Bhp billiton PowerPoint Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Bhp billiton - PowerPoint Presentation Example Slide 3 - 5 Panda Pit, BPH Billiton Open Cut Mining, BHP Billiton Crushed product awaiting shipment, BHP Billiton Slide 6 Industry Analysis (Barrile, 2008) Macro-environment Analysis Political issues Operates in countries with different political systems Black Economic Empowerment legislation introduced labor inequalities legislation in South Africa where most of the mining operations are located BHP Billiton has to operate within a broad range of the political (and legal) systems. The global nature of their operations in countries such as Chile, Australia, China and the US means that it must mitigate its activities in light of varying political processes and legal systems. By way of example in South Africa, where the company has considerable mining operations, Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) legislation has been introduced to address inequalities created by past history, particularly the exclusion of black African people from participating in the country’s economy. ... The compliance costs and in some cases remedial costs could increase the group's operational costs which in turn could affect its operating margins (Datamonitor, 2011). Consequently, these regulatory mechanisms could adversely impact the cost, production and financial performance of the group's operations. Furthermore, the interplay of demand and supply, as in other markets, is the key to price setting in commodity markets. In turn higher commodity prices can substantially add to BHP Billiton’s earnings which was the case at the end of the 2007 financial year (Barrile, 2008). Slide 7 Industry Analysis Macro-environment Analysis Social issues Affected by health, safety, environmental and community related issues BHP Billiton is affected by a range of social factors including health, safety, environmental and community related issues. The company uses the term ‘sustainability development’ to implement a broad program of policies, processes and activities that aim to make the company more responsive to social and community needs in the conduct of its businesses. Sustainability development is considered in two dimensions-the ‘business’ and ‘sustainability’ dimensions that come together to produce a more stable and valuable whole. (Barrile, 2008) Technological issues Innovation through the activities of employees such as engineers and scientists facilitate growth Focus on existing and new technologies in exploration and process engineering Science and technology are crucial factors that will bring continued success to the industry. Technological innovation through the activities of employees such as engineers and scientists facilitates growth and improved financial performance. The company focuses on understanding future trends and

Focal Point Consultants Essay Example for Free

Focal Point Consultants Essay While observing CanGo for last two weeks we at FPC (Focal Point Consultants ) have identified some six major issue that we feel should be addressed to allow the organization to better achieve there over all goals. First Concern—Priority 1 CanGo appears to have a financial issue and there is has not been a complete audit to address this issue. Also CanGo needs to learn how to use the resources that they already have and redefine the processes and procedures. First Recommendation The financial team at CanGo needs to work with all the key areas of the company to conduct an audit of current processes. This audit will allow for everyone to review all the current processes that are in place and determine what they can do to enhance them and at the same time the financial team can use this data to outline how much the current processes are costing the company overall. At the conclusion of this analysis the reports will allow for the company to cut spending in the correct areas so that they can improves the others. There are many things that can be done to make improvements without spending money or having to acquire new technology or devices. Within the warehouse for example the layout can be enhanced even more so that people are not wasting time walking. Minor and Major changes to just the layout will allow the CanGo to improve efficiency and overall performance. Each department head needs to complete a detailed time study on the processes they outlined above. Once this time study is complete then the data can be used to see what is taking the longest and make changes to that process. By taking these steps it will allow CanGo to approach improvements in the correct manner by taking those actions that don’t have ny hit to the company’s bottom line. After all these types of changes are complete that is when and only when money should be spent on new technology and devices to make processes more efficient. Second Concern—Priority 2 The loyalty of customers for the specific targeting market is declining. Second Recommendation Think about how you want to be treated as a consumer. Now apply that same concept to the targeting market. Review the evaluations that are submitted by the consumers. It will tell what impression the company is making. Also, spend time in the Customer Service department. This the first point of contact for consumer. How they are handle will determine whether a consumer will return: Customer service might just be the most critical of all in running your business. If your customers like how they are treated, not only will they keep coming back, but they will refer you to others. Treating customers as individuals and not as a stepping stone up your ladder of success can go a long way. Listen to their concerns and build a relationship with them. If your customer feels as though you have their best interest they will be loyal to you. Your customers can really do a lot of your marketing for you. Word of mouth, especially in a world where Facebook and Twitter are some people’s main way of communicating, is a very powerful tool (Debs Marketing Connections, 2012). Third Concern – Priority 3 Online purchases CanGo has talked about that they have a high rate of items added to the online shopping cart. Although this information does not support the amount of purchases actually received via CanGo’s online website. Third Recommendation  Having a high rate of items added to an online shopping cart means that you have a good storefront and getting customer’s to actually place the items within there shopping carts. This is only one piece of the multipart puzzle. The shopping site needs to be enhanced to entice the customer to actually complete their purchase as that is how we are going to make money overall. Since there is a high traffic volume to the website we would also recommend that the marketing team reach out to a third party website advertising company that will pay to place ads on CanGo’s website. This will drive also be another source of revenue for CanGo so they can then reinvest this money back into the company. Fourth Concern – Priority 4 While Reviewing the videos from weeks 3 and 4 I saw a issue that they is an issue within the warehouse and they do have a solution but no really reviewed the reports that Debbie provided. I think that these reports should have been reviewed while in the meeting so that they could have discussed all the points of the issue and the recommended solution to the warehouse productivity issue. Then Liz asked the group a question I wonder how the board will feel about this recommendation. Fourth Recommendation A solution to this problem would be to complete a full audit of the issue and do a trial run analysis of the proposed solution. This would allow for recommendations to be made to the board and the results of the proposed solution can be given right away. As people need to see measurable figures so that they can tell if something will be worth putting the time and money into the project. Fifth Concern – Priority 5  In the week 4 Videos they are talking about the market segment of boys in Japan. They ask each other questions about how they can get the market analysis complete and then the gentlemen having lunch say that I will do it. Fifth Recommendation There are a couple of thing on this problem that needs to be solved first managers should not interrupt an employee’s lunch unless it is extremely urgent. This is an issue because the employee stated he is Just trying to enjoy my lunch break. The Manager should have approached the employee at a later time when he was not at lunch. Then there is the issue of the market analysis. This assignment should get assigned out to a third party marketing company that can tap into the market in Japan and gauge what the consumer wants. This would be a lot more cost effective than attempting the complete this analysis on their own and wasting resources that they dont have in the first place. Sixth Concern – Priority 6 Sales are not increasing as projected for the company possibly due to the design of the online purchasing process. Sixth Recommendation Place a test run on the current online purchase process as a consumer. Time the entire process to see how long it takes. As the test run is being completed, keep the consumers’ needs and wants in mind. Determine if needs were met as well as satisfied. View the information available to see if it’s appealing to lead to the purchase the item. Also, notate likes and dislikes of the experience. Have a group of employees to assist to gather more information for comparison. Determine what updates can be implemented to entice the consumer to make a purchase. Keep track of different trends to keep a competitive edge for things like: 1.  In-store pick up. In the past few months we’ve seen Walmart implement in-store pick up for orders placed online, while Sears and Kmart are going a step further bringing online purchases out to your car. In Chicago, Sears and Kmart are even testing home delivery and bundling items with those from its retail partners at Sears’ Marketplace, further blurring the lines between online only retailers and those that came before. And in Florida, Farm Stores lets shoppers order groceries online and pick up at a drive through. 2. Pick up depots.  Smaller retailers without a vast network of stores like Walmart or Sears may open designated pick up locations for goods ordered online. Retail consultant Neil Stern of McMillan/Doolittle points to French retailer Chronodrive. com as an example. 3. Mobile Apps. Smartphones are the dominant cell phone and apps for all platforms are growing. The ones that allow for price comparisons or send out coupons are already among the most heavily used with good reviews, but we’re just getting started. 4. Less flash more function. Forget about flashy apps or features like virtual dressing rooms.  Consumers haven’t responded to these and rightly so. Maybe the technology will get there, but until it does, user reviews are better gauges of clothing fit and quality than any technology can offer. 5. Video. Look for more user-generated video on retail sites. Retailers are letting customers upload video clips modeling new clothes or using a new purchase. Davis believes this is one trend that will definitely pick up speed. 6. Social networking. Facebook and Twitter aren’t even close to played out yet. Consumers can increasingly â€Å"like† or follow a favorite retailer and get discounts or tips on deals.  JCPenney is using Facebook to actually sell goods and more than 12 million consumers â€Å"like† Victoria’s Secret on Facebook as of last month (March), making it the most popular retailer on the site (its Pink brand ranks No. 2, according to the ChannelAdvisor Facebook Commerce Index). That’s an active population of customers reaching out and requesting information from the retailer. And social shopping is just getting started, says Jim Okamura, managing partner at Okamura Consulting, a group specializing in online retail. There’s evidence (that Facebook offers) a good return on investment and there are a lot of retailers that haven’t done anything yet,† he says. â€Å"This is going to be the year of Facebook testing. 7. Daily deals and flash sales. This may seem like a very crowded playing field, but sites like Ruelala and OneKingsLane are reproducing at a furious pace. And based on how quickly many items sell out, often within minutes of email notifications going out, more will jump on this popular trend. 8. Retail based social networks. This is one trend experts don’t expect to happen at any large level. Sears is still trying to build a social network of its own customers and Walmart tried and abandoned a similar effort, neither attempt bodes well for its success. Facebook really owns this space, but look for small, focused sites to create communities of like-minded users, says Okamura. 9. International. â€Å"There’s been an accelerating trend in international or cross border e commerce, of small niche online retailers are now doing 10-20% of their sales outside of their own country,† says Okamura. Look to online shops like SousVide Supreme that sells specialized cooking equipment and StyleTrek. com, a community built to launch up and coming international designers as models. Other big name retailers like Zara and Top Shop are building out their online business to reach U. S. shoppers, even as the store base grows more slowly. 10. Deal aggregators. Of course there are always deal sites, like Dealnews, ConsumerSearch, FatWallet and Brad’s Deals that are cutting through the din of so many sites and sales to bring consumers only the information they’re interested in. (Forbes, 2012).

Server Architectures of Existing Presence Services

Server Architectures of Existing Presence Services In this section, we describe the system model, and the search problem. Formally, we assume the geographically distributed presence servers to form a server to-server overlay network, G = (V,E), where V is the set of the Presence Server (PS) nodes, and E is a collection of ordered pairs of V . Each PS node ni ∈ V represents a Presence Server and an element of E is a pair (ni,nj) ∈ E with ni,nj ∈ V . Because the pair is ordered, (nj,ni) ∈ E is not equivalent to (ni,nj) ∈ E. So, the edge (ni,nj) is called an outgoing edge of ni, and an incoming edge of nj. The server overlay enables its PS nodes to communicate with one another by forwarding messages through other PS nodes in the server overlay. Also, we denote a set of the mobile users in a presence service as U = {u1,,ui,,um}, where 1 ≠¤ i ≠¤ m and m is the number of mobile users. A mobile user ui connects with one PS node for search other user’s presence information, and to notify the other mo bile users of his/her arrival. Moreover, we define a buddy list as following. Buddy list, Bi = {b1,b2,,bk} of user ui ∈ U, is defined as a subset of U, where 0 i ∈ Bj implies uj ∈ Bi.For example, given a mobile user up is in the buddy list of a mobile user uq, the mobile user uq also appear in the buddy list of the mobile user up. Note that to simplify the analysis of the Buddy-List Search Problem, we assume that buddy relation is a symmetric. However, in the design of Presence Cloud, the relation of buddies can be unilateral because the search operation  of PresenceCloud can retrieve the presence of a mobile user by given the ID of the mobile user. Problem Statement: Search Problem When a mobile user ui changes his/her presence status, the presence service searches presence information of mobile users in buddy list Bi of ai and notifies each of them of the presence of ai and also notifies ai of these online buddies. The Search Problem is then defined as designing a server architecture of presence service such that the costs of searching and notification in communication and storage are reduced. 1.2 Motivation Because of the increasing of the Internet, mobile devices and cloud computing environments can provide presence-enabled applications, i.e., social network applications/services, worldwide. Facebook , Twitter, Foursquare, Google Latitude , buddycloud and Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) , are examples of presence-enabled applications that have grown rapidly in the last decade. Social network services are changing the ways in which They exploit the information about the status of participants including their appearances and activities to interact with their friends. The huge availability of mobile devices (e.g., Smartphones) that utilize wireless mobile network technologies, social network services enable participants to share presence experiences instantly across great distances. For example, Facebook receives more than 75 billion shared items every month and Twitter receives more than 60 million tweets each day. In the future, mobile devices will become more popular than today, sensing and media capture devices. Hence, we believe it is useful and social network services will be the next generation of mobile Internet applications. A mobile presence service is an important component of social network services in cloud computing environments. The key function of a mobile presence service is to maintain an present list of presence information of all mobile users. The presence information includes details about a mobile clients or user location, availability, activity, device capability, and their choices. The service must also bind the this clients ID to his/her current presence information, as well as retrieve and subscribe to changes in the presence information of the user’s friends. In social network services, each mobile user has a friend list, typically called a buddy list, which contains the contact information of other users that he/she wants to communicate with. The mobile user’s status is known automatically to each person on the buddy list whenever he/she moves from one location to the other. For example, when a mobile user logs into a social network application, such as an Instant Messagi ng system, through his/her mobile device, the mobile presence service searches for and notifies everyone on the user’s buddy list. To maximize a mobile presence service’s search speed and minimize the notification time, most presence services use server cluster technology. Currently, more than 400 million people use social network services on the Internet. Given the growth of social network applications and mobile network capacity, it is expected that the number of mobile presence service users will increase substantially in the near future. Thus, a scalable mobile presence service is deemed essential for future Internet applications. In the last decade, many Internet services have been deployed in distributed paradigms as well as cloud computing applications. For example, the services developed by Google and Facebook are spread among as many distributed servers as possible to support the huge number of users worldwide. Thus, we explore the relationship between distributed presence servers and server network topologies on the Internet, and propose an efficient and scalable server-to-server overlay architecture called PresenceCloud to improve the scalability of mobile presence services for large-scale social network services. First, we examine the server architectures of existing presence services, and introduce the search problem in distributed presence architectures in large-scale geographically data centers. The search problem is a scalability problem that occurs when a distributed presence service is overloaded with buddy search messages. Then, we discuss the architecture of PresenceCloud, a scalable server-to-server architecture that can be used as a building block for mobile presence services. The rationale behind the architecture of PresenceCloud is to distribute the information of millions of users among thousands of presence servers on the Internet. To avoid single point of failure, no single presence server is supposed to maintain all the information about all users. PresenceCloud arranges presence servers into a quorum-based server-to-server architecture to facilitate efficient searching. It also leverages the server overlay and a directed buddy search algorithm to achieve small constant search latency; and employs an active caching strategy that substantially reduces the number of messages generated by each search for a list of searching process. We analyze the performance of PresenceCloud and two other architectures, a Mesh-based scheme and a Distributed Hash Table based scheme. Through simulations, we also c ompare the performance of the three approaches in terms of the number of messages generated and the search satisfaction which we use to denote the search response time and the buddy notification time. The results demonstrate that PresenceCloud achieves major performance gains in terms of reducing the number of messages to reduce network traffic without sacrificing search satisfaction. Thus, PresenceCloud can support a large-scale applications distributed among thousands of servers on the Internet. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, PresenceCloud is among the imporatanta architecture for mobile presence services. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that shown the architecture of presence cloud that significantly best than those based distributed hash tables. PresenceCloud can also be utilized by Internet social network applications and services that need to replicate or search for mutable and dynamic data among distributed presence servers. The second contribution is that we analyze the scalability problems of distributed presenceserver architectures, and define a new problem called the buddy-list search problem. Through our mathematical formula, the scalability problem in the distributed server architectures of mobile presence services is analyzed. Finally, we analyze the performance complexity of Presence- Cloud and different designs of distributed architectures, and evaluate to prove the applications of PresenceCloud. 1.3 Existing System In this section, we describe the previous research on presence services, and survey the presence service of existing systems. Well known commercial Instant Messaging systems has some form of centralized clusters to provide presence services. Jennings III et al. presented a taxonomy of different features and functions supported by the three most popular Instant Messaging systems and Yahoo! Messenger. The authors also provided an overview of the system architectures and observed that the systems use client-server-based architectures. Skype, a popular voice over Internet Protocol application, utilizes the Global Index (GI) technology to provide a presence service for clients and people. Global Index is a multi-tiered network architecture where each node maintains full knowledge of all available clients connected to it. Since Skype is not an open protocol, it is difficult to determine how GI technology is used for presence services. Moreover, Xiao et al. analyzed the traffic of MSN and A IM system. They found that the presence information is one of most network traffic in instant messaging systems. In, authors shown that the largest message traffic in existing presence services is buddy NOTIFY messages. 1.4 Limitations of Existing System This system allows makes congestion in the network. It is not applicable for large scale network. It increases the search latency. 1.5 Proposed System Recently, there is an increase amount of interest in how to design a peer-to-peer Session Initiation Protocol. P2PSIP has been developed to remove the the disadvantages of centralized server, reduce costs, and prevent loses due to failures in server-based SIP deployment. To maintain presence information, P2PSIP clients are organized in a Distributed Hash Tables system, rather than in a centralized server. However, the presence service architectures of Jabber and P2PSIP are distributed, the buddy-list search problem we defined later also could affect such distributed systems. It is noted that few papers in discuss about the scalability issues of the distributed presence server architecture. Saint Andre observed the traffic generated as a result of presence information between users of inter-domains that support the XMPP. Houri et al. Show that the amount of presence traffic in SIMPLE can be extremely high, and they analyze the effect of a large presence system on the memory CPU loading. Those works in study related problems and developing an initial set of guidelines for optimizing inter-domain presence traffic and present a DHT-based presence server architecture. Recently, presence services are also developed in the mobile services. For example, 3GPP has defined the integration of presence service into its specification in UMTS. It is based on SIP protocol, and uses SIMPLE to manage presence information. Recently, some mobile devices also support mobile presence services. For example, the Instant Messaging and Presence Services (IMPS) was developed by the Wireless Village consortium and was united into Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) IMPS in 2005. In, Chen et al. proposed a weakly consistent scheme to reduce the number of updating messages in mobile presence services of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). However, it also suffers scalability problem since it uses a central SIP server to perform presence update of mobile users. In, authors presented the server scalability and distributed management issues in IMS-based presence service. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE SURVEY Chapter – 2 Literature Survey 2.1 Introduction In this section, we describe previous researches on presence services, and survey the presence service of existing systems 2.2 Related Paper Discussions 2.2.1 Title: A study of internet instant messaging and chat protocols Year: 2006 Author: R. B. Jennings, E. M. Nahum, D. P. Olshefski, D. Saha, Z.-Y. Shae, Description: Well known commercial Instant Messaging systems has some form of centralized clusters to maintain presence services. Jennings III presented a taxonomy of different features and functions supported by the three most popular Instant Messaging systems, AIM, Microsoft MSN and Yahoo! Messenger. The authors also provided a description of the system architectures and analized that the systems use client-server-based architectures. 2.2.2 Title: Understanding instant messaging traffic characteristics Year: 2007 Author: Z. Xiao, L. Guo, and J. Tracey Description: Xiao analyzed the traffic of MSN and AIM system. They observed and got that the presence information is one of most messaging traffic in instant messaging systems 2.2.3 Title: Ims presence server: Traffic analysis and performance modelling Year: 2008 Author: C. Chi, R. Hao, D. Wang, and Z.-Z. Cao, Description: In this, authors shown that the huge message traffic in existing presence services is searching the locations ,buddies etc. 2.2.4 Title: Peer-to-peer internet telephony using sip Year:2009 Author: K. Singh and H. Schulzrinne Description: Now a days, there is an increase amount of interest in how to design a peer-to-peer Session Initiation Protocol . Peer to Peer SIP has been developed to remove the centralized server, reduce maintenance costs, and prevent disadvantages in server-based SIP deployment. To maintain presence information, P2PSIP clients are arranged in a DHT system, rather than in a centralized server. However, the presence service architectures of Jabber and P2PSIP are distributed, the search problem we defined later also could affect such distributed systems.

Factory Farming and Animal Cruelty Essay -- essays research papers

Factory Farming and Animal Cruelty Animal rights are practically non-existent in many different ways today. Factory farming is probably the worst thing they can do to the poor helpless animals. Factory farming effects chickens, cows, pigs, and many other animals that are used for food, milk and eggs. One of the biggest organizations against factory farming is called Compassion Over Killing (COK). They go to great lengths to protest and inform people about animal cruelty. Chickens have to endure suffering that no living thing should have to go through. The egg laying chickens have to be forced into tiny cages without enough room to stretch their wings. Up to 8 hens are crammed in to a cage that is the size of a folded newspaper, about 11"-14". Stress from the confinement leads to severe feather loss so the chicken will be almost completely bald in the cold cages. When the chickens are of egg-laying age, there beaks are cut off without any pain killers to ease the pain, they do this so the chickens don’t break their own eggs and eat them because the chickens are hungry. Broiler chickens, luckily for them, only live up to 7 weeks old until they are big enough to be slaughtered. Their life starts out in incubator trays with hundreds and thousands of other chicks without enough head room to stand up, and not enough room to take 2 tiny steps. So for the first week of their lives it goes from cramp trays, to cramp boxes, to getting dumped onto the filthy floors of t...

Internal And External Sources Of Finance For Tesco Essay

A source of finance used by Tesco is retained earnings. Tesco re-invest a certain percentage of their end of the year profits back into Tesco, so they can improve it. Each year Tesco decide how much money they re-invest, this depends on the profit they make. Fixed assets: Another type of an internal source of finance for Tesco is fixed assets. Fixed assets are an asset that is not consumer or sold during the normal course of business, these are land, buildings, equipment, machinery, vehicles etc. These assets are very hard to convert into cash as it takes time to sell, Tesco would use these assets to fund future operations. Current assets: Current assets are a key financial source to Tesco’s business. Current assets are cash and other things such as inventory that can be converted into cash easily. An asset that will be in use for less than a year is a current asset as they transfer into money once sold. Tesco’s stock in their stores is a current asset as they transfer into money once sold. An essential thing for Tesco to ensure is to ensure that their assets aren’t lower than their current liabilities (debt) as this may force Tesco to close as they want to be able to pay off their debts. Working capital: Working capital can be both a good and a bad thing, this will depend on the debt a company has in this case Tesco. Tesco are a massive company so they will have a lot of working capital, this will ensure Tesco grow as they can expand their brand. Companies like new starts will have finances to expand and grow their business. In 2014 Tesco’s working capital reduced massively by over 300 million this will have an affect on their company in 2015. In this task I am going to write about what internal and external sources of finance are available to Tesco. Internal sources are funds that come from within the business. An example of an internal source is profits. They can be used to expand a business. Another way is to sell assets that the company don’t use to free up capital. External sources are found outside the business. An example of an external source would be a bank lending company money. External sources of finance (Tesco) Investments: An investment is when a person or persons invest their own money into a business, hoping to make a profit on their investment into the organisation. Tesco rely massively on investments just like any organisation. Tesco’s share prices depend on just how much is being invested into the company, and over the past year their share prices have dropped as the amount being invested has decreased. Warren Buffet who is an American billionaire, who made his fortune by investing said that â€Å" Investing in Tesco was a big mistake†. Ordinary shares: Ordinary shares, are shares within an organisation that any member o the oublic can buy. Tesco’s shares are currently selling for around  £189.75p , with Tesco buying the shares back at around  £190.05p, since the horse meat scandal, shares have decreased rapidly. Since November 2013 Tesco’s shares have declined drastically. Tesco are unable to buy back the shares at a price high enough to push customers to sell back, as the customers wouldn’t be making enough profit. Corporations: As Tesco are a corporation they can part-take in all the activities any corporation are involved in such as hiring new staff, sue other companies, be sued by other companies and also own their own assets. An asset that Tesco own is their very own oil plant in America Institutions: An institution of Tesco would be their bank. The institutions are companies that work with Tesco and that Tesco own. Any money that Tesco receive from the customers and clients of their bank, gets directly put in the profits.  The money they make from the institutions gets invested directly back into Tesco Business angels: Business angels are people who look to invest into new or successful businesses to try to make a profit. For Tesco business angels would’ve invented at the start of the companies journey in 1919. Business angels usually invest in companies around their home so they can check up on their investments. Government Grants: Tesco are Britain’s biggest supermarket and due to this they employ thousands. The government can give Tesco grants and money to invest back into Tesco. The government will benefit because if Tesco invest the money wisely they will have a successful year therefore the government will receive more tax. An example of Tesco receiving a government grant was in 2009 when they received  £5 million to open a new store in Glasgow. HP: Hire purchase is when a company or person lends out goods to companies for a short period of time, with added interest. Tesco could benefit if they were the company as they would lend out equipment, machinery, property and vehicles, as they would gain interest and also regain some of their investment into the product. Suppliers credit: Supplier’s credit is when a supplier offers the buyer the product they want on credit. This is like getting a loan of sorts as Tesco can pay at a later date. This benefits Tesco as they can order as much stock as they need even if they haven’t got the finances at that time. Sale and lease back: This is when Tesco sells something to a buyer such as equipment,machinery etc and the buyer leases the product back to Tesco immediately. This benefits Tesco as they can use the product without being tied down to the product  financially. To Tesco there is some tax benefits to leasing the product rather than actually owning the product. Tesco can sell the products and lease them back for a long period of time.

On the Role of Women in Colonial Latin America Essays

On the Role of Women in Colonial Latin America Essays On the Role of Women in Colonial Latin America Paper On the Role of Women in Colonial Latin America Paper Early Latin America is a rich and complex social, political, economic, and cultural environment possessing a distinctly Western (European) core constantly influenced by those forces inherent within a colonial system. Out of a mercantist fueled drive for wealth and power arose a new culture dominated by Iberian (Spanish and Portuguese) presuppositions concerning religious ideology and cultural mores. At the same time, this newfound society was not fully European as it sought to contain an indigenous Indian population, an African slave population, as well as the increasingly intricate blending of the three. In looking at how the unique blending of groups helped shape the colonial way of life, one can look to the system of castas as the dominant sociopolitical institution and structure of hierarchy which still remains influential within the modern Latin American world view. During the colonial era, social castas intersected with gender to determine the boundaries between what was acceptable and what was not. In looking at the construction of the colonial way of life, women played a unique part in that their place was primarily defined by their relationship to a man or religious institution and yet many were afforded more progressive roles in Latin America then in Europe. While women had more potential to defy cultural norms, they did not enjoy social or sexual equality with men. In addition, they also served as a focal point for the pervasive honour system as they were seen as key to the maintenance of social castas. Thus, female-headed households, women working outside the home, and other such social freedoms were commonly practiced by the plebe but, despite occasional exceptions, were not practiced by those who had honour to maintain. Elite women and those who aspired to be among the gente decente (decent people) were enjoined to defend their virginity, combine motherhood with matrimony, be faithful to their husbands, and thus help maintain the honor of their family and their own purity. The most influential aspect of a womans life was the castas into which she was born. Castas originated from a need to organize people within the colonies, from the Europeans at the top, to the African slaves at the bottom, and the mixed races such as Mestizos and Mulattos throughout. The closer one got to the native Iberian (as opposed to the Creoles who were fully European but born in the Americas), the higher ones social status. This status was fungible as one could move up or down depending on marriage or the purchase of Gracias as sacar (essentially, buying a higher degree of whiteness). Though this one can see, the Latin American tendency to think of race as negotiable spectrum, a ladder through which families might ascend. (Chasteen, 86) This caste / class system permeated every aspect of a womans life. One area upon which a womans caste had a great degree of influence was marriage. Women did not have many choices concerning what to do with their lives. They could join with the church, remain with their families under their father or brothers, and most significantly, get married. Marriage was both a religious and social institution. The marriage contract was a pillar of the Spanish social structure, crucial to the distribution of property. Marriage was a religious sacrament, and religious conformity was serious business in the Spanish Empire. (Chasteen, 56) Socially, it allowed a woman or man to heighten, weaken, or maintain a place within society. In, A Glimpse of Family Life in Colonial Mexico, Kathleen A. Myers uses the life of Madre Maria de San Jose to offer a glimpse of how a womans social caste influences her choices. Because of the caste system, marriages were not made between just economic equals. Marias sisters married well above their social status because of the family prestige and descent from conquistadores. Likewise, her Mother had originally brought most of the wealth into the family but had married into a good family in return. (Myers, 69-71). In addition to bringing honour to the family she married into, a woman also remained a member of her own family after marriage (did not change last names, lose property rights, etc. ). Due in part, to the ability for a womans marriage to elevate or harm the social standing of her own family and her spouse, a womans purity determined the large part of her worth. Women only maintained their purity if they engaged in sexual intercourse after having received a formal promise of marriage; those that had not were forced to have private pregnancies to protect their honor and that of their families. Sexual and other behavior was therefore tightly controlled among elite women while all men and women of lesser value / lower social castas were allowed comparative freedom. The social value of purity was supported by the ideological hegemony of Catholicism. Chasteen, 70) Ideologically, the Judeo-Christian faith has long been used to repress the rights and roles of the female sex by equating the woman with Eve, a temptress whose weak willed sexuality led Adam / man astray from God. The redeemer of the sin brought by woman was born from a pure, non sexual, and subservient virgin. Christian womanhood was explicitly associated with such purity and subservience and priests encouraged women to stay in the house while men provided for the family. Only when placed under male religious guidance could a womans unbridled sexuality be prevented from wrecking havoc on society? (Socolow, 6) Therefore, even though this was not viable for the vast majority of the population, the ideal of female enclosure was applied to all women under Catholicism. This view is reflected in the system of castas. Because only the elite women could achieve the status of a gente decente, it helped to rationalize and reinforce the lack of honour (and thus lack of status) held by the majority. Honour was a cluster of ideas that along with military and religious conquest, justified the hierarchical colonial Spaniards (and their Creole descendants) place within it. (Burkholder, ) Whether slave or fre e, Creole, Spanish, or indigenous Indian, a unique set of ideas defined a womans honour and distinguished it from a mans honour. According to Chasteen, Honour was a measure of how well men and women played their prescribed, and very different, social roles. (Chasteen, 71) The system, with its roots in Christianity, was inherently patriarchic and fathers ruled on both a microcosmic and macrocosmic level. Thus honor for a woman was fixed on her ability to remain sexually pure whereas a mans honour was in defending, (even by bloodshed), the faithfulness of their wives and virginity of their daughters. Chasteen 71) Therefore, women who were without male control/oversight (widows), who worked (the poor, middle class, slaves), and who were part of cultures with different gender relations (indigenous peoples), were automatically see as less honorable, thus helping to maintain the social status quo of white elitism. While there was a system of white privilege and male privilege, it is interesting to note that with increased honour came a decrease in freedom for women. Women of higher class rarely left the home and di d not work. There were exceptions found among women of higher castas but lower income. Such single women, widows, and those with absent husbands would typically resort to those activities which kept them in the home and would have men to actually sell the product or interact socially. Because these economic activities avoided direct entry into public space, they were acceptable for those among the finer class. (Socolow, 114) While upper class women were confined to the private sphere, plebian women throughout the Americas worked in a variety of fields and while it was not the norm, women were allowed to own businesses and property. Women across races engaged in commercial activity, acted as merchants, grocers, and in agricultural positions. In Mexico City, one-third of all sellers of tobacco products were women (Socolow, 45) many women also worked in domestic positions such as maids and wet nurses which tended to be the highest paying. However, women who worked were not seen as having the same degree of honour as those who were protected and thus their lives were often categorized by humiliation, and verbal, physical, and sexual mistreatment. (Socolow p 118) Through all of this one can see the wide array of factors that influences the lives of colonial Latin American women. While there were some notable exceptions, most women remained firmly within their constrained social roles as ordained by the patriarchic hegemony of Catholicism. This worldview influenced the whole of Latin America, from the Brazilian slave, to the newly arrived Spaniard. The sphere in which one operated was entrenched within the cultural mores of the era and helped to maintain the system of castas. The responsibility of the woman was to keep pure, thus maintaining her honor and that of her family. Ideally this was achieved by isolation from potentially corrupting factors and thus it is ironic that more social freedom was afforded to those women who were deemed less worthy. Because so few women could afford the honorable lifestyle, women in the Americas experienced a much higher degree of social freedom then those in Europe as they often played an important part of the economic sector. Despite this freedom, women on the lower end of the social spectrum dealt with a variety of hardships and the legacy of race and gender relations remains difficult to overcome even in the present era.