Business Plan for E-business Essay Example for Free

Business Plan for E-business Essay ABC Company is an aboriginal products company offering Australian aboriginal artists materials and products, such as painting, boomerang and other handicrafts. Based on the internet, ABC Company also provides timely information about Australian aboriginal culture like their history or daily news. It is the responsibility of ABC Company to support the development of indigenous people’s culture and improve their living quality in the same time. The Market ABC is at the forefront in an exciting and growing market. We focus on the market of Australia and extend to the tourists and Australian indigenous culture lovers. Most aboriginal products stores do not supply the sufficient and related knowledge of aboriginal culture. And our special supporting stagey helps communities get $1 from our sales every $100 for the sake of attracting more aboriginal artists enter the business. It is a different point from other current there is no such e-business company like XX operated today. The Organization ABC is owned and operated by our group members. Since our company is operated online, our management team is the group of our four founders. It is founded on the idea that maintaining satisfied customers is essential to the bottom line. With this in mind, our team will be working hard to ensure that all of their customers expectations are exceeded in all transactions. To maintain a presence within the art and craft community and close relationships to customers and also our suppliers aboriginal people, we will focus more on the professional knowledge of Australian indigenous culture and encourage local communities to join us. Financials The sales growth will be conservative in the first year as when our focus is on the advertisement and make our products well known by potential customers. It is estimated that the sales increase in a 33% phase from second year of business operation. The marketing costs will remain the 10% of total sales. And we may consider company expansion if projected sales met or exceeded our target. 1. Company Summary ABC Company is founded in September of this year in UNSW. The company will offer a variety of products and services of aboriginal culture. In order to have sufficient information and resources of aboriginal culture, we will cooperate with some institutions and communities. For the aspect of products, we will offer aboriginal art such as artefacts and painting which are brought from eBay, institutions such as Tandanya in Adelaide and personnel (Tandanya 2013). Moreover, we will provide aboriginal culture and its history on the website. The resources of those will be picked up from variety of institutions, communities and government’s website. For the first three years, we will focus on the business on the website. Therefore, customers and visitors can experience aboriginal culture on our website 24 hours, seven days a week. When our business is stable, we will expand our services and establish a physical store in Alice Spring. The mission of our company is to become the best platform which spreads aboriginal information and provides products. 1.1. Market Niche In the recent market in Australian, indigenous arts occupy a small part. In the recent years, the sale of aboriginal art is $8m every year, which is equivalent to sale 11 years ago (Rothwell 2013). One reason is that people has few opportunities to engage the aboriginal culture. Moreover, few places have aboriginal arts. Most of arts are sold in the regional institutions and cultural centre, and are offered on few numbers of website. The mission of our company is to be the best platform to provide aboriginal culture and arts. Therefore, we will spread indigenous culture firstly through our website so that more people are familiar with their culture. Moreover, we will offer a variety of products on the website such as gifts and painting. The range of price is from about $50 to thousands of dollars. After getting information of the product, customers could purchase the arts what they are interested in. There are two characteristics of our products. Firstly, we are not only sell aboriginal arts, but share the information and background of each art. Therefore, customers could understand the meaning of it. Secondly, as we stock artwork from institution and artists, the price could be lower than other stores. Therefore, our products have high quality with a lower price. 1.2. Social responsibility of our business There are two main social responsibility of our business: spreading the culture and facilitating the economy. As we share aboriginal culture on our website, more people will familiar with its culture. Therefore, our first social responsibility is to spread aboriginal culture. For example, we will share information about meaning of painting, dancing and their music instead of merely selling products. Culture is a part of fortune for a country. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent it from disappearing. Additionally, we will help some communities and extract $1 from our sales every $100. As we stock some artefacts from communities, it will increase the sales of them. Moreover, we will donate for the community to help it spread aboriginal culture. As a result, it probable creates more job opportunities for aboriginal as more people are interested in its culture. 2. Our service and product Our company will provide a series of services and products on the website. For the aspect of service, we will divide into three stages. In the first stage, we will share information about aboriginal culture and artwork. The profile of artists and their painting also is offered. In this stage, we will focus on spreading the culture of aboriginal. In the next stage, when our business is stable, we will expand our service to day tour that visits physical museum and institution. For example, in South Australia, we will have a day tour to Tandanya to watch a show and have a workshop in Brambuk in Victoria. In our final stage of service, we will offer an opportunity to experience ancient Aboriginal rock art paintings, music, dance and storytelling in Northern Territory (Cultural Tour, 2013). In order to achieve it, we need find more partners with us to organize the planning of travel. For the aspect of our product, we will focus on selling them on our website in the first three years. In the meantime, we will establish a small physical store in Alice Spring. We will offer several products such as artefacts, artwork, crafts, glass and didgeridoos. Every product will attach profile of artist. As we purchase some artefacts and paintings from artists, there will be some unique artworks on our website. Therefore, it is a good choice for gifts to your friends, and good collections for collectors. Moreover, we also have some books about aboriginal culture that will be sold on our website. 3. Market Analysis In recent years, the consumptions of aboriginal culture products (arts, paintings, craft and so on) are decreasing in both Australia domestic and international markets. However, it does not mean that the value of have dropped a bit. ABC Company aims to expand the market size of the indigenous products in Australia markets and international markets by selling indigenous tourism products; in the meantime, increasing the value of indigenous tourism products by spreading the Australia aboriginal culture information online. The Company will market to four primary customers: 1. Tourists. 2. Amateur artists and crafters, including collectors and hobbyists. 3. Professional artists. 4. Businesses, such as architects, graphic designers, or direct mail advertisers. In the meantime, customers who are interested in aboriginal culture are also our potential customers. 3.1. Target market segment strategy 1. Tourists. In general, tourists normally visit the physical stores near the attractions. However, tourists’ purchase amounts are limited to size, material, and there are strict regulations of overseas travelling. Therefore, it is necessary to have partnership between travel agencies and light companies, by sending advertisement via email to the tourists. Then tourists can order indigenous tourism products from overseas or even order the products while they are in Australia before their returns. 2. Amateur artists and crafters, including collectors and hobbyists. In general, most part of this segment will be targeted in low and mid-price level of our products compare with the profession artists. However, we will also consider some customers from this segment are eager to purchase the high-price level products. 3. Professional artists. Considering professional artists not only need to purchase the products, but also need to get regular customer service. Our business will try to set up connections between professional artists and indigenous tourism products services. For the business, such as architects, graphic designers, interior designers, or direct mail advertisers, we will provide large amount order discount for the business oriented purchases or group-buying. 3.2. Service business analysis Our company is an online business store sells indigenous tourism products from Australia to worldwide. Currently customers can buy indigenous products from the stores which are located around the famous attraction sights. However, due to the strict regulations of overseas travelling, some indigenous tourism products are restricted by the materials, amount, and size. Therefore, some customers prefer to order indigenous tourism products online. Our products include: artworks, Didgeridoos, paintings, dolls, books, clothes, and some special order products, etc. 3.2.1. Competitions Besides the traditional attraction sights stores, there are two main competitors in Australia, Alperstein Designs and Spirit Gallery. Alperstein Designs entered the marketplace in 1996 and open online in 2013 (Alperstein Designs, 2013), it is Australia owned business. Alperstein Designs manufactures and designs products for gifts and indigenous tourism industries. Alperstein Designs has its own creative team, and works with Australia artists and designers in order to produce unique products. The products are manufactured in Australia and Asia. Alperstein Designs provides wholesale service nationally and internationally, it also has private label service for the customers who have exclusive desires. Spirit Gallery is located in The Rocks Centre. It was established in 2002 as a small Aboriginal art crafts store in the heart of historic Rocks area of Sydney Australia (Spirit Gallery 2013). The products include: aboriginal arts, carvings, boomerangs ceramics, glassware basket weaving, bark paintings, and didgeridoos. Spirit Gallery also presents exhibitions for local aboriginal artists. 4. Business Strategy Summary 4.1. Competitive edge Instead of merely selling indigenous tourism products, ABC Company aims to spread Australia aboriginal culture and history. This point is different our business from many of our competitors. ABC Company’s target markets are not only large consumers, but also have different price levels from low to high, in order to fulfil all kinds of the customers’ requirements. 4.2. Marketing strategy Our marketing strategy will focus on customer loyalty, partnership, and online promotion. ABC Company will make partnership between aboriginal institutions and communities, travel agencies and flight companies. For the institutions and communities, we could provide teaching instruments for educational needs in order to achieve the promotional goals and special discounts for students and teachers via email. In the meantime, we can get potential customers and aboriginal culture and history information from them. By working partnership with tourism agents, our business can attract customers by sending emails. Moreover, we could also provide discount deals to the customers who used partner travel agencies and flight companies. Our online promotion will rely on social networks such as, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Aboriginal culture and history videos on YouTube. Our company also have the search engine support from Google. All our promotion plans are based on the Internet, since we are an online store. 4.3. Sales strategy The purpose of our company is to provide the friendliest online shopping experiences for our customers. First, we design and refine our website to make sure it is user friendly. Second, provide secure online payment by using Paypal. Third, provide fast and accurate delivery by working with TNT, UPS, and FedEx. Fourth, we provide the best return/exchange policy to build trust with our customers and maintain retention and loyalty. Most importantly, we will also help some aboriginal communities and extract $1 from our sales every $100. 4.3.1. Sales forecast The following table and chart highlight forecasted sales. 5. SWOT and Competitor Analysis 5.1. SWOT Analysis Strength Our company provides not only a variety of aboriginal products but also offers the services of aboriginal culture. Besides, the social responsibilities which improve the traditional culture play a key role in the objective of our company. Comparing with other aboriginal products suppliers, we do not rely on the big production of manufactory chain. Instead, we stock artwork from our local institution and artists. In the meantime, the price could be lower than other similar stores. All in all, the most strength in our company is the unique and special quality with a lower price. Weakness The weakness of our company is the volume production in the short term. Since our suppliers are the aboriginal people from the local community and institution. It is difficult to replenish our stock as we required. Moreover, the professional knowledge of aboriginal culture and communication to the people is another challenge for us. Opportunity The aboriginal art has become more and more significant in Australia’s tourist trade. People from all over the world begin to focus on the traditional culture when they travel to Australia. Although there are many stores especially in tourist attractions, the lack of aboriginal culture information has confused the customers and they cannot understand the reason they buy this work of art. It is an opportunity for us to bring the aboriginal culture to the Internet from physical world. Threat There are amounts of aboriginal culture shops today and the aboriginal show that will attract more customers and tourists. However, our business cannot show the real perform to our potential customers. There are two main competitors for our company: Alperstein Designs and Spirit Gallery. 5.2. Competitor Analysis Our Company vs. Alperstein Designs For Alperstein Design, there are several advantages compared with our company. First, it has its own creative team; therefore, it could have its unique products. Moreover, it provides private label service for customers who wants exclusive products. Therefore, Alperstein pay more attention on different kinds of high quality products. For our company, even though we do not have creative team, we provide a variety of services and products which are collected from different institutions and personnel. Overall, the price of our products will lower than Alperstein and we provide information of aboriginal culture as well. Our Company vs. Spirit Gallery For Spirit Gallery, it is a brick-click company which means both physical and online business are operating. Moreover, it will provide detailed information about Didgeridoo. Spirit Gallery also presents exhibitions for local aboriginal artists. Though we do not have a gallery for business, we provide particular aboriginal information not only focusing on Didgeridoo, but different kinds of artists and culture. Therefore, compared with Spirit Gallery, our company pay more attention on spreading information on the website. As a result, our business is more convenient for customers searching information and products. 6. Financial Plan 1. Sales growth will be conservative in first 12 month as it takes time for us to advertise and make our products well known by potential customers. It is estimated that the sales increase in a 33% phase from second year of business operation. 2. Marketing costs will remain the 10% of total sales. 3. We may consider company expansion if projected sales met or exceeded our target. 4. There would be a physical store in Alice Spring after three years in order to attract more tourists and present our arts work in more comfortable ways. 6.1. Important Assumptions 1. All the assumption is based on the fact that the investment of this business is from founders’ savings. 2. Assume the overall economy of the world especially tourism marketing is stable so that economic situation would not affect business operation dramatically. 6.2. Projected Profit and Loss Several important assumptions are made to calculate the projected profit and loss: 1. Sales are estimated in a conservative basis, while expenses are estimated above average to maximum values. 2. First years sale will be relatively low as it will take time to be well known by potential customers in order to reach the optimal sales target. With the consideration of first year operation, the sale of business is conservatively assumed at $102,000 in year 1 following by $128,000 and $170,240 in second and third year with gross margin ratio at 59.90%, 60.80% and 57.98% respectively. The net profit for each year stays at $20,596.36, $26,788.61 and $37,678.14 while the net profit to sales ratios are 20.19%, 20.93% and 22.13% accordingly. The further detail information can be referred to Appendix 1-1. 6.3. Projected Cash Flow In terms of the cash flow statement, the sales are main sources of cash inflow, and it increases in the same pace with business expansion. It is based on the assumption that there is no issue on collecting cash from sales. On the other hand, most cash spending is due to paying to aboriginal artists, sponsor contribution to aboriginal communities and utility bills. As showing on Appendix 1-2, the net cash inflows for first three years are at $17,351, $14,222 and $11,426 respectively. 6.4. Projected Balance Sheet Referring to Appendix 1-3, the net worth is steadily growing in first three years. Though there will be a physical store in Alice Spring to present our products and attract new customers, our business is primarily focusing on online buyers. Therefore, most assets are current ones. Furthermore, profits generated from business operation are determined to be retained for future business risk safeguard and opportunities capture. 6.5. Break-even Point Analysis For the purpose of break-even analysis, several factors are assumed as the fixed costs. It includes marketing costs ($5,000), Depreciation ($2,000), utilities ($2,000), Insurance ($400) and other costs ($120) with a total amount of $9,520. Gross margin of first year at 59.90% is extracted as the benchmark to calculate break-even point. As a result, our business needs to make $15,894 sales to be break-even. 7. Recommendation and Conclusion There are many places need to be improved and modified in the future. Firstly, about 60% of operating cost is the cost of rent; therefore, it will save much money if we can cut this cost. One of the effective and efficient ways is to get a closer supply chain relationship. The optimal situation is called just in time that we can acquire the product when we need it as soon as possible. We do not need a facility and staffs to stock and manage our product consequently. Furthermore, it is necessary to corporate with various partners such as culture institution, travel agent, museum and artists. It is easy to manage and corporate with our partners in the first three years. However, we need more partners when our business is stable such as travel agent. Therefore, the more partners we have, the more benefits we get. Additionally, a user friendly interface will encourage customers staying on our website. In order to achieve this, it is imperative to hire website designer or use tools such as WordPress (WordPress 2013). In conclusion, the mission of our company is to be the best platform spreading aboriginal information and providing products. We will offer a variety of services and products both on the website and physical stores for different customer segmentations. As a result, it will facilitate the economy of aboriginal and social stability. 8. Reference List: Alperstein Designs 2013, Alperstein Designs, viewed on 30th September 2013, http://alpersteindesigns.com.au/. Cultural Tours 2013, Territory Discoveries, viewed on 1st October 2013, http://www.territorydiscoveries.com. Rothwell, N, 2013, ‘Plunging sales crisis for indigenous art’, The Australian, viewed on 29 September 2013, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/. Spirit Gallery 2013, Spirit Gallery, viewed on 30th September 2013, http://www.spiritgallery.com.au/. Tandanya, 2013, ‘National aboriginal cultural institute inc.’, viewed on 29 Sep 2013, http://www.tandanya.com.au/. WordPress 2013, Themes directory, viewed on 1st October 2013, http://wordpress.org/themes/. Appendix Appendix 1-1 Profit and Loss

Plea Bargain Essay Example for Free

Plea Bargain Essay â€Å"The plea bargain was a prosecutorial tool used only episodically before the 19th century† (Dirk Olin, 2002) Plea bargaining has assumed a significant role in the criminal jurisprudence of the United States. A majority of criminal cases in the United States are settled through plea bargaining rather than a conducted jury trial. This paper details some of the basic details relating to plea bargaining in the American criminal judicial system. Background A plea bargain usually implies a deal offered by a prosecutor as an incentive for the defendant to plead guilty. Plea bargaining thus can be construed as pre-trial negotiations between the accused and the prosecution during the process of which the accused agrees to plead guilty in exchange for certain concessions in the sentence or charges as offered by the prosecution. There is no specific or perfect definition of ‘plea bargain’ has so far been evolved. According to Black’s Law Dictionary plea bargaining is â€Å"the process whereby the accused and the prosecutor in a criminal case work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case subject to court approval. It usually involves the defendants pleading guilty to a lesser offense or to only one or some of the counts of a multi-count indictment in return for a lighter sentence than that possible for the graver charge† However, in practice plea bargaining is often considered as the mutual acknowledgement of the strengths and weaknesses of the both the defense and prosecution sides in the midst of the tedious process of the trial of the cases and the potential outcome of the trials rather than a mutually satisfied arrangement. Plea bargaining may be attempted at any time; usually it occurs on a pre-trial stage; but in some cases may be undertaken during the conduct of the trial before the verdict is rendered. There is a possibility that plea bargain may be negotiated after a trial has resulted in a ‘hung jury’. Under such circumstance the parties may negotiate a plea bargain instead of going through the process of another trial. In some common law jurisdictions like England and Wales, Victoria, Australia plea bargaining is undertaken to such an extent that the prosecutors and defense can mutually agree that the defendant will plead guilty to certain of the charges and the prosecution drops the rest of the charges. (Legal Pundits) However no bargaining can take place in respect of the penalties that can be levied and the courts proceed to decide the appropriate penalty in such cases. Types of Plea Bargains If in the judicial system every case is allowed to go to trial the courts would find it difficult to try and decide on all the cases. Plea bargaining allows the prosecutor an opportunity to obtain guilty pleas in cases which otherwise would go to the stage of trial by the courts concerned. There are two areas in which plea bargain negotiations can be undertaken. They are:  · Charge Bargaining – in the case of ‘charge bargaining’ the defendant is allowed to ‘plead guilty for a lesser charge’ by the prosecutor. Alternatively the defendant may plead guilty of only some of the charges that have been filed against him. This type of plea bargaining is the most common type. Usually the prosecutor in consideration for a plea of guilty to the committing of a lesser charge will dismiss the higher charge. For example in return accepting guilty plea for ‘manslaughter’ the charges of a first degree murder may be dismissed with the approval of the court. Similarly a defendant who has been charged with the crime of ‘burglary’ may be allowed to plead guilty of ‘attempted burglary’ where the sentence may be less.  · Sentence Bargaining – this involves the agreement for pleading guilty for the charges stated in consideration of a lighter sentence. Under this process the prosecution is saved of the time and efforts to go through the process of trial and proving the case. It also provides the defendant to opt for a lighter sentence which would otherwise have been stronger if a trial is conducted and verdict given. Typically all the sentence bargains are to obtain the approval of the trial judges. This type of plea bargaining is being limited by many of the jurisdictions. Sentence bargaining usually happens in some of the high profile cases where the case is being followed effectively by the media and the prosecutor does not want any reduction of charges in the case. In addition to the above there can be another area of plea bargaining known as ‘Fact Bargaining’ – which is the least used process of negotiation with the defendant for admitting certain of the facts of the case. The defendant is given the concession that the prosecution will not bring certain other facts in to evidence if some of the other facts are confirmed by the defendant. This process saves the efforts of the prosecutor the need to prove certain facts in the course of trial. Process of Plea Bargaining There are three essential components which form the basis for making the plea bargains valid. They are; (i) a waiver of rights to the knowledge of all involved, (ii) the waiver should be a voluntary one arrived at using a process of negotiation and (iii) the presence of a factual basis which can support the charges to which the defendant has chosen to plead guilty. Plea bargaining takes place through telephonic conversations or is being attempted at the office of the prosecutor in the court room. Normally the judges do not take part in the process of plea bargaining. But in rare circumstances a judge becomes a party to the plea bargain process. Once the process of bargaining is completed it is placed on record by judge in the open court. At the time of placing the plea bargain on record it is necessary that the defendant is present in the court. It must be noted that the prosecutor is not given the authority to compel a court to accept the plea bargain agreement entered in to by the parties. The prosecutor can only recommend the acceptance of any plea bargain and it is for the court to decide on accepting the plea bargain arrived at. The court will go through the process of satisfying itself through available proofs that the abovementioned three essential elements of plea bargain are present. Only on satisfying about the presence of these elements the court will accept the plea bargain arrangement as recommended by the prosecution. Plea bargaining cannot be considered as a simple process that can be attempted in any case. â€Å"In effectively negotiating a criminal plea arrangement, the attorney must have the technical knowledge of every element of a crime or charge, an understanding of the actual or potential evidence that exists or could be developed, a technical knowledge of lesser included offenses versus separate counts or crimes, and a reasonable understanding of sentencing guidelines† Merits and Demerits of Plea Bargaining Despite the often pointed out criticisms there are certain distinct merits the process of plea bargaining has. It is often the case that more than 90 percent of the criminal cases are decided on the basis of negotiated pleas. This leaves only a meager percentage of the criminal cases going through the process of judicial trial. It provides the judges considerable saving in time in conducting the trials as the judges already hold overcrowded dockets. Further the judges with a view to avoid overcrowding of the prisons are always in favor of negotiated plea bargains. They are receptive to the ‘processing out’ of the criminals who are not likely to get much longer jail terms at the end of the trial. Similarly for the prosecutors since there caseload becomes lighter they can efficiently discharge their functions. The other important aspect of plea bargain is that the process assures a sure ‘conviction’ even the charges accepted are lesser than the originally stated ones. In some of the cases the prosecutors are made to spend considerable time and efforts in defending cases which finally the cases are lost as happened in the case of murder trial of O.J. Simpson. Plea bargaining enable the prosecutors to use the process to obtain damaging testimony against another defendant in the case. This ensures that the prosecutor is sure of at least one conviction even if for a lesser charge and the chances of booking the second defendant also against the testimony of the first defendant obtained through plea bargain. For the defendants plea bargaining provides the opportunity to bargain for a lighter sentence on reduced charges. If the defendant is represented by a private counsel appointed by him the defendant would be able to save considerable costs on conducting the trial. This also provides the opportunity for getting a record of lesser criminal offenses against him. There are certain drawbacks of the plea bargaining process; when the police are involved in the process it may amount to coercion. When the court is involved in the process it may be considered as impartiality on the part of the court. Involving the victim in the process may involve corruption and the rejection of the guilty plea by the accused may result in more hardship to him. (Soura Subha Ghosh) US Supreme Court Cases According to Article III Section 2 (3) of the Constitution of the United States â€Å"The trial of all crimes, except in Cases of impeachment, shall be by Jury† However it has not been held that it is unconstitutional to go through a process of plea bargaining to avoid the judicial trials. On the contrary there are a number of court decisions at the highest levels which have taken up the issue of ‘plea bargaining’ for serious discussion and ruling. The constitutional validity of plea bargaining was addressed by the US Supreme Court only when the process has become an integral part of the criminal judiciary. (eNotes.com) In the case of United States v Jackson (1968) the Court had raised a question on the validity of plea bargaining to the extent that whether the process has burdened the right of the defendant to go through a process of jury trial. In this case the issue was the consideration of a statute that imposed a death penalty only after a jury trial. In this case in order to avoid the death penalty the defendant continued to waive the trials and was eager to negotiate for plea bargaining for a reduction in sentence.   In this case the judge noted that the statue had needlessly encouraged guilty pleas. In the case of Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742 (1970) the Court had noted that the plea bargaining process had benefitted both the parties to the case and had thus defended the system. The Court made it known that the remark in the Jackson case was to stress the need for the guilty pleas to be intelligent and voluntary. In Santobello v New York, 404 U.S. 260 (1971) the Court observed that the plea bargaining is an essential component of the administration of justice and thus had justified the constitutional acceptability of the plea bargaining process. The Court added that [as long as it is] properly administered, [plea bargaining] is to be encouraged. North Carolina v Alford, 400 U.S. 25 (1970) can be cited as a landmark case relating to the sphere of plea bargaining. In this case Alford pleaded guilty to a second degree murder prior to trail in the wake of the fact that otherwise he would be sentenced to death penalty on a jury trial in the presence of strong evidences. He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. Later on he appealed that his plea bargain was involuntary and was motivated by the fear of death penalty. The appeal court allowed the appeal and reversed his conviction. His argument was on the basis of that the plea bargain violated the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution which states that no person shall be compelled in a criminal case to witness against himself. However the Supreme Court held that a guilty plea representing a voluntary and intelligent choice considering the alternatives available to the defendant cannot be construed that the defendant was compelled (in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the constitution) to follow the guilty plea to avoid the possibility of death penalty. The Supreme Court ordered for the reversal of the appeal court decision and reinstated the sentence of Alford. The term ‘Alford Plea’ thus has come into usage to signify those cases where the defendant tenders a guilty plea and later on denies that he has not committed any crime. There is an express prohibition of ‘Alford Plea’ in certain states and some of the States allow a limited use of the plea. Breaking the Plea Bargain Deal A plea bargain is regarded as a contract between the prosecutor and the defendant and as such both the parties are obligated to perform their parts of the contract without fail. The prosecutor has the authority to revoke the plea bargain if the defendant does not carry out his part of the contract. On the other hand if the prosecutor breaks a deal with the defendant then the defendant has the right to claim for setting aside the plea. Alternatively the defendant may require the court to intervene and instruct the prosecutor to carryout the plea bargain. â€Å"This may happen if the prosecutor has agreed not to authorize additional criminal charges against the defendant in return for the guilty plea, yet subsequently files the charges† (Aaron Larson, 2000)

Effects of Age on Economic Growth

Effects of Age on Economic Growth 1.0 LITERATURE REVIEW People today, live longer and often healthier lives owing to advances in various areas. It is a challenge to maintain and plan longer lives. Societal ageing hampers economic growth and issues such as sustainability of families, the states and communities capacity to provide for older people. A quick look at the recent decline in fertility rates combined with increases in life expectancy and strong evolution from past fluctuations in birth and death rates depicts a really significant shift in the global age structure. So much so that by 2050, twenty two percent of the worlds population will be over the age of 60 or a figure reaching almost 2 billion compared to expectations for year 2020 of 1 billion. As for citizens aged 80 or above, statistics predict an increase from 1 to 4 percent. It is undeniable that a countrys economic character will tend to change as its population ages since different age groups have different economic needs and productive capabilities. These changes can be measured by assuming a certain age-specific behaviour in relation to earnings, employment and savings and to assess the implications of modifications in the relative size of different age groups for these main contributors to the national income. However this tends to be misleading in the long run. Normally, changing expectations about life cycle and demographic shifts are likely to entail behavioural changes and thereby influencing economic consequences of ageing. One good example is an individual who expects to live longer than his ancestors who will continue to work for longer and therefore start benefiting his savings at a later age. 2.0 WORLD AGEING SITUATION Rapid reduction in infant mortality rates coupled with a dynamic fall in the death rate has resulted in a sharp rise in the proportion of older people in the population. This phenomenon of ageing population is fast becoming a worldwide problem. In 1950 there were about 200 million people above 60 years old in the world. This figure has risen some 616 million in the year 2000 and is expected to rise to 1.2 billion in 2025. A majority of them, about 72% of the total, will be living in developing countries. The projections indicate that the demographic transition will proceed much more rapidly in developing countries than it did previously in developed ones. The continuing fertility decline in many developing countries today is faster than the gradual decline experienced by the currently developed countries. In the developing countries, therefore, the pace of population ageing will exceed the pace in the developed countries. For example, it took France and Belgium more than 100 years to double the rate of the population over 60 from 9% to 18%. In Mauritius, the same change will occur in only 25 years. 3.0 Mortality and Life Expectancy We are ageing not just as individuals or communities but as a world. There were almost 500 million People aged 65 and above across the world in 2006 and that number is likely to reach 1 billion by 2030. An increase in the ageing population is more significant in developing countries, which is expected to rise to 140 percent by 2030. For the first time in human history, children under age 5 will be outnumbered by people age 65 and over. Life expectancy is steadily rising and the number of oldest people aged 85 and over is increasing. Chronic non communicable diseases are now becoming the main cause of death among elderly in both developed and developing countries. Some populations are going to shrink in the next decades. In some countries, the total population is decreasing simultaneously with the increase of an ageing world population. The growth of a very old population can have the following implications: 1. Retirement money and pensions will have to cover a longer period of life. 2. Even if disability rates decrease, health care costs are going to rise. PROJECTED INCREASE IN GLOBAL POPULATION BETWEEN 2005 AND 2030, BY AGE 4.0 THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF POPULATION AGEING 4.1 The importance of age structure. Economic growth may be influenced by changes in population age structure. To analyse age structure, a life-cycle perspective is adopted, based on peoples economic needs and contributions during the various stages of life. The ratio of consumption to production is higher for the young and old people and lower for working adults. The key drivers of economic growth such as labour, productivity, consumption and savings vary according to where people fall in the life cycle. Labour and savings are higher among working adults than among those aged above 60. Declining fertility and mortality rates during the past four decades have significantly changed the age structure of the population. There will be a 23% increase in the proportion of the elderly population. The proportion of the population aged under 15 is expected to decline to 19% in the next four decades. The population of the Republic of Mauritius will continue to age. Both past and projected ageing is illustrated in Table 2. The elderly population will triple in the next four decades to attain 332,000 with more women (184,000) than men (148,000). Table 1 presents a summary of the projections and gives the evolution of the pensioner support ratio for two cases, i.e age of retirement is 60 and 65 years. Table 2 gives the evolution of the life expectancy. Life expectancy was quite low in 1950 compared to the present level. Life expectancy has significantly improved over the past fifty years and is expected to improve further in the future. 4.2 Social Security Benefits Social Security benefits and public sector pensions are among the sectors that will certainly be affected by the ageing issue. Nowadays, the composition of social security benefits is two-fold, non contributory and contributory. Basic retirement pensions of the elderly and the elderly invalids irrespective of their economic status are non-contributory benefits wholly financed by government. The actuarial report on the National Pensions Fund has drawn attention to the fact that future increases in the number of pensioners will make the financing of basic retirement pensions an increasing burden on resources. The cost of basic retirement pensions rose sharply from about Rs 2.3 billion in 1999/2000 and is estimated to be Rs 3.5 billion in 2015 and Rs 6.4 billion in 2035. Examination of the implications of the projected strain on government resources is therefore becoming a high priority. Assuming that the rate of basic pension remains more or less the same, it should be noted that an in crease in pension age from 60 to 65 would lead to significant saving to the government in respect of basic pensions. Tax revenues may also increase as a result of employment continuing between ages 60 and 65 but there would be no financial impact on the NPF as a result of these changes. Welfare services such as long term care and any payment (other than from the NPF) to the elderly out of the state budget which are likely to increase faster than GDP in future are other examples of financial implications of ageing on state budgets. The ageing of the population will increase the financial strain on the state budget in future as follows: Basic pension expenditure (all of which is financed by general taxation) is projected to increase by 75% in some twenty years and to almost triple by 2040 if present pension rates are maintained. Expenditure from the NPF is projected to exceed contribution income by 2015. Part of the NPF expenditure will need to be met by investment income, most of which is derived from Government bonds or loans. In the absence of corrective measures, the investment income required to meet NPF expenditure would be derived largely from taxation. Expenditure on public service pensions is projected to increase by about 80% in real terms over the next 20 years, that is , from about 11/4% to 21/4% of GDP; Expenditure on healthcare and social services for the elderly can also be expected to increase substantially over the same period. To ensure that the state pension system remain financially sustainable in future, many countries are increasing the minimum state pension age. In Mauritius, the expectation of life at age 60 is significantly higher than when the current pension system was introduced. There has also been improvement in the health of the retired population aged 60 above, thereby enabling many of them to continue to work. Provided they have sufficient financial resources many people might decide to retire from their main occupation before the state pension age. In these cases it seems reasonable that the individuals or their employers finance the early retirement. 4.3 BUDGETARY MEASURES In his budget speech 2011, the Minister of Finance commented all our elders deserve to live in dignity. The wealth we are creating today, the prosperity we are enjoying also bear the indelible footprints of their hard work. They must get their fair share. The government of Mauritius is preparing for the challenges of an ageing population and ramp up its support for our seniors. The Mauritian population is ageing .It is a new trend with new implications for economic and social policies. The government must provide for the changing needs such as new patterns of consumption and greater demand for health care. The government wants to make of Mauritius a society that can allow its elderly to live the high quality of life that they deserve. It is essential that Mauritius is on top of the issues of an ageing population and formulate effective policies. The second measure relates to health care for the elderly. A carers strategy and Action Plan will be prepared to address all issues relating to the need of our elderly population for carers Services. Third, the NEF will leverage on the high level of women seeking employment to train women in the skills and knowledge required to give care to elderly people. The training will provide certification and allow them to register as professional carers with the Ministry of Social Security and be given a certified carer ID. Fourth, the Cite des Metiers will open a section dedicated to facilitate our seniors in their search for carers and other services. Fifth, a new recreational centre for elderly, costing Rs 120 million and with a swimming pool, will soon be inaugurated at Belle Mare. Recreational centres are being constructed at Pointe aux Piments and at Riambel. Sixth, a get together Programme is being set up to give our elders who live alone and are on social aid the opportunity to socialize around a hot meal once weekly. Seventh, the government is extending the additional monthly allowance for persons suffering from incontinence to bed-ridden beneficiaries of Basic Retirement Pension aged 75 years and above. Eighth, to protect more the seniors from normal and regular flu outbreaks and from pandemics such as the HINI virus, free vaccinations against flu are being extended to our elders aged 60 years and above. Ninth, the government will invest in two low floor buses for senior citizens for outings from the recreation centres at Belle Mare and Pointe aux sables. Tenth, government is increasing the amount of income tax exemption for lump-sum on retirement and severance from Rs 1 million to Rs 1.5 million. For elders who have toiled hard in the sugar industry, the government is amending the Sugar Industry Pension Fund Act to allow payment of benefits to exceed two-thirds of final salary. 4.4 Accounting Effects If age-specific behavior in respect of labour supply and savings were fixed, labour supply and savings per capita would decrease with a rising elderly share of the population. Keeping all other factors such as productivity and migration equal, this would imply lower growth in income per capita. Peter Peterson (1999), argued that, global ageing could trigger a crisis that engulfs the world economy and may even threaten democracy itself. Alan Greenspan (2003), former U.S Federal Reserve Chairman has stated that ageing in the United States makes our social security and Medicare programs unsustainable in the long run. The European Unions Economic Policy Committee (2010) is more measured in its assessment of the threat: The ageing of the population is becoming a growing challenge to the sustainability of public finances in the EU Member States. The increase of the ratio between the number of retirees and the number of workers will gradually increase expenditure on public pensions and health and thus creates difficulties on maintaining a sound balance between future public expenditure and tax revenues. The retirement of baby boomers and the increase in the share of elderly in the population will create economic and fiscal stresses on the second decade of the 21st century. These demographic developments, if not offset by changes in household behavior and government fiscal policy, will reduce the number of workers in relation to the population needing support and lower the national saving rate. The result will be slower growth in national income and consumption after 2010. Aging-related expenditures are one of the fastest growing components of government expenditures. Over the next 40 years, the share of working adults will decline from 59 percent of the population to about 56 percent. The share of older adults (65 and over) will increase from just over 12 percent to almost 21 percent of the population. The higher costs of supporting these retirees will be offset partially by lower costs of supporting children, as the share of the population age 19 and under will drop from 29 percent to just over 23 percent 4.5 Future Labour supply After 2010 the population between ages 20 and 64 will decline and the percentage of people over age 65 will increase dramatically. These changes reflect the short run effect of the ageing of baby boomers while the long-run effect of reduced fertility and increased life expectancy. If labour force participation rates in each age group remain the same, the ratio of workers to retirees will decline sharply between 2010 and 2030. A decrease in the share of workers in the population means that, if all else remains the same, output per capita and living standards will be lower than they otherwise would have been if the share of workers had remained stable. The change in age composition of the population will reduce the share of workers and increase the share of dependent elderly. The increase in experience associated with an older workforce will raise average earnings and productivity per worker. With better health and increased life expectancies, one can expect individuals to work longer. As shown in Bloom, Canning, Mansfield and Moore (2007), the response to rising life expectancy is to increase the number of working years and the number of years in retirement proportionately, without changing period-specific saving behaviour. While a large set of factors such as increasing demand for leisure, general increases in wealth and difficult labour markets have contributed to low labour force participation among the elderly, social security systems have undoubtedly been a key reason for the continued low labour force participation among the elderly. Even if individuals decide not to work longer, increased life expectancies can be expected to induce increased savings over the working life in order to finance a continued high standard of life in retirement. As the elderly are healthier, they can work longer and more productively and place fewer demands on public resources. Businesse s can play a role in encouraging older workers to continue working, and they can in turn benefit from such workers experience and reliability. Allowing flexible schedules, offering ongoing training in new skills, providing wellness programmes, and re-allocating physically demanding tasks to younger workers are measures that can help retain the older segment of the workforce. 4.6 Consequences for Living Standards Labour supply adequacy is one factor influencing standard of living of the population. It refers to the ratio of the quality-adjusted workforce to the total consumption needs of the population. But not all people have equal consumption needs. For example, the government spends much more per capita on the over-65 population than it does on other age groups. Demographic trends will have adverse effects on economic growth after 2010, due in large part to the slowdown in the growth of the workforce and the increase in spending on age-related government transfers. But the effects do not appear to be catastrophic. The economy will continue to grow, even at a slower rate. Capital will increase considerably, even though lower national savings rate, as a smaller workforce requires less capital. Individual and population ageing are not gender neutral. Womens entitlement to goods and services over time is closely related to their work history, pension, property and inheritance rights. Old women generally occupy a precarious economic position, as they have accumulated fewer financial reserves than men, have fewer assets of their own and, more often than not, experience a weakening of their control over the family assets with the death of the husband. Poverty is a real threat to women as they get older. It is therefore imperative that any financial and social scheme developed to care for an ageing population should include targeted policies for the support of the elderly women. 4.7 Theories of Saving One of the most important theories of saving is the life-cycle model (LCM), which predicts that people will save in order to translate their fluctuating levels of income into smooth paths of consumption. Consumption implies that households borrow when young, save when middle-aged, and spend savings, or dissave, when old. The life-cycle Model assumes that people by death would have consumed all their wealth and that people have unlimited access to capital markets at a single interest rate paid by borrowers or received by savers. Given these assumptions, the pure LCM implies pronounced differences in annual saving rates by age, with consumption fluctuating with changes in permanent income but not transitory income. The private sector of the economy will account for a larger share of the nations saving in the future. Maintaining private saving in the face of potentially increased public dissaving will be critical for continuing future economic prosperity. While changing demographic may increase private saving, the government should also create appropriate incentives for private saving. 4.8 Influences on Public Savings Public saving is what is left of taxes after subtracting transfers, interest paid on government debt, and government consumption. Public saving is also government investment minus the budget deficit. Future public saving will be affected by the ageing of the population because major government transfer programs-social security and the health programs (Medicare and Medicaid)- disproportionately benefit the elderly. Danziger et al. found that the elderly not only do not dissave to finance their consumption during retirement, they spend less on consumption goods and services than the young at all levels of income. Moreover, the oldest old save the most at a given levels of income. At the same time, while their human capital and private pension wealth is being depleted, especially at the most advanced ages, the elderly face a complex problem of uncertainty about their health, life expectancy, and ability to maintain independent households. In these circumstances, they reduce their consumption to maintain their wealth. The problem of population ageing, which is a consequence of fertility decline, has become the new bÃÆ'Â ªte noire of development, replacing rapid population growth, a consequence of high fertility. It is ironic that population ageing and rapid population growth are two faces of the same coin: fertility. Both population growth and ageing have an adverse effect on savings, it is argued, as the young and the old are more consumers than producers, and thus dependent on the working population. The orthodox debate not only ignores the positive contribution that the old could and do make to the economy, but also fails to recognize the fact that there are other sections of the population, such as the unemployed, who are also supported by the working population. From a long term point of view, however, it is the working age and not just the working population that matters. Keynes and others argued that population ageing would reduce growth via its adverse impact on aggregate demand and inve stment, and not because of a higher tax burden and government expenditure on social security and pensions. The relevance of this approach to the current debate on ageing in its integrated view of the demand and supply or consumption and production implications of population ageing, in contrast to the orthodox approach which is primarily concerned with the consumption effects of ageing. The economic implications of an ageing population are intricately intertwined with the macroeconomic performance of a society over time. At the macro level it is the current output that has to pay for the subsistence of the population, young or old, at working age or retired. The current output, however, depends in part on past savings and investment. In other words the work and savings of the present generation provide subsistence and employment for the present as well as for the future generation. The benefits of growing national income and increased productivity will not, however, be distributed equally among the old whose claim on the national income depends on their accumulated assets, including savings and pensions. An economy which distributes its assets and income unequally over its working age population carries such inequalities into old age, thus creating a differentiated group of old people. This has to be taken into account in the setting up of national pension plans in order to prevent hardship among those old people whose poverty when of working age prevented them from saving for their old age.

Revising Education :: essays research papers

THE IDEAL CLASSROOM STRUCTURE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The education system in the United States is completely confused; I do not think that any attempts to modify the current system will ever work. Deborah Tannen also sees this problem. She sees the disorder lying in a gender gap, miscommunication between sexes, and a battle between man and woman in the classroom. Tannen thinks the current curriculum can be successful if we only work out the few kinks between the male and female learning process. I disagree, I believe this country needs to completely reevaluate and rebuild education from the bottom up. The solution will not involve sorting gender or tougher standards. We do not need to make students take tests to try and figure out what subjects are considered problem areas (as Massachusetts has decided to do), though this could arguably lead to some basic improvement. We must reconsider everything we think we know about what children ought to learn, and especially the methods used to teach this material to them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Instead of forcing facts and figures on students and separating subjects with bells, why not connect ideas and integrate these areas of interest. Let’s completely engulf and engage students in learning, here is a typical day in the ideal classroom:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mrs. Smith’s fourth graders are learning about redwood trees. Her classroom has one big circular table, and this morning it is covered with the magazine cutouts and photographs of redwood trees that the students have been passing around and discussing. There is a scale model of an average redwood tree next to a house, built in art class using Popsicle sticks and glue. Mrs. Smith asks questions about the size of the tree compared to the house. In the real world, the house is thirty feet tall but on the table it is only four inches high. The boys and girls can figure out the height of the tree involving their unit in math on multiplication and fractions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next, Mrs. Smith brings out some construction paper and paste. Before they begin cutting out and designing their own redwood trees, the students watch a short movie protesting deforestation. They are asked to think about the dangers of cutting down so many trees and write short essays and poems about their ideas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Now the class is outside around the school looking at trees around the playground. They can even make rubbings of the bark on different trees.

greek orthodox Essay -- essays research papers

The Greek Orthodox Church is one of the three major branches of Christianity, which "stands in today's society as one of the communities created by the apostles of Jesus in the region of the eastern Mediterranean, and which spread by missionary activity throughout Eastern Europe" .The word orthodox comes from Greek, this means right-believing. Currently, the orthodox religion has more than 174 million followers throughout the world. The Greek Orthodox church is autocephalous, which means governed by its own head bishop. The head bishops of this autocephalous church may be called patriarch, metropolitan, or archbishop. These clergymen are much like the Pope; they decide church doctrine and generally make important decisions on controversial topics. In its doctrine statements, "the Greek Orthodox church strongly affirms that it holds the original Christian faith, which was common to East and West during the first millennium of Christian history" (Meyendorff 18). More particularly, it recognizes the authority of the ecumenical councils at which East and West were represented together. These were the councils of Nicaea I (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus(431), Chalcedon(451), Constantinople II (553), Constantinople III (680), and Nicaea II (787) (Encarta 1996). The power of teaching and guiding the community is bestowed on certain ministries, particularly that of the bishop of each diocese or is directed through certain institutions, such as councils...

Organizational Change Essay -- Business, Interventions

Organizational change is an important part of organizational management and leaders cannot ignore the inevitability of having to manage change within their organizations. In addition, a global study that was conducted with over 2,000 organizations showed that 82 percent had implemented major information system change, which entailed other changes in structure, technology, and people as well (as cited in Robbins & Coulter, 2007). Therefore, it is imperative that managers and organizations understand how to increase their chances of having successful change programs. Diagnosis The first step in designing a change program is to understand what the problem or issue is that needs to be changed. This is referred to as diagnosis and is very important in making sure that the situation is fully understood so that an appropriate plan can be developed that will achieve the desired outcomes. In addition, diagnosis helps the organization determine what the scope of the issue is and how to make a change that will result in the desired outcome. There are several ways to receive the needed data to conduct a diagnosis. The organization can conduct attitude surveys, they can use direct observations, interview key individuals within the organization, develop workshops and review documents and records (Gibson et al., 2009). Unfortunately, many organizations do not take their time with this step which can result in flawed conclusions on the true nature of the problem, not understanding what their desired outcome from the change is, or not identifying the right intervention for the change. Therefore, it is very important to collect the needed information from various sources to determine the nature and scope of the issue or p... ...nforcement (Gibson et al., 2009). Conclusion The concept of change is relatively easy to understand, but making a change within an organization is complicated and involves numerous variables. First mangers need to use a systematic approach to determine the issues. They have to develop a course of action that resolves the issue, makes sure that everyone understands the issue, and the need for change. Mangers have to then move everyone to the new behavior using learning principles of training, demonstration, motivation, and empowerment. Finally, there must be feedback on how the change worked, make any needed adjustments, and reinforce the new behavior so old habits are eliminated. Change is an important part of all organizations and mangers that are able to develop and implement effective change programs will be valuable members of their organization.

Notes for Mpp Subject of Mba 1st Sem Essay

Management is a vital aspect of the economic life of man, which is an organised group activity. A central directing and controlling agency is indispensable for a business concern. The productive resources – material, labour, capital etc. are entrusted to the organising skill, administrative ability and enterprising initiative of the management. Thus, management provides leadership to a business enterprise. Without able managers and effective managerial leadership the resources of production remain merely resources and never become production. Under competitive economy and ever-changing environment the quality and performance of managers determine both the survival as In the words of George R Terry – â€Å"Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organising, actuating and controlling performed to determine and accomplish the objectives by the use of people and resources†. According to James L Lundy – â€Å"Management is principally the task of planning, co- ordinating, motivating and controlling the efforts of others towards a specific objective†. In the words of Henry Fayol – â€Å"To manage is to fore cast and to plan, to organise, to command, to co-ordinate and to control†. According to Peter F Drucker – â€Å"Management is a multi-purpose organ that manages a business and manages managers and manages worker and work†. In the words of J. N. Schulze – â€Å"Management is the force which leads, guides and directs an organisation in the accomplishment of a pre-determined object†. In the words of Koontz and O’Donnel – â€Å"Management is defined as the creation and maintenance of an internal environment in an enterprise where individuals working together in groups can perform efficiently and effectively towards the attainment of group goals†. According to Ordway Tead – â€Å"Management is the process and agency which directs and guides the operations of an organisation in realising of established aims†. According to Stanley Vance – â€Å"Management is simply the process of decision-making and control over the actions of human beings for the express purpose of attaining pre- determined goals†. 8 According to Wheeler – â€Å"Business management is a human activity which directs and Management Science: Theory and Practice controls the organisation and operation of a business enterprise.