What actions might be taken by the government of your Uk to reduce or Essay

What actions might be taken by the government of your Uk to reduce or limit price fluctuations of oil - Essay Example The U.K. together with other many other countries have suffered from the fluctuation of oil prices in the international market as OPEC manipulates the prices (Keohane 1984). The fluctuation of petroleum prices in the U.K. is mainly affected by the fluctuation of crude oil prices in the international market which in turn is affected by the levels of supply relative to the expected and actual demand for the commodity. In this respect, the U.K. can control price fluctuations by mainly playing around with the demand and supply of the commodity and reducing overall dependence on oil (U.S. Department of Energy 2015; Yan 2012) as will be discussed in the following sections. There are a number of measures that the U.K. government can take to limit or reduce the fluctuation of oil prices which grossly affects the nation’s economy. One way through which the a country can reduce the fluctuation of oil prices is by taking measures to reduce the consumption of petroleum (Ji and Song 2009). By ensuring the production of machines and equipment that are more fuel efficient, for example, the U.K. would end up with a lower demand for oil. Furthermore, the demand for oil can be reduced by asking nationals or making legislations to ensure that the consumption of oil by households, businesses, and industry reduce. Yet another means through which the U.K. government can control oil price fluctuations is by increasing the supply of oil. When the supply of oil in the country is increased and the demand for the commodity is held relatively constant, the price of the commodity will tend to reduce and stabilize at some point, holding other factors constant. This being the case, the U.K. can opt to drill more oil wells, somehow increase the output of its fields, or reduce its oil exports to other countries. Closely related to altering the demand for a commodity is using substitutes. There are several substitutes that can be

SABMiller Case Analysis Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

SABMiller Analysis - Case Study Example The external environment for SABMiller in 2010 was conflicted by the inability to differentiate certain products in its portfolio of brands, namely the light beer categories, which accounts for 40 percent of total beer sales in the U.S; a significant volume. In Western Europe, well-established premium brands were estimated to be driving consumer demand based on their buying trends. This was a difficulty considering that new executive leadership worked toward reducing the Miller brand portfolio from 50 down to just 10 or 12 products. Divestment of premium brands that occurred during the earlier part of the 2000s seemed to limit the ability of SABMiller to re-establish brand presence for low-performing beer. Clearly, SABMiller is affected by the consumer behaviour preferences driven by trends or consumption patterns and must reengineer processes to meet these changing demands. In 2010, it was also clear that SABMiller is impacted by events in the external market, such as South African AIDS pandemics, confidence in certain currency markets related to the stock market and trading, and other events that limit their short-term potential to gain revenue and/or market share. However, SABMiller understood these limitations and worked to leverage other activities to the best of their ability, especially considering that some external events like the AIDS scenario was completely outside of the control of strategic leadership and focus. Additionally, the external market was driven by joint ventures from some of the major players in the beer industry, thus limiting the ability to consider this a quality strategy that had once served them well, such as with Coors and other brands. Even though these had short-term revenue opportunities and cost reduction improvements, or streamlining operational functions, their long-term value was diminishing. The external market provided opportunities to combine resources with competition, however this strategy has long-term brand problems at the marketing level when similarly-priced products in a joint venture are competing with one another. Thus, finding new opportunities based on the external market characteristics were becoming increasingly difficult to innovate and implement. SABMiller’s competitive advantage SABMiller’s competitive advantage had been the ability to coordinate resources for acquisitions in order to extend their portfolio of brands across Europe, em erging economies and the United States. This drove considerable success from 2001 until 2009, such as the acquisition of Grolsch, Sarmat Brewery in the Ukraine, and multiple brewery purchases in the Chinese market. As indicated by the company’s cash flow statements, the improvement in total brand portfolios gave it more resources to seek acquisitions as a strategy for long-term growth and opportunity in emerging economies and locally. SABMiller fits the profile of a strategic leader when it comes to seeking opportunity through acquisition and divesting poor performing brands when required through external analysis and business process reengineering.

NHS and Community Care Act 1990 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

NHS and Community Care Act 1990 - Essay Example In a broader perspective, the initial misgivings with regard to the aspects such as the implementation of the services and professional opposition have been overcome successfully, and this is a significant achievement. Guillebaud (1953), states â€Å"Providing the best service possible within the limits of the available resources has always been the challenge for the NHS. But it has never prevented the NHS striving for - and achieving - ambitious results. The record speaks for itself†. Viewed from the backdrop of an increase in the number of people aged at 85 and over from 240,000 at the end of 1956 to 1,024,000 at the end of 2006, it can be said that the NHS has been by and large fulfilling its mission in providing community care to the society, satisfactorily. In mental health, the services are provided in a variety of settings. It takes care of the community psychiatric needs through acute wards with secured provisions as well. The service delivery in respect of learning di fficulties has improved over a period of time and has become very diverse to cater to the specific needs. Triggle (2010) states that a huge cultural shift is needed in the NHS in England to ensure children get the right care, a government-commissioned review says. Abuse of elders in private setting is also a cause for concern among the professionals. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (2003, p.1)states that the range of therapy services is available, but there are long delays for occupational and speech and language therapy.

Transformational leadership and manageent syle in nursing Essay

Transformational leadership and manageent syle in nursing - Essay Example The kind of work she does from asking patients how they are doing, and whether they have what they need here; to directing other staff members making sure all hospital work gets done on time and efficiently. She also makes sure along with getting work done is that all staff members get time off and they get to go out too and do not just get stuck with work all the time. This extra care from the nurse manager ensures that they are motivated and happy with whatever work they are doing and they hence do everything in a better way than normally expected. Hence, apart from ensuring that everything gets done on time this nurse also makes sure that everyone gets time off and vacations on time too. This shows how caring she is towards hers staff members and the people she has under her for leading and motivating. We call this inspirational of transformational leadership. Transformational leaders identify and formulate a vision for their followers and sub-ordinates to follow. They create an idea of a future environment and vision. They visualize how things will eventually be if they work and try to achieve success. In the case of the nurse manager, she devises a vision as to how the other nurses should provide to the hospital and the patients. Secondly, all transformational leaders provide a suitable ideal for the workplace and for the people working there. The nurse manager being a transformational leader also sets an example by adhering to activities and rules that are typical of efficient hospital nurse management. Promote the importance and willingness to accept of goals of the entire group of people the transformational leader is leading. The nurse manager also does this through setting goals first and then making sure there is cooperation and understanding in between each group member and all nurses that is so that there is harmony amongst them. This harmony makes sure that all members change their individual goals into collective goals and achieve common group goals henceforth. Uphold expectations pertaining to high formulated levels of performance and making sure that the entire group meets these expectations criteria. The nurse manager gives confidence to the entire staff that they can get this particular task done for example making sure that the hygienic conditions in the hospital are met etc. Catering to individual support. This is done to make sure that the members of the group/team feel worthy and

Discuss the extent to which factor availability is no longer an Essay

Discuss the extent to which factor availability is no longer an effective explanation of the competitiveness of regions or count - Essay Example The essence of competitiveness and allied issues is to gain an insight into the economical wellbeing of the country and the effective allocation of resources. This paper concerns with the factors that drive regional competitiveness, and whether factor availability is a contributing factor to regional competitiveness in the modern era or not. The essay looks into the concepts of competitiveness and perfect competition from a microeconomics perspective. Considering the factors that influence competitiveness at the level of the firms, one can establish that competitiveness depends on the capacity of the firms to compete, progress and to make profits (Martin n.d.). Competitiveness Defined Competitiveness is present in the potential of the firm to make products on a regular basis which fulfill the criterion of open market with respect to price and quality amongst other factors. Moreover, it also relates to the competence of the firms in making products that are profitable. Competitiveness at a microeconomics level buttresses the notion that for a firm that fulfills the criterion of an open market, it needs to be more competitive than other firms in order to capture a share of the market. Likewise, a firm that is not competitive will not be able to sustain a large market share and over the period of time, it will be forced out of the business unless it is supported by some artificial protection (Martin n.d.). When considering competitiveness between regions, one has to look beyond the competitive and noncompetitive firms, and to include the common traits of competitiveness present between regions. According to the Sixth Periodical Report on the Regions, regional competitiveness can be defined as the â€Å"the ability to produce goods and services which meet the test of international markets, while at the same time maintaining high and sustainable levels of income or, more generally, the ability of (regions) to generate, while being exposed to external competition, r elatively high income and employment levels† (Martin n.d.). Different Perspectives on Competitiveness The notion of competitiveness of the national level is much more debatable and ambiguous. Although policy makers consider the attainment of competitiveness with respect to other firms as the main goal of the economic policy, competitiveness has been severely criticized and has been considered to be primarily â€Å"meaningless† (Martin n.d.); in fact, P Krugman, in his book Pop Internationalism, states that national competitiveness is a risky mania and has a vague macho ring to it (Krugman 1996). He argues that it is not correct to make a comparison between firms and countries because firms can be forced out of business if they are uncompetitive, but the same trend does not apply to countries. At the level of the firms, gaining market share affects other firms in the industry negatively, but on the regional or national level, the success

Minorities in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Minorities in the UK - Essay Example However, there are several factors which seem incomplete in the overall claim on the part of the locals. The first one is that the identity of C is known which does not violate the same point in the Act. In this vein, 187B of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act Part 3 states: Rules of court may provide for such an injunction to be issued against a person whose identity is unknown.1 This is why the local authority made a huge mistake at imposing an illegal breach of planning toward the identified person in keeping strictly with the law. On the other hand, the fact that C bought that piece of land is more than just weighty. She must get through a host of different executive bodies to make it her private property. Thus, if the local authority disregards the fact of purchasing land, then it disregards and sincerely blames the work of officials responsible for selling land to C. All in all, it is a provoking point addressed to the overall executive branch of power. It also does harm to the democratic freedoms proclaimed and shared by the British government. As a result, it is a serious violation of the law. Regardless of the fact that C is of Roma decent, she is an owner. By and large, there is a universal norm on justifying the gist of private property and rights of individuals, namely: â€Å"Property rights† is an index of the degree to which the government enforces laws that protect private property.2 Thus, the eviction is not permissible. To say more, the case is all about some discriminatory nature nurtured highly on the part of the local authority. C wants to station her caravans in order to provide her children with suffice healthcare and education which is within easy reach. This is the next hallmark of the discussion. Once again, here is the fact of straight-forward discrimination toward Roma people in the UK. In this respect the High Court should take it into account since it would be a blame for EU and the UK, in particular. Equality in rights i s needed to keep the social equilibrium. However, it is a case for EU, as the British government lobbied on issues concerned with equal access to education, employment and housing for Roma people.3 This is why the case of C should be considered in terms of international commission on the human rights and the right for housing, in particular. What is more, the fact that C could buy the piece of the land in the London Green Belt makes it possible to suppose that she has a host of other rights. According to the ECSR and the Committee on Human Rights in Europe, the right to housing permits the exercise of many other rights – civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural rights.4 Hereby, C is eligible in taking her part while solving the issue of stationing her caravans near the local school and healthcare facilities. Roma people and other indigenous ethnical groups living in the UK are also protected by the OSCE conventions on their sustainable integration.5 Hence, it is another standpoint to think of by the High Court while considering the merits of the case. Along with the undeniable fact of purchasing and owning the land, C is allowed to share the rest of the amenities as declared by the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities which the UK belongs to.6 Thus, the UK government cannot disregard a set of obligations based on the international

The True Cost of Employment-at-will to American Employers Essay

The True Cost of Employment-at-will to American Employers - Essay Example In legal terms, employment-at-will refers to the employment contract that can be terminated for any reason (except for a few spelt out illegal reasons) and at any time either by the employee or the employer (Sentell and Robbins, 2008). The doctrine of employment-at-will avows that, in cases where the employee does not have an express or written employment contract and the employment term is of indefinite period, the employer can terminate the employee for no cause at all, bad cause, or good cause (ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, 2011). In the United States, at- will employee can be terminated for no reason at all, or for any reason, and at any time, and the courts cannot intervene to protect such an employee from employer’s alleged unfair treatment. Over the years, there has been raging debate among employers, employees, and policy- makers as to whether the doctrine of employment-at-will is really good for the United States or not. More specifically, employers have be en trying to evaluate the â€Å"goodness† of the doctrine to them, both in short and long run. This paper will evaluate the true cost of employment-at-will to American employers. Among the major industrial powers, the United States is the only bone that still maintains a general rule of employment-at-will. ... Some of the court rulings coupled with the scholarly writing on the scrapping of employment-at-will prompted most employers to think on the cost of the doctrine as well as its effectiveness. For example a law review article by Professor Lawrence Blades called for scrapping of the doctrine as it threatened the freedom of individual workers just like authoritarian government would do. As a result of this review article, courts recognized some kinds of exceptions to the doctrine; the exception of public policy being the most often- used. This exception allowed the judges to consider a dismissal as â€Å"unjust† if it was as a result of an employee exercising or upholding some public policy right (Blades, 1967). Muhl (2001) notes that recent years there has been revolutionary departure from the doctrine of employment-at-will especially based on the exception of the covenant-of-good-faith. This exception emphasizes on fair dealing and good faith as being very important in employmen t relationship. Courts that are using this exception usually rule that dismissal of employees should meet the standard of â€Å"just cause† and that such dismissals can be invalidated if they were done in bad faith or were inspired by malice (Roehling, 2003). In the light of evolution of employment-at-will doctrine, it is important to evaluate its true cost to the American employers in order to determine whether it is good for them or not. Willey (2009) explains that the proponents of the doctrine point to the essence of employer’s discretion in all the employment issues impacting his or her â€Å"business†. On the other hand, the opponents of the doctrine point out to the essence of defending the freedom of individuals and