need to derive from critical analysis of: the demands of the various stakeholders in a business and a number of situational factors Hannagan Tim, 1995 Employees are variable and valuable for any organisation. Moreover, organisations are owned and operated by various employees or people (stakeholders), the task of the management is to balance the returns to every person involved. The Harvard model emphasises on the importance of integration HR policies with business objectives. The Harvard Model is emphasised as the soft approach to HRM, employees like stakeholders of the company. In this model has discussed four areas such as, reward system, employee influences, human resource flow, and work systems, there are also included situational factors such as influence of trade unions, labour market, and laws. These are also relevant to the theory. The effectiveness of the HRM is related to the four Cs with the theory. The four Cs are Commitment, Competence, Congruence and Cost-effectiveness. According to the Harvard theory, employees are an asset rather than a cost. In McDonalds, line managers are responsible for people and store managers are responsible for the day to day running as a mixture of both the hard and soft approach. McDonalds believes that Staffs are an asset for them which are shown by training provision and should provide long term investment for the company. Guests Model Devid Guest has developed his model based on the Harvard model and included four outcomes which has developed into four policy goals Strategy integration Commitment Flexibility Quality Guests (1987) theory, is also included in McDonalds policy, Guest believes the organisation should, aim for high level of commitment from staff, obtain high quality output, continually improve standards, flexibility from staff, no fixed job definitions, working practices and conditions and seek strategic integration through HR policies. In McDonalds, improving standards continuously and flexible working times offering for staff. Line managers of McDonalds accept HRM policies and combine them into strategic plans, staff changing roles are allowing within the organisation. Acknowledged as culture, every organisation has different values, ideas and beliefs that affect the way they operate. According to Handy, there are four types of culture; Power, Role, Task and Person. McDonalds culture combines two of these. Top management of McDonalds reflects power culture that makes the overall decisions and allowing rapid response to decisions. Other one is the task culture. In McDonalds, the overall aim of the organisation is task orientated and focussing on team culture, and powerful communication between all levels of staff. McDonalds has integrated the contingency approach by considering the environment culture. Contingency approach suggests that different problems and situation require different solution, for making a sound solution, need both internal and external influences fit together. Also, this approach influences promotions of staff that comes from the company means McDonalds restaurant. It is very helpful for the staff and staffs are offered appraisals that means increasing job opportunities for staff. Task-2 Human Resource Planning and Development For a company, human resource planning is the recognition of the future labour requirements needed and how these requirements are going to be met. Human resource planning is the process by which a company ensures that it has the right number and kind of staffs, at the right time in the right place for which they are economically most useful for a company. The use of human resource planning is a big deal for any organisation. For employee develop, human resource development (HRD) is the framework. By which, employees can develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities. Human resource development includes many opportunities such as employee training for developing them, performance management and development, mentoring, series planning, key employee identification, organization development and etc. Human Resource Planning Model Best Practice Model Best Practice HRM is the idea that a particular bundle of HR practices has the potential to contribute to improved attitudes and behaviours, lower levels of absenteeism and labour turnover, and higher level of productivity, quality and customer service, ultimately generating higher organisational performance and profitability. Marchington Wilkinson (2002) Components of best practice include employment security and internal promotion, selective hiring and firing, extensive training, learning and development, employee involvement and voice, high compensation upon organisational performance, reduction of status differentials, etc. (Marchington Willinson, 2002; Hughes Julia M, 2002 International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol.14 No.5) Effectiveness in achieving organisational objectives to Best Practice Model In McDonalds, more than 40% of senior managers have been promoted on the inside and not hired from outside directly. In the kitchen of the McDonalds restaurant, crewmembers are started their career by working at the smallest possible level of the chain of command. So, they carry out learning, training and development programs on a regular basis and lengthily which is reflected in their HR activities. McDonalds also offers high level of employment security. By implementing valuable and variable human resource activities, employee have been successful in developing dedicated and competent labour force who bring quality and customer satisfaction. By the recent market situation of McDonalds, employers can be observed easily what the condition of them is. On the other hand, according to the best practice model, employers can take long term view of strategy. In addition, from the view of personal experience, it is observed that the lowest level staffs (who work in the kitchen) generally do not have awareness of the strategy of the organisation. Also, some companys strategy is different. To cite an example, the lowest level staff of ASDA , they can give suggestion for the organisation. Their opinion senior management level can be considered or received. In additional, reward of the employee is totally appraisal based not on performance based. From the above discussion, it can be said that McDonalds is practising many components of the best practice model but do not implement full best practice model. Best-Fit (Contingency) Model There are three different models are defined under contingency as below (1) Business Life Cycle, (2) Strategy/Structure, and (3) Business Strategies (1) Business Life Cycle It includes four stages of organisational development for example, start-up, growth, maturity, and decline. This model also includes some human resource functions such as recruitment and selection, reward and benefit, staff training and improvement, employee relationships and etc with business life cycle stages. Effectiveness in achieving organisational objectives to Best Fit (Contingency) Model (Business Life Cycle) If McDonalds, want to open a new branch still today anywhere in the world, continue recruitment all around the year. (HR department, Headquarters, McDonalds) As seen earlier, Training and development has been practiced regularly and comprehensively. According to the Best fit model, during the growth stage, McDonalds recruit sufficient members and run through effective management and organisational growth. To match with HR function of an organisation, McDonalds always try to control labour costs, maintaining staff peace and getting better productivity during maturity stage. It is very difficult to say exactly that McDonalds is in which stage of Business Life Cycle but they are mature and growing at particular rate. (2) Strategy/structure Miles and Snow (1984; Cited in Bratton and Gold, 1999) identified four modes of strategic orientations: Defenders, Prospectors, Analysers, and Reactors. Defenders companies have limited product line and the management focus on getting better the efficiency of their existing operations. HR practices in defenders include extensive and long-term focus, well defined career ladders, clear grading structures, employee share ownership, well-established HR function, etc. Prospectors are companies with fairly broad product lines that focus on product innovation and market opportunities. It is right performance standards and expectations (Bratton and Gold, 1999) Effectiveness in achieving organisational objectives to Best Fit (Contingency) Model (Strategy/structure) By extensive training and development, McDonalds corporate strategy and issue want to improve their efficiency and always running to take the product into new markets. So, it can be said that McDonalds is followed the combination of Defenders and Prospectors. (3) Business Strategies (This model is based upon Porters competitive advantage model) Michael Porters (1980; cited in Bratton and Gold, 1999) formulated a framework that describes three competitive strategies: low cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, and focus strategy. In a differentiation strategy, managers try to distinguish their services and products-such as brand image or quality. In this way, value is added to the product and reflected in the product price. (Purcell, 1999 Human Resource management Journal Vol.9 No.3) Effectiveness in achieving organisational objectives to Best Fit (Contingency) Model (Business Strategies) By distinguishing McDonalds brand and providing quality of food and service around the world, McDonalds has achieved their present position. They have standard recruitment methods and policies, and highly focussed training and learning, reward system for staff remuneration. In McDonalds, line management function is very close with HR function, which has come from their HR strategy and activities. So, from the above discussion, it can be said that McDonalds is following differentiation strategy. Basic Human Resource Planning Model Recruit skilled workers Develop technical training programs Transfer managers from other facilities Recruiting and training programs feasible Transfers infeasible because of lack of managers with right skills Human Resource programs are made according to the organizational objectives and strategies require for achieving human resource goals. Moreover, human resource objectives are directly associated to the organizational objective and planning. To open a new branch of any company, Human Resource department need to think about production staffs, line managers, business manager, technical staffs and etc. Workforces are valuable for implementing the new product line, factory, distribution system, and achieving organizational goads. Effectiveness in achieving organizational objectives to human resource planning model HR department of McDonalds recruit skilled workers, develop technical training programs, and transfer managers from other facilities with right skills. They develop training programs regularly and broadly which are reflected in their activities. Although, employee hire is too costly from outside, sometimes, McDonalds hires the recruit managers from outside. After gaining most of things, McDonalds develop new objectives and new strategic plan for achieving ultimate goals. It involves forecasting outcome of various HR programs for employee flowing into, all the way through and out a variety of job classifications. They determine how existing program and added program or combination of program will be done and need to no capability of combining program. If HR department of McDonalds do not find practicable human resource program, they must change strategic plans. They are researched internal, external, and demand forecasting information. Such as, internal forecasting information- organizational features, productivity, promotion, demotion, transfer, turnover, and external forecasting information- external labor market aspects, controllable company factors and demand forecasting information- organizational strategic plans, size of organization, organizational design, employee support, and managerial support etc. Task-3 Performance management For the successful practices of people management, performance management is a holistic process which bringing together many elements of the organizational function. It includes particular learning and development, and gives an overview of employee status. Performance management is establishing a culture where individual and groups get responsibility for continuous development of business process and their own contributions, skill and behavior. Performance management is about interrelationships and improving the quality of relationship between manager and individual, between manager and teams, between members of teams, and etc. So, McDonalds believe that it is a joint process, not a one off-event, not just managers, apply to all employees. Therefore, McDonalds business manager can make clear what they look forward to individual and teams to do. For example, how they should be managed and what they need to do their jobs. Human Resource performance monitoring McDonalds follows the ongoing performance management for employees. For example, setting goals, monitoring the employees accomplishment of those goads, contributing feedback with the employees, evaluating the employees performance, rewarding performance or firing the employee. Performance management includes frequent activities to establish organisational aims to achieve those goad more effectively and efficiently. McDonalds believe that the best approach to accomplish value for money is to monitor the performance levels of staff and want to reduce wasteful actions. Effective Human Resource Performance By monitoring improvement, departmental managers or business managers can assess the efficiency of employees and determine which ones are meeting the terms of their agreement and contributing to McDonalds success. McDonalds monitoring is the quality of work being produced that is one of the features and the efficiency levels within departments. Employees performance helps the manager to know how they have been getting better in their business with the employees. For the future, it is an employee roadmap which increases job satisfaction. McDonalds think that it can help to develop their talent pool, support potential assessment and succession planning. Suggest ways to make improvements Sometimes, we see that poor performance lead to dismissal. If without checking, wastefulness is allowed to continue, staff will lose interest, motivation will be concentrated and no encouragement to produce good quality products or services. If the employees know that what jobs are doing, how they are doing, employees will be happier. If they know that they are doing good jobs, thats recognized, generally, they will keep on to do a good work and may make well every effort to do more. Otherwise, if they do not get people feedback, they are not doing good job, company cannot expect them to be either satisfied or productive. From the view of the company, if staffs are inefficient, customers will not return to McDonalds for repeat purchase due to many complaints and uncompleted responsibilities will push up costs to a very high figure. So, need to inform them according to responsibility.

The Great Game of Business :: essays research papers

The Great Game of Business â€Å" I am often asked to say exactly what the Great Game of Business is. I have to admit I find this hard to do. It is not a system. It is not a methodology. It is not a philosophy, or an attitude, or a set of techniques. It is all of those things and more. It is a whole different way of running a company and thinking of how a company should be run.† Business has many different parts to it. The main two aspects of business are making money and generating cash. Many people don’t know the difference between the two, but it is this distinction that can determine whether or not your business will fail or be successful. Therefore it is of the utmost importance to give each person in the company the knowledge that they need to prosper. The biggest barrier at any company is ignorance, and it comes on more than just one level. The problem with the top managers is that they don’t feel that the people below them understand the responsibilities and problems that they have. The workers are the people who don’t know why the managers do what they do. They also think that everything that goes wrong is a result of the greed and stupidity of the managers. The middle managers are caught in the middle of everything. They are torn between the demands of the workers and the highest managers and feel as if they have a responsibility to both. They, perhaps, have the hardest job at the company because of it. Every company has trouble at some point being short on people that they need to do a specific job. To prevent this from becoming a disaster, plan ahead! Give all people the opportunity to learn anything and everything that they want. Teach people the skills they would need to function in a department that is completely unlike their normal work. Not only will this prevent future problems, but you could find hidden talents in several people that will help you out a great deal. If you have every one doing something that they really enjoy doing, they will blow by any obstacles that arise. If ignorance is taken out of the workplace, it will help your establishment be prosperous, and motivate the people who work for you. The first step to get people interested in their jobs is to give them the numbers.

Country Risk Analysis

Running head: COUNTRY RISK ANALYSIS Balance of Payment The current account balance of China amounts to 297. 1 bn US$ in the financial year 2009, whereas for the Guatemala it amounts to -0. 62 bn US$ in the same financial year (China's current-account balance 1982-2009). This implies that the current account balance of the home country stood at surplus as compared to that of the host country. As far as capital account is concerned, it amounts to 109. bn US$ in 2009 for China whereas for Guatemala was far less compared to that of China which implies that the home country's capital account balance is also at surplus in comparison to that of host country. Apart from the current account and the capital account balances of both the countries, the official gold holding of China as on December 2009 amounts to 1054 tonnes which was equivalent to 1. 5% of the of the national forex reserve, whereas for that of Guatemala, it was 6. tonnes in the same financial year equivalent to that of 4. 5% of the national forex reserve (Guatemala Economic Statistics and Indicators, 2010). Government variables: The government of China has been actively involved in formulating an effective fiscal policy so that the key projects can be easily financed by issuing government debt. Apart from the fiscal policy, the monetary policy is formulated in coordination to that of the fiscal policy so as to promote economic growth by containing deflation to the extent possible. As far as the monetary and the fiscal policy of Guatemala is concerned, a series of structural reform is done with a primary motive to increase the economic efficiency by strengthening balance of payments and controlling inflation. The monetary rate has been stable because of the strict fiscal administration and the abundance of natural resources. The legal court system of china is based on civil law which was divided into four level court system of which at the highest level is the supreme people's court, then local people's court and court of special jurisdiction lso known as special court. All these level of court systems ensure fairness in all the legal proceedings at china. The legal system of Guatemala follows a more of standard European prosecutorial model which implies providing evidence to the judge in an open public court so as to enable him to take decisions based on the evidence presented. As the decisions taken by the judge based on the evidence results into correct deci sions, this implies the fairness of the Guatemala's court system (Legal system of Guatemala). The corporate laws and regulations has been formulated in China as well as the Guatemala with an intention to protect the legitimate rights and interests of companies, shareholders and creditors (Company Law of the People's Republic of China, 2005). In order to comply with the world trade organization agreement on trade related aspect of intellectual property rights, China has strengthened its legal framework and has also amended its intellectual property rights. Counterfeiters and pirates has been the most in Chinese economy, as a result it is essential to have a better intellectual property right environment in china. Although the commitment from the central government official to tackle the problem is quite high but it has not been appropriate to deter the major IPR infringement. The intellectual property right is also not secure in guatemala due to the increased pirated related activities, hence government needs to take necessary action in order to solve such crucial problem. A trade union act has been formulated in accordance with the constitution to protect the positions of trade union which ultimately leads to the development of china's socialist movements. This act protects the legal rights of the employees. The activities of the union in the Guatemala has been pathetic. It has been increasingly violated after the enactment of Dominican republic central America trade agreement. The steps taken by the government becomes ineffective in addressing this concern (Labor Rights in Guatemala). Infrastructure: The transportation facility in China is improving as the government of china is investing huge funds in the development of roads, highway and expressway. Similar is the condition in vase of Guatemala where government is actively participating in improving the transportation facilities. The port of Tianjin is an international trading port in china of whose the land area is more than 20 km. Vessels of 70000-80000 dwt can sail in on the tide. Its through put was around 57. 87million tons. A notice on the management of foreign trade in free trade zone has been issued by the ministry of commerce and the general office of the general administration which clarifies the way through which foreign trade and distribution rights can be obtained by the operators inside the zone. In Guatemala also, there are various free trade zones along with many industrial parks which results into competitive advantage for the investors (China: Trading in Free Trade Zones, 2006). The banking, environmental and the educational factors are somewhat similar in both the countries. The banking in china has undergone lots of changes and it has remain in the hands of the government even after banks has given more autonomy. The educational activity on the part of the government is increasing in Guatemala as the education budget accounted for 15. % of the central government budget. The environmental issues in Guatemala are in relation to soil erosion, acid rain, water pollution etc. , whereas excessive growth has also raised various environmental issues in china. References: Company Law of the People's Republic of China, 2005. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from http://www. chinadaily. com. cn/bizchina/2006-04/17/content_569258. htm China: Trading in Free Trade Zones, 2006. Retrieved Apr il 24, 2010 from http://www. hg. org/articles/article_1191. tml China's current-account balance 1982-2009. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from http://www. chinability. com/CurrentAccount. htm Guatemala Economic Statistics and Indicators, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from http://www. economywatch. com/economic-statistics/country/Guatemala/ Legal system of guatemala. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from www. oas. org/juridico/Mla/en/gtm/en_gtm-int-description. pdf Labor Rights in Guatemala. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from www. ghrc-usa. org/Publications/factsheet_LaborRights. pdf

Analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh Essay

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an extraordinary poem showing the tragedy of mortality. The poem is the earliest primary document discovered in history dating back to 2000 B. C. E. The document tells a story about a King named Gilgamesh who was created by gods as one third man and two thirds god. The epic tells the advetures that Gilgamesh goes on throught his life to determine his meaning. A lot of people in Mesopatamia in this time period felt as though they needed to dicover why they were here and what was going to happen after they died. The culture in which Gilgamesh existed did not believe in an afterlife, and if they had any thoughts that there was anything after death it certainly wasn’t a pleasant thought. Gilgamesh’s journey beings with the creation of the city Uruk. The great king built the magnificent city that his achievements occur. Being that Gilgamesh is two thirds god he has incredible strengths that have never exsisted before. Gilgamesh is young and arrogant and treats the people of Uruk very harshly. Because of the way Gilgamesh mistreats his people it causes them to call out to the sky god and ask for someone as strong and immortal as Gilgamesh. Their hope is that this person will be Gilgamesh’s match and will show him he is not as mighty as he believes. The gods create a wild man who is named Endiku who lives in the intense forest surrounding the land of Gilgamesh. Endiku was made with the strength of no human. He is discovered by a trapper running through the forest naked among wild animals. The trapper is so afraid by this that he goes to tell his father. His father tells his to go to Uruk and find a horlot to take with him back to the forest. When she sees Endiku she is to tempt him with her womanly ways. The trappers father said that if Endiku succumbs to her he will no longer be amazingly strong and wild. The harlot named Shamaht meets Endiku at the watering hole where he comes to drink with the wild animals. She offers herself to him by stripping naked and flaunting her womanly traits. He is upset that this harlot has caused him to lose his strength and rowdiness so the harlot explains to him what he could have if he became more civilized. Shamahat offers to take hi to the city of Uruk where all the delights of civilization show true. She offers to take Endiku to meet Gilgamesh who has similar strengths as him. Meanwhile Gilgamesh has dreams showing him signs of what is to come. In the first dream he is shown a meteorite falling to Earth which is so abundant that he cannot move it. The people come together to celebrate the meteor and Gilgamesh welcomes it as he would a lover or wife but Gilgamesh’s mother wants him to compete with the meteorite. It the second dream Gilgamesh dreams that an axe appears at his door, the axe is so vast that he cannot lift or move it. As in the previous dream the people come to celebrate the axe and Gilgamesh embraces it as he would a lover. Again his mother wants him to compete with the axe. Confused Gilgamesh tells his mother his dreams and asks her what they mean. She tells him that the meteor and axe symbolize a great man with incredible strengths coming to Uruk. Gilgamesh will take in this man as he would a wife and the man will assist Gilgamesh perform many great things. Endiku comes to the city or Uruk during a celebration. Gilgamesh the great king is claiming the right to have sexual intercourse with every new bride first on the day of her wedding. Endiku is disgusted with this and decides that he is going to block the kings way into the marital chamber. This enrages Gilgamesh and the two men fight viciously until Gilgamesh wins. Endiku excepts Gilgamesh’s authority and the two become great friends. The two men become lazy and weak living in the city so Gilgamesh proposes an adventure. He wants to venture to the Cedar Forest and cut down all the cedar trees. In order to do this they must defeat a giant wild beast named Humbaba. The elders of the city, Endiku and Gilgamesh’s mother disagree with the adventure and try to talk him out of proceeding. Gilgamesh decides to go anyways and Endiku follows as a honorable friend should. Should Gilgamesh defeat the monster Humbaba, his name will forever be remembered. After an extremely long journey the two kill Humbaba Right before Gilgamesh cuts the head off of Humbaba the monster shouts out a curse on Endiku that out of the two men Endiku will die before Gilgamesh and never find peace in the world. With the defeat of Humbaba the men cut down the cedar trees and use the wood to build a great gate for the city of Uruk. After the voyage to the Cedar forest Gilgamesh’s fame is spread wide attracting sexual attention of the goddess Ishtar and offers to become his lover. Gilgamesh rejects her with insults due to her ugly past of lovers. Gilgamesh’s encounter with Ishtar shows how risky the relations of humans to gods can be at least for humans. He has the right to reject her but should not have done so as insultingly as he did. He ends up paying a heavy price for bad manners. Ishtar is very offended by Gilgamesh’s response that she goes to her father, the sky-god Anu, and asks for the Bull of Heaven so that she can have vengeance on Gilgamesh and his city. Working together again Endiku and Gilgamesh slay the Bull of Heaven. The gods decide that someone must be punished for killing Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. So out of the two conquerors the gods decide Endiku should pay the price. Upset with the unjust decision Endiku curses the Cedar Gate, the harlot,Shamhat, and the trapper for introducing him to civilization. He is reminded that he has enjoyed his life and done many things. After twelve days Endiku finally dies. Endiku’s death causes Gilgamesh to realize his fear of mortality and tries to find a way to live forever. On his quest he figures out that the gods will not grant him immortality and he must accept his destiny. A man named Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that death is essential because of the will of the gods and that all human effort is only temporary. Utnapishtim is the only man that has been blessed with immortality and tells Gilgamesh the secret as to how he became. The gods had met and decided that the humans were out of control and to destroy mankind with a giant flood. The flood lasted for seven days and seven nights in the city of Shurrupak which stands on the banks of Euphrates. At the end of Utnapishtim’s story he offers Gilgamesh a chance at immortality. If he can stay awake for six days and seven nights he will become immortal but as soon as he sits down he falls asleep so he failed the test. Utnapishtim offers another chance, Gilgamesh must go to the bottom of the ocean and receive a plant of youth. He does this and goes on his way back to Uruk but as he rests on a shore the plant is stolen by a serpant so this test as well is failed. At the end of the poem Gilgamesh lays before the gates to Uruk and admires the city he built and at the base of his cities gates lay a stone of lapis lazuli explain the reason for his notable deeds. In reviewing this story, you are able to determine the ways it has entertained, educated, and enlightened the Mesopotamian culture in ancient times. It shows examples of gender roles, the way you were supposed to live, and idealistic leadership. The epic uggests that ancient Mesopotamian’s perspective of an ideal kingship by illustrating uncivilized behaviors of the Sumerian ruler. The epic reflects on the rulers past explaining Gilgamesh disappoints his gods and the Sumerian city with selfish behaviors like sleeping with many women, spending money, and treating his people like they were nothing. From this, we can determine that Mesopotamians believed a successful leader needs to be able to create responsible relationships with his people and obtain the ability to show respect towards those who do not have as much, if any, political power.