The United Kingdom and India Essay Example for Free

The United Kingdom and India Essay The purpose of this paper is to understand the benefits of the trade relationship between the United Kingdom and India particularly in the small and medium enterprises sector of each country. Introduction The relationship between the United Kingdom and India can be traced from centuries ago. The British Empire once colonized India and the British have already seen so many unique attributes of India in terms of products and resources that they began taking it to their shores. The Indian and British economy can be both very influential in developing peace and justice in the world economy. Thus it can only be done if both countries will begin seizing the opportunities today. India being the largest democracy is not only a very good potential market, but in the long run, this country is bound to contribute a lot of things to the progress of the world. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said in (2007) India is one of the engines of world growth. I believe Britain must be a full participant and indeed your partner of choice. Research Question How does the current trade relationship between U. K. and India affect each other’s domestic economic growth? Objectives: †¢ To determine whether the current trade relationship of the United Kingdom and India is strong and beneficial (advantageous) or its opposite †¢ To understand whether to what extent each country influences the other in terms of monetary and non monetary investments †¢ To identify which factors contribute to the success (or failure) of the existing trade relationship Hypotheses †¢ India and the United Kingdom’s trade relationship is a strong and beneficial one †¢ The existing trade relationship between U. K. and India provides India with beneficial technology transfer and knowledge building which improves small and medium size entrepreneurial growth †¢ The existing strong relationship between U. K. and India paved the way for India to invest favorably in the U. K. Methodology This paper will particularly rely on secondary sources taken from the studies of experts in the said field, and primary data coming from government agencies that investigate and study this topic in the United Kingdom and India. Literature Review Gareth Thomas MP, Minister for Trade, Investment and Consumer Affairs in April 2008 further added that, â€Å"The UK can help India achieve this ambitious target. We are a natural ally of India in encouraging Europe to open up in areas of interests. As allies we need to support the global economy and restore confidence. The alternative risks nations succumbing to the growing tide of protectionism. The UK-India partnership – Governments and business – must continue to be at the forefront of those making the case for increased openness. I believe that strengthening still further UK-India trade will help India’s development, will help India to lift more of it’s people out of poverty and at the same time be good too for British business, British jobs and our economy. † This statement goes to show that such relationship equally benefits both countries, because more and more Indian companies are penetrating UK for investments thus providing the UK with more job opportunities, especially on the Northern Ireland part. Now, in the 21st century, the trade relations of both country has gone stronger. The United Kingdom’s strong trading relationships with India provides for advantages specifically in the area of business in the U. K. ’s domestic economy. According to Prime Minister Brown (2008), â€Å"The UK will invest another ? 825 million for development in India over the next three years. † Brown announced the funding during his India visit. UK’s aid in strengthening the education sector of India, will also prove to be beneficial for both countries in the long run. This is so because, there will be an increase in the talent pool which can help Indian and British companies. The UK investment is not merely for trade purposes, but this time a big chunk of the investment will go to humanitarian purposes and education wherein up to ? 500 million is expected be spent on health and education. The said funds will give 300,000 more teachers and another 300,000 classrooms ensuring that in total by 2011, 4 million more children half of them girls – will be able to go to school. This then, will definitely promote more equality in education. Prime Minister Brown in (2008) further added that, Over the last few years, India has made great progress in tackling poverty and sustaining economic development. But some grave challenges remain. The UK is keen to play its part and work in partnership with India to fight poverty. That is why I am pleased to announce this substantial package of support to help make a better future for India’s poorest. This is a very important statement because it reflects how committed the UK is in helping the Indian society. Definitely, a country can only achieve high quality of growth and very good business climate if it is able to sustain its own demands for change. UK is very particular with â€Å"just change†, or an equitable change. It cannot be that India continues to contribute to the most number of billionaires in the world and yet a lot of its citizens are still dying of hunger, unemployment, poverty and other diseases. The UK’s Secretary of State for International Development, Douglas Alexander, said: Without India getting on track, the world will fail to meet the Millennium Development Goals. That is why the UK contribution which accounts for 1/3 of all aid to India is welcomed. Past UK support has helped to raise primary school enrolment rates to 94 per cent and provided water and sanitation for 10 million slum dwellers. The ? 825m contribution will continue to benefit Indias poorest by improving health (including under nutrition) and education for all. Though parts of India are booming, the levels of child malnutrition in India are nearly twice as high as the average for all of sub Saharan Africa. India is home to one third of the world’s poor. Up to 400 million people live on under a dollar a day. UK’s contribution to India transcends business, it has to be also about development. UK believes that India is a huge talent pool, and yet it can only be sustained if education will not be limited to few. If India wants to be one of the largest economies, then it has to produce more leaders by means of education- and this is where UK is very helpful with.

Audit Report on Database Security and Performance Management

Audit Report on Database Security and Performance Management EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report covers a review of the Security and performance issues, with the respect to the size and capacity of the data management in Organic Cosmetics Ltd. We are running a company with a total number of over 100 employees and large customer base national and international. In summary, we found some deficiencies in security integrity and performance in terms of query optimisation and as well as areas where improvements are warranted as listed below; 1. No proper procedure of reducing Sensitive Data Exposure which will in turn be devastating to the company, if not sorted out as soon as possible. 2. Deficiency in the way of detecting Threats from Inside and Outside 3.Deficiency in the way of developing Secure Applications 4. In terms of performance optimisation, there is no proper indexes set up to optimise and speed up retrievals of queries that are taking too long to execute. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The main aim for the report is to carry out the proper procedures and techniques that is best to carry out the better security performance and query optimisation for administrative management performance. And after a proper consultation with experts and detailed research we have all that is takes to implement and effect changes to these deficiencies. Some of our objectives are; Reducing Sensitive Data Exposure in Applications by introducing an Oracle Advanced Security data redaction which provides selective, on-the-fly redaction of sensitive data in query results prior to display by applications. Limiting Sensitive Data Exposure When Sharing Data, we have been able to put in place Oracle Data Masking and Subsetting. Deficiency in the way of developing Secure Applications, we have been able to source out advanced and more sophisticated security measures introduced by oracle Database 12c Real Application Security, which is Oracles next generation database authorization framework and the industrys most advanced solution for developing secure applications called Basic Fine Grained Access Control (Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD)) and the Real Application Security (RAS). Performance optimisation, there is no proper indexes set up to optimise and speed up retrievals of queries that are taking too long to execute. There should advance form of scalability which is the ability of a system to process more workload, with a proportional increase in system resource usage, there we have to choose an efficient execution strategy for processing a query. APPROACH The best possible way of reducing sensitive date exposure is by the Redaction process. Redaction is the process of scrubbing out data. Imagine a paper document with certain fields scratched out with a black marker. Oracle Advanced Security data redaction works similarly but on application data stored in the database. Because it is enforced inside the database, it is possible to consistently redact database columns across different application modules accessing the same data. Data redaction minimizes changes to applications because it does not alter actual data in internal database buffers, caches, or storage, and it preserves the original data type and formatting when transformed data is returned to the application. Data redaction has no impact on database operational activities such as backup and restore, upgrade and patch, and high availability clusters. Because we handle a lot of big transactions OCL, it will be better to use data redaction to make sure our data are secured. The movement of production data dramatically increases the risk to data and increases the overall cost of security and compliance. Masking of data before it is moved from production eliminates the risk of data breaches in non-production environments by irreversibly replacing the original sensitive data with fictitious data so that data can be safely shared. Using Oracle Data Masking and Subsetting enables entire copies or subsets of application data to be extracted from the database, obfuscated, and shared with partners inside and outside of the business. Most importantly, during the obfuscation process, application integrity is preserved by maintaining data relationships across application tables. Oracle Data Masking and Subsetting improves security by reducing the scope of data exposed to partner organizations. Compliance costs are lowered by narrowing the compliance boundary for test and development groups. Below is an example of data being masked. Instead of four rows in Name and salary column the masking has reduced it the rows and interchanged the data store in each column rows. The solution to deficiency in the way of developing Secure Applications is by adopting the following process, which we have been able to source out. It is an advanced and more sophisticated security measures introduced by oracle Database 12c Real Application Security, which is Oracles next generation database authorization framework and the industrys most advanced solution for developing secure applications called Basic Fine Grained Access Control (Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD)) and the Real Application Security(RAS). Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD), introduced in Oracle8i, is widely used today to enforce fine grained access control within applications. It allows application developers to associate a stored PL/SQL program unit with an application table, view, or synonym. The program unit fires when the application object is accessed via SQL. The program unit computes a predicate or where clause that is appended to the original SQL statement. In many cases, the program module will query specific meta data tables containing information on user roles and privileges as nearly every application today has its own unique set of security tables. Another common approach used with VPD is to initialize an Oracle application context when a new application user is initialized within the application. Real Application Security(RAS). Unlike the basic Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD), Oracle Database 12c Real Application Security (RAS) provides a robust declarative model that allows developers to define the data security policy based on application users, roles and privileges within the Oracle Database. The new Oracle Database 12c RAS technology is more secure, scalable, and cost effective than the traditional Oracle VPD technology. Real application security provides a declarative interface that allows developers to define the data security policy, application roles, and application users without requiring application developers to create and maintain PL/SQLstored procedures. The data security policies are defined inside the database kernel using the Oracle Database 12c RAS API. The permissions associated with business objects are stored in Access Control Lists (ACLs). ACLs are a key component of RAS and store the privileges assigned to principals and control the type of operations: select, insert, update and delete that can be performed on the objects. These are some of the usefulness of Real Application Security provides the next generation authorization architecture for applications that will be needed in Organic Cosmetics Limited (OCL): 1.Uniform Data Security: The RAS Security model allows uniform specification and enforcement of access control policies on business objects irrespective of the access path. It overcomes the limitation of custom built approaches that only work when an object is accessed via the specific code path that has access control logic embedded into it. 2. Secure End User Identity Propagation: Application sessions allow the end user identity and associated attributes to be conveyed securely to the database allowing the database to use the information for end-user access control and auditing. 3. Declarative and Fine Grained Access Control: RAS policy components encapsulate the access control requirements of the application in the form of declarative policy on data for application users, application roles, and application privileges. With column security, RAS model extends authorization to the column level to protect sensitive data such as SSN. With support for master-detail, parameterized, delegation, and exception based declarative policies, RAS meets the real-life deployment requirements of applications. Then for the issuesof performance optimisation and quick table accessibility, there is no proper indexes set up to optimise and speed up retrievals of queries that are taking too long to execute. Finally, there is an indexing system that can be set up to help sort the out accessibility of records quickly. Basically there are 3 kinds of index, but we have chosen the Function index. In a function index you index an expression rather than a column. Eg supposing you wanted to regularly retrieve orders that havent been shipped, so no value in shipdate. A basic B-tree index couldnt be set up because it wouldnt include nulls in the index, so function based could be used: eg: CREATE INDEX non_shipped_index ON ord   (NVL(shipdate, null)); CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Based on our findings and recommendations I believe if we could make appreciate changes as soon as possible we can be able to sort the deficiency issues in our database management system and also to improve our services. 1.4 REFERENCES WHITEPAPER, O. (2015) Oracle Database 12c Security and Compliance. Available at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/security/security-compliance-wp-12c-1896112.pdf (Accessed: 08 February 2017).

Settlers Effect On The Plains Indians History Essay

Settlers Effect On The Plains Indians History Essay The new railroads in the West occasioned by the Civil War opened up the area to economic development and new settlers. American settlers from the East entered via the Mississippi to ranch farm and mine. Native American settlers also poured from Deep South after being convinced that prosperity was only found in the West. Chinese workers constructing the railroads worsened diversity of the population in this region. The Great Plains underwent transformation because of settlers from the east. Farmers cultivated wheat and other crops on their lands and wiped out herds of American bison. The industry of cattle blossomed as the railroads provided a means of transport to market the cattle (Josephy 32). The lives of African-Americans residing in the west were drastically affected by the increase in white settlement and disappearing of bison. Civil conflicts led to occasional victories by the American Indians despite great US military force and the large number of white settlers. By mid 1980s, over 50% of American Indians had been pushed into reservation areas that least appealed to the white settlers. Because of the civil war, there was a huge traffic of people entering the West Mississippi. These people originated from Midwest and East as well as Asia and Europe. Millions of people had been lured by the promise of riches from gold mines, cheap lands and the imagination of a better living style. The new railroads offered a new means of transportation for the settlers while some of them sailed in order to arrive to the west coast. They settled on the Great Basin, Great Plains, and South West, enduring disillusionment, danger, and hardship. By 20th Century, the white settlers had acquired new homesteads, industries, and communities. Some of them became greatly successful although most of the settlers did not succeed in achieving the wealth they desired (Trigger and Wilcomb 22). Since the arrival of the white settlers, there was a misunderstanding between them and the Indians. For example, non-Indians did not recognize the religious practices of the native tribes, which include worshiping of animal and plant spirits. In addition, the Plain Indians believed in a complicated system of Kinship based on extended families: the settlers could not comprehend this. Such cultural differences made the white settlers view native people as barriers too civilization (Smith and Allen 47). As the Americans organized new states and territories in the West, it gave a clear indication that Native Americans were prohibited from roaming over the land occupied by non-natives. The US policy aimed at establishing small pieces of land for different tribes and motivated them to practice agriculture. While some tribes peacefully settled on the reservations, most of them were resistant and did not give up their way of life and their lands (Philip 18). Losing the bison on the Great Plains was a huge threat to the survival of Indians than the battle with the US army. The American Indians relied on the bison as a source of fuel, shelter, clothing, and food. Although the destruction of the bison was not under the federal policy, the practice was approved by army commanders as a way of destroying key aspects of the Indian life. Besides, hunters were hired along the railroads killing wildlife animals whilst providing food to the workers of the transcontinental lines. After the completion of the railroads, the settlers used chartered cars to shoot the bison. As of 1975, they had killed millions of bison, which provided material for hides in the East. After a decade, the bison species became extinct. This situation was worsened because they had abandoned their nomadic lifestyle. As a result, the Indians had no option but to accept living on the reservations (McNickle 52). The system of reserving Indians on small pieces of land did not succeed. Most of the families were reserved on marginal lands that made it impossible for them to develop farming practices that could sustain them. The government could not fulfill its promise of supplying them with food and other needs. This made the government abandon its hard held policy of viewing the tribes as sovereign states. The purpose of the new land was to promote farming among the native tribes through breaking the reservations (American Journey 547). The policy allowed the land to be distributed per each household. After the distribution, citizenship and title of ownership was given to each owner. However, this was not done to all the members of the native tribes. The reserved land that had not been allocated to the native Americans were sold to interested people. Although this was a humanitarian reform, the US policy did not recognize the communal lifestyle of Native Americans: this led to the loss of mill ions of acres of land belonging to the Indians (Smith and Allen 39). The Plains Indian tribes were desperate and had an urge to restore their past; they were attracted to the Ghost Dance: a religious group. This movement had promised them that it would protect them from the white settlers, and the bullets of the American soldiers. It had also promised to bring the herds of Bison back. Efforts of reviving cultural practices of the Native Americans raised concerns among the US army and the settlers. This is because they were worried that it would increase the Indian resistance. When the US army failed to ban the Ghost Dance Movement, they adopted methods that are more aggressive. As of 1980, the US military had killed over 300 children, women, and men. This led a confrontation that marked of Plains Indian resistance (Trigger and Wilcomb 30). In the beginning of 19th Century, the American government decided that it would use treaties to solve the conflict between non-Indian settlers and the Plains Indian tribes. These treaties were meant to restrict the Native American tribes from moving to certain regions. Later, the federal government established a permanent frontier where displaced eastern tribes could live. In 1854, the US government reserved a vast region for the settlers (McNickle 72). Plains Indians were reserved and pressurized to embrace change. They deployed new resistant strategies but did not succeed. The Great Plains underwent transformation because of settlers from the east. Farmers cultivated wheat and other crops on their lands and wiped out herds of American bison. The cattle industry blossomed because the railroads provided a means of transport to market the cattle. However, they have demonstrated their skills in adapting to change and hardship while using the most available opportunity. They have worked for wages, traded, hunted, protested, lobbied, prayed, danced, made war, ranched and farmed. Using their adaptive approaches, the Plains Indians have maintained themselves as unique population despite the challenges (Smith and Allen 20). Work Cited Josephy, Alvin. America in 1492: The World of the Indian People before the Arrival of Columbus. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 2002. History Reference Center. McNickle, DArcy. Native American Tribalism: Indian Survivals and Renewals. London: Oxford University Press, 2003 JSTOR. Philip, Kenneth. John Colliers Crusade for Indian Reform, 1920à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1954. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2007 Print. Smith, Paul, and Allen Robert. Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. 2006 New York Times Historical Database. Trigger, Bruce and Wilcomb Washburn, eds. The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006 Print. The American Journey. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2011. Print.

The House on Mango Street Essay -- Character Analysis, Esperanza

When I grow up, I want to be a black gum tree. Black gum trees are known for their internal strength. Instead of dwelling on outward beauty, they spend more time focusing on their inner growth and developing their core. Only after they have achieved this goal can they produce beautiful fruits that draw animals near to them. Any surfaces that the berries touch are stained as to say, â€Å"I was here and made a permanent difference.† After they have utilized their outward influences, they use their internal scars and hollow places to protect the animals surrounding around it. If human lives were to reflect the concepts of the black gum tree, governments, individuals, and communities would be radically transformed. While this is a beautiful image, communities will never fully reach this aspiration. Sandra Cisneros shows the positive and negative effect of community on human growth in The House on Mango Street when Esperanza subconsciously reads the four skinny trees as a stand-in for herself. The layer of concrete surrounding the roots of the trees is a metaphor for the barrier between Esperanza’s success and her community. These four skinny trees are located in the middle of an impoverished city that is plagued with crime, prostitution, and sense of hopelessness. Because all of these cycles are nearly impenetrable, they are a metaphor for the concrete that lay on top of their roots. This slab will forever sit on top of the downward facing roots separating them from the vertical growth that is above them. Ironically, the roots under the concrete support the same slab that is hindering their growth. Without the support of the individuals living on Mango Street, the layer of socially formed concrete would crumble into dust; however, becau... ...Cisneros 110). Her internal strength is strong enough to let her grow beyond the constraints of her community, but she will never reach her full potential until she returns to change the roots that made her that way. Esperanza then chooses to develop the core of her personality despite living in the middle of tangled roots, which ultimately leads to her escape. When I grow up, I want to be Esperanza. I want to think critically, exhort change, find beautiful elements in ordinary texts, and affect my fallen community with the fruits of my internal strength. If Esperanza had not chosen to use both the positive and negative effects of her community as inspiration, she would have entrapped herself and failed to influence the hurting society around her. Instead, she chooses to act like the trees and build her internal strength so that she may reach others effectively.

Get Back to Work! :: essays research papers

A couple of months ago, my company installed a system to record the phone calls of certain employees. They set the recorder to record only the employees who have outside contacts with customers, regulatory boards, or contract personnel. The company implemented this system to resolve conflicts, clarify positions, protect the integrity of the company’s contracts and verbal commitments, and provide for sales and customer service training. Naturally, this did not go over well with some of the employees who thought this was an invasion of their privacy. Some of the employees started using their cell phones or other company phones to make their personal calls. Others would complain to their coworkers and supervisors about the company’s disrespect for their privacy. I believe that employees should not be bothered by the fact the company is recording their phone calls because the phones are company property and employees are being paid to work. Employees seem to believe that their assigned phone is their phone and they can do with it as they please. It is a privilege to have a phone and employees seem to take their phones for granted. The company is paying for the phones and providing them to their employees for business purposes. It follows the same principles of the computer; employees should not browse certain types of web pages and the company can actually record Internet activity and other computer activity quite easily. Legally, nothing employees do on their phones is private and privacy is not implied. Employees also should not be making personal calls that are not appropriate. If an employee is talking about inappropriate subjects they should not be talking about it at work, period. If the employee does not want their conversations recorded, they should not have them at work. Employees could use their cell phones to negate the recording system, but people will know that they are on a personal call. They can also go to another desk to make their personal phone calls, but this would mean that they are not working. While at work, employees should be working on their assigned tasks. Of course, I am not saying that they should not be able to do some personal activities. Employees should be able to take breaks, gossip with coworkers, take care of personal business, and make personal phone calls, but these activities should be limited and should not disturb an employee’s performance.

Case Study of the Spanish Retail Chain Zara

The Spanish retail chain, Zara, owned by Inditex is a retailer that has been so successful in our world of globalization and new technologies today by simply adopting a new approach in the industry. With their simple business model of speed, flexibility, and high fashion, Zara has the competitive advantage to be sustainable. Zara was founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona (Ortega), in 1975 and went on to become the flagship brand of the holding company, Industria de Diseno Textil, SA, popularly called Inditex, which was founded in 1979. As of 2002, Inditex operated six separate chains, that being, Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, and Oysho. However, each chain operates independently and is responsible for its own strategy, product design, sourcing and manufacturing, distribution, image, personnel, and financial results. Zara, which contributes around 80 per cent of group sales (Grant 2005, p. 398), is by far the largest, most profitable, and most internationalized of the chains. Its stores can now be found in the most important shopping districts of more than 400 cities in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. With year-on-year sales increasing at around 25% over the last 5 years, it has become one of the world’s fastest growing retailers (University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing). Discussion The global apparel market is a consumer-driven industry (Criag, Jones & Nieto, 2004) in which profits derived from â€Å"unique combinations of high-value research, design, sales, marketing, and financial services that allow retailers, branded marketers, and branded manufacturers to act as strategic brokers in linking overseas factories†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ with markets (Collins 2003, p. 44). Zara's business model can be broken down into three basic components: concept, capabilities, and value drivers. Zara's fundamental concept is to maintain design, production, and distribution processes that will enable Zara to respond quickly to shifts in consumer demands and tastes. The main business tactics of the company in context of its business model is:- (i) Short lead time: More fashionable clothes and embracing quick changing customer's tastes. (ii) Decentralized Management: Taking advantage of the intelligence and trust the judgment of employees. (iii) Lower quantities: Inventory will be formidable burden in perishable products. (iv) More styles: Providing more choices for customers and more chances of meeting the customers taste. At the heart of Zara's success is a vertically integrated business model spanning design, just-in-time production, marketing and sales. The distinctive vertical integration feature of Zara’s business model, has allowed the company to successfully develop a strong merchandising strategy. This strategy has led Zara to create a climate of scarcity and opportunity as well as a fast-fashion system. Currently, H&M is Inditex’s major competitor. Swedish retailer H&M has been growing at an average rate of 20% annually in the past two decades. These two European retailers are known for their ‘fast fashion’ had unique business models and growth strategies which have enabled them to expand quickly and successfully beyond their own borders. With the European markets becoming saturated, Both companies are expanding outside Europe and establish their hegemony in the world market. Yet what is it that distinguishes Zara from H&M and its other competitors? In its process of expanding globally, Zara, unlike its competitors such as Gap, Benetton, and H&M, does not use cheap Asian outsourcing. Eighty percent of Zara’s materials are manufactured in Europe, with fifty percent made in Zara controlled facilities in the Galicia region of Spain near headquarters. Though the cost of production in Spain more expensive compared to Asia, Zara still manages to maintain competitive advantage over its competitors in regards to operations. Zara maintains local strategic partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers in Europe and this proximity gives Zara great flexibility in adapting their product lines based on up to date market trends and consumer behaviour while decreasing costs of holding inventory. This proximity effect and the flexibility give Zara its competitive edge in comparison to their peers. However, the business strategies adopted by Zara, does have its setbacks to Zara’s success. The vertical integration concept often leads to the inability to acquire economies of scale, which means Zara cannot gain the advantages of producing large quantities of goods for a discounted rate which leads to higher costs being incurred as they have to set a higher pricing of Zara products outside of Europe in order to cover supply costs. Zara has not invested in distribution facilities to support their global expansion. As a result, despite being able to quickly supply their stores at present, they may not be able to supply to a larger number of retail locations due to their â€Å"centralized logistic† model. Even though Zara has been successful at scaling up its distribution system, the centralized logistics system might eventually be subject to diseconomies of scale as Zara continues to open stores all around the world and ships product from its single Distribution Center in Europe. This system may work well with the current number of stores because majority of the stores are centralised in Europe. However, Zara won’t be benefiting from short lead times and low operational cost with a single central Distribution Center model in terms of globalisation and branching out into other countries. Conclusion To successfully expand globally, Zara should focus on one country at a time. Our team concludes that Zara’s current focus should be international expansion in a country that has an open trade market with well formed trade regulations as this provides a safer business environment. During the globalization process, Zara should maintain short lead time, quick inventory turnover, leading fashion brand and low advertising cost as its competitive advantage. As a result of their product cycle, Zara gives their customers the feeling of scarcity because new items are presented weekly and are often not restocked, and this encourages customers to come to the stores and buy frequently. As such, Zara invests more in their store layouts as compared to marketing. Their cost advantage and ability to maintain brand recognition and customer loyalty along with other factors such as regional distribution center, vertical integration, outsourcing and eye-catching window displays are essential elements for Zara to build value in the company and to continue to re-invent and innovate themselves to stay fresh in the apparel industry.

Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space

The Benefits of Parks: Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space BY Paul M. Sheerer Published by: 116 New Montgomery Street Fourth Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 495-4014 www. Tip. Org 02006 the Trust for Public Land – Reprint of â€Å"Parks for People† white paper, published In 2003. Table of Contents Forward: Will Rogers, President, Trust for Public Land 5 Executive Summary 6 America Needs More City Parks U. S. Cities Are Park-Poor Low-Income Neighborhoods Are Desperately Short of Park Space Case Study: New Parks for Los Angles The Public Wants More Parks 8History of America's City Parks: Inspiration, Abandonment, Revival The Decline of City Parks A Revival Begins Budget Crises Threaten City Parks 10 Public Health Benefits of City Parks and Open Space America's Twin Plagues: Physical Inactivity and Obesity Access to Parks Increases Frequency of Exercise Exposure to Nature and Greenery Makes People Healthier 12 Economic Benefits of Parks 14 Increased Proper ty Values Property Values in Low-Income Urban Areas Property Values at the Edges of Urban Areas Effects on Commercial Property Values Economic Revitalization: Attracting and Retaining Businesses and Residents TourismBenefits Environmental Benefits of Parks Pollution Abatement and Cooling Controlling Stemware Runoff 17 Social Benefits of Parks Reducing Crime Recreation Opportunities: The Importance of Play Creating Stable Neighborhoods with Strong Community 18 Conclusion 20 Notes 21 Bibliography 24 3 Forward At the turn of the 20th century, the majority of Americans lived in rural areas and small towns, relatively close to the land. At the beginning of the 21st century, 85 desperate need of places to experience nature and refresh ourselves in the out-of- doors.The emergence of America as an urban nation was anticipated by Frederick Law Limited and other 19th-century park visionaries, who gave us New Work's Central Park, San Franciscans Golden Gate Park, and similar grand parks in cit ies across the nation. They were gardeners and designers-but also preachers for the power of parks, fired from within by the understanding that they were shaping the quality of American lives for generations to come. In the view of these park visionaries, parks were not â€Å"amenities. They were necessities, providing recreation, inspiration, and essential respite from the city blare and bustle. And the visionaries were particularly concerned that parks be available to all of a city residents-especially those who did not have the resources to escape to the countryside. As population shifted to the suburbs after World War II, this vision of parks for all faded. Many cities lost the resources to create new parks. And in the new suburbs, the sprawling landscapes of curving CUL-De-sacs were broken mostly by boxy shopping centers and concrete parking lots.The time has come for Americans to rededicate themselves to the vision of parks for all the nation's people. As the action's leading conservation group creating parks in and around cities, the Trust for Public Land (TIP) has launched its Parks for People initiative in the belief that every American child should enjoy convenient access to a nearby park or playground. This white paper outlines how desperate the need is for city parks-especially in inner-city neighborhoods. And it goes on to describe the social, environmental, economic, and health benefits parks bring to a city and its people.TIP hopes this paper will generate discussion about the need for parks, prompt new research on the benefits f parks to cities, and serve as a reference for government leaders and volunteers as they make the case that parks are essential to the health and well-being of all Americans. You will find more information about the need for city parks and their benefits in the Parks for People section of Tap's Web site (www. Tip. Org/poor) where you can also sign-up for Parks for People information and support Tap's Parks for People wo rk.TIP is proud to be highlighting the need for parks in America's cities. Thanks for Joining our effort to ensure a park within reach of every American home. Will Rogers President, the Trust for Public Land City parks and open space improve our physical and psychological health, strengthen our communities, and make our cities and neighborhoods more attractive places to live and work. But too few Americans are able to enjoy these benefits. Eighty percent of Americans live in metropolitan areas, and many of these areas are severely lacking in park space.Only 30 percent of Los Angles residents live within walking distance mile. Low-income neighborhoods populated by minorities and recent immigrants are especially short of park space. From an equity standpoint, there is a strong need to redress this imbalance. In Los Angles, white neighborhoods enjoy 31. 8 acres of park space for every 1,000 people, compared with 1. 7 acres in African-American neighborhoods and 0. 6 acres in Latino neig hborhoods. This inequitable distribution of park space harms the residents of these communities and creates substantial costs for the nation as a whole.U. S. Voters have repeatedly shown their willingness to raise their own taxes to pay for new or improved parks. In 2002, 189 conservation funding measures appeared on ballots in 28 states. Voters approved three-quarters of these, generating $10 billion in conservation-related funding. Many of the nation's great city parks were built in the second half of the 19th century. Urban planners believed the parks would improve public health, relieve the stresses of urban life, and create a demonstrating public space where rich and poor would mix on equal terms.By the mid-20th century, city parks fell into decline as people fled inner cities for the suburbs. The suburbs fared no better, as people believed that backyards would meet the requirement for public open space. Over the past couple of decades, interest in city parks has revived. Gover nments and civic groups around the country have revalidated run-down city parks, built greengages along rivers, converted abandoned railroad lines to trails, and planted community gardens in vacant lots.But with the current economic downturn, states and cities facing severe budget crises are slashing their park spending, threatening the health of existing parks, and curtailing the creation of new parks. Strong evidence shows that when people have access to parks, they exercise more. Regular physical activity as been shown to increase health and reduce the risk of a wide range of diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer, and diabetes. Physical activity also relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety, improves mood, and enhances psychological well-being.Beyond the benefits of exercise, a growing body of research shows that contact with the natural world improves physical and psychological health. Despite the importance of exercise, only 25 percent of American adu lts engage in the recommended levels of physical activity, and 29 percent engage in no leisure-time physical activity. The sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet of Americans have produced an epidemic of obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for the creation of more parks and playgrounds to help fight this epidemic.Numerous studies have shown that parks and open space increase the value of neighboring residential property. Growing evidence points to a similar benefit on commercial property value. The availability of park and recreation facilities is an important quality-of-life factor for corporations choosing where to locate facilities and for well-educated individuals choosing a place to live. City parks such as San Notation's Riverview Park often become important tourism draws, contributing heavily Green space in urban areas provides substantial environmental benefits.Trees reduce air pollution and water pollution, they help keep cities cooler, and th ey are a more effective and less expensive way to manage stemware runoff than building systems of concrete sewers and drainage ditches. City parks also produce important social and community development benefits. They make inner-city neighborhoods more livable; they offer recreational opportunities for at-risk youth, low-income children, and low-income families; and they provide places n low-income neighborhoods where people can feel a sense of community.Access to public parks and recreational facilities has been strongly linked to reductions in crime and in particular to reduced Juvenile delinquency. Community gardens increase residents' sense of community ownership and stewardship, provide a focus for neighborhood activities, expose inner-city youth to nature, connect people from diverse cultures, reduce crime by cleaning up vacant lots, and build community leaders. In light of these benefits, the Trust for Public Land calls for a revival of the city parks movement of the late 19t h century.We invite all Americans to Join the effort to bring parks, open spaces, and greengages into the nation's neighborhoods where everyone can benefit from them. 7 The residents of many U. S. Cities lack adequate access to parks and open space near their homes. In 2000, 80 percent of Americans were living in metropolitan areas, up from 48 percent in 1940. 1 The park space in many of these metropolitan areas is grossly inadequate. In Atlanta, for example, parkland covers only 3. 8 percent of the city area.Atlanta has no public green space larger than one-third of a square mile. 2 The city has only 7. Acres of park space for every 1,000 residents, compared with a 19. 1 acre average for other medium-low population density cities. 3 The story is much the same in Los Angles, San Jose, New Orleans, and Dallas. Even in cities that have substantial park space as a whole, the residents of many neighborhoods lack access to nearby parks. In New York City, for example, nearly half of the c ity 59 community board districts have less than 1. 5 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. Low-Income Neighborhoods Are Desperately Short of Park Space Low-income neighborhoods populated by minorities and recent immigrants are especially short f park space. Minorities and the poor have historically been shunted off to live on the wrong side of the tracks, in paved-over, industrialized areas with few public amenities. From an equity standpoint, there is a strong need to redress this imbalance. In Los Angles, white neighborhoods (where whites make up 75 percent or more of the residents) boast 31. 8 acres of park space for every 1,000 people, compared with 1. 7 acres in African-American neighborhoods and 0. Acres in Latino neighborhoods. 5 This inequitable distribution of park space harms the residents of are costs alone are potentially enormous. Lacking places for recreation, minorities and low-income individuals are significantly less likely than whites and high-income individuals t o engage in the regular physical activity that is crucial to good health. Among non-Hispanic white adults in the United States, 34. 9 percent engage in regular leisure-time physical activity, compared with only 25. 4 percent of non- Hispanic black adults and 22. 7 percent of Hispanic adults. And adults with incomes below the poverty level are three times as likely as high-income adults to never be physically active. Even where the government or voters have allocated new money for park acquisition, there is significant risk that wealthier and better-organized districts will grab more than their fair share. The Los Angles neighborhood of South Central-with the city second-highest prove- The Trust for Public Land TTY rate, highest share of children, and lowest access to nearby park space-received only about half as much per-child parks funding as affluent West Los Angles from Proposition K between 1998 and 2000. Case Study: New Parks for Los Angles With 28,000 people crammed into its o ne square mile of low-rise buildings, the city f Manhood in Los Angles County is the most densely populated U. S. City outside the New York City metropolitan area. 10 Its residents-96 percent are Hispanic and 37 percent are children-are often packed five to a bedroom, with entire families living in garages and beds being used on a time-share basis. The Trust for Public Land (TIP) has been working in Manhood since 1996 to purchase, assemble, and convert six separate former industrial sites into a seven-acre riverside park.The project will double Manhood's park space. 11 Before TIP began its work, the future park site was occupied by abandoned arouses and industrial buildings, covered in garbage, graffiti, rusted metal, and barrels of industrial waste. Until the late asses, the parcels contained a glue factory, a transfer facility for solvents, and a truck service facility; one parcel was designated an Environmental Protection Agency Superfine site. 12 TIP is preparing to acquire the final parcel and has developed preliminary designs for the site.The completed park will invite Manhood's residents to gather at its picnic benches, stroll its walking trails, relax on its lawns, and play with their children in its tot lot. The Manhood project is a precursor of Tap's Parks for People-Los Angles program, an ambitious new effort to create parks where they are most desperately needed. The case for more parks in Los Angles is among the most compelling of any American city today. Only 30 percent of its residents live within a quarter mile of a park, compared with between 80 percent and 90 percent in Boston and New York, respectively. 3 If these residents are Latino, African American, or Asian Pacific, they have even less access to green space. TIP has set a goal of creating 25 new open space projects in Los Angles over the would be invested in undeserved minority communities. To accomplish this goal, TIP will help these communities through the gauntlets of public and priv ate fundraising, real estate transactions, strategic planning, and stewardship issues. Los Angles is also the site of Tap's first application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to assess the need for parks.TIP launched the GIS program in late 2001 in Los 9 O The Trust for Public Land Angles and has since expanded the program to New York, Lass Vegas, Boston, Charlotte, Miami, and Camden and Newark, New Jersey. Tap's GIS system uses census, anemographic and other data to map out areas of high population, concentrated poverty, and lack of access to park space. With GIS technology, TIP can now pinpoint the areas of fastest population growth, study landownership patterns, and acquire key parcels before development demand drives up property prices or destroys open space.Further, GIS helps TIP create contiguous park space, protecting natural habitats and connecting larger parks with linear greengages, rather than create a patchwork quilt of open space. 14 Voters have repeatedly show n their willingness to raise their own taxes to pay for new or improved parks. In the November 2002 elections, voters in 93 communities in 22 states approved ballot measures that committed $2. 9 billion to acquire and restore land for parks and open space.Voters approved 85 percent of such referendums in these elections. 1 5 Voter support in 2002 increased from the already strong 75 percent approval rate for similar measures in November 2001. 16 History of America's City Parks: Inspiration, Abandonment, Revival During the second half of the 19th century, American cities built grand city parks to improve their residents' quality of life. Dubbed 19th-century pleasure grounds by ark historians, the parks include New Work's Central Park and San Franciscans Golden Gate Park.Municipal officials of the time saw these parks as a refuge from the crowded, polluted, stressful cities-places where citizens could experience fresh air, sunshine, and the spiritually transforming power of nature; a place for recreation; and a demonstrating public space where rich and poor would mix on equal terms. The new parks were inspired by â€Å"an anti-urban ideal that dwelt on the traditional prescription for relief from the evils of the city-to escape to the country,† Galen Crane writes.The new American parks thus were conceived as great pleasure grounds meant to be pieces of the country, with fresh air, meadows, lakes, and sunshine right in the city. † 17 The Decline of City Parks spending on city parks declined. The well-to-do and white abandoned the cities for the suburbs, taking public funding with them. Cities and their parks fell into a spiral of decay. Cities cut park maintenance funds, parks deteriorated, and crime rose; many city dwellers came to view places like Central Park as too dangerous to visit. 18 The suburbs that mushroomed at the edges of major cities were often built with little public park space.For residents of these areas, a trip out of the house mea ns a drive to the shopping mall. Beginning around 1990, many city and town councils began forcing developers to add open space to their projects. Still, these open spaces are often effectively off-limits to the general public; in the vast sprawl around Lass Vegas, for example, the newer subdivisions often have open space at their centers, but these spaces are hidden inside a labyrinth of winding streets. Residents of older, low- and middle-income neighborhoods have to get in their cars (if they have one) and drive to find recreation space. 9 More recently, city parks have experienced something of a renaissance which has benefited cities unequally. The trend began in the asses and flourished in the asses as part of a general renewal of urban areas funded by a strong economy. It coincided with a philosophical shift in urban planning away from designing around the automobile and a backlash against the alienating modernism of mid-20th-century public architecture, in favor of public spac es that welcome and engage the community in general and the pedestrian in particular.Government authorities, civic groups, and private agencies around the country have worked together to revivalist UN-down city parks, build greengages along formerly polluted rivers, convert abandoned railroad lines to trails, and plant community gardens in vacant lots. The Park at Post Office Square in Boston shows how even a small but well-designed open space can transform its surroundings. Before work on the park began in the late asses, the square was filled by an exceptionally ugly concrete parking garage, blighting an important part of the financial district.Many buildings on the square shifted their entrances and addresses to other streets not facing the square. 20 Completed in 1992, the 1. -acre park is considered one of the most beautiful city parks in the United States. Its immaculate landscaping-with 125 species of plants, flowers, bushes, and trees-its half-acre lawn, its fountains, and i ts teak and granite benches lure throngs of workers during lunchtime on warm days.Hidden underneath is a seven-floor parking garage for 1,400 cars, which provides financial support for the park. 21 â€Å"It clearly, without any question, has enhanced and changed the entire neighborhood,† says Serge Denis, managing director of Lee Meridian Hotel Boston, which borders the park. â€Å"It's absolutely gorgeous. Not surprisingly, rooms 11 Yet despite such success stories, local communities often lack the transactional and development skills to effectively acquire property and convert it into park space.TIP serves a vital role in this capacity, working closely with local governments and community residents to determine where parks are needed; to help develop funding strategies; to negotiate and acquire property; to plan the park and develop it; and finally, to turn it over to the public. Between 1971 and 2002, the Trust for Public Land's work in cities resulted in the acquisition of 532 properties totaling 40,754 cress. In the nation's 50 largest cities TIP acquired 138 properties totaling 7,640 acres. 3 In the wake of the bursting of the economic bubble of the late asses, states and cities facing severe budget crises are slashing their park spending. With a projected $2. 4 billion budget shortfall in the two-year period beginning July 2003, Minnesota has cut its aid to local governments, hurting city park systems across the state. The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, confronting a 20 percent cut in its funding through 2004, has been forced to respond by deferring maintenance, closing wading lolls and beaches, providing fewer portable toilets, and reducing its mounted police patrol program.The required program cuts â€Å"represent a huge loss to the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board and to the children of Minneapolis,† says Park Board Superintendent Mary Merrill Anderson. 24 When Georgians state legislature went into session in January 2003, law makers found themselves grappling with a $650 million budget shortfall. Part of their response was to eliminate the planned $30 million in fiscal 2003 funding for the Georgia Community Greengages Program, after appropriating $30 million per fiscal year in 001 and 2002.The legislature also cut the 2004 budget from $30 million to $10 million. The program helps the state's fastest-growing counties set aside adequate green space-at least 20 percent of their land-amid all the new subdivisions and strip malls. Most of the affected counties are around Atlanta, among the nation's worst examples of urban sprawl. For legislators hunting for budget-cutting targets, Georgians $30 million Community Greengages Program â€Å"was like a buffalo in the middle of a group of chickens,† says David Swan, program director for Tap's Atlanta office.The cut â€Å"makes a compelling argument that we need a dedicated funding source, so that green space acquisition isn't depending on fiscal cycles and the legislature. â€Å"25 The federal government has also cut its city parks spending. In 1978, the federal government established the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery (PARR) program to help urban areas rehabilitate their recreational facilities. The program received no funding in fiscal year 2003, down from $28. 9 million in both 2001 and 2002. 26 President Bush's budget proposal for fiscal 2004 also allocates no PARR funding.