Best Quotes for Toasting Your Wedding Anniversary

Wedding anniversaries can be almost as important as weddings, particularly when the anniversary is a big one (10th, 20th, 25th, 50th, and so forth). Some anniversaries are celebrated with big parties, while others are small, private events. If youre half of a happy couple celebrating their anniversary or have been invited to give a  wedding anniversary toast to the wonderful companionship and undying love that a special couple shares, you may be stuck looking for the right words. Here are a few quotes that should help you create the perfect wedding anniversary toast that commemorates a perfect love. Quotes for Anniversary Toast Examples What can you say about your husband or wife that truly captures your feelings and their spirit? Luckily, some of the worlds great thinkers and writers have come up with just the right words. Emily Bronte Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. Mother Teresa I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. Somerset Maugham We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. Elizabeth Barrett Browning You were made perfectly to be loved — and surely I have loved you, in the idea of you, my whole life long. Julia Child The secret of a happy marriage is finding the right person. You know theyre right if you love to be with them all the time. Zane Grey Love grows more tremendously full, swift, poignant, as the years multiply. Quotes for Friends and Relatives Youve been invited to an anniversary event, and you want (or have been invited) to make a toast. Whats the right blend of humor and sincerity to celebrate someone elses love?  Here are ideas that run the gamut from snarky to sincere. Robert A. Heinlein May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live. ​H. L. Mencken Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward, and you will have the truth about him. Simone Signoret Chains do not hold a  marriage  together. It  is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. Doug Larson More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse. Rebecca Tilly The middle years of marriage are the most crucial. In the early years, spouses want each other and in late years, they need each other. R. H. Delaney Love builds bridges where there are none. Elben Bano Love that is true never grows old. Khalil Gibran It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.

Biogen Analysis - 7823 Words

Executive Summary Biogen is a global biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Biogen is engaged in the research and development of biopharmaceuticals for human health care. Its main product is Avonex, a drug for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. Eighty-two percent of its revenues in 2000 came from the sale of this sole product. Biogen is also involved in the research of drugs for psoriasis, Crohn s disease, congestive heart failure, and cancer. Biogen believes that its success is based on its employees, and its corporate culture reflects this belief. Its culture is embedded in its corporate values. These values consist of hiring the highest quality employees, flexibility in work, leadership, and†¦show more content†¦Some 10% of the pharmaceutical market value is now generated by sales of biologicals - such as vaccines, insulin, EPO (erythropoetin), blood clotting factors, interferons and other cytokines. It is estimated by some (notably Ernst and Young) that over 50% of drugs on the market will be biological within 20 years. Another economic characteristic within the industry is the high cost of equipment. Much of the scientific equipment has to be on the cutting edge, making it quite expensive. Many small biotechnology firms are now setting up exclusive production and marketing relationships with the bigger pharmaceutical companies in order to have access to the latest equipment along with research and development capital support. Pharmaceutical companies, which traditionally have focused on chemical approaches to treating disease, have become increasingly supportive of biotech RD in their own labs, in partnerships with biotech firms, and through acquisitions of biotech firms. Alliances in the biotech industry doubled to nearly 250 between 1998 and 2000. Biotechnology is definitely a growing field. 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Trends and Technologies in Banking for Behavioral Sciences

Question: Discuss about theTrends and Technologies in Banking for Behavioral Sciences. Answer: Introduction In the following report, two latest technology and trends in the banking environment have been highlighted. The first technology has been taken as digital banking. The second technology has been taken as cloud environment. The implication of these technologies in the banking environment has been analysed and discussed. The issues that are related with these technologies in the banking environment has been discussed and possible recommendations for each of the issues has been highlighted. Cloud computing has been a boon for the banks in the recent years as it has helped the financial institutions to increase their cost savings and focus on their business operations effectively. Digital banking has gained tractions in the recent years due to the rapid development of IT technologies and internet. Both of these technologies have tremendous capabilities to assist the banking environment ton gain a competitive edge. In the report, both of these technologies has been evaluated with their benefits as well as issues and the challenges they face in the current situation with respective to the banking environment. Discussion Introduction of Digital banking The main pillar of any financial system is the payment system. In 2016, the number of non-cash medium of transaction ranged over half a trillion dollars from all over the world. With digital banking, banking institutions can move their banking services over the internet. Several web based services and high automation levels are necessary to incorporate this service in the existing banking transaction methods. Digital banking helps individuals to access their banking data through ATM services, mobile devices and personal computers. This latest trend incorporates a front end which customers can see, a back end which can be accessed by the bankers and a middle ware which connects this two nodes. Digital banking can perform almost everything a traditional bank can do and has the same functions just like a normal bank such as online services, branch offices and bank cards (Raskin and Yermack 2016). With the rise in digital innovations and e commerce solutions, the adoption of digital banking has skyrocketed among the consumers. The increase in smartphones during late 2008 also contributed a lot in the proliferation of the technology. The implication of this technology in the banking environment showed that the banks which extensively incorporated digital banking had lower profit margins than the branching banks due to the trouble in deploying deposit funding, low revenues and higher labour costs. In contrast to this, banks which adopted digital banking had a much higher growth rate than traditional banks (Broeders and Khanna 2015). Also, banks which utilized digital banking are more financially competitive as they have can access economies in the deeper scale than normal traditional banks. It can be stated that as the internet accessibility increases, the financial performance of digital banking will improve as well. Issues There are several issues with digital banking which needs to be addressed. The first on is attaining a perfect application. A proper digital banking smartphone application gives immense reassurance and power to the user who is accessing it. Smartphones are getting smarter and personal day by day with lock screens comprising of biometric authentication nowadays. This factor needs to be taken into account by developers who needs to develop and upgrade the applications for retaining customers from time to time. With the digital banking applications allowing users the comfort of accessing the financial data from anywhere and anytime, the developers should work hard to provide the customers with a seamless app experience. In spite of this, several digital banking apps are filled with bugs and often face performance issues which makes navigation extremely tedious, resulting in the crashing of the application (Dapp and Slomka 2015). This immediately reflects the companys inability to provide customers with a fluid app experience. The second issue is the threat from cyber-attacks. As the applications deal with financial transactions, they are vulnerable to frequent attacks from cyber criminals. Even with protective infrastructure, there is always the slight chance that the data that is being handled by the application can get compromised. The third issue is the delivery speed of the service. To provide customers with seamless transactions, organizations often invest more on delivery speeds rather than the quality (Bose, Luo and Liu 2013). This can result in several bugs in the apps which is normally ignored by the institutions. Recommendations To address the first issue, proper professionals of quality assurance needs to be contacted to assure, assess and inspect the quality of the respective digital banking software. The professionals need to be involved in the SDLC stage of the application at an early stage so that they can develop an application of premium quality (Schuchmann and Seufert 2015). With rigorous testing, they can find the issues and provide proper patches to fix the bugs. To address the second issue, proper security testing needs to be conducted to check all the vulnerabilities and issues that can be utilized by the attackers. The internal architecture analysis and the banking system needs to be properly analysed with the security testing. To address the third issue, proper software testing needs to be conducted before the application hits the market. By properly analysing the issues, banks using the digital banking platform can identify the issues and terminate it at the requirement gathering stage. Introduction to Cloud servers in Banking Unlike the fixed legacy systems and IT infrastructures that are used traditionally by banks, cloud servers provide both flexibility and agility to deploy the necessary infrastructure for IT. As banks are evolving to properly manage the influx of data, the data centres have to evolve as well to handle the constant information flow across various environments. The cloud environment allows the banks grow organically in several geographical locations organically without the need of maintaining a physical presence in the region (Hashizume et al. 2013) The cloud environment enables the banks to create new services and markets with the prospective users to gain competitive advantage. The banks can create new customer centric business models with the help of cloud environments to increase profitability and growth. The cloud servers can enable banks in the future to check analytics of data and process credit card requests. Technically, the cloud servers allows the bank to configure, integrate and assemble technology for meeting the goals of the bank institutions. In the area of analytics, it helps to integrate customer data to gain real time insights across various platforms of banking. In the area of business services, it can incorporate other third party services for supporting customers grievances by extending the financial ecosystem. Cloud server are also used to centralize the desktop management through a private cloud system in the bank for better flexibility and control (Carlin and Curran 2013). It also allows the development team to separate the banking environment for testing and development by creating a virtual environment. The cloud environment can be utilized by banks to back up important business data in case a disaster strikes. Endpoint management is also enabled with cloud servers in banks for better corporate governance and policies. Also, this new technology allows the banks to maintain a storage solution for real time analytics process and trading data. Sometimes, the banks can transfer their payment functions to the cloud environment due to agility, efficiency and cost savings (Jain and Paul 2013). In the future, this technology will allow banks to address customer engagement and risk management through better analytics of big data and mobile technologies. Issues There are several issues with incorporating cloud services with the banking environment. The first issue is data security. Keeping the business as well as customer data is important for every financial institutions. As the banking data is personal and sensitive, they are susceptible to extreme vulnerabilities (Garg, Versteeg and Buyya 2013). For each compromised data, the banks have to handle the extra overhead costs. The second issue is compliance and regulation. Adopting a cloud environment in a bank requires jurisdictions and business partners to comply with certain standards. The laws related to data protection dictates how the banks and other financial institutions will store and manage the particular data. The executives of the banks are particularly concerned that keeping the data in cloud servers will result in negative publicity and hefty fines. The third issue is related to control. With the adoption of cloud servers, the control of certain business data and applications can fall into the wrong hands. The person handling the data needs to be well trained as most of the time the data is client based and extremely sensitive (Fernando, Loke and Rahayu 2013). Handling critical updates of the cloud system infrastructure to the service provider is very dangerous as one wrong move from the service provider can bring down the entire structural integrity of the bank. This is one reason why some banks are still reluctant to move their business operations to cloud servers. Recommendations To address the first issue, the processing operations and the data need to be checked properly before passing onto the cloud servers by the banks. The banks need to differentiate data according to personal data, strategic data, business data and customer sensitive data. Certain types of data need to be monitored and regulated properly by the banks to prevent the data from being accessed by hackers if the institution is susceptible to cyber-attacks. Proper risk analysis need ti be carried out to assess the required security measures in the banks. To address the second issue, the banks need to state their own legal and technical security requirements properly. The banks need to properly communicate with the jurisdiction bodies for proper implementation of the new technology (Arora, Parashar and Transforming 2013). The stakeholders and other business partners need to be made aware of the new changes that are being implemented in the banks. To address the third issue, the authority needs to make sure that the data processing is properly monitored and governed by them. They need to understand that the new technology is required to assist them in their business operations not depend on the technology entirely for business operations. Staffs who handle personal and sensitive data needs to be properly trained about the risks that are associated with the data that they are handling (Rittinghouse and Ransome 2016). The service providers should also be aware of the risks with the data that they are handling. The legal qualification of the service provider needs to be assessed properly by the bank authorities. The level of protection provided by the service provider to the banks needs to be checked as well. Conclusion To conclude the report, it can be said that both of these technologies has the capability to change the banking environment if the recommendations are implemented effectively. Cloud servers are necessary in the banking scenario due to their disaster recovery solutions mainly which is not possible with mainstream hardware solutions. Digital banking is also necessary for banking environment to attract more customers in the environment due to the ease of functionality and accessibility. Both of these technologies has arisen with the advancement in IT revolution and will improve the banking environment in the long run, if the challenges and issues are resolved properly. In the coming years, these trends and technologies will have a wide impact in other financial sectors too besides the banking environment. Currently, with the rise in cyber-attacks, both these technologies are unable to reach their maximum potential. With the advancement in cyber security and proper awareness of the attacks, these technologies will change the total landscape of the banking environment. References Arora, R., Parashar, A. and Transforming, C.C.I., 2013. Secure user data in cloud computing using encryption algorithms.International journal of engineering research and applications,3(4), pp.1922-1926. Bose, R., Luo, X.R. and Liu, Y., 2013. The roles of security and trust: comparing cloud computing and banking.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,73, pp.30-34. Broeders, H. and Khanna, S., 2015. Strategic choices for banks in the digital age.McKinsey Company. Carlin, S. and Curran, K., 2013. Cloud computing security. Dapp, T. and Slomka, L., 2015. Fintech reloadedTraditional banks as digital ecosystems.Publication of the German original. Fernando, N., Loke, S.W. and Rahayu, W., 2013. Mobile cloud computing: A survey.Future generation computer systems,29(1), pp.84-106. Garg, S.K., Versteeg, S. and Buyya, R., 2013. A framework for ranking of cloud computing services.Future Generation Computer Systems,29(4), pp.1012-1023. Hashizume, K., Rosado, D.G., Fernndez-Medina, E. and Fernandez, E.B., 2013. An analysis of security issues for cloud computing.Journal of internet services and applications,4(1), p.5. Jain, R. and Paul, S., 2013. Network virtualization and software defined networking for cloud computing: a survey.IEEE Communications Magazine,51(11), pp.24-31. Raskin, M. and Yermack, D., 2016.Digital currencies, decentralized ledgers, and the future of central banking(No. w22238). National Bureau of Economic Research. Rittinghouse, J.W. and Ransome, J.F., 2016.Cloud computing: implementation, management, and security. CRC press. Schuchmann, D. and Seufert, S., 2015. Corporate learning in times of digital transformation: a conceptual framework and service portfolio for the learning function in banking organisations.International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning (iJAC),8(1), pp.31-39.

Duties And Responsibilities Of A Director

Question: Discuss about the Duties and Responsibilities of a Director. Answer: Overview The report states about the duties and responsibilities that a director must possess with complete adherence to the regulations of the Corporations Act 2001. The study further goes into an in-depth identification of the duties and responsibilities that were duly contravened in the case of ASIC v Lindberg [(2012). In this case, the defendant that is Lindberg under the sections of Corporations Act were accused of breaching the corporation norms and the duties of the directors by the plaintiff, ASIC. 4ASIC (2016) has highlighted upon few general duties that are mandated by the Corporations Act on the officers and directors of companies. Some of the basic duties were not to exercise improper control of the given position for personal advantage and harm the functioning of the company, not to rely on improper information, performing duties and responsibilities under good faith and finally performing them with utmost diligence and care. In Australia, the directors of the company are duly ex pected to undertake their assigned responsibilities and duties with close reference to the common and statutory laws (4ASIC, 2016). Contextually, the report further identifies specific reasons that led the defendant to breach the duties and the tribunal decisions that were announced for the case of ASIC v Lindberg [(2012). Case Introduction Australian Securities Investments Commission (ASIC) is considered to be the regulator of markets along with that of the corporate and financial services of Australia. It is a self-governing body that effectively contributes in the management of Australias wellbeing as well as economic reputation by effectively conducting the financial activities duly supported by potential customers and investors (1ASIC, 2016). In 2007, this government body filed a civil penalty case against Mr. Lindberg, the former chief executive of Australian Wheat Board (AWB). ASIC accused Mr. Lindberg of breaching the regulations of Corporation Act, whilst functioning at AWB as a managing director. The proceedings were duly conducted in Victorias Supreme Court on contravention of UN resolutions relating to Iraq. The settlement agreement for the case ASIC v Lindberg [2012] VSC 332 highlights upon the directors diligence and duty of care (Austin Reynolds, 2012). The allegation that the plaintiff brought into pro ceedings in 2007 against the defendant was that he breached the standards set by the Corporations Act. He did so by permitting AWB Limited to enter into contracts for supplying wheat to Iraq that resulted in exploitation of the UNs Oil-for-Food Programme (OIP) (Board Matters, n.d.). Throughout the case, four major contraventions were mentioned by Victorias Supreme Court, to which the defendant duly agreed. First contraventions entail the debt to be recovered from Tigris, where the defendant failed to make proper inquiry as a director. Secondly, failure to report on the viability of the project Rose, followed by the existence of inaccuracies in the agreement of Tigris and the collection of the debt. In this context, the defendant was accused of not informing the Board about the Tigris Agreement, in which misdescription of payment of the service fees was also investigated. The fourth contravention finally states that the defendant had failed to notify the Board that, the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) of UN had been acknowledged with evidence from the former Government officials of Iraq (AustLII, 2012). Identifiably, six former officers as well as directors were filed for the penalty proceedings of AWB including Mr. Lindberg. After prolonged conciliation with ASIC, the defendant admitted that he had committed contravention to the Victorias Supreme Court and subsequently, a fine of $100,000 was charged. Moreover, he was also sentenced disqualification from his designation of the companys managing director for a span of two consecutive years. Duties/Responsibilities Breached Directors duties are designed specifically to govern the company for supporting the shareholders and for promoting as well as ensuring good governance. Furthermore, to assure that the directors act in accordance with the companies interest, their duties are effectively designed (Australian Institute of Company Directors, 2016). The Corporation Act 2001 defined the term director as the person who has been genuinely selected as a director or an equivalent director. In addition, the duties and responsibilities assigned to them are effectively performed with immense diligence and care. Moreover, these duties are subjected to make effective business decision, thereby requiring a director to provide a judgment with proper purpose and good faith [s 181]. In other words, they must exercise their judgment in a legitimate manner with close reference to the companys interest [Re Smith and Fawcett Ltd. [1942] Ch 304] (Legal Services Commission, 2012; Dermansky, 2009). Additionally, the judgment must not bear any materialistic or personal interest and must be to the best interest of the company [Wagner v Gill[2013] NZHC 1304] (Legal Services Commission, 2012; Cavell Leitch, n.d.). Under Corporation Act 2001, any erroneous activities committed by the director and other officers, if proved to be accusable are regarded as a criminal offence (Legal Services Commission, 2012). With reference to the Corporation Act 2001, under sec 181, the Supreme Court of Victoria found that the former managing director of AWB had breached his duties. In 2012, the infringer (Mr. Lindberg) acknowledged four of the major contraventions committed fell under the Corporation Act 2001 under section 180 and 181. Under section 180 of the Corporations Act, the directors of the company must perform their respective duties with diligence and care and is further reinforced under section180(1) (Queensland Council of Social Service, 2011). In this context, ASIC was investigated to have faulty contract links with Iraqi Grain Board (IGB) under UN Oil-for-Food Program on the grounds of their payment procedures of transportation. The issue was that the money, duly received from an escrow account of the UN was purportedly used for certain means other than payments for assigned commodities. The payments were made to a Jordanian company (Alia). The plaintiff further alleges that besides Mr. Li ndberg, other AWB officers were also aware of the facts and to a great extent violated the Corporation Act under section 180(1) through their unethical code of conduct (2ASIC, 2007). Conversely, section 181 of the Corporation Act requires that all the duties performed by the directors must be carried out with good faith considering the interest of the company for adequate purpose. This state that the directors must not perform any unreasonable and contradictory action that would indirectly or directly affects the aims of the company. In other words, it indicates that the directors carefully implement their given powers and release their duties in good faith [Permanent Building Society (in liq) v Wheeler (1994)] (Langford Ramsay, 2014; Schweizer Kobras, 2011). With close relation to the above alleges by ASIC, it can be inferred that the duties were breached and the defendant agreed upon the major contraventions committed. Under the Corporation Act, a major attribute that a director must provide is the judgment after making accurate inquiry of any occurrence. With close reference to this, it had been found that the breach was caused due to improper inquiry of the exact facts. Under section 180(2), the directors are considered duly responsible for informing the appropriate subject matter by examining the reliability of judgment. This is linked with the second contravention, where the offender failed to inform the associated limitations and risk of a particular internal project that AWB dealt in [Westpac Banking Corporation v The Bell Group Limited (in liq) [No. 3] [2012] WASCA 157]. With regards to each of the above mentioned situations, it is evident that under section 180(1), majority of the contacts were breached (Barker, 2015; 3ASIC, 201 2). Thus, with reference to this, it can be inferred that the breach of the Corporation Act was primarily as result of failing to formulate adequate enquiries in relation with the wheat contracts that made the managing director of AWB to subsequently fail in performing under section 180(1) in-spite of exercising reasonable diligence and care. Evidently, the duty of the directors is highly related to proper implementation that does not cause prejudice to the company in any situation [Walker v Wimborne (1976) 137 CLR]. Breaching the duties may have variety of rationale but the ones most commonly observed are misrepresentation of facts, fraud and mistake. With context to the case of ASIC v Lindberg (2012), possible reason for contravening the duties as AWBs director relates to the failure of notifying illegal deals to the board members. Furthermore, it was evident that none of the contraventions under the Corporation Act was caused with the intention of moral turpitude, dishonesty or involvement in wrongful deeds. Nevertheless, each of the contraventions was considered serious under the Corporation Act 2001 that directly relates to the incapability of maintaining and performing the best duties of a reasonable director (Donovan, 2012). Critical Analysis of the Courts Decisions Contraventions related to certain contracts in the Corporation Act 2001 led to encompass major consequences for the one who is accountable for such breaches. In this context, court proceedings are common, where legal actions are taken over the subject matter and penalty is changed once the defendant is proved to be guilty of the act (Boardmatch Ireland Ltd, 2012). With close relation to the case of ASIC v Lindberg [2012), civil proceedings were commenced by the plaintiff in Victorias Supreme Court. To this, ASIC further urged the court to declare that each of the six former directors contravened the law under Corporation Act to impose a maximum of $200,000. Additionally, the plaintiff asked for disqualifying the defendants from the managerial roles as per the view-point of the corporation (2ASIC, 2007). In this context, referring to the previous authorities, the court noted that pecuniary penalties and disqualifications are not merely a standardized method to protect the interest of the public but is also mandatory for the general and specific deterrent. Penalties for breaching laws under the Corporate Act 2001 are highly exemplified by negligence, rather than malfeasance [ASIC v Donovan (1998) 28 ACSR 500]. Moreover, after conducting lengthy negotiations, both the parties namely ASIC and the defendant mutually agreed to settle the further proceedings. Based on the fact that the defendant had agreed to the allegations made, the court only charged $100,000 as pecuniary penalty for breaching the norms under section 180(1) along with disqualification from functioning as a director for a stipulated period of time. The above judgment was purely based on the contraventions admitted by the defendant and through the observations of their conduct. Moreover, the court largely considered that the defendant did not try to hide the contraventions using any means of dishonesty or by any other underlying intention for causing such actions and hence settled the case only with pecuniary penalty and a statement of temporary disqualification and (Board Matters, n.d.). The above decision made by the court can be critically justified with the Corporation Act 2001 under section 180(1). With close relation to the penalties, under this section, the court can impose a pecuniary penalty of up to $200,000, if the declaration is self made by the defendants regarding the breaches that have already been committed. The decision of the court can further be justified by referring to the Corporation Act, specifically under section 206C that enables the court with the authority to successfully disqualify the defendant from further functioning as manager against the committed contravention. However, under section 206G of the Corporate Act, the defendant can appeal to the court for granting leave in order to manage the corporation. Identifiably, the court possesses the authority to grant relief to directors as well as other officers from the further civil liability only if the defendant is found to stay honestly and diligent throughout the period (Queensland Counci l of Social Service, 2011). The case situations, in which ASIC was involved with more or less similar contraventions were ASIC v Adler and Ors, ASIC v Rich, ASIC v Vizard and ASIC v Vines (Queensland Council of Social Service, 2011). Moreover, breaching any regulations under section 180(1) does not facilitate the court to punish the defendant for just committing errors in judgment (AustLII, 2012). Therefore, according to the norms under the Corporations Act, the tribunal decision for ASIC v Lindberg [(2012) can be considered appropriate. Summary Directors are considered to be in fiduciary relationship with their company and are therefore mandatory to conduct and maintain loyalty and good faith relating to their duties and responsibilities with due care, diligence and skill. Failing to comply with these stated aspects, would directly lead to breach of the duties and responsibilities under Corporate Act 2001. Under this Act, the existence of the sections is the deciding factors, to which if the defendants are found guilty under any circumstances would be directly liable for legal action. Similarly, in this case, the defendant was found to commit four major contraventions, for which civil proceedings were taken by ASIC. In this case, the defendant readily agreed to the contraventions. Moreover, at the end of the tribunal decision, stress was given on the significance of deterrence while imposing penalties on the defendant. References ASIC, 2016. Our Role. For Business. [Online] Available at: https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/what-we-do/our-role/ [Accessed December 16, 2016]. ASIC, 2007. 07-332 ASIC Launches Civil Penalty Action against Former Officers of AWB. Media Centre. [Online] Available at: https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/media-centre/find-a-media-release/2007-releases/07-332-asic-launches-civil-penalty-action-against-former-officers-of-awb/ [Accessed December 17, 2016]. ASIC, 2012. Attachment to 12-109MR: Statement of Agreed Contraventions: Andrew Alexander Lindberg. Media Centre. [Online] Available at: https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/media-centre/find-a-media-release/2012-releases/attachment-to-12-109mr-statement-of-agreed-contraventions-andrew-alexander-lindberg/ [Accessed December 17, 2016]. ASIC, 2016. Directors - What Are My Duties As A Director? Insolvency. [Online] Available at: https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/insolvency/insolvency-for-directors/directors-what-are-my-duties-as-a-director/ [Accessed December 18, 2016]. Austin, R. Reynolds, C., 2012. Minter Ellison Alert | Asic V Lindberg More on the Duty of Care and Diligence. Minter Ellison. [Online] Available at: https://www.minterellison.com/publications/asic-v-lindberg/ [Accessed December 18, 2016]. AustLII, 2012. Australian Securities Investments Commission [ASIC] v Lindberg [2012] VSC 332 (9 August 2012). Supreme Court of Victoria. [Online] Available at: https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VSC/2012/332.html [Accessed December 18, 2016]. Australian Institute of Company Directors, 2016. General Duties of Directors. Resources. [Online] Available at: https://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/resources/all-sectors/roles-duties-and-responsibilities/general-duties-of-directors [Accessed December 17, 2016]. Barker, W., 2015. 3002LAW Corporate Law Notes. Media, pp. 3-58. Board Matters, No Date. AWB Managing Director Fined and Disqualified. Newsletter. [Online] Available at: https://www.boardmatters.com.au/newsletter/awb-managing-director-fined-and-disqualified [Accessed December 18, 2016]. Boardmatch Ireland Ltd, 2012. Penalties for Breaches of Company Law. A Quick Guide, pp. 1-8. Cavell Leitch, No Date. Directors Must Perform Their Duties Properly or Face Potential Liability. Business. [Online] Available at: https://cavell.co.nz/articles/2016/core-directors-duties [Accessed December 17, 2016]. Dermansky, P., 2009. Should Australia Replace Section 181 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) With Wording Similar To Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 (UK)? Data, pp. 1-29. Langford, R. T. Ramsay, L. M., 2014. Conflicted Directors: What is required To Avoid a Breach of Duty? Journal of Equity, Vol.8, No. 2, pp.108-127. Legal Services Commission, 2012. General Duties of Directors - Corporations Act 2001 (Ctth). Company Directors [Online] Available at: https://www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch05s01s03s02.php [Accessed December 17, 2016]. Queensland Council of Social Service, 2011. A Guide to Directors Duties and Responsibilities for Non-Listed Public Companies and Proprietary Companies in Australia. Guide Directors, pp. 1-14. Schweizer Kobras, 2011. Directors Duties and Obligations. Directors, pp. 1-6.

7 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving You Probably Dont Know

7 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving You Probably Dont Know Thanksgiving is a holiday that brings people together. Regardless of what your race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation is, it’s a time when we can all get together, enjoy good food and share what we’re thankful for. To get you prepared for this year, we’ve compiled an infographic with some fun facts about Thanksgiving you might not have known.

Analysis The World Is Flat A Brief History of the Twenty

Analysis The World Is Flat A Brief History of the Twenty Central Theme The central theme in this book as portrayed by Friedman, is how globalization has changed some of the core economic areas. According to Friedman, the world has become flat through various transformations such as technological advancement and enhanced communication (Friedman, 2006).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Analysis: â€Å"The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century† by Thomas Friedman specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In an attempt to explain how the world has become flat, Friedman discusses major steps under which globalization has taken place; in fact he defines these ten steps as ‘world flatteners’ (Friedman, 2006). Friedman argues that around the year 2000, the world entered a new era; this is the era of globalization where accessibility of information has become easier which is what he describes as flattened world where there is equal playing fi eld of economic achievements. It is during this time that people have found new ways through which they can collaborate; these ways are referred in the book as the â€Å"world flatteners† (Friedman, 2006). For instance, the fifth flattener also known as outsourcing Friedman explains that the advancement in technology has enabled companies to delegate jobs in remote countries which reduce costs by way of internet communication. Again due to occurrence of globalization, people are now able to connect and interact much faster through several communication channels more rapidly than before as stipulated in the steroids flattener that involves use of wireless sharing of information such as iPods and other personal devices. Indeed, the world now has equal opportunity for all people and therefore competition in the business sector has just taken a new twist. As such, Friedman compares the modern business trends which he describes to be similar to a river, because of the way they hav e streamlined sale of products (Friedman, 2006). With increased competition comes equal opportunities and equalized income which means that US is now under more pressure to remain competitive in many areas in order to remain relevant as a superpower since they will be facing a lot of challenges from other countries; notably, India and China which are becoming more advanced.Advertising Looking for research paper on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Relevance The concept found in book, World is flat, is a series of transformation described as â€Å"world flatteners† which are said to have occurred in the economic and business sectors which have significantly contributed to equalization of the world in many aspects (Friedman, 2006). In comparison to the book, The American Dream by Jason DeParle, the book questions and investigates how America came to achieve so much dominance and power in the m anagement in the world affairs. In the book, The American dream, US is described to have undergone through a lot of transformation to become the greatest economical and political power in the world today (DeParle, 2005). The book posits that this has not been an easy road to success and argues that there is so much that has contributed to America becoming successful. The solidarity that unites US for instance has contributed to the drive and energy that has facilitated innovations and creativity that has driven competition. According DeParle, all that lies within the American great foundation, is a great culture that has been promoted over years, this has consequently contributed to social mobility and growth (2005). This as compared to the book The World is Flat is seen as being the key concepts of success. Similarly, cultural changes have also occurred in the world just as argued in the book The World is flat. The world has become flat as different cultures including those that we re previously threatened have become integrated. In this book, Friedman describes how the world, just like â€Å"The American dream† has accepted changes and embraced technology (2006). Among the changes that have occurred in both cases includes new advancement in technology use of computers, use of fiber optic and the use of wireless communication such as mobile phones, iPods among others.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Analysis: â€Å"The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century† by Thomas Friedman specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Indeed, the world has flattened due to various innovations as shown in the book which are seen to have been embraced as described in the out-sourcing flattener where Friedman says that technology has allowed Companies to be able to distribute services and also subcontract some activities through technological advancement. The impact of globalizat ion in US There is no doubt that US has benefited more than it has lost through globalization; this is because globalization has both benefits and adverse effects. The major ways that US has benefited through globalization include enjoying better terms of trade, outsourcing of jobs to other countries, less trade barriers, high cultural integration, improved democracy and enhanced communication through social networks (Nickmaceus, 2010). Some specific ways in which this benefit has occurred in US is through technological advances that have enabled outsourcing of jobs in other countries at cheaper rates and in real time to become possible. Globalization has also made US to be one of the most integrated cultural societies in the world (Bhagwati, 2004). This has major benefits such as skilled labor, promotion of tourism and advancement of neo-colonialism (Denhart, 2007). On the other hand, globalization has its adverse effect; in US this adverse effects include loss of job to foreigners , threat of US internal security due to proliferation of foreigners and increased brand competition from other countries when it comes to trade. Public Affairs Relevance The main theme addressed in the book The World is flat, is globalization. Globalization is described as a situation whereby â€Å"regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a global network of political ideas through communication, transportation, and trade† (Friedman, 2005). This is very similar to what the concept of public affairs entails; public affair is concerned with the relationship between government activities and other elements in the society. Because of globalization countries have been able to interact and do more trade with other countries globally much easier than before facilitated by the current technological advancement that we have.Advertising Looking for research paper on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This means that, factors of globalization are very much reflected in public affairs issues such as economic and social system. Indeed, in today’s world, economic integration has also enhanced cultural integration. In fact, these two issues are the main factors of globalization. Other characteristic of globalization includes increased communication, shared cultures, electronic commerce, improved infrastructure, and democracy (Dunnigan, 2006). These two are found intertwined in various public affairs such as good governance which is democracy, economic growth, increased job opportunities, promotion of international trade, international tourism, social equity and poverty eradication. It is therefore clear that public affairs issues are directly correlated with globalization issues as discussed in the two books. It is by reading them that I have been able to realize this clear link between public affairs issues and globalization and its relevance in governance. References Bhagwat i, A. (2004). In Defense of Globalization. New York: Oxford University Press. Friedman, T (2005). Its a Flat World After All. New York Times Magazine. Web. Denhart, T. (2007). Theories of Public Organization, 5th edition. Stamford, CT: Wadsworth Publishing. DeParle, J. (2005). American Dream. New York: Penguin Group. Dunnigan, J. (2006). The Costs of the War on Terror. Web. Friedman, T. (2006). The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Nickmaceus, K. (2010). Globalization and the United States: Positive and Negative  Impacts on American Domestic Policies. Web.

Five Dysfunctions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Five Dysfunctions - Essay Example They include interdepence among team members, teamwork and affiliation, varied leadership, motivation and trust among members. The decision Tech’s ineffectiveness was as a result of ignorance to the above basic attributes. The dominant aspect which contributed to failure in the company was a poor organizational structure. An organizational culture is a framework of set norms or values which dictate behavior in a particular organization. Individuals are guided by unspoken rules which they must adhere to as members of team. There was lack of effective communication among the executives in the company which created enormous blocks to effective decision making. Members hesitated to give their views, and simultaneously failed to regard other’s opinions. This brought about friction and lack of cohesion in the team where individuals concealed their mistakes and solely blamed the participating decision makers. Issues of diversity were not dealt with since there was minimal or conceited interaction. Consequently, lack of transparency crept in and trust was no more in the team. Decisions made lack foundation as the executive members refrained from responsibility. They evaded meetings and dreaded participating in any activities that demanded collective effort. This weakened the implantation of policies i n the Decision Tech and slowly extinguished the morale’s fire in teamwork. In establishment of team norms in the norming stage, members don’t give in to the vulnerable illusions. They build faith in themselves independently and shun external influences regardless of their origin or the nature of assistance they bring in. They’ve got confidence in the decisions they make and don’t agree to the fact they make mistakes as human beings. Members concede less to pressure and tend to avoid distracting ideas or delayed gestures in making conclusions In Decision Tech, there are behavioral norms which had