Thursday, January 30, 2020

Growing Acme Fireworks Essay Example for Free

Growing Acme Fireworks Essay There is much to consider when expanding a business. How will you make, market, and distribute your product. Are you willing to take full liability for your product and understanding the legalities of what happens if your product is defective? Once that has been established, it’s important to make sure that your business dealings are in order. The strength of the contract and what all it entails. Knowing that the legal document is important more so when things tend to go downhill. Above all is deciding which type of business entity the company will select especially if the company starts out small and looks to expand. Which entity will best serve the growth of the company such as Acme Fireworks? Some years ago I watched a movie called fight club. The movie dealt with a ton of social issues. One of the characters worked for a car company that would fly out their employers out to the areas where there were car accidents. They worked almost as an insurance adjuster that would come and appraise a vehicle once it has been in a wreck and determine, based on the damages how much they would award the car owner. However in the case here the employees would view accidents all over the country and decide if it would cost more to recall the product or pay the total fee for the said accident. If the cost was too much to do a recall then the company would take responsibility for the accident if a law suit is brought forth, however if it is cheaper to recall then the necessary actions would be taken to recall the malfunctioned part. Knowing this it is important that we label the products and its proper uses so if there is an issue then it can be said that the manufacture warned the consumer. In this way, any injury would not be the fault of Acme Fireworks, but the consumer. Just as the example with the cars above, if someone lights a firecracker in a closet and the firecracker goes off and injures the person then the company is not liable being that it is neglect  on the part of the consumer (Rogers, 2012). Now if the same individual uses the firework outside in an open area as is stated on the label and they light the firecracker and it goes off in their hand as soon as the fuse is lit, then that is negligence on behalf of Acme. It must be understood that regardless of the product used, all products have the potential to cause consumer harm (Anthony, 1995). So that is why it is important to make sure everything from the development of the fireworks to the warning labels have been gone over to make sure that the product is not faulty. If a fuse is too short in a product or if the material used to cause the firecracker to explode is too much then that is a defectively manufactured product. Another issue could also be the type of firework that is made. Let’s say for instance that one of the products has the tendency to go off in extreme temperatures and is purchased and placed in areas of storage when the temperatures extreme then that is negligence on the consumer, however if the consumer was not made aware of this by the manufacture then the liability falls to the company. I recall about three years ago when I was in a car accident. Our brakes that we had from the car company had been recalled. We were sent notices in the mail, phone, and email about the recall and were told to bring our vehicle in to make sure the brakes were not faulty and if they were they could be fixed free of charge. The deadline came and went a after it expired I was in a car wreck. I was making a turn in the rain and slammed my brakes and they were locked. I had the repair work done on the vehicle and was told that the brakes were faulty. I informed the dealership of the issue and was told that the company was no longer liable because the deadline had passed. I was outraged and wanted to file a lawsuit against the company, however there are deadlines and limitations to when a suit can be filed and in the state of Georgia, you have up to a year to file such claim. I missed it by 3 months and was unable to file suit against the manufacturer (Day, 2014). Another import issues are the contracts. There are 5 basic elements to a contract: Offer, acceptance, Consideration, Legality and Capacity (Rogers, 2012). Other retailers stated to the owner of Acme Fireworks that they wanted a certain amount of orders filled on a regular bases for an undisclosed time frame and a price was agreed upon, this is the acceptance and offer portion of the contract. The offeror, which in this case are the large retailers, makes an offer which once accepted by  Acme Fireworks, creates a binding contract. Acceptance must be in some way agreed b y all participants; it may be verbal, symbolical, oral or written. The came from the retailers, they had a want from Acme to manufacture a product for them at a certain cost (Stim, 2010). Consideration is another element of a contract and what consideration brings to the table ask the whys and what’s: Why are we entering the contract and are you receiving? In this case Acme gets more money by being able to produce its products and grow their brand and the other retailers receive fireworks from Acme. However in this instance the owner of Acme may have taken on a task bigger than himself. This is a company with only 15 workers and to fill the orders with the new retailers, more employees need to be hired. Not only do they need to be hired, but they need to be trained as well. This must be done while filling out the orders. Here there is not much consideration given by the owner. How many employees do we need, how much will the work flow increase, and how long will we have a contract with the other retailers. No time period was given for the contract. Will this just be one order or is this something that will go on annually. What happen if the orders are not filled on a timely manner is the contract then void? Another question to ask is the capacity and legality of a contract. Capacity to contract means the legal competence of a person to enter into a valid contract. Usually the capacity to contract refers to the capacity to enter into a legal agreement and the competence to perfor m some act. The basic element to enter into a valid contract is that s/he much has a sound mind. Recently there was an issue with an owner of the L.A. Clippers making comments about minorities. The group of owners in the league wanted him to sell his team. He didn’t want to sell and wanted to fight it, however it came out that he does not have the mental faculties to run the organization or make business decision so that responsibility was given to his wife. It came out that he has dementia, but he is fighting this claim as well. Once it is established if he can mentally make these decisions then the wife will not be able to go into discussions to purchase the franchise legally. Acme has 15 full time employees as it stands now. This is without the orders for the new retailers. What we know is that the owner guaranteed that we can take on more business, not considering the staff that we currently have. For the orders to be filled we would have to take on more labor force. Before this  can be done we have to first consider what we have now. We currently have 15 people employed by Acme, to fill the new orders; do we take on double or triple the size? If we do take on more people, would it be something on permanent or temporary ba ses? Employment is very important when business is involved. There are many things to consider when a workforce is involved. When it comes with dealing with explosives it is important that we consider finding individuals who have experience with working with explosives and are well trained as well. This will cost more money for the company when it comes to hiring individuals that are trained to handle explosives. So these can’t be regular workers that one can find at a temp agency. However, we do not know how long to hire these individuals because there is no clarity as to the length of the contract, so the types of workers that we would have to hire would have to come through labor force agencies (Smith, V., Neuwirth, E.B., 2009). The great thing about a temp agency is the large pool of people that they have to choose from. There are times when many corporations view temp agency workers as people who are unskilled, however with the types of agencies that are around today, they can find highly skilled individuals that many companies wo uld be hard pressed to do, being that they would have to exhaust many resources to do so. It has to be understood that this business started out of a garage a couple years ago and is now grown into a company that employees 15 people on staff. Now with the new revenue that will come into the company, Acme Fireworks will have to expand. Acme is a sole proprietorship owned by one individual. This is the simplest organization structure to have. There is less paperwork as well as the tax implications. If there is a loss for that year you can use this loss to offset your other income on your personal return (Fishman, 2014). Though operating as a sole proprietorship is easier, it can also have some setbacks as well. The main problem is that there’s no separation between the individual and the business with the sole proprietorship. That means that if something should happen in the business, like taking on huge contracts with no clear time line and limited planning and staff, you’d be personally liable. For example, if Acme Fireworks business is ever sued or runs int o financial trouble, the owner would be personally on the hook and creditors and lawsuits can come after your  personal assets. That is an issue because if the company profits go to offset the debt, there is little to no money to run the company properly, expand, or take care of the employees. This is just one of the many things to consider when changing your business entity as well as deciding on what is best for the company as a whole. Acme Fireworks started out of a garage, like most businesses it is difficult to raise capital or arranging long term financing because of fewer assets. Also there is one voice and one view which can scare big business opportunities away. This is why a Sole Proprietorship for the future of Acme Fireworks would not be feasible. Being in this type of entity makes it hard to expand. To grow and expand a company needs a formal business structure. So the choice is which entity to choose? With such an undertaking in such a short time, the risk would cause a sole owner to want to form an LLC or incorporate his or her business. In the case of Acme Fireworks, it would be best to change the business entity to a corporation. With the promise of product to these new large retailers, Acme Fireworks would need more capital to grow the business as well as purchase the necessary material to make sure the new orders are able to fill as well as fulfilling previous obligations to the other retailers that we have business with. Choosing this entity protects the owner from legal liability, gives the ability to attract more investors through stocks, and has more structure where there is not just one voice for the business. The juxtaposition to this is the tax liability and the time and how much it cost to incorporate, unlike a sole proprietorship, incorporating a business takes much more paperwork, as well as fee’s that need to be paid to the state the business is in. One of the silver linings for the employees is that even if something happens to the owner, or if he or she retires, the corporation will still be i n tact unlike sole proprietorships. There are many things to consider when it comes to running a company, expanding it, and watching it flourish. There are many businesses that started out in a small garage, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, even men like John D. Rockefeller. However, growth cannot take place without determination and risk. The best way to make sure that your ready to expand is to be sure where you want to take the company and have a sound plan as to the steps one will take to get there. Once you have a vision and financial backing the  next step is to decide which type of business entity you want to be. There are many entities to choose from and no one is greater than the next. It’s all about how you want to mold and model your business. Reference: Anthony, S. (1995). Warning: marketers must do better with product warnings. Marketing News, (13). 4. DAY, J. A. (2014). Protecting Yourself from Statutes of Repose. Tennessee Bar Journal, 50(1), 33-34. Fishman, S. (2014). CHAPTER 2: Choosing the Legal Form for Your Business. In , Working for Yourself (pp. 15-54). Nolo. Smith, V., Neuwirth, E. B. (2009). Temporary Help Agencies and the Making of a New Employment Practice. Academy Of Management Perspectives, 23(1), 56-72. doi:10.5465/AMP.2009.37008003

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

The History of Feminine Fiction:Exploring Laura Runge’s Article, Gender

The History of Feminine Fiction:Exploring Laura Runge’s Article, Gendered Strategies in the Criticism of Early Fiction Laura Runge is an assistant professor of English at the University of South Florida. In her article, "Gendered Strategies in the Criticism of Early Fiction," Runge argues that, during the eighteenth century, the overdetermined gendered association between the female reader and the female writer excluded the female novelist from literary excellence and ultimately led to the inferior status of fictional writing. While the novel became recognized as a feminine genre, criticism ignored the achievement of female authors and became overtly masculine. In defining literary achievement by male standards, criticism reinforced the subordinate role of women in both the British culture and literature. Runge says it is the gendered literary hierarchy, established in the criticism of the eighteenth century, that makes it difficult to evaluate the history of the entire novel. As the social and economic conditions of eighteenth century Britain shifted from a family based system to one dependent on industry, women were no longer valuable as workers. This transition allowed for the developing reading habits of the middleclass woman as they were left with more free time. However, the cultural definition of females compromised the feminized genre. As women were defined as subordinate to men, their literature was reduced by critics to "bad-fiction." One critic wrote, "So long at the British ladies continue to encourage our hackney scribblers, by reading every romance that appears, we need not wonder that the press should swarm with such poor insignificant productions" (365). Despite the presumed inferiority of fiction, authors, ... ...bsequently, the only success females were acknowledged for or granted was as the provider of domestic morality. Gendered strategies, in the criticism of early fiction, made feminine fiction incapable of excellence. By using conventional heterosexual relationships in their prefaces, authors only succeed in supporting the masculine control over fiction. The appraisals women gained only reinforced their inferior status. "Criticism placed female authors in a specific and confined critical sphere, while it located male authors in an other, more respected field" (375). By aligning their works with popular male literature, women inadvertently strengthened male authority. Women were only granted recognition in terms of their limited social stature. It is these gendered values and strategies that makes the history of the novel and feminine achievement difficult to assess.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Educational Mobility Essay

The journal article is basically a report on the first study to longitudinally examine educational mobility among nurses. The reason for the study is that schools of nursing cite a lack of qualified nursing faculty as a primary barrier to program expansion. The main objective of the study therefore is to identify patterns in how nurses’ entry-level degrees and other individual characteristics correlate with the timing and achievement of subsequent advanced nursing education. The researchers used longitudinal analysis of data gathered as part of North Carolina’s licensing renewal process. They studied the educational mobility of newly graduated RNs with a variety of entry degrees in this state. They followed cohorts of new graduates who were licensed in 1984, 1994 and a special group in 2004, which is basically a longitudinal study of three decades. The results suggest among others that, more than 80% of all nurses in either cohort who attained a master’s degree in nursing or a doctorate in any field began their nursing career with a bachelor’s degree. Younger age at entry into nursing, male sex, and belonging to a racial or ethnic minority were associated with being more likely to pursue higher academic degrees. Based on their findings, they concluded that increasing the number of graduates with a bachelor of science in nursing degree, especially those who are men or members of a racial or ethnic minority will have the most immediate effect on increasing the potential nursing faculty pool. A Critique of the Research Process and Paper The hypothesis or research question was clearly articulated in the article when the authors introduced the issue of the lack of qualified faculty by schools of nursing as a primary barrier to program expansion. The researchers realized that an examination of the data could offer a much better understanding of how patterns in educational mobility have led to the current shortage, as well as some insight into how to address it. Since it was a longitudinal study of three decades, the literature review must not just be current, but also pertinent in order to address the research problem. In this study, the researchers used only two sources of data: cohort data from the North Carolina Center for Nursing database and data on national graduates from the National League for Nursing Division of Research: Nursing Data Book, 1984; Nursing Data Review, 1994; and Nursing Data Review, 2003. In terms of research design the researchers used longitudinal analysis (which is done over time) to explore patterns of educational mobility among RNs in North Carolina. In this type of research, longitudinal analysis is valuable and relevant because it profiles actual behavior and does not rely upon intentions or recall as in other types of conventional research such as cross-sectional research. However, as the authors admitted a disadvantage of this approach is that over time the nature of educational opportunity and access change so that what was true for nurses starting their career at a specific point in time may not be true for those starting in another time. In terms of selecting the sample and adequacy of the sample size, it was done in accordance to the sampling requirements of the longitudinal study. The first cohort initially consisted of all RNs who graduated from an entry-level program in North Carolina in 1983 or 1984 and were licensed in 1984. A second cohort initially consisted of all RNs who graduated from an entry-level program in North Carolina in 1993 or 1994 and were licensed in 1994. They also collected demographic data on a third cohort of 5,400 RNs who graduated from an entry-level program in 2003 or 2004 and were licensed in North Carolina in 2004. Using the database from the North Carolina Center for Nursing (NCCN) to get the raw data, the researchers were confident that as the first state agency dedicated to nurse workforce planning, the NCCN has 20 years of longitudinal data, including educational information, on the state’s nursing workforce. As far as ethical issues are concerned, there is no point or period in the study article that would suggest of any ethical issue raised by respondents. However, as longitudinal researches take a long time to finish, certain privacy may be raised by some respondents who do not want their past information to be dug up by researchers. For statistical analysis the researchers basically used descriptive statistics such as frequency, means, and certain non-parametric tests (chi-square) for testing significant differences between means computed from the data. Because of the relative characteristic of the statistical tests, the power of the non-parametric test is comparatively lower to that of parametric test. So it is difficult to determine why the authors decided to use non-parametric tests in this case. The findings of the authors do well in identifying the behavior and characteristics of nurses who will most likely fill the gap in terms of the shortage of qualified nursing faculty. Their data also suggests that the nursing shortage will not be remedied without having sufficient nursing faculty in place. While the number of RNs has increased in the past decade, their findings suggest that the demand for nursing faculty is not being met. This research is a longitudinal study only of a specific groups or groups of respondents. This study cannot be generalized and duplicated in other states or locale because of such study’s background. The presentation and style of presenting the research article to the average reader might be a bit overwhelming considering that, although a descriptive study, certain areas are complicated and have heavy technical descriptions. The figures such as charts, tables and graphs are also readable and accurate, albeit it takes time for an average reader to understand them. The articles is useful to nursing practice since it tries to address the issue of shortage of nurses due to the lack of qualified nursing faculty who hold master’s or doctorate degrees. The authors themselves tried to encourage all nurses to understand the value of an advanced formal education and the expectation to pursue it. The authors believe that the fastest way to increase the ranks of faculty nurses is to encourage more nurses to enter practice at the baccalaureate level as this academic route has been shown to make advancement for master’s and doctorate degrees more rapidly.

Monday, January 6, 2020

The Death Penalty Is Justified - 1534 Words

Capital punishment raises the very difficult question whether or not it is ethical to kill a convicted criminal. People who oppose the death penalty often argue mistaken identity and wrongful conviction. They argue that long-term imprisonment is the better course of action, because it allows for the possibility that if a mistake was made in the conviction of a suspect, they would be able to correct it without ending the life of an innocent person. They also state that the threat of the death penalty is not a deterrent and people will commit crimes regardless, as often, criminal behavior is committed with the sense that they will not get caught. People who support the death penalty often state that the death penalty is a deterrent, far more than just prison time. They also argue that the death penalty could actually save lives because when a death penalty is carried out, there could be fewer crimes committed in the future. Utilitarianism perspective: The greatest good for the greatest number Assuming for the moment that capital punishment does in fact deter future crimes, does that simple fact give us the right to kill another person? If you were to view this as the utilitarianism approach, then the answer would more than likely be yes, because leaving out any other variables, even though you are ending one life, you could potentially save even more lives. For utilitarian’s, punishment in general is justified only insofar as it creates a greater balance of happiness vs.Show MoreRelatedIs the Death Penalty Justified?1824 Words   |  8 PagesIs the Death Penalty Justified? Jessica Valentine PHI 103 Informal Logic Professor Stephen Carter March 20, 2012 Is the Death Penalty Justified? The death penalty will always be a topic some people refuse to talk about. When in fact, it is a very serious topic and people should know how and why the death penalty is not justified. 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