Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Business - Essay Example The company currently operates with more than 450 stores. Morison was incorporated in 1899 in Brandford, UK. The company currently has a market cap of GBP 8.02 billion with a share price of GBP 303.3. Safeway is one of the biggest food as well as drug retailers in North America. Within US and Canada the company operated within 1692 stores as of Mar-2011.The Company currently has a market cap of $8.93 billion with current share price of $24.25. Compared to Morrison, Safeway was incorporated in 1990 in California. Analysis The financial statements of both the companies before and after the takeover are as follows: Morrison Balance sheet as of 2010 and 2004: 2010 (million GBP) 2004 (million GBP) Assets Non-current assets 7,666 1,739 Current Assets 1,094 492 Liabilities Current Liabilities (2,152) (814) Non-current Liabilities (1,659) (100) Net Assets 4,959 1,357 Dividends 363 174 Profit Retained 2,008 1,143 Merger Reserve 2,578 Capital Employed 4,949 1,317 Morrison Income statement as o f 2010 and 2004: 2010 (million GBP) 2004 (million GBP) Turnover 15,410 4,959 Cost of sales (14,348) (3,696) Gross Profit 1,062 1,263 Operating profit 907 306 As can be seen above the difference in assets, liabilities, turnover and profits of the company in 6 years after the company acquired Safeway. The turnover has gone up by 210.75% and operating profit has gone up by 195.44%. The nets assets of the company following the takeover have gone up by 265.4%. All these are good signs for the company and represents that the company had followed the positive outlook following the merger. This means that the company has maintained the aggressive growth rate even after the takeover of Safeway in 2004. Next analysis of company would be stock price analysis of past 7 years following the takeover of Safeway. This is discussed as follows: The stock price analysis shows the positive outlook for the company. It shows how the stock has continued to provide return to its investors even after the ta keover of Safeway. The analysis of stock chart for 2004 shows the positive investor sentiment following the takeover. This is also due to high presence of company in retail industry in UK. The food and retail sector represents the biggest industry in the United Kingdom, providing employment to more than four million people in production, manufacturing, retailing and distribution. Retail sector accounted for 9% of the GDP of the country in 2003 (Datamonitor, 2003). In last few years, UK’s supermarkets have been under increasing scrutiny in regard to their treatment with suppliers, in own-label products, still the development of supply networks in the country had been an integral part of supermarket strategies in the past decade. The US$ 9 trillion Retail industry is one of the world’s largest industries and still growing. 47 of the Global Fortune 500 companies & 25 of Asia’s Top 200 companies are retailers. Even as the developing countries are making rapid stride s in this industry, organized Retail is currently dominated by the developed countries with the USA, EU & Japan constituting 80% of world. (Global retail Business) Retail is a significant contributor to the overall economic activity the world over: the total Retail share in the World GDP is 27% while in the USA it accounts for 22% of the GDP. The share of organized Retail in the developing markets ranges between 20% - 55%. Over recent months these three risks have abated or disappeared: †¢

Organization theory concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organization theory concepts - Essay Example The book under review is known as â€Å"Organization Theory; Challenges and Perspectives† by John McAuley, Joanne Duberly and Phil Johnson. The various chapters of the book are put into perspective in the subsequent paragraphs. Despite the few complex terms and concepts in this book, the book is generally informative and recommended to academics or students who needs to get in-depth knowledge on the issues surrounding organization theory. The primary goal for the establishment of the organizational theory is to allow managers to function effectively by leading all stakeholders of the organization towards attainment of the strategic goals and objectives of the organization. Each chapter of the book is discussed with the aim to identifying key concepts concerning organization theory as well as difficulties that exists in a bid to understand the paper. ... It is in order that simple terms are used so that the readers can fully comprehend the various concepts that are discussed in the chapter. Chapter 2 This chapter delves in describing the modernism, a key social movement within the organization theory. Modernism has great impact on the development of the various organization practices. Modernism avers that all the conflicts within the organization can be managed effectively through the various conflict resolution mechanisms that exist within the organization. Modernism champions for new ways of handling various concepts of the organization. It requires that organization should be managed in a dynamic way and each issue within the organization should be handled uniquely as opposed to having a rigid way of handling every issue within the organization (McAuley, Duberly and Johnson, 2007). Modernism requires that management adopts both a people centered approach and task centered approach in managing the affairs of the organization. Accor ding to modernist, an organization is a subsystem with various subsystems which when pieced together forms the organization. McAuley, Duberly and Johnson (2007) aver that for an organization to be run effectively, it is important that there is a clear structure, chain of command, and accountability. As such, it is important that bureaucracy be adopted in order to achieve efficiency within the organization. Besides pursuit of bureaucracy in handling the various issue of the organization, it is important that scientific concepts such as leadership or conflict resolution models be also incorporated. Difficulties It is worth noting that this chapter is exhaustive and various arguments have been well thought and discussed in simple terms for the benefit all readers who might find the chapters

Impact of the Olympic Games on Tourism

Impact of the Olympic Games on Tourism The potential contribution of the 2012 Olympic Games to tourism Abstract With budgets for the hosting of the Olympic Games often requiring significant upward revision before final costs are calculated there has been an increasing level of concern about the areas of benefits that these events bring to the host cities and nations. Much of this concern is focused upon the tourism benefits. Using three previous Olympic events together with the staging of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester as case studies, this research seeks to ascertain whether the predicted tourism benefit from hosting the 2012 Olympic Games can realistically be achieved or if they are simply estimates raised in an effort to justify the huge capital investment required to stage the games. The results of the case study into the three Olympic events show mixed results in terms of reality matching expectations. In particular, the area of concern in all of these events has been the failure of the cities to see a continuation of improvement to employment. However, the Manchester case study produced a positive result on all counts of tourism benefits, including employment. What makes this event different from the others is that the organisers in this case concentrated a considerable amount of effort on developing a sustainable legacy programme. The committee responsible for this programme have treated it as a separate project and this has enabled the focus of achieving benefits to be maintained. It is considered that if the LOCOG incorporates the positive aspects of this research into their Olympic planning it will be able to achieve the estimated expectations. 1.  Introduction In March 2005, four months before bid for the 2012 Olympic Games was won by London, the UK government extended the budget for this event from  £2.4 billion to  £9.35 billion, a nearly fourfold increase (BBC News 2005). In justifying this enormous increase in costs and echoing the comments of other Olympic cities in the past, the UK government and 2012 Olympic organisers have said there will be ongoing economic benefits resulting from the event being held in London. It has been suggested that many of these benefits will accrue to the tourism and hospitality sector. In support of this comment the organisers, LOCOG[1] (2007) and ODA[2], point to the fact that it is increasing hotel accommodation in the London area and, in addition, providing a number of new sporting and cultural facilities that will be available for use in the future, attracting continual leisure and tourism activities. Furthermore, it is stated the increase in tourists during the event will have the effect of increasing subsequent tourist visits to London and the UK as a whole as well as their impact during the event itself. These moves are also expected to have a positive long term impact upon tourism businesses and employment in the area. However, reports into the results of tourism benefits achieved from previous events of this nature show a different view (Madden 2002) and suggest that the claims being made by the LOCOG and other stakeholders might be optimistic. It is the resolution of this dichotomy of opinions that forms the focus for this paper. The aim of this research is to assess whether the pre-event claims being made by the 2012 Olympic organisers, which are supported by research conducted by independent researchers (Blake 2005 and Oxford Economics 2007) will bring tourism benefits to London and the UK. These will be measured against three factors, these being tourism numbers and financial benefit, hotel occupancy, and tourism and hospitality employment levels. 1.1. Aims and objectives In order to address the issues focused upon within this study, the following research question being resolved is: Whether the hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games in London will provide the City and the UK tourism industry with potential benefits both during and post the event. To provide a framework and direction aimed at addressing this question, two main objectives have also been set. London 2012 Olympic Games legacy There will be a detailed and critical analysis of the intended legacy of the Games which will also examine the supporting evidence. Previous event results For comparison purposes post event reports on three significant previous events of a similar nature will be presented and evaluated. 1.2. Overview Following this introduction, section two provides an overview of the data collection method used. In section three the findings will be presented and discussed before the study is brought to a conclusion in section four, where appropriate recommendations will be made. 2.  Methodology Due to the limitations in terms of time, cost and geographical location, it has been decided that the appropriate research method to be used for this research will rely upon the collection of data from secondary sources. These will include information collected from the official 2012 Olympic websites of the LOCOG (2007) and other related stakeholders as well as independent research conducted by academics and other tourism stakeholders. Other resources have also been used, including publications available from bookshops and libraries and journal articles. Similar resource locations have been relied upon for the collection of data relating to the comparative events. Although it is sometimes perceived that there are limitations to the secondary data collection approach in this case it was considered that the depth of previous and immediate research is sufficiently robust to add value to the findings of this study. For example, sufficient academic and practical research material is available to be able to provide a direct comparison between the intentions of the 2012 Olympic Games legacy expectations and the actual results that have been achieved from previous events, including those held within the UK and in other international locations. 3.  Discussion of research findings In all events apart from the London 2012 the research conducted for this study has included the examination of the legacy claimed to result from hosting special events by the organisers and the findings from subsequent research and reviews conducted by various academic and tourism stakeholders. For ease of reference this section of the research has been divided into relevant segments. The findings of the research are presented within the first three segments and these are followed by a discussion, analysis and evaluation of these findings that will provide a conclusion to the research question. 3.1.  London 2012 Olympic Games legacy In their official legacy for the games, the London 2012 Olympic organisers have highlighted several benefits that they expect to result from hosting the games. In relation to the tourism sector, these can be identified in the following six key areas according to the LOCOG (2007), all of which are considered to have longer term benefits that will accrue to the hospitality and tourism sectors. Accommodation Included within the infrastructure costs of the games is the construction of an additional 15,000 hotel rooms, increasing current accommodation in the London area by around 15%. Employment It is anticipated that the event will require a significant increase in the numbers of persons employed within the tourism sector. This increase is expected to occur across a range of areas including hotels, restaurants and bars and other destination and attraction facilities. Numbers of tourists With 9 million tickets being printed for the games, added to the participating teams, their support staff and the international media attendance, it is expected that in excess of 10 million tourists will be attracted to London during the course of the event. Sporting facilities Of the sporting facilities being built for the games five of these will be made available for tourism, sporting and leisure use post the games themselves. Infrastructure Improvements are being made to transportation links and a regeneration programme for areas of London will be taking place, thus making these places more attractive to tourists. Destinations and attractions The creation of a new Olympic Park, which in addition to recreational facilities will have areas dedicated to the creation of natural wildlife habitats, is designed to add to the attraction of London as a tourist destination. 3.2.  Findings of anticipated tourism benefits of the 2012 Olympic Games Several studies have been commissioned and conducted in an attempt to evaluate and predict the economic benefit that will result from London’s hosting of the Olympic Games. Having considered these studies, it has been decided that those most appropriate to this study are the study conducted by Oxford Economics (2007) and Blake (2005). In both cases the central determinates of expectations have been used. The findings of the Oxford Economics (2007) study were based upon a comparison of the results studied from fifteen previous events of the same nature. The results suggested that the net tourism gain in financial terms during the years from 2007- 2017 will be  £2.09 billion, of which  £1.47 (70.33%) will be directly attributable to London. In analysing this result, the following can be drawn from these figures when compared between the pre-games; event and post event periods (figure 1). Figure 1 Tourism financial benefits Benefit Pre-Games Games Post games London Percentage 17% 35% 48% UK Percentage 15% 31% 54% London Fiscal  £249.9 million  £514.5 million  £ 705.6 million RUK Fiscal  £ 63.6 million  £133.4 million  £ 423.0 million UK fiscal  £313.5 million  £647.9 million  £1128.6 million Data source: Oxford Economics (2007) These results are largely supported by the research conducted by Adam Blake (2005) who, by using a combination of prediction methods, also agrees that although there is a small rise in pre-games spending the major benefits are attributable to the year of the event and the subsequent period. However, in addition to the financial statistics Blake’s research also provides statistical information in respect of the three main issues being studied within this paper. For example, in terms of the increase in tourist numbers because of the event it is anticipated within this research that the following changes in percentage terms would be achieved (figure 2) over and above the anticipated growth in this area. With regard to the increased numbers of full time employment position created, Blake (2005) also anticipates that this will increase because of the games, particularly within the following areas (see figure 3). Figure 3 increase in FTE Sector 2005-2011 Pre-Games 2012 Games 2013-2016 Post games Sports Facilities -302 4,361 708 Hotels 2,554 1,686 2,972 Bars 2,094 952 2,359 Land Transport 292 3,057 -701 Air Transport 661 191 745 Visitor attractions -11 1,062 -40 Therefore, it is concluded by both of the studies examined that the hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games by London will produce positive and lasting tourism benefits for both the city itself and the country as a whole. 3.3  Findings from previous similar events For comparison purposes, four previous events have been used within this research. These include three prior Olympic Games held in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) and the Commonwealth Games held in Manchester in 2002. To provide a detailed analysis of the tourism benefits in the case of the four the research has been concentrated upon analysing the statistical returns for the six years prior to the event, the year of the event and the four subsequent years. In terms of timescale this therefore will relate to the 12 year period being used for estimations by the researchers into the tourism benefits of the London Olympic Games event (Blake 2005) and therefore is anticipated to produce a reasonable set of comparatives. Atlanta 1996 The 1996 Olympic Games, hosted by Atlanta, also saw its financial cost rise from a budgeted $1.7 to over $2 billion, which equated to a 30% increase (Humphreys and Plummer 2003), much of which increase (70%) had to be funded from the public purse. Tourism numbers and their spending in Georgia during the year of the Atlanta Olympic Games increased by approximately $1.5 billion, achieving a record $14.7 billion in 1996, which was a considerable increase upon the previous seven years results. However, this revenue fell back in the following three years and only exceeded the 1996 record in 2000 when revenues reached $15.5 billion. Tourism numbers for the state of Georgia also increased during 1996 and 1997 as a direct result of the games. In the subsequent years however, as Engle (1999) research indicated, this did not resolve itself into longer term benefits, due partly to the fact that the city of Atlanta lost a considerable amount of business convention tourism. This has affected hotel occupancy post the games event, which has remained static at 64% throughout the twelve year period. In terms of the tourism benefit for employment, the result in this case was that in the 77,000 additional jobs anticipated were created as estimated by the year of the games. However, a considerable percentage of these were short-term positions and less than half that number remained long-term (Engle 1999). Nevertheless, this does show a positive benefit to the community. Sydney 2000 In real terms the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 cost twice as much as its predecessor, with even the estimated budget of $4 billion (Madden 2002, p.9) being exceeded when the actual costs were computed. The tourism benefits relating to the numbers of tourists and their spending in this instance can only be identified for Australia as a whole[3]. These show that the numbers of tourists grew from just under 5.8 million in 1994 to 8.672 million in the year 2000, an increase of 47.33% during the period, nearly a quarter of which was achieved in the year of the games being staged. In the four years subsequent to this time there has been a further increase in tourism of 14.24%. All of the increase was achieved in 2004 following three years that showed a total drop of 2.39%. However, in terms of revenue impact, the statistics show that tourism spends has fallen in the twelve year period by around 2%. These results have been reflected in the rate of growth of hotel occupancy, which has seen a similar pattern of growth during the period under review (Arthur Andersen 2000). However, one are of concern relative to potential tourism benefits from the Sydney games is the poor performance of employment. Despite a rapid growth in this area in the years leading up to the games, post the event there has been a sharp reversal of this trend (figure 4), with the New South Wales showing the sharpest fall. Two other issues that have detracted from the tourism benefits of the Sydney 2000 games include the fact that the city has still not managed to make some of the facilities pay for themselves, which has left the authorities with a bill of around $46 million per annum (Owen 2005). Secondly, although during the year of the games tourism spend increased in the areas and for the businesses located close to the facilities, those not within the immediate vicinity suffered a loss in revenues during 2000 (Owen 2005). These costs are seldom accounted for by bid organisers and promoters but they do have an impact of the profitability levels for the tourism and hospitality sectors. These results show that the legacy of the Sydney games has been mixed in terms of the subsequent tourism benefits that it has brought to the city and the country. Athens 2004 The cost of the Athens Olympic Games again doubled against the previous games (Associated Press 2004). However, in this case there was a mitigating circumstances as these were the first games to be held post the 9/11 event, which led to additional security costs totalling $1.5 billion, a factor that is becoming increasingly important at events of this nature ((Baade and Matheson. 2002a, p.5). Athens has seen mixed results in terms of the tourism benefits culminating from the games. In terms of the tourism numbers in the year subsequent to the games this showed a rise of 10%. (Hubbard 2005). However, other subsequent reports reveal that the facilities constructed for the games have not been made full use of in the past four years (Hersh 2008), leaving the country’s tourism sector in a position where it has not capitalised upon the impact of the event. Nevertheless, in terms of the revenue received from tourism in Greece, in the four years from 2000 to 2004, this rose from $17.7 billion to $29.6 billion, an increase of over 67% for the period. This has resulted in an increase in hotel occupancy during the same period. However, like other of the case study cities, there has not been a marked improvement in the levels of employment in the tourism industry experienced since 2000. Therefore, it would appear that some of the tourism benefits from the Athens Olympics have centred solely on the year of the event whilst others have had an extended lifespan. Manchester 2002 The last major international sporting event to be held in the UK was the Commonwealth games in Manchester in 2002. In regards to cost the budget and eventual cost of this event was insignificant when compared with the Olympic Games but, at around  £80 million it is still an investment that is expected to produce a positive return in relation to tourism benefits for the area. The Manchester Commonwealth Games legacy programme anticipated that the games would produce the following benefits for tourism in the area (Ecotec 2007): 300,000 new visitors a year spending  £18 million in the local economy Increase in mid-range hotel accommodation 6,400 new jobs According to recent reports (Ottewell 2006) tourism in Manchester has seen a significant growth in the past eight years, which reflects the benefit that hosting the Commonwealth Games has brought to the area. Visitor numbers have risen from 79 million to 94 million between 2000 and 2005 and tourism spend has seen a growth to a level of  £3.92 billion ( £3.05 billion in 2000). Furthermore, in terms of tourism related employment, this figure has also risen to 59,046 in 2005 (51,704 in 2000), an increase of 7,342. When these figures are compared with the estimates that were produced as part of the original bid calculations it is apparent that in all areas the expectations have been exceeded. This shows that the city has certainly benefitted from the legacy programme that used a considerable element of the capital budget set aside for the games has had the desired effect and produced the required returns (Eurotec 2007). The positive result achieved in this instance is further evidenced by a statement given by one of the games organisers in 2007. â€Å"We estimated that  £22m in business benefits across the northwest derived from the Games at the time,† says Rosin. â€Å"There was  £2.7m added value for every  £1m invested. There has been investment in the financial sectors, in the city centre and in particular in east Manchester. Associated retail development and the creation of employment for local people in this area can be directly attributed to the Commonwealth Games† (Editorial (2007). These results have occurred despite the fact that in other areas of the economy, including the GDP, Manchester has seen less of an improvement (Ecotec 2007). 3.4.  Discussion Perhaps the most important aspect of the findings to note is that, from the time of the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, the cost of hosting this four year event has escalated at an ever increasing rate. In fact, as the following graph shows (figure 4) the capital investment has doubled on every occasion, including the latest event in Bejjing in 2008. Despite the fact that in most cases a proportion of the costs can be defrayed as a result of sales of media coverage and sponsorship, valued at in excess of $1 billion per event (CBS 1988), this cost escalation does mean that the expectation in regards to the return achieved on this investment has also risen. In other words the benefits, including those enjoyed by the tourism sector, need to have shown significant improvements. However, if the cost of the London Olympic Games in 2012 does not escalate from its current costs of around  £9 billion, it will not only be the first time the games cost have reduced since 1996 but also its return expectations will be lower. Nevertheless, when the expectations of the LOCOG (2007) and other researchers (Blake 2005) are considered against the actual results that have attached to the three previous Olympic Games events being used as comparisons, it is apparent that there are concerns that the London organisers need to consider. In particular, two issues seem to be a recurring problem during the years following the games. The first of these is the use and capitalisation of the sporting venues. In the cases of both Sydney and Athens these have proved difficult to make economically viable post the event. The second issue is tourism employment. In all three Olympic Games case studies, this area of benefits does not seem to have continued to any great extent post the games. However, the result of the Manchester experience has shown that there can be tourism benefits in all of the major areas that have formed the focus of this study. In this city tourism numbers, tourist spend, hotel occupancy and employment have all seen continued growth both at the time of the Commonwealth Games and during the subsequent three years. One of the major differences between this case and the others is that a considerable amount of the investment raised for the games was directed into a definitive legacy programme, which was treated as a separate project and aimed to be an ongoing process rather than culminating in 2002. 3.5.  Summary and evaluation One of the difficulties of evaluating a research issue of this nature is that it is impossible to perform an exact comparison as each event takes place during a different chronological period. For example, an issue that can be said to significant alter the results would be the economic position of the country and other countries during the timescale being evaluated. Furthermore, the detailed statistics in each case is kept in a differing format which adds to the analytical difficulties. However, by accessing and comparing the information relating to each case study from a range of previous researches it is considered that the information and findings presented have been able to be appropriately verified and can therefore be considered reliable. Therefore, although studies by other researchers (Baade, Robert A. Victor Matheson. (2002) and Gratton and Henry (2001)) have indicated that the Games have not impacted upon following years GDP as a whole, it is considered that this has been due to other economic factors and not relevant to the benefits or otherwise of tourism. 4.  Conclusion and recommendations The research question set at the commencement of this research sought to determine: Whether the hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games in London will provide the City and the UK tourism industry with potential benefits both during and post the event. Despite the limitations of the research conducted for this paper, this being restricted to five sporting events that have occurred within the past twelve years, it is considered that, with certain provisions, the response to this question is that the hosting of the 2012 Olympic games can produce potential tourism benefits for London and UK both during and in the years following the event. Whilst the comment of Baade and Matheson (2002, p.98) that the evidence suggests that the economic impact of the Olympics is transitory, onetime changes rather than a steady-state change, is concurred with to a certain extent, it must be tempered with the fact that in certain areas of tourism benefits have been achieved. The poor results they refer to is more due to lack of planning and management by the organisers rather than any external forces or influences. In this respect therefore, it is important to provide the following recommendations to the organisers of the London Olympic Games that should be considered if they wish to achieve a successful and sustainable outcome for the tourism industry. 4.1.  Recommendations In essence recommendations being made can be determined within two main areas, these being related to the planning and execution stages. Planning An essential element of the planning for Olympic Games events is to take notice of the research that has been conducted For example, in this instance the research conducted into the three games that have been used as case studies within this research have all identified areas where improvements might have been made, both at the planning stage and subsequently. Furthermore, research into the Manchester sporting event has shown the benefit of have an identifiable and robust legacy programme which, to a certain extent, should operate independently of the event itself and continue into following years. This position has provided dividends for the Manchester tourism industry that have surpassed the expectations. Execution Secondly, the execution of the legacy strategy is important. All aspects of the post event period have to be meticulously planned and implemented within the required timescale, which as the Greek tourism minister indicated, includes the immediate six or seven months post the games (Hersh 2008), as this is a critical time to build foundations for future success. 4.2.  Summary If the London organisers learn from the lessons of past events and particularly take on board the successes that have been achieved in Manchester, there is no reason why the games should not produce a series of lasting benefits for the London and UK tourism sectors. References Arthur Andersen (2000) â€Å"The Sydney Olympic Performance Survey: The Sydney Olympic Games on the Australian Hotel Industry,† Mimeograph, November 2000, pp.1-7. Associated Press (2004). Games cost Athens over $8.5 Billion. Available from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5761646/ (Accessed 23 December 2008) Baade, Robert A. Victor Matheson. (2002). Bidding for the Olympics: Fools Gold? In Transatlantic Sport, edited by Barros, Ibrahim, and Szymanski. Edward Elgar Publishing. New York, US. Baade, Robert A. Victor Matheson. (2002a). Mega-Sporting Events in Dveloping Nations: Playing the Way to Prosperity. Available from: http://www.williams.edu/Economics/wp/mathesonprosperity.pdf (Accessed 23 December 2008) BBC News (2005). London plan at a glance. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/london_2012/4025027.stm (Accessed 22 December 2008) Blake, A (2005). The Economic Impact of the London 2012 Olympics. Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham, UK CBS (1998). Television, sponsorship revenue could top $800 million. CBS Sportsline wire reports. Available from: http://cbs.sportsline.com/u/olympics/nagano98/news/feb98/revenue2398.htm (Accessed 24 December 2008) Ecotec (2007) An Evaluation of the Commonwealth Games Legacy Programme. Available from: http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/Evaluation_of_Commonwealth_Games_Legacy_programme.pdf (Accessed 23 December 2008) Engle. S.M (1999). The Olympic Legacy in Atlanta. University of New South Wales Law Journal. Vol. 38 Fizel, John., Gustafson, Elizabeth and Hadley, Lawrence (1999). Sports Economics: Current Research. Praeger Publishers. Westport, US. Fort, Rodney D and Fizel, John (2004). International Sports Economics. Praeger Publishers. Westport, US. Hersh, P (2008). Athens post-Olympic Legacy: Empty spaces, unsightly venues, uncertain tomorrow. Chicargo Tribune, Chicago, US Hubbard, A (2005). Olympic Games: Athens’ legacy bigger than the pounds 7 billion bill. The Independent, London, UK Gratton, Chris and Henry, Ian (2001) Sport in the City: The Role of Sport in Economic and Social Regeneration. Routledge. London, UK Humphreys, Jeffrey L and Plummer, Michael K (2003). The economic impact of hosting the 1996 summer Olympics. Available from: http://www.selig.uga.edu/forecast/olympics/OLYMTEXT.HTM (Accessed 22 December 2008) Humphreys, Jeffrey M. and Michael K. Plummer (1995). The Economic Impact of Hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics. Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Atlanta, US. LOCOG (2007). UK Olympics: Our plans. London 2012. Available from: http://www.london2012.com/plans/index.php (Accessed 28 December 2008) Madden, John R

The Spanish Influenza Epidemic :: Journalism Epidemics Health Essays

The Spanish Influenza Epidemic Los Angeles, October 28--The effects of the Spanish influenza outbreak from its date of original contamination, September 13(1), to now have been widespread and horrific. With more than 4500 new cases being reported today, the total for California is now above 60,000.(7) Not even two days prior to this printing, San Francisco witnessed its worst day, with over 2000 new cases reported accompanied by 96 deaths.(6) The once thought of "army epidemic" now has a firm grip on civilian life. Following a trend set by many East coast cities over a month ago, many public facilities remain closed. Operational theaters and moving picture shows are now quite difficult to find, public schools are said to remain closed until at least November 6, and the City of Los Angeles' Liberty Fair has be postponed indefinitely.(5) Many churches have had to stop congregations and Sunday schools, and generally any unnecessary places of public gatherings have been shut down. Earlier this month the Balloon School in Arcadia tried taking preventative measures by enacting a quarantine of its students to the surrounding cities where no cases of influenza were reported.(3) The ban was lifted on October 5, with the school remaining clear of the epidemic. Employment has been an issue for not only citizens but employers. Many workers are unable to continue duty, while the unemployed are not being hired for fear of contamination. Only two weeks ago a call for civil service workers from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. was halted until the epidemic calms down, not only hurting civilians looking for work but also impairing the United States military machine in its effort to win the war. The specific agent responsible for this outbreak is still unknown, but the symptoms seem to be clear. As quoted from Surgeon General Blue, "The disease has a sudden onset ... people are stricken on the streets, while at work in factories, shipyards, offices, and elsewhere." He continues, saying "First there is a chill, then fever with temperature from 101 to 103, headache, backache, reddening and running of the eyes, pains and aches all over the body, and general prostration." It is commonly suggested that if feeling these symptoms, one should quickly get into bed and isolate oneself, then call a physician. Common advice to prevent infection from this malady has been to stay active, eat well, sleep well, and spend as much time in open spaces as possible as to have the most amount of fresh air around. The Spanish Influenza Epidemic :: Journalism Epidemics Health Essays The Spanish Influenza Epidemic Los Angeles, October 28--The effects of the Spanish influenza outbreak from its date of original contamination, September 13(1), to now have been widespread and horrific. With more than 4500 new cases being reported today, the total for California is now above 60,000.(7) Not even two days prior to this printing, San Francisco witnessed its worst day, with over 2000 new cases reported accompanied by 96 deaths.(6) The once thought of "army epidemic" now has a firm grip on civilian life. Following a trend set by many East coast cities over a month ago, many public facilities remain closed. Operational theaters and moving picture shows are now quite difficult to find, public schools are said to remain closed until at least November 6, and the City of Los Angeles' Liberty Fair has be postponed indefinitely.(5) Many churches have had to stop congregations and Sunday schools, and generally any unnecessary places of public gatherings have been shut down. Earlier this month the Balloon School in Arcadia tried taking preventative measures by enacting a quarantine of its students to the surrounding cities where no cases of influenza were reported.(3) The ban was lifted on October 5, with the school remaining clear of the epidemic. Employment has been an issue for not only citizens but employers. Many workers are unable to continue duty, while the unemployed are not being hired for fear of contamination. Only two weeks ago a call for civil service workers from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. was halted until the epidemic calms down, not only hurting civilians looking for work but also impairing the United States military machine in its effort to win the war. The specific agent responsible for this outbreak is still unknown, but the symptoms seem to be clear. As quoted from Surgeon General Blue, "The disease has a sudden onset ... people are stricken on the streets, while at work in factories, shipyards, offices, and elsewhere." He continues, saying "First there is a chill, then fever with temperature from 101 to 103, headache, backache, reddening and running of the eyes, pains and aches all over the body, and general prostration." It is commonly suggested that if feeling these symptoms, one should quickly get into bed and isolate oneself, then call a physician. Common advice to prevent infection from this malady has been to stay active, eat well, sleep well, and spend as much time in open spaces as possible as to have the most amount of fresh air around.

Foreign Language Instruction Should Begin in Kindergarten Essay

           A foreign language is a language spoken in another country and is indigenous to that country. In many nations around the word there has been interest to initiate foreign language in Kindergarten before the kids joins primary school (Hawkings,1996).From the past experiences, there has always been frequently asked question whether the foreign language should start to be taught in the kindergarten, the level at which the kids are five to six years of age .This from concern that that foreign class is most boring ,the kids don’t posses good conversation skills, vocabulary needed is to learn the nuances of a foreign language and that the language requires higher comprehension which is difficult for the kids at this stage . Since there is need to teach the foreign language for we need help and social interaction from other nations and for other benefits from international relation, the question cannot be assumed. I strongly agree it should start at this level for f our major reasons, first, their brain at this level has a greater capacity to absorb information, second, the world is getting more diverse and there is need for children to interact from different ethnicities, third, for education advancement, and lastly, its one factor for the professional and intellectual development.             According to satchwell, (2004) the children at this stage learn more quickly as compared to the older children. At the stage they are able to grasp new and basic information fast as compared to children in other levels especially high school who struggle much to grasp the structure of any new language. A good explanation to the fact is computer, which when used at first time runs very fast but slows down gradually with time. The kids are also so much susceptible to new information and develop interest to know more about it. This is same case when taught foreign language .They will became more curious about outer world culture and habits differing from them .It’s interesting to hear them go home and tell their parents what new they have learnt and consequently this increases their level of comprehension             On intellectual degree and professional scale, recent studies done, learning a new language can helps children develop their intelligence. This is because the process of reading, listening, writing and speaking abroad languages helps kids naturally develop the ability of coding and decoding process. Consequently, there is more links between neurons which are determining aspect of intelligence. Furthermore, in early ages, kids mind is like sponge which gets vocabulary quicker and more simply, naturally than that of older children. Therefore, when kids are taught foreign languages at earlier stages, they understand it deeper; learn faster, and the better they became (chambers, 2000)             On the other hand, on professional scale, studying foreign languages in kindergarten, kids are more probably to â€Å"leg up† over further in the profession market. This from fact that the world is also becoming so much diverse and the foreign language taught at this stage will enable the children to access the same opportunities with those that are of other countries or rather we can precisely say, the more young wait for the higher level the more they shall wait or even lack access to these opportunities. The benefit they gain is not just about their understanding concerning the foreign language, but latter in their studies also about the way of living of the nations speaking those languages. Clearly, the exact for bilingual, multilingual professional is advancing higher and higher for the reason of the expansion of globalization (Gil and alabau, 2006).               For academic advancements, young kids studying foreign language usually have good attention skills to select and maintain focus as compared to other children in older stage who only understands one language; they also develop proficiency in the level of language in reading, writing and speaking. Indeed according to the research done by Cornell Language Acquisition La (1962) it shows that elementary school starters are 70 per cent more likely to reach an intermediate level of communication; therefore exposure to secondary language in early ages plays important key role in academic success.             As if not sufficient argument to convince the opponents,Nitowski gives us the experience where she says that since she opened school in Danbury and started training that incorporated Foreign language in her Helena Nitowski kindergarten ,for the past fifteen years, it has proved to be integral component in producing productive member to the global society,. From Nitowski, Katz is so much exited that she even says, â€Å"To young children, instructing on foreign language is like wiring the brain in different ways.† The work of Nitowski never ended there, for latest seven years all the kids in Danbury have to attend fifth-grade (western Connecticut Academy) to study world culture and their language where they are basically taught in Spanish (Nikolov,M, 2009).                According to Ellis and Mark (2005), some children do not make connection between the two languages due to lack of awareness and understanding of them. They argue that, Foreign languages taught in Kindergarten do not stick to the children for more than a year. According to Mark, many people do not remember any foreign language words they learnt. He states, â€Å"Kindergarteners learn the same phrases, yet they do not remember.† That shows that they cannot retain as much information as my opponent states. â€Å"He goes ahead by saying that currently, elementary schools teach a different language every year and this does not help the children. Moreover, they become increasing confused with each coming year of elementary schools. I would like to strongly oppose the idea for, it’s all about which level to initiate and once started in Kindergarten, it should be continuous to the other levels.               From above arguments, these instructions in Kindergarten are much important for any nation. Though there has aroused concern from the current research done by National defense education (2003), More money has been used in schools to purchase equipments, materials, and other items. All this have been used to implement the instructional of foreign languages in Kindergarten, the major problem that exists is in determining which foreign language should be taught, for example, in New Orleans, French language is more of important to students.               To conclusion, the profession development, intellectual development and higher comprehensive power in kids should motivate the educators as well as the entire nations in educating kid’s foreign language in their early ages. Though implementing this at the stage when they are beginning to learn the very first instruction in life may look sensitive. Still, training foreign languages to kids in kindergarten is awarding. References Nikolov, M. (2009).  Early learning of modern foreign languages: Processes and outcomes. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Issues in Bilingual Education. (2001). S.l: Branden Pub MunÃŒÆ'oz, C. (2006).  Age and the rate of foreign language learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Watzke, J. L. (2003).  Lasting change in foreign language education: A historical case for change in national policy. Westport, Conn: Praeger Source document

Negative Effects of Technology on Human Life

Negative effects of technology Improvements in the technology have antagonistic effects on the human life along with the positive effects. The growth of the technology leads to very severe problems like pollution, unemployment, effects social life of the humans etc.. First of all, the most serious problem is pollution, which is created by the technological inventions like vehicles, industries, etc.. Now-a-days the vehicles like cars, bikes are increasing which is leading to increase in pollution. The other problem is radiation caused by the increase in the mobile phones.Secondly, in most of the developing countries like India the major problem is unemployment. This problem is mostly caused by the increase in the instruments, which are the results of improvement in the technology. Finally, in today’s world all the people are getting addicted to the internet like social sites, games and they also becoming victims of the google. For example, all the persons are getting involved i n the facebook and they are not at all bothering about the surrounding world, this may leading them away from the social life and sometimes it also creates problems in the families.The other example, everyone in this world is depending on google for each and everything and they are not at all referring to the books. However, most of the people say that improvements in technology like software solutions creates employment, but that is not true because the employment created by the software field is less than the employments which is decreased by the instruments in industries. In conclusion, the negative effects of the technology is higher than the advantages from the improvements in technology.