corporate and business law Essay Example

corporate and business law Paper corporate and business law BY etu20110952 GASPARD vjrgile LAFITTE Pierre AC504E External auditing Take home case Pacific Sunwear of California Inc Executive summary † 3 The Sarbanes Oxley act: a compliance plan 4 Overview: 4 Summary of the Sarbanes-Oxley 4 The Sarbanes-Oxley act: † 404: Checklist: 5 Auditing standards n05: description of the procedures to comply with the section 5 International standards of auditing in reference with the 6 Processes to comply with the Section case How to comply with the 7 Procedures section 404? mplemented by Pacific Sunwear.. 8 Evaluation of the effectiveness of the process implemented by 9 Impact of the information disclosed on the stock PacSun † 10 Costs and benefits of Sarbanes- Oxley † 13 Recommendations for 15 References. 16 Appendix A : Deadline for the compliance with the different sections of internal the act.. † . 17 Appendix B: Certification required by the SEC about . 9 Appendix C: Certification required by 2 0 the SEC about disclosure controls Executive summary Pacific Sunwear of California entered in the stock market on Nasdaq in 1993. The Sarbanes Oxley act redacted in 2002, established new or enhanced standards for listing companies in the US markets and in particular the section 404 about the creation of an internal report each year, in response to a number of major corporate In this report, we will establish the impact of this United States federal law on PacSun by analyzing the process engendered, influence of the disclosures on the stock price, and the cost/benefits relation. The Sarbanes Oxley act: a compliance plan The Sarbanes-Oxley act enacted in 2002 is a United States federal law to respond to some major corporate and accounting scandals such as Enron, Tyco international or World com. These scandals cost billions of dollars to investors when stock prices collapsed and decreased the public confidence about nations securities markets and auditing standards. So, this standard established new or improved standards and regulations, for all US public company and all foreign companies listed in the US stock markets. This act contains 11 sections and required the Securities and Exchange Commission (US regulator which regulates the securities industry and the stocks and options markets) to implement the rules and comply with the new law. The deadlines to implement SOX are exposed in Appendix 1 . Summary of the Sarbanes-Oxley act: Then, we are going to describe quickly the different sections of the SOX act (except the section 4 explained below): 1 Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB): the objective of this board is to register and regulate all public accounting firms to implement compliance standards 2 Auditor independence: creation of standards for external auditor ndependence to reduce conflicts of interest 3 Corporate responsibility: defines the relation between external auditors and corporate audit committees 5 Analyst conflicts of interest: evokes practice to create a new public confidence in the reporting 6 Commission resources and authority: highlights practice to create a new public confidence in the financial analysts 7 Studies and reports: SEC has to make various studies and explain their findings 8 Corporate and criminal fraud accountability: describes criminal penalties for fraud 9 White collar crime penalty enhancements 0 Corporate tax returns requir ed to be signed by the Chief Executive Officer 1 1 Corporate fraud accountability: identified corporate fraud and records classified as criminal offenses The Sarbanes-Oxley 404: Checklist: The section 4 is about enhanced financial disclosures and increases requirements for financial reporting like off-balance sheet transactions. It requires internal controls to offer the accuracy of financial reports and disclosures. An internal control system is failures, or weaknesses in the system that must occur. The section 404 is the cornerstone of the section 4 and demands that each annual eport contain an internal control report. We will write a custom essay sample on corporate and business law specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on corporate and business law specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on corporate and business law specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This additional report assesses the responsibility of management for establishing and implementing adequate procedures for financial reporting. This report must include: assessment of effectiveness of internal control structure and procedures, any code of ethics and contents of that code. Consequently, this section is really decisive because it implies extra costs to comply with this requirement for registered public companies in the US stock markets. The Appendix 2 and 3 sum up the certifications required by the SEC. Auditing standards 05: description of the procedures to comply with the section 404 Issued the 24th may 2007, the Auditing standards n05 substitutes the Auditing standards n02. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board releases the AS n05 to describe the procedures to comply with the section 404: o Highlights a top-down risk based approach (financial risk assessment) o Places greater reliance on entity-level controls o Focuses on understanding and testing controls related to risks for significant accounts and disclosures o Allows for greater ability to rely on work of others o Changes definition of material weakness and significant deficiency: Material weakness: a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the companys annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Significant deficiency: A deficiency or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting that is less severe than a material weakness, yet important to merit the attention by those responsible for ove rsight of the companys financial reporting. o Simplifies the auditors opinion by eliminating opinion on managements ssessment of internal control 5 International standards of auditing in reference with the case The section 404 referred to some ISA standards: ISA 230 about audit documentation ISA 300 about planning an audit of financial statements ISA 330 about the auditors procedures in response to assessed risks ISA 500 about audit evidence ISA 600 about using the Work of Another Auditor 6 Processes to comply with the Section 404 After evoking the requirements of the section 404, we will describe the processes implemented by Pacific Sunwear first and by the other listed companies in general. Complying with Sarbanes-Oxley is complex; compliance requires a multiple approach involving many departments and many people which will be detailed below. How to comply with the Section 404? Generally, according to Sanjay Anand an internal control in accordance with Sarbanes-Oxley is following an eight-step process: 1 Establish a compliance committee which is specialist of the compliance with Sarbanesoxley and can have a general overview of the company about the risk and the solutions. The objective of this committee is to commit the various departments, to provide training and to communication about the objectives. Assess risk in order to identify the magnitude and potential impact of each risk in order to create a risk portfolio. 3 Set reporting objectives by determining the probability of risks and errors to define decision rules and reporting objectives. For ensuring internal control compliance, these areas need to be created: personnel control, system and resource controls, strategic planning controls and business service controls. 4 Prepare a formal implementation plan, which is a transition plan to move from project step to a day-to-day operation for an internal control system. Communicate the ongoing procedures by presenting clearly and effectively with the focusing on understanding, acceptance and observance. 6 Provide training implemented by the compliance committee in internal policies, practices and procedures. 7 Document processes and risk management certified by the Chief Executing Officer and the Chief Financial Officer so as to demonstrate the efficiency of the internal control system. Perform continuous evaluation performed by the manager in order to establish and maintain controls and to ensure the appropriate compliance. 7 Procedures implemented by Pacific Sunwear The most expensive costs of compliance were those linke d with the section 404: costs about internal controls over financial reporting. The procedures of compliance are only described for the two first years in the case study: 2004 and 2005. Before the compliance, PacSun had not internal control system. They only created it in mid 2003 and they paid the services of a Big-4 auditing firms as required by the section 404. They expanded the internal control department at the end of 2004. About the procedures they implemented in 2004, PacSun followed a process in five steps: 1) Scope and plan the evaluation 2) Document the controls nd correct deficiencies 5) Reports on internal control They identified also 21 major business processes assigned to an owner with the objective to develop detailed process narratives. These major business processes were divided into sub processes with the detail of the business objectives and the risks. At the end of 2004, they had identified a total of 238 key controls and they managed to highlight a significant deficiency about the revaluation of deferred leases which can affect by definition the reliability of external auditing data. Then, all public officers had to certify in their area that the control was effective. The CEO and CFO certified then of the fairness and reliability of the financial statements. In 2005, the process became easier because all the information had already been created. They reduced the number of key controls to 222, only a 7% decrease, in comparison with larger companies (19% of decrease). They discovered a new significant deficiency because they didnt recognize liabilities about the companys loyalty program. 8 Evaluation of the effectiveness of the process implemented by PacSun Strengths: Enables to discover two significant deficiencies which misstate the financial statements Enable to create an efficient internal control system, which reduces the risks and increases the efficiency of the global system Implementation of a double control : internal control and Big-4 auditing firms control Better assessment of risks implied Significant reduction of the costs after the first year of implementation of about 40%, comparable to the other companies Commitment of all the employees which can increase the motivation and the corporate culture Better disclosure of financial information for financial analysts and investors Weaknesses: Compliance costs of $2 million in 2004 and $1. million in 2005 Additional costs associated with the training of the staff with the necessary creation of a SOX program training The compliance is very time-consuming with an increase of the formalization Competitive disadvantage in comparison with the other competitors not listed Overall, PacSun had efficiently implemented the compliance and the weaknesses will tend to reduce over the long term. However, PacSun management believed that the costs are greater than the benefits engendered. The costs implied and generally the time spent to respect the compliance rules, can Justify this opinion. Impact of the information disclosed on the stock prices In 2005, PacSun need to restate his prior two years financial statements, which resulted in no material change to net income. Auditors Judge restatement like deficiencies but they dont agree about the type of deficiency: two of the Big-4 firms judge this particular type of restatement as only a significant deficiency, i. e. a control deficiency, or combination of control deficiencies, that adversely affects the companys ability to be in accordance with GAAP. The others two Judge it to be a material weakness, i. e. significant deficiency, or combination of significant deficiencies, that result in more than remote likelihood that a material misstatement of financial statements will not be prevented or detected. by the PacSun loyalty program called Pac Bucks. In fact, the liabilities and expenses of this program were not recognizing in the proper quarter. This accounting problem was considered by external auditors like a significant deficiency, but not a material weakness. Thus, in FY 2005, PacSun received clean financial statement and 404 opinions. What is the impact of Information Disclosure provided by these deficiencies n PacSuns stock price? In this graph, we can see that the PacSuns stock price is very volatile between 2005 to 2007 (Beta higher than 1) when the NASDAQ is regularly up. This volatility can be explained by 10 the convergence of PacSun to SOX and the substantial increase of information provided on the firm. But it is very hard to have a real opinion of the impact of Information Disclosure on stock Market Returns with a unique firm. Thus we will answer with papers which study this impact on a large sample of US Company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is one of the , if not the, most important pieces of egislation affecting corporations traded on the US stock exchanges, since the Securities Act of 1932 and Securities Exchange Act of A934 were enacted (Gordon et al. 2007). The SOX act introduced significant changes to financial practice and corporate governance regulation, including new rules designed to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws. And the part of the Act having the most impact must be Section 404, which requires management to submit to the SEC with the companys annually filed financial statements, an internal control report, an assessment of the ffectiveness of the internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting, and finally an audit report which include a description of material weakness in such internal controls and of any material noncompliance. Furthermore, where significant deficiencies exist, they need to be identified as required under SOX like we saw in the PacSun case. Many studies demonstrate that the passage of mandatory government regulation like SOX may be altering the operation of capital market by affecting the stock performance of firms. In 2007, Balakrishnan et Al. , examine, by a dataset on stock arket abnormal returns and consists of 300 firms, how the stock market reaction varies for 8-K filling and how this reaction have changed since the passage of the SOX act. The result is that the SOX have the particularity to increase the information flow of a firm. Thus when a disclosure of a deficiency is promulgated, the information is quickly announced by media and have a direct negative impact on the stock market price. Inversely, when a firm received clean financial statement and 404 opinions, we can think that stock price is positively impacted because its an evidence of a very ood internal control of the firm. Another interesting dimension to consider would be the size of the firm. The effect of Sarbanes-Oxley on the firms information environment is expected to vary with the size of the firm (Ghose et al. 2006). In fact, international firm, but in the US sportswear market, this size is important. In a stock market where diversification is one of the solutions to leverage the risk, PacSun can be a blue chip. Thus, a special attention is paid to it by media. 1 Finally, we can say that disclosure of these deficiencies have had a negative effect on irms stock price but, on the contrary, clean financial statement certification and Good 404 opinion have a positive impact on stock price. In addition, a firm can decide to increase the speed with which information reaches investors by publicizing it in me dia articles. Its a good way to build a loyal firms brand image i. e. increase the investor recognition and limited the impact of bad news on the stock price. 12 Costs and benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley PacSun executives seem convinced that the costs of complying with SOX were greater than the benefits to the company. Though, according to a survey entitled Oversight Systems financials Executive Report conducted with 222 corporate finance leaders, 74 percent said their company benefited from SOX, 79 percent reported significantly stronger or somewhat stronger internal controls as a result of SOX, 46 percent said SOX compliance benefits the company by ensuring accountability and 75 percent said they would vote to keep Section 404 if they were members of Congress. In fact, the benefits of SOX Compliance are multiple: There is a positive influence on maintaining investor confidence (and long-term share price) through increased ransparency and fewer surprises. Financial reporting is more timely and reliable. Overall control culture and corporate governance process are improved. Outdated, redundant and inflective processes and controls are eliminated. Employee on- boarding process is easier Then, why did PacSun not benefit from the compliance process to the same extent as some other companies? Or were their compliance costs too high? The main issue of PacSun is this medium size ($1 billon in market capitalization). The high cost of SOX implementation is financially draining many firms. The SOX doesnt ake a distinction between large-cap billion-dollar companies and small-cap; $75- millon companies (the minimum cap to be obliged to apply SOX). Therefore, the Act requires all public companies to comply with the same regulations; it doesnt take into consideration that small companies arent as complex in organizational structure as large companies. Because large corporations have complex business models, more complicated accounting practices, they already have a lot of controls in place to ensure the efficiency of their operations that are required by SOX. In other hand, maller companies have simpler organizational structures and, thus, have slighter accounting practices, which generate simpler financial statements. These small firms require less internal controls. Therefore, since small companies have simpler subject to the same internal control and external auditing requirement of large companies. In the case of PacSun, this business model and accounting practice are closer from a small firm as shown this number of key controls (222 versus an average of 540 for the large companies). In addition, the SOX were created to fight against corporate scandals like Enron. But the majority of these scandals have occurred in large corporations with thousand of shareholders by the intermediary of retirement/pension fund. PacSun doesnt have the same type of shareholders and doesnt require the same level of protection for the shareholder interests. Therefore, although shareholder interests should be protected, SOX regulations arent needed for smaller firms that have simple business structures and a small number of shareholders that are unlikely to fraud themselves (entrepreneurs who start the company, their families, and public shareholders without any link between them). Implanting SOX is a long and costly process for companies. In the case of PacSun where his market is not occupied by large companies but especially by little firms (under the $75-million cap) which dont apply SOX, this implantation creates for PacSun a competitive disadvantage and stumps their growth by requiring them to spend excessive amounts of money and time to implement regulation. As example of costs, we have the cost of training, the implementation of a strong internal control, an increase of the size of finance/accounting departments, the fees of the audit firms ; he required amount of money is disproportionately larger in comparison with the largest firms. Thus in conclusion, we can say that SOX were designed in priority for large and complex companies. These costs are too high in relation with the engendered benefits for small caps. 4 Recommendations for PacSun Continue the work to reduce the number of key controls and try to improve a large part of them (better define it and really find an utility) Check the conformity between all marketing projects and internal control before a launching Optimize the balance between internal and external auditors to reduce the work of he external auditors Change your mind: SOX is an advantage to improve internal control Create a training and development program with an e learning module for example References Anand, S. (2006), Sarbanes-Oxley guide for finance and information technology professionals, John Wiley and Sons, 2nd edition Balakrishnan, K. , Ghose, A. and Ipeirotis, P. 2007), the Impact of Information Disclosure on Stock Market Returns: The Sarbanes- Oxley Act and the Role of Media as an Information Intermediary, University of Cambridge Bowling, D. Julien, R. and Rieger, L. (2003), Implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley S 404: Ensuring Compliance, Leveraging Opportunities Ghose, A. and RaJan. U. (2006) The Economic Impact of Regulatory Information Disclosure on Information Security Investments, Competition, and Social Welfare Proceedings of the Workshop on Economics of Information Security, University of Cambridge Gordon, L. , Loeb, M. , Lucyshyn, W. and Sohail, T. (2006), The Impact of the Sarbanesoxley Act on the Corporate Disclosures of Information Security Activities. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 25(5) pp. 503-530. Grinberg, E. 2007), The impact of Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002 on Small Firms, Pace University Ramos, M. (2004), How to comply with Sarbanes-Owley Section 404. Assessing the Effectiveness of Internal Control, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Available on: http:// books. google. fr/books? id=GAMR23qTQUC=process+to+comply+with+section +404=frontcover=bl= LaTJJAf1 e 1 16 Appendix A : Deadline for the compliance with the different sections of the actl professionals, John Wiley and Sons, 2nd edition, page 63/64 17 18 Appendix B: Certification required by the SEC about internal controls2 professionals, John Wiley and Sons, 2nd edition, page 68

I wish I were…

I wish I were†¦ I wish I were I wish I were By Maeve Maddox A reader wonders whether to use was or were in the following examples: I wish I wereorI wish I was If only it wasor If only it were What is the rule?   With these examples, the choice is obvous because the words wish and if only make it clear that the speaker is talking about something that is not so. In such a case the subjunctive is called for: I wish I were If only it were Sometimes the choice whether to use the subjunctive or the indicative is not so clear. To a large extent, English speakers dont pay much attention to the subjunctive. As long ago as 1926 H.W. Fowler called the subjunctive in English moribund. He went further and suggested that it never was possible to draw up a consistent table of uses of the subjunctive in English that would correspond to such tables for Latin. Although the subjunctive is not a big deal in English, some uses of it are still alive and not difficult to master. Depending on context, the choice between indicative and subjunctive can be as obvious as the examples with wish and if only. If I were/if he were/if she were These forms are called for when the statement refers to a state outside reality: If he were Governor he could pardon you. (Hes not the Governor.) If I were you, Id fix that leaky roof. (Im not you.) If she were an animal, shed be an armadillo. (Shes not an animal.) If I was/if he was/if she was These forms are called for when the statement refers to a state of being that existed, or could have existed in actual time: If he was ill, no wonder he left the oysters untouched. If I was unkind to you in those days, please forgive me. If she was lost in the woods, no one can blame her for being late. Sometimes the speaker must decide according to intended meaning: If she were sensible, shed order a background check on him. (I know her and shes not sensible.) If she was sensible, shed order a background check on him. (I dont know if shes sensible or not. She may be.) In his DCBLOG, David Crystal gives this example overheard in conversation: A If Jane was right for the part, Id cast her. B But thats the point. Is she right? A Well if she were, Id cast her, thats all Im saying This example shows an intermingling of indicative and subjunctive to achieve nuances of meaning. Stated rule at OWL DWT article on Mood Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:75 Synonyms for â€Å"Angry†Five Spelling Rules for "Silent Final E"A Yes-and-No Answer About Hyphenating Phrases

Health Promotion Teaching Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Promotion Teaching Plan - Research Paper Example et al., 2000). This paper seeks to develop, perform, and evaluate a teaching plan centered on overall health and wellness through diet, exercise and stress reduction strategies for women, between the ages of 30-50, utilizing various different teaching strategies and techniques in a group setting. Assessment of Learning Needs ?The learning group, which consisted of five members, was taught as a one group due to their small number. The very first pretest was based on â€Å"Fact versus Fiction, What are the myths about overall health and wellness through diet, exercise and stress reduction strategies?† was completed by all the members in order to assess their knowledge before the commencement of the seminar. There was a median score was 49% which showed that the awareness of the study group was adequately lacking. The level of development of the group members showed 50% of the group at a high school diploma level, 25% at a Bachelor’s Degree level, and 25% at an Associateâ €™s Degree level. Even though the majority of the participants had corrective vision, one particular member stated challenges in hearing. Gender, religion and race were diversity in the group, two younger members tended to have a more holistic viewpoint seeking alternatives to taking stress strategies. The others showed preference to a more medicinal interventions (Loyd, Lake, & Greenberg, 2004). The learning styles and strategies The strategies and styles of learning that was preferred by the group include: question and answer, explanation and demonstration, and group discussion. Learner Objectives ? The learning objectives for the health promotion teaching plan include:? Affective Domain: the group members are willing to listen actively to presentation given by their instructor on overall health and wellness through diet, exercise and stress reduction strategies as they engage in a group project; Cognitive Domain: every group member will be able to state five facts on overall health and wellness through diet, exercise and stress reduction strategies following the completion of the seminar; Psychomotor Domain: By the end of training, group members will be able to appropriately measure their own stress levels and document the possible stress strategies preferred. Teaching Plan The teaching instructor needs to exhibit flexibility always with respect to, not only the teaching plan in an effort to meet the individual needs of the learner, but also to the learning objectives. Teaching Plan The teaching plan that will be implemented will include the following aspects: Written Pretest â€Å"Fact versus Fiction, What are the myths about overall health and wellness through diet, exercise and stress reduction strategies?† guidelines on healthy lifestyle guidelines for all the participants relayed through explanation and answering questions, such as eat a healthy balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains and high fiber foods; eat fish at least twice per week; limit sodium intake; and drink no more than one alcoholic drink per day, and getting about 200 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week. Evaluation of Teaching and Learning A critical evaluation of all the contents in the last phase of the health promotion teaching plan will be carried out. The teaching plan was precise, clear, and focused on the members in the targeted age group. All the registered nurse, who adheres to the format of the teaching plan, would have the

What aspects should be considered in the estimate of nursing Essay

What aspects should be considered in the estimate of nursing - Essay Example Set up two nursing diagnoses: a current and a risk.The nursing diagnoses for the patient are improper eating habits and inheritance of genes from their parentsSet for each nursing diagnosis an expected outcome (goal).An expected outcome resulting from poor eating habits may result to the patient gaining unnecessary weight. In order to avoid this, the patient should realize the need to have proper balanced diet at all times. It will also increase their level of awareness of foods and activities that contribute to their excessive intake.Establish five Educational activities to lose weight Setting the right priorities and goals is an important activity to focus on when losing weight. Physical and dietary activity changes lead to achieving long-term weight change. In order to be successful, the patient should select few manageable goals at a time. Self-monitoring is the other educational activity used to check a patient’s behavior in terms of calorie intake, vegetable servings and physical activities undertaken (Dudek & Dudek, 2013). Monitoring one’s behavior helps one move closer towards a desired direction and produce records for review by a healthcare provider.Weight affects the self esteem of an individual. Excessive weight evokes negative reactions from the society. Educating patients of the need to watch their weight may guarantee a reduction in weight loss. A patient ought to know that the amount of weight needed to improve their health is much less than the weight they wish to lose.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries

Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries Corporate Social Responsibility in developing countries such as India using Tata Nano as a case study 1. Introduction A companys main business objective is maximisation of shareholders wealth by means of achieving higher profit. Business managers are entrusted with shareholders money so that they could run the company efficiently and profitably. According to Sloan (1964) â€Å"the strategic aim of a business is to earn a return on capital and if any particular case the return in the long run is not satisfactory, then the deficiency should be corrected or the activity abandoned for a more favourable one.† This suggests that companies are run for profit motives and this should be the top most priority of any management. However Globalisation has brought about a change in notion concerning the business objective of any company, arguments are being put forward that the business activities must take into account human and social welfare. According to Peter Drucker (1954), â€Å"the enterprise is an organ of society and its actions have a decisive impact on the social scene. It is thus important for management to realize that it must consider the impact of every business policy and business actions upon society. It has to consider whether the action is likely to promote the public good, to advance the basic belief of society, to contribute to its stability, strength and harmony†. A business enterprise is a major user of nature, society and environment; therefore it must be responsible towards their protection and development. Depletion of natural resources and causes like global warming has brought a lot attention to the sustainable use of these resources and companies are going to play a major role in ensuring this. So this marks a shift in the company objective that no longer can they only be guided by the sole aim of making profit but they should be take actions to ensure the welfare of the society in which they operate. This brings out the concept of â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility†: Corporations acting as citizens of a society in a responsible manner ensuring the well beings of others in the society. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) describes CSR as â€Å"a balanced approach for organisations to address economic, social and environmental issues in a way that aims to benefit people, community and society† (ISO, 2002). 1.1 Rationale behind the Research Corporate social responsibility has gained widespread attention in most developed countries; policies practices are being developed by corporations to abide by standards of environment pollution, use of human capital etc. However in less developed countries this is not a much heard or debated topic. According to Steiner Steiner (2000), â€Å"In less developed countries there is often no indigenous sense of corporate responsibility.† There are a lot of loopholes in the system and business activities are not often concentrated on human/ social welfare. Austin (1990) argues that the extremity and pervasiveness of poverty in less developed countries places a special responsibility on business, as a vehicle for creating economic progress that will help alleviate this deprivation. With developing economies a lot of importance is given to industrial upliftment and that might come at a cost of social welfare or benefit. This research aims to identify the CSR policies and practices being in use in developing countries such as India with a special reference to TATA Nano. India is a developing country which has recorded a growth rate of more than 9% for 3 years upto 2008 and has seen a decade of 7% growth. (www.economicshelp.org: accessed on 10th January 2010). In spite of the global economic slowdown is slated to grow at around 7.5% for this year (2010). The rapid growth in economy has increased the standards of living and has created huge disposable income among Indians. The car manufacturers are taking advantage of this huge growth and are coming up with various models to tap into this growing market. TATA one of the most reputed business firms of India have come up with a car called TATA Nano which is slated to be the cheapest car in the world. The price is kept at $2500 which is equivalent to 100,000 INR. The objective behind this to make four wheelers available to every common man in India; this is touted to be a very big success. I have my own reservations concerning it; what if masses can afford this car, will it not increase the fuel consump tion, thereby creating more pollution? Will it not put a huge burden on roads which are already suffering from traffic congestion? This research aims to find out whether TATA is acting in a responsible manner by launching this car. 1.2 Objectives The research can be subdivided into four parts: 1. To identify the state of CSR in developing countries such as India 2. To evaluate public awareness concerning issues such as CSR in India 3. To evaluate the impact of TATA Nano on environment, traffic congestion, demand for fuel etc 4. To suggest a number of ways in which companies in developing countries can develop frameworks to act in a more responsible manner 2. Literature Review There are numerous ways to classify the literature on CSR in developing countries i.e. in terms of content (thematic coverage), type (epistemological approach), and level (focus of analysis). The analysis would be done by each way separately: 2.1 Content Theme We would use the same classification as Lockett et al. (2006) did, the CSR literature can be categorized into four CSR themes: social, environmental, ethics, and stakeholders. One point that immediately comes to light by applying this categorization to the literature on CSR is that, in contrast to Lockett et al.s (2006) findings that most CSR articles in top management journals focus on ethical and environmental themes, most scholarly work on CSR in developing countries focuses on the social theme. Also social issues are in general given more political, economic, and media coverage in developing countries than environmental, ethical, or stakeholder issues (Schmidheiny, 2006). 2.2 Knowledge Type Lockett et al. (2006) had also classified the CSR literature by knowledge type. He found even split between theoretical and empirical research. Lockett et al. (2006) found that 89% of theoretical CSR papers are non-normative, in the CSR in developing countries literature, the balance is far more evenly split. This is mainly because relatively large number of papers on the role of â€Å"business in development† tends to adopt a normative, critical perspective (Blowfield and Frynas, 2005). Also if we see empirical research, there are also differences. According to Lockett et al. (2006), the CSR literature is dominated by quantitative methods (80%), while CSR papers on developing countries are more likely to be qualitative. Most research on CSR in developing countries to date has either generalized about all developing countries (e.g. Frynas, 2006), or focused at a national level. In terms of generic literature, Corporate Citizenship in developing countries (Pedersen and Huniche, 2006) is a useful compendium, as are special issues on CSR in developing countries that have appeared in the Journal of Corporate Citizenship (issue 24, 2006), International Affairs (81(3), 2005) and Development (47(3), 2004). Despite the focus on countries in the literature, only about a fifth of all developing countries have had any CSR journal articles published on them. Of these, the most commonly analyzed and written about countries are China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, and Thailand. Analysis at a regional level (notably Africa, Asia, and Latin America) is becoming more common, but papers at the sector, corporate, or individual level remain relatively scarce. 2.3 Global Most of the literature concentrates on CSR in a global context and there is very little empirical research on the nature and extent of CSR in developing countries. One notable exception is Baskins (2006) research on the reported corporate responsibility behavior of 127 leading companies from 21 emerging markets across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe, which he compares with over 1,700 leading companies in high-income OECD countries. Looking at three generic indicators of CSR, Baskin (2006) finds that emerging market companies have a respectable representation in the Dow Jones â€Å"Sustainability Index† and show rising levels of take-up of the Global Reporting Initiative and ISO 14001. Baskin (2006) also showed that emerging markets lag the OECD significantly on reporting on business ethics and equal opportunities, are roughly at par on environmental reporting, and show comparable reporting variance on women on company boards, training and occupation al health and safety . Despite the limitations of using reporting as an indicator of CSR performance and the danger of representing regions by just a few countries (e.g. only two of the 53 countries in Africa were included in the sample), the Baskin (2006) study does provide some insight into the level of CSR activity in developing countries, concluding that: ‘there is not a vast difference in the approach to reported corporate responsibility between leading companies in high income OECD countries and their emerging-market peers. Nonetheless, corporate responsibility in emerging markets, while more extensive than commonly believed, is less embedded in corporate strategies, less pervasive and less politically rooted than in most high-income OECD countries (p. 46). 2.4 Regional Asia Major coverage of the Asia in the field of CSR often focus on China (e.g. Zhuang and Wheale, 2004), India (e.g. Balasubramanian et al., 2005), Indonesia (e.g. Blowfield, 2004), Malaysia (e.g. Zulkifli and Amran, 2006), Pakistan (e.g. Lund-Thomsen, 2004), and Thailand (e.g. Kaufman et al., 2004). Other countries that have had less attention include Bangladesh (Nielsen, 2005), the Pacific Forum Islands (Prasad, 2004), Sri Lanka (Luken and Stares, 2005), and Vietnam (Prieto-Carron, 2006b). Birch and Moon (2004) noted that â€Å"CSR performance varies greatly between countries in Asia, with a wide range of CSR issues being tackled (e.g. education, environment, employee welfare) and modes of action (e.g. foundations, volunteering, and partnerships)†. In one of the survey on CSR reporting in Asia, Chapple and Moon (2005) find that nearly three quarters of large companies in India present themselves as having CSR policies and practices versus only a quarter in Indonesia and between t hese two extremes are Thailand (42%), Malaysia (32%), and the Philippines (30%). They also infer from the research that the evolution of CSR in Asia tends to occur in three waves, first being community involvement followed by successive second and third waves of socially responsible production processes and employee relations. In a comparative survey of CSR in 15 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia, Welford (2005) speculates that the low response rates from countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand may in itself be an indicator of CSR being less prevalent in developing countries. This seems to be borne out by the research findings, in which these countries fairly consistently underperform when compared with developed countries across 20 aspects of CSR measured by the survey. Africa The literature on CSR in Africa is predominantly based on South Africa (Visser, 2005a), while other pockets of research exist for Cà ´te DIvoire (e.g. Schrage and Ewing, 2005), Kenya (e.g. Dolan and Opondo, 2005), Nigeria (e.g. Amaeshi et al., 2006), Tanzania (e.g. Egels, 2005), and Mali and Zambia (e.g. Hamann et al., 2005). Very few papers are focused on industry sectors, with traditionally high impact sectors like agriculture (e.g. Blowfield, 2003), mining (e.g. Kapelus, 2002), and petrochemicals (e.g. Acutt et al., 2004) featuring most prominently. Two of the best sources of literature on Africa are Corporate Citizenship in Africa (Visser et al., 2006) and the Journal of Corporate Citizenship special issue on CSR in Africa (issue 18, summer 2005). The latter concludes that ‘academic institutions and researchers focusing specifically on corporate citizenship in Africa remain few and under-developed (Visser et al., 2005: 19). This is confirmed by a review of the CSR literatu re on Africa between 1995 and 2005 (Visser, 2006a), which found that that only 12 of Africas 53 countries have had any research published in core CSR journals, with 57% of all articles focused on South Africa and 16% on Nigeria. The latter partly reflects the high media profile generated around corporate citizenship issues and the petrochemical sector, especially focused on Shell and their impacts on the Ogoni people (Ite, 2004). Economic and philanthropic aspects of CSR, rather than the legal and ethical responsibilities, will continue to dominate CSR conceptualization and practice in Africa (Visser, 2007). Corporate social responsibility in South America is not as much covered subject as other underdeveloped countries (Haslam, 2007), the focus has been mainly concentrated on Argentina (e.g. Newell and Muro, 2006), Brazil (e.g. Vivarta and Canela, 2006) and Mexico (e.g. Weyzig, 2006), although Nicaragua (Prieto-Carron, 2006a) and Venezuela (Peindado-Vara, 2006) also feature. De Oliveira in 2006 has noted that the Corporate social responsibility agenda in South America has been heavily influenced by socio-economic and political conditions, which have invariably led to problems like, unemployment, in- equality, and crime. Schmidheiny has in 2006 stated that Corporate social responsibility has ushered a positive effect in South America. The trend towards increasing CSR in the region has been generally upward. For example, Correa et al. has reported in his article in 2004 that by 2004 there were thousand South American companies which were member of organization called EMPRESA (the hemisphe re-wide CSR network), another three hundred companies were members of the â€Å"World Business Council† for Sustainable Development, also another fourteen hundred had obtained ISO 14001 certification, and one hundred eighteen had signed UN Global Compact. 2.5 Motivations Until now we have classified the CSR literature on a regional level. To further see the difference between the CSR in developing countries and developed countries we would now isolate motivations for CSR in developing countries, with the help of this we would be able to see why the CSR in developing countries is so unique. Some of the motivations for CSR that I have isolated with the help of literature review are: 2.5.1 Cultural Tradition The term CSR has been widely used in western countries and hence there is a widespread believe that CSR is a Western thing but on the contrary there is evidence that CSR in developing countries has been around for centuries and its man pillar has been deep-rooted indigenous cultural traditions of philanthropy and business ethics. An excellent example was given by, Visser and Macintosh in 1998 they have quoted that â€Å"the ethical condemnation of usurious business practices in developing countries that practice Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity dates back thousands of years†. Another example was given by Frynas (2006) ‘business practices based on moral principles were advocated by the Indian statesman and philosopher Kautilya in the 4th century BC. If we take South American context, Sanborn (2002), quoted in Logsdon et al. (2006) that ‘varied traditions of community self-help and solidarity stretch back to the regions pre-Hispanic cultures, and include t he mutual aid societies, trade unions and professional associations that emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Logsdon et al.s (2006) stated that â€Å"One myth is that CSR in Mexico is new, another is that US firms brought CSR to Mexico, and a third is that CSR as practised by Mexican firms simply reflects the CSR patterns and activities of US firms†. Even if we take CSR for more modern times I have found that it was heavily influenced by local culture, Vivess (2006) had conducted survey of over 1,300 enterprises in South America, his findings were that the regions religious beliefs are one of the major motivations for CSR. Also Nelson (2004) founded that Buddhist traditions in Asia are aligned with CSR. Also for Asia, Chapple and Moon (2005) had reached a same conclusion, that â€Å"CSR does vary considerably among Asian countries but that this variation is not explained by [levels of] development but by factors in the respective national business systems†, t his was consistent with Birch and Moons (2004) finding in his paper for the Journal of Corporate Citizenship special issue on CSR in Asia. If we take African the findings are same, Amaeshi et al. (2006) found that CSR in Nigeria is heavily influenced by local socio-cultural influences like communalism, ethnic religious beliefs, and charitable traditions. 2.5.2 Political Upheaval CSR in developing countries are heavily influenced by the social and political reforms, which drives business behavior towards integrating social and ethical issues. De Oliveira (2006) has argued that â€Å"the political and associated social and economic changes in Latin America since the 1980s, including democratization, liberalization, and privatization, have shifted the role of business towards taking greater responsibility for social and environmental issues†. A recent example can be the case of South Africa, the political changes towards democracy and end of decades of apartheid have been a significant driver for CSR, through the practice of improved corporate governance (Roussouw et al., 2002), collective business action for social upliftment (Fourie and Eloff, 2005) has led to black economic empowerment (Fig, 2005), and business ethics (Malan, 2005). Visser (2005a) lists more than a dozen examples of socio-economic, environmental, and labor-related legislative reform i n South Africa between 1994 and 2004 that have a direct bearing on CSR. Another excellent example can be given of many central and eastern European countries which have been recently inducted into European Union, these countries have now shifted towards CSR .(Baskin, 2006). 2.5.3 Social and Economic Conditions It is often said that the CSR in developing countries is directly shaped by the social conditions and economic environment present in the country in which firms operate and the development priorities this creates. Amaeshi et al. (2006), had argued that â€Å"CSR in Nigeria is specifically aimed at addressing the socio-economic development challenges of the country, including poverty alleviation, health-care provision, infrastructure development, and education. This, they argue, stands in stark contrast to many Western CSR priorities such as consumer protection, fair trade, green marketing, climate change concerns, or socially responsible investments.† Schmidheiny (2006) had questioned the appropriateness of foreign CSR approaches, citing examples from South America, where the most important issues like poverty, illiteracy, crime and tax avoidance are not included in the CSR conceptions in developed countries, but if we consider locally developed CSR approaches, then they are m ost likely to respond to the many local social and environmental problems, such as deforestation, unemployment, income inequality, and crime (De Oliveira, 2006). 2.5.4 Poor Governance CSR can be seen as a form of private or self governance or a response to poor governance (Levy and Kaplan, Chapter 19). A particular important aspect of the CSR for developing countries is the fact it is often seen as a way to plug the gaps left by weak, corrupt, or under-resourced governments that fail to adequately provide various social services. Furthermore, â€Å"as many developing country government initiatives to improve living conditions falter, proponents of [CSR and bottom of the pyramid] strategies argue that companies can assume this role†. Such proponents of CSR, Blowfield and Frynas (2005) observe, â€Å"an alternative to government† which is â€Å"frequently advocated as a means of filling gaps in governance that have arisen with the acceleration of liberal economic globalization†. A survey was conducted by â€Å"World Business Council for Sustainable Development† (WBCSD 2000) in their report they illustrated that, when asked how CSR should be defined, peoples in Ghana stressed ‘building local capacity and ‘filling in when government falls short. Moon (2002a) in his paper has argued that, this phenomenon is part of a broader political shift towards ‘new governance or â€Å"alternate governance† approaches, here the local governments are trying to share responsibilities and to develop more effective modes of operation, the reason may be result of overload or of a view that they do not have a monopoly of solutions for society. This is often in the form of social partnerships with non-profit and for-profit organizations. Moon et al. (2005) has cited this phenomenon as an example of companies acting in a ‘civic republicanism mode. In addition to being encouraged to step in where once only governments acted, through the mechanism of either privatization or welfare reform, Matten and Crane (2005) also suggest that companies enter the arena of citizenship where government has not as yet administ ered citizenship rights, for example, improving working conditions in sweatshops, ensuring for employees a living wage, and financing the schooling of child laborers in the absence of legislation requiring this. However, this approach is not without its share of criticism ,Hamann et al. (2005) had argued that CSR is not adequate response to these governance gaps and that more proactive steps involving local government towards accountability and inclusiveness is necessary. Blowfield and Frynas (2005) had questioned the very logic: â€Å"Is CSR a stepping-stone on the path to better national regulation in developing countries? Or is it part of a longer term project for overcoming the weaknesses of territorially prescribed judicial and welfare mechanisms that is, addressing the limitations of the nation-state in regulating a global economy?† There are also serious questions about the dependencies this governance gap approach to CSR creates, especially where communities become re liant for their social services on companies whose primary accountability is to their shareholders. Hence, multinationals may cut expenditure, or disinvest from a region if the economics dictates that they will be more profitable elsewhere. There is also the issue of perceived complicity between governments and companies, as Shell all too painfully experienced in Nigeria (Ite, 2004). 2.5.5 Crisis Response Crises associated with developing countries have in the past affected CSR responses. These crises can come in the form of economic, social, environmental, health-related, or industrial accident. An excellent example was quoted by Newell (2005) that â€Å"the economic crisis in Argentina in 2001-2 marked a significant turning point in CSR, prompting debates about the role of business in poverty alleviation†. Another example can be of climate change (Hoffman, 2005) and HIV/AIDS (Dunfee, 2006) these crises have bought CSR in developing countries into lime-light. Catastrophic events with immediate impact are often more likely to elicit CSR responses, especially of the philanthropic kind. The companys quick response to the Asian tsunami is an excellent case (Fernando, 2007). However, companies can also have negative affect like industrial accidents. Examples include Union Carbides response to the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India (Shrivastava, 1995) and Shells response to the hanging o f human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria in 1995 (Wheeler et al., 2002). 2.5.6 Market Access Not all the intention of the companies in developing the CSR is for good, some companies may also see these unfulfilled human needs as an untapped market. This can be corroborated from the fact that there lies burgeoning literature on ‘bottom of the pyramid strategies, which refer to business models that focus on turning the four billion poor people in the world into consumers (Prahalad and Hammond, 2002; London and Hart, 2004; Rangan et al., 2007). CSR may be working towards enabling companies in developing countries which are trying to access markets in the developed world. An example in this support can be given from, Baskin (2006), he had identified that â€Å"competitive advantage in international markets as one of the key drivers for CSR in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia†, also Arayas (2006) survey of CSR reporting among the top two hundred and fifty companies in South America found that â€Å"businesses with an international sales orientation were almost fiv e times more likely to report than companies that sell products regionally or locally†. This is has become increasingly relevant as more and more companies from developing countries are moving towards globalization and in their effort they need to comply with international stock market listing requirements, including various forms CSR code compliance (Visser, 2005a). The above argument was also stated by Chapple and Moons (2005) study of 7 countries in Asia, which found a strong relationship between international exposure, either in terms of international sales or foreign ownership, and CSR reporting. CSR is also sometimes used as a partnership approach to creating or developing new markets. Another example in support towards this, is the case of , AED and Mark collaboration with Exxon Mobil that has created a viable market for insecticide-treated mosquito nets in Africa, while improving pregnant womens access to these nets, through the delivery of targeted subsidies (Diara et al., 2004). Similalry, ABB used a partnership approach to CSR to deliver a rural electrification project in Tanzania (Egels, 2005). 2.5.7International Standardization There is a widespread belief that the Western countries has imposed CSR approaches on the global South, but on the contrary there is ample evidence present to suggest that CSR codes and standards are a key driver for CSR in developing countries. For example Baskins (2006) survey of CSR practices in emerging markets has indicated towards growing acceptance rate of ISO 14001 and the â€Å"Global Reporting Initiatives Sustainability Reporting Guidelines†. These codes are now used as a CSR response in sectors that are prevalent in developing countries, such as horticulture (Dolan and Opondo, 2005), cocoa (Schrage and Ewing, 2005), and textiles (Kaufman et al., 2004), as well as some social issues in developing countries, like child labor (Kolk and Van Tulder, 2002) or women in the workplace (Prieto-Carron, 2004). In general it is seen that CSR is driven by standardization imposed by MNCs in striving to achieve global consistency among its subsidiaries and operations in developing countries. For example, Chapple and Moon (2005) found that â€Å"multinational companies are more likely to adopt CSR than those operating solely in their home country, but that the profile of their CSR tend to reflect the profile of the country of operation rather than the country of origin†. 2.5.8 Investment Incentives Multinational companies investments in developing countries are generally linked to the social conditions prevalent in those countries (Gabriel, 1972). Now a day these investments are being screened for CSR performance. In response to this socially responsible investment (SRI) is becoming a major factor CSR in developing countries. Baskin (2006) had noted â€Å"that approximately 8% of emerging market companies on the Dow Jones World Index is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, compared with around 13% of high-income companies†. In other developing countries, like South Africa, the SRI trend is well researched (AICC, 2002). The SRI movement in the 1980s had led to the anti-apartheid disinvestment phenomenon, also since 1992, South Africa has introduced twenty SRI funds which track companies social, ethical, and environmental performance (Visser, 2005a). According to research by the â€Å"African Institute of Corporate Citizenship â€Å"(AICC) (2002), the size of the South African SRI market in 2001 was already 1.55% of the total investment market. In an another major development, in May 2004, the Johannesburg Securities Exchange had launched its own tradable SRI Index, the first of its kind in an emerging market (Sonnenberg et al., 2004). A similar index was also introduced in Brazil. Closely linked to the literature on SRI in developing countries is the debate about the business case for CSR. Very few instrumental studies have been done, a survey done in Thailand by Connelly and Limpaphayom (2004) had showed that environmental reporting had not negatively impacted on short-term profitability and has in fact generated a positive relationship with firm valuation. More generally, a report by Sustainability (2002) uses case studies to illustrate various business benefits associated with addressing sustainability in developing countries. Furthermore, Goyal (2006) contends that CSR may serve as a signaling device for developing countries seeking to assess foreign direct investment proposals by unknown foreign firms. 2.5.9 Stakeholders In general the governmental has not got strong control or prohibitive laws over the social, ethical, and environmental performance of companies in developing countries, hence in its absence activism by stake- holder groups has become major source of CSR. Lund-Thomsen (2004) had described describes this as â€Å"an outcome of micro-level struggles between companies and communities over the distribution of social and environmental hazards which are created when global political and economic forces interact with local contexts around the world†. In research it was found that there are mainly four kinds of groups namely development agencies (Jenkins, 2005), trade unions (Kaufman et al., 2004), international NGOs (Christian Aid, 2005), and business associations (WBCSD, 2000) has emerged as the most impotant activists for CSR. These four groups had also provided a support for local NGOs. Another goup has also emerged in recent times namely media, it has also emerged as a key support er for promoting CSR in developing countries (Vivarta and Canela, 2006). Activism by these groups in developing countries has taken various forms, which was classified by Newell (2001) â€Å"as civil regulation, litigation against companies, and international legal instruments†. Of these, civil regulation is perhaps the most common and effective. Bendell (2000) describes this as the theory that ‘businesses are being regulated by civil society, through the dual effect of negative impacts from conflict and benefits from collaboration [which] provides new means for people to hold companies accountable, thereby democratising the economy directly. There are numerous examples of civil regulation in action in the developing world of which South Africa is a rather striking case in point (Visser, 2005a). This has manifested itself mainly through community groups challenging companies over whether they are upholding the constitutional rights of citizens. Various land mark cases b etween 1994 and 2004 suggest that, although civil society still tends to lack capacity and resources in South Africa, this has been an effective strategy. Stakeholder activism has also taken a constructive approach towards encouraging CSR, through groups like the National Business Initiative and partnerships between business and NGOs. Stakeholder activism can also be a source of criticism of CSR, arguing that it is an inadequate response to the social and environmental challenges of developing countries. The Christian Aid (2005) report Behind the Mask: The Real Face of Corporate Social Responsibility epitomizes this critical approach, and may be a driver for an enlarged conception and practice of CSR in developing countries. 2.5.10 Supply Chain Management Another Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries Corporate Social Responsibility in developing countries such as India using Tata Nano as a case study 1. Introduction A companys main business objective is maximisation of shareholders wealth by means of achieving higher profit. Business managers are entrusted with shareholders money so that they could run the company efficiently and profitably. According to Sloan (1964) â€Å"the strategic aim of a business is to earn a return on capital and if any particular case the return in the long run is not satisfactory, then the deficiency should be corrected or the activity abandoned for a more favourable one.† This suggests that companies are run for profit motives and this should be the top most priority of any management. However Globalisation has brought about a change in notion concerning the business objective of any company, arguments are being put forward that the business activities must take into account human and social welfare. According to Peter Drucker (1954), â€Å"the enterprise is an organ of society and its actions have a decisive impact on the social scene. It is thus important for management to realize that it must consider the impact of every business policy and business actions upon society. It has to consider whether the action is likely to promote the public good, to advance the basic belief of society, to contribute to its stability, strength and harmony†. A business enterprise is a major user of nature, society and environment; therefore it must be responsible towards their protection and development. Depletion of natural resources and causes like global warming has brought a lot attention to the sustainable use of these resources and companies are going to play a major role in ensuring this. So this marks a shift in the company objective that no longer can they only be guided by the sole aim of making profit but they should be take actions to ensure the welfare of the society in which they operate. This brings out the concept of â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility†: Corporations acting as citizens of a society in a responsible manner ensuring the well beings of others in the society. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) describes CSR as â€Å"a balanced approach for organisations to address economic, social and environmental issues in a way that aims to benefit people, community and society† (ISO, 2002). 1.1 Rationale behind the Research Corporate social responsibility has gained widespread attention in most developed countries; policies practices are being developed by corporations to abide by standards of environment pollution, use of human capital etc. However in less developed countries this is not a much heard or debated topic. According to Steiner Steiner (2000), â€Å"In less developed countries there is often no indigenous sense of corporate responsibility.† There are a lot of loopholes in the system and business activities are not often concentrated on human/ social welfare. Austin (1990) argues that the extremity and pervasiveness of poverty in less developed countries places a special responsibility on business, as a vehicle for creating economic progress that will help alleviate this deprivation. With developing economies a lot of importance is given to industrial upliftment and that might come at a cost of social welfare or benefit. This research aims to identify the CSR policies and practices being in use in developing countries such as India with a special reference to TATA Nano. India is a developing country which has recorded a growth rate of more than 9% for 3 years upto 2008 and has seen a decade of 7% growth. (www.economicshelp.org: accessed on 10th January 2010). In spite of the global economic slowdown is slated to grow at around 7.5% for this year (2010). The rapid growth in economy has increased the standards of living and has created huge disposable income among Indians. The car manufacturers are taking advantage of this huge growth and are coming up with various models to tap into this growing market. TATA one of the most reputed business firms of India have come up with a car called TATA Nano which is slated to be the cheapest car in the world. The price is kept at $2500 which is equivalent to 100,000 INR. The objective behind this to make four wheelers available to every common man in India; this is touted to be a very big success. I have my own reservations concerning it; what if masses can afford this car, will it not increase the fuel consump tion, thereby creating more pollution? Will it not put a huge burden on roads which are already suffering from traffic congestion? This research aims to find out whether TATA is acting in a responsible manner by launching this car. 1.2 Objectives The research can be subdivided into four parts: 1. To identify the state of CSR in developing countries such as India 2. To evaluate public awareness concerning issues such as CSR in India 3. To evaluate the impact of TATA Nano on environment, traffic congestion, demand for fuel etc 4. To suggest a number of ways in which companies in developing countries can develop frameworks to act in a more responsible manner 2. Literature Review There are numerous ways to classify the literature on CSR in developing countries i.e. in terms of content (thematic coverage), type (epistemological approach), and level (focus of analysis). The analysis would be done by each way separately: 2.1 Content Theme We would use the same classification as Lockett et al. (2006) did, the CSR literature can be categorized into four CSR themes: social, environmental, ethics, and stakeholders. One point that immediately comes to light by applying this categorization to the literature on CSR is that, in contrast to Lockett et al.s (2006) findings that most CSR articles in top management journals focus on ethical and environmental themes, most scholarly work on CSR in developing countries focuses on the social theme. Also social issues are in general given more political, economic, and media coverage in developing countries than environmental, ethical, or stakeholder issues (Schmidheiny, 2006). 2.2 Knowledge Type Lockett et al. (2006) had also classified the CSR literature by knowledge type. He found even split between theoretical and empirical research. Lockett et al. (2006) found that 89% of theoretical CSR papers are non-normative, in the CSR in developing countries literature, the balance is far more evenly split. This is mainly because relatively large number of papers on the role of â€Å"business in development† tends to adopt a normative, critical perspective (Blowfield and Frynas, 2005). Also if we see empirical research, there are also differences. According to Lockett et al. (2006), the CSR literature is dominated by quantitative methods (80%), while CSR papers on developing countries are more likely to be qualitative. Most research on CSR in developing countries to date has either generalized about all developing countries (e.g. Frynas, 2006), or focused at a national level. In terms of generic literature, Corporate Citizenship in developing countries (Pedersen and Huniche, 2006) is a useful compendium, as are special issues on CSR in developing countries that have appeared in the Journal of Corporate Citizenship (issue 24, 2006), International Affairs (81(3), 2005) and Development (47(3), 2004). Despite the focus on countries in the literature, only about a fifth of all developing countries have had any CSR journal articles published on them. Of these, the most commonly analyzed and written about countries are China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, and Thailand. Analysis at a regional level (notably Africa, Asia, and Latin America) is becoming more common, but papers at the sector, corporate, or individual level remain relatively scarce. 2.3 Global Most of the literature concentrates on CSR in a global context and there is very little empirical research on the nature and extent of CSR in developing countries. One notable exception is Baskins (2006) research on the reported corporate responsibility behavior of 127 leading companies from 21 emerging markets across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe, which he compares with over 1,700 leading companies in high-income OECD countries. Looking at three generic indicators of CSR, Baskin (2006) finds that emerging market companies have a respectable representation in the Dow Jones â€Å"Sustainability Index† and show rising levels of take-up of the Global Reporting Initiative and ISO 14001. Baskin (2006) also showed that emerging markets lag the OECD significantly on reporting on business ethics and equal opportunities, are roughly at par on environmental reporting, and show comparable reporting variance on women on company boards, training and occupation al health and safety . Despite the limitations of using reporting as an indicator of CSR performance and the danger of representing regions by just a few countries (e.g. only two of the 53 countries in Africa were included in the sample), the Baskin (2006) study does provide some insight into the level of CSR activity in developing countries, concluding that: ‘there is not a vast difference in the approach to reported corporate responsibility between leading companies in high income OECD countries and their emerging-market peers. Nonetheless, corporate responsibility in emerging markets, while more extensive than commonly believed, is less embedded in corporate strategies, less pervasive and less politically rooted than in most high-income OECD countries (p. 46). 2.4 Regional Asia Major coverage of the Asia in the field of CSR often focus on China (e.g. Zhuang and Wheale, 2004), India (e.g. Balasubramanian et al., 2005), Indonesia (e.g. Blowfield, 2004), Malaysia (e.g. Zulkifli and Amran, 2006), Pakistan (e.g. Lund-Thomsen, 2004), and Thailand (e.g. Kaufman et al., 2004). Other countries that have had less attention include Bangladesh (Nielsen, 2005), the Pacific Forum Islands (Prasad, 2004), Sri Lanka (Luken and Stares, 2005), and Vietnam (Prieto-Carron, 2006b). Birch and Moon (2004) noted that â€Å"CSR performance varies greatly between countries in Asia, with a wide range of CSR issues being tackled (e.g. education, environment, employee welfare) and modes of action (e.g. foundations, volunteering, and partnerships)†. In one of the survey on CSR reporting in Asia, Chapple and Moon (2005) find that nearly three quarters of large companies in India present themselves as having CSR policies and practices versus only a quarter in Indonesia and between t hese two extremes are Thailand (42%), Malaysia (32%), and the Philippines (30%). They also infer from the research that the evolution of CSR in Asia tends to occur in three waves, first being community involvement followed by successive second and third waves of socially responsible production processes and employee relations. In a comparative survey of CSR in 15 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia, Welford (2005) speculates that the low response rates from countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand may in itself be an indicator of CSR being less prevalent in developing countries. This seems to be borne out by the research findings, in which these countries fairly consistently underperform when compared with developed countries across 20 aspects of CSR measured by the survey. Africa The literature on CSR in Africa is predominantly based on South Africa (Visser, 2005a), while other pockets of research exist for Cà ´te DIvoire (e.g. Schrage and Ewing, 2005), Kenya (e.g. Dolan and Opondo, 2005), Nigeria (e.g. Amaeshi et al., 2006), Tanzania (e.g. Egels, 2005), and Mali and Zambia (e.g. Hamann et al., 2005). Very few papers are focused on industry sectors, with traditionally high impact sectors like agriculture (e.g. Blowfield, 2003), mining (e.g. Kapelus, 2002), and petrochemicals (e.g. Acutt et al., 2004) featuring most prominently. Two of the best sources of literature on Africa are Corporate Citizenship in Africa (Visser et al., 2006) and the Journal of Corporate Citizenship special issue on CSR in Africa (issue 18, summer 2005). The latter concludes that ‘academic institutions and researchers focusing specifically on corporate citizenship in Africa remain few and under-developed (Visser et al., 2005: 19). This is confirmed by a review of the CSR literatu re on Africa between 1995 and 2005 (Visser, 2006a), which found that that only 12 of Africas 53 countries have had any research published in core CSR journals, with 57% of all articles focused on South Africa and 16% on Nigeria. The latter partly reflects the high media profile generated around corporate citizenship issues and the petrochemical sector, especially focused on Shell and their impacts on the Ogoni people (Ite, 2004). Economic and philanthropic aspects of CSR, rather than the legal and ethical responsibilities, will continue to dominate CSR conceptualization and practice in Africa (Visser, 2007). Corporate social responsibility in South America is not as much covered subject as other underdeveloped countries (Haslam, 2007), the focus has been mainly concentrated on Argentina (e.g. Newell and Muro, 2006), Brazil (e.g. Vivarta and Canela, 2006) and Mexico (e.g. Weyzig, 2006), although Nicaragua (Prieto-Carron, 2006a) and Venezuela (Peindado-Vara, 2006) also feature. De Oliveira in 2006 has noted that the Corporate social responsibility agenda in South America has been heavily influenced by socio-economic and political conditions, which have invariably led to problems like, unemployment, in- equality, and crime. Schmidheiny has in 2006 stated that Corporate social responsibility has ushered a positive effect in South America. The trend towards increasing CSR in the region has been generally upward. For example, Correa et al. has reported in his article in 2004 that by 2004 there were thousand South American companies which were member of organization called EMPRESA (the hemisphe re-wide CSR network), another three hundred companies were members of the â€Å"World Business Council† for Sustainable Development, also another fourteen hundred had obtained ISO 14001 certification, and one hundred eighteen had signed UN Global Compact. 2.5 Motivations Until now we have classified the CSR literature on a regional level. To further see the difference between the CSR in developing countries and developed countries we would now isolate motivations for CSR in developing countries, with the help of this we would be able to see why the CSR in developing countries is so unique. Some of the motivations for CSR that I have isolated with the help of literature review are: 2.5.1 Cultural Tradition The term CSR has been widely used in western countries and hence there is a widespread believe that CSR is a Western thing but on the contrary there is evidence that CSR in developing countries has been around for centuries and its man pillar has been deep-rooted indigenous cultural traditions of philanthropy and business ethics. An excellent example was given by, Visser and Macintosh in 1998 they have quoted that â€Å"the ethical condemnation of usurious business practices in developing countries that practice Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity dates back thousands of years†. Another example was given by Frynas (2006) ‘business practices based on moral principles were advocated by the Indian statesman and philosopher Kautilya in the 4th century BC. If we take South American context, Sanborn (2002), quoted in Logsdon et al. (2006) that ‘varied traditions of community self-help and solidarity stretch back to the regions pre-Hispanic cultures, and include t he mutual aid societies, trade unions and professional associations that emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Logsdon et al.s (2006) stated that â€Å"One myth is that CSR in Mexico is new, another is that US firms brought CSR to Mexico, and a third is that CSR as practised by Mexican firms simply reflects the CSR patterns and activities of US firms†. Even if we take CSR for more modern times I have found that it was heavily influenced by local culture, Vivess (2006) had conducted survey of over 1,300 enterprises in South America, his findings were that the regions religious beliefs are one of the major motivations for CSR. Also Nelson (2004) founded that Buddhist traditions in Asia are aligned with CSR. Also for Asia, Chapple and Moon (2005) had reached a same conclusion, that â€Å"CSR does vary considerably among Asian countries but that this variation is not explained by [levels of] development but by factors in the respective national business systems†, t his was consistent with Birch and Moons (2004) finding in his paper for the Journal of Corporate Citizenship special issue on CSR in Asia. If we take African the findings are same, Amaeshi et al. (2006) found that CSR in Nigeria is heavily influenced by local socio-cultural influences like communalism, ethnic religious beliefs, and charitable traditions. 2.5.2 Political Upheaval CSR in developing countries are heavily influenced by the social and political reforms, which drives business behavior towards integrating social and ethical issues. De Oliveira (2006) has argued that â€Å"the political and associated social and economic changes in Latin America since the 1980s, including democratization, liberalization, and privatization, have shifted the role of business towards taking greater responsibility for social and environmental issues†. A recent example can be the case of South Africa, the political changes towards democracy and end of decades of apartheid have been a significant driver for CSR, through the practice of improved corporate governance (Roussouw et al., 2002), collective business action for social upliftment (Fourie and Eloff, 2005) has led to black economic empowerment (Fig, 2005), and business ethics (Malan, 2005). Visser (2005a) lists more than a dozen examples of socio-economic, environmental, and labor-related legislative reform i n South Africa between 1994 and 2004 that have a direct bearing on CSR. Another excellent example can be given of many central and eastern European countries which have been recently inducted into European Union, these countries have now shifted towards CSR .(Baskin, 2006). 2.5.3 Social and Economic Conditions It is often said that the CSR in developing countries is directly shaped by the social conditions and economic environment present in the country in which firms operate and the development priorities this creates. Amaeshi et al. (2006), had argued that â€Å"CSR in Nigeria is specifically aimed at addressing the socio-economic development challenges of the country, including poverty alleviation, health-care provision, infrastructure development, and education. This, they argue, stands in stark contrast to many Western CSR priorities such as consumer protection, fair trade, green marketing, climate change concerns, or socially responsible investments.† Schmidheiny (2006) had questioned the appropriateness of foreign CSR approaches, citing examples from South America, where the most important issues like poverty, illiteracy, crime and tax avoidance are not included in the CSR conceptions in developed countries, but if we consider locally developed CSR approaches, then they are m ost likely to respond to the many local social and environmental problems, such as deforestation, unemployment, income inequality, and crime (De Oliveira, 2006). 2.5.4 Poor Governance CSR can be seen as a form of private or self governance or a response to poor governance (Levy and Kaplan, Chapter 19). A particular important aspect of the CSR for developing countries is the fact it is often seen as a way to plug the gaps left by weak, corrupt, or under-resourced governments that fail to adequately provide various social services. Furthermore, â€Å"as many developing country government initiatives to improve living conditions falter, proponents of [CSR and bottom of the pyramid] strategies argue that companies can assume this role†. Such proponents of CSR, Blowfield and Frynas (2005) observe, â€Å"an alternative to government† which is â€Å"frequently advocated as a means of filling gaps in governance that have arisen with the acceleration of liberal economic globalization†. A survey was conducted by â€Å"World Business Council for Sustainable Development† (WBCSD 2000) in their report they illustrated that, when asked how CSR should be defined, peoples in Ghana stressed ‘building local capacity and ‘filling in when government falls short. Moon (2002a) in his paper has argued that, this phenomenon is part of a broader political shift towards ‘new governance or â€Å"alternate governance† approaches, here the local governments are trying to share responsibilities and to develop more effective modes of operation, the reason may be result of overload or of a view that they do not have a monopoly of solutions for society. This is often in the form of social partnerships with non-profit and for-profit organizations. Moon et al. (2005) has cited this phenomenon as an example of companies acting in a ‘civic republicanism mode. In addition to being encouraged to step in where once only governments acted, through the mechanism of either privatization or welfare reform, Matten and Crane (2005) also suggest that companies enter the arena of citizenship where government has not as yet administ ered citizenship rights, for example, improving working conditions in sweatshops, ensuring for employees a living wage, and financing the schooling of child laborers in the absence of legislation requiring this. However, this approach is not without its share of criticism ,Hamann et al. (2005) had argued that CSR is not adequate response to these governance gaps and that more proactive steps involving local government towards accountability and inclusiveness is necessary. Blowfield and Frynas (2005) had questioned the very logic: â€Å"Is CSR a stepping-stone on the path to better national regulation in developing countries? Or is it part of a longer term project for overcoming the weaknesses of territorially prescribed judicial and welfare mechanisms that is, addressing the limitations of the nation-state in regulating a global economy?† There are also serious questions about the dependencies this governance gap approach to CSR creates, especially where communities become re liant for their social services on companies whose primary accountability is to their shareholders. Hence, multinationals may cut expenditure, or disinvest from a region if the economics dictates that they will be more profitable elsewhere. There is also the issue of perceived complicity between governments and companies, as Shell all too painfully experienced in Nigeria (Ite, 2004). 2.5.5 Crisis Response Crises associated with developing countries have in the past affected CSR responses. These crises can come in the form of economic, social, environmental, health-related, or industrial accident. An excellent example was quoted by Newell (2005) that â€Å"the economic crisis in Argentina in 2001-2 marked a significant turning point in CSR, prompting debates about the role of business in poverty alleviation†. Another example can be of climate change (Hoffman, 2005) and HIV/AIDS (Dunfee, 2006) these crises have bought CSR in developing countries into lime-light. Catastrophic events with immediate impact are often more likely to elicit CSR responses, especially of the philanthropic kind. The companys quick response to the Asian tsunami is an excellent case (Fernando, 2007). However, companies can also have negative affect like industrial accidents. Examples include Union Carbides response to the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India (Shrivastava, 1995) and Shells response to the hanging o f human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria in 1995 (Wheeler et al., 2002). 2.5.6 Market Access Not all the intention of the companies in developing the CSR is for good, some companies may also see these unfulfilled human needs as an untapped market. This can be corroborated from the fact that there lies burgeoning literature on ‘bottom of the pyramid strategies, which refer to business models that focus on turning the four billion poor people in the world into consumers (Prahalad and Hammond, 2002; London and Hart, 2004; Rangan et al., 2007). CSR may be working towards enabling companies in developing countries which are trying to access markets in the developed world. An example in this support can be given from, Baskin (2006), he had identified that â€Å"competitive advantage in international markets as one of the key drivers for CSR in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia†, also Arayas (2006) survey of CSR reporting among the top two hundred and fifty companies in South America found that â€Å"businesses with an international sales orientation were almost fiv e times more likely to report than companies that sell products regionally or locally†. This is has become increasingly relevant as more and more companies from developing countries are moving towards globalization and in their effort they need to comply with international stock market listing requirements, including various forms CSR code compliance (Visser, 2005a). The above argument was also stated by Chapple and Moons (2005) study of 7 countries in Asia, which found a strong relationship between international exposure, either in terms of international sales or foreign ownership, and CSR reporting. CSR is also sometimes used as a partnership approach to creating or developing new markets. Another example in support towards this, is the case of , AED and Mark collaboration with Exxon Mobil that has created a viable market for insecticide-treated mosquito nets in Africa, while improving pregnant womens access to these nets, through the delivery of targeted subsidies (Diara et al., 2004). Similalry, ABB used a partnership approach to CSR to deliver a rural electrification project in Tanzania (Egels, 2005). 2.5.7International Standardization There is a widespread belief that the Western countries has imposed CSR approaches on the global South, but on the contrary there is ample evidence present to suggest that CSR codes and standards are a key driver for CSR in developing countries. For example Baskins (2006) survey of CSR practices in emerging markets has indicated towards growing acceptance rate of ISO 14001 and the â€Å"Global Reporting Initiatives Sustainability Reporting Guidelines†. These codes are now used as a CSR response in sectors that are prevalent in developing countries, such as horticulture (Dolan and Opondo, 2005), cocoa (Schrage and Ewing, 2005), and textiles (Kaufman et al., 2004), as well as some social issues in developing countries, like child labor (Kolk and Van Tulder, 2002) or women in the workplace (Prieto-Carron, 2004). In general it is seen that CSR is driven by standardization imposed by MNCs in striving to achieve global consistency among its subsidiaries and operations in developing countries. For example, Chapple and Moon (2005) found that â€Å"multinational companies are more likely to adopt CSR than those operating solely in their home country, but that the profile of their CSR tend to reflect the profile of the country of operation rather than the country of origin†. 2.5.8 Investment Incentives Multinational companies investments in developing countries are generally linked to the social conditions prevalent in those countries (Gabriel, 1972). Now a day these investments are being screened for CSR performance. In response to this socially responsible investment (SRI) is becoming a major factor CSR in developing countries. Baskin (2006) had noted â€Å"that approximately 8% of emerging market companies on the Dow Jones World Index is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, compared with around 13% of high-income companies†. In other developing countries, like South Africa, the SRI trend is well researched (AICC, 2002). The SRI movement in the 1980s had led to the anti-apartheid disinvestment phenomenon, also since 1992, South Africa has introduced twenty SRI funds which track companies social, ethical, and environmental performance (Visser, 2005a). According to research by the â€Å"African Institute of Corporate Citizenship â€Å"(AICC) (2002), the size of the South African SRI market in 2001 was already 1.55% of the total investment market. In an another major development, in May 2004, the Johannesburg Securities Exchange had launched its own tradable SRI Index, the first of its kind in an emerging market (Sonnenberg et al., 2004). A similar index was also introduced in Brazil. Closely linked to the literature on SRI in developing countries is the debate about the business case for CSR. Very few instrumental studies have been done, a survey done in Thailand by Connelly and Limpaphayom (2004) had showed that environmental reporting had not negatively impacted on short-term profitability and has in fact generated a positive relationship with firm valuation. More generally, a report by Sustainability (2002) uses case studies to illustrate various business benefits associated with addressing sustainability in developing countries. Furthermore, Goyal (2006) contends that CSR may serve as a signaling device for developing countries seeking to assess foreign direct investment proposals by unknown foreign firms. 2.5.9 Stakeholders In general the governmental has not got strong control or prohibitive laws over the social, ethical, and environmental performance of companies in developing countries, hence in its absence activism by stake- holder groups has become major source of CSR. Lund-Thomsen (2004) had described describes this as â€Å"an outcome of micro-level struggles between companies and communities over the distribution of social and environmental hazards which are created when global political and economic forces interact with local contexts around the world†. In research it was found that there are mainly four kinds of groups namely development agencies (Jenkins, 2005), trade unions (Kaufman et al., 2004), international NGOs (Christian Aid, 2005), and business associations (WBCSD, 2000) has emerged as the most impotant activists for CSR. These four groups had also provided a support for local NGOs. Another goup has also emerged in recent times namely media, it has also emerged as a key support er for promoting CSR in developing countries (Vivarta and Canela, 2006). Activism by these groups in developing countries has taken various forms, which was classified by Newell (2001) â€Å"as civil regulation, litigation against companies, and international legal instruments†. Of these, civil regulation is perhaps the most common and effective. Bendell (2000) describes this as the theory that ‘businesses are being regulated by civil society, through the dual effect of negative impacts from conflict and benefits from collaboration [which] provides new means for people to hold companies accountable, thereby democratising the economy directly. There are numerous examples of civil regulation in action in the developing world of which South Africa is a rather striking case in point (Visser, 2005a). This has manifested itself mainly through community groups challenging companies over whether they are upholding the constitutional rights of citizens. Various land mark cases b etween 1994 and 2004 suggest that, although civil society still tends to lack capacity and resources in South Africa, this has been an effective strategy. Stakeholder activism has also taken a constructive approach towards encouraging CSR, through groups like the National Business Initiative and partnerships between business and NGOs. Stakeholder activism can also be a source of criticism of CSR, arguing that it is an inadequate response to the social and environmental challenges of developing countries. The Christian Aid (2005) report Behind the Mask: The Real Face of Corporate Social Responsibility epitomizes this critical approach, and may be a driver for an enlarged conception and practice of CSR in developing countries. 2.5.10 Supply Chain Management Another

Candide Essay -- essays research papers

CANDIDE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Candide was a true believer in Pangloss’ theory that all was well in the world. â€Å"Pangloss proved admirably that there is no effect without a cause and that in this best of all possible worlds†¦things cannot be otherwise for since everything is made for an end, everything is necessarily for the best end. Observe that noses were made to wear spectacles; and so we have spectacles. Legs were visibly instituted to be breeched, and we have breeches.†(p.4) Even though these ideas can be considered illogical in real life. Candide and the rest of the people living in the Baron’s castle never questioned the validity of Pangloss’ philosophy. Maybe their conformity was due to a lack of experience, the belief at the time that doctors and philosophers were always right, or obvious but inconsistent truths like â€Å"The Baron was one of the most powerful lords in Westphalia, for his castle possessed a door and windows†. Although it wa s obvious that the Baron was powerful, the doors and windows of his castle have nothing to do with the Baron’s power. Candide was obviously naà ¯ve, but so were most of the characters in the story, since they didn't bother to question Pangloss' philosophy either. Voltaire was not writing this story for the sole purpose of entertainment. It is obvious that Voltaire was also trying to make readers reflect on their own beliefs so that they might see their hypocrisy. â€Å"All is well in the world† could have referred to the mindset of the people living sheltered from the real world, such as the clergy and higher class. As the story continues, Candide finds out that all is not well in the world. The first event that Candide encountered should have been proof enough that all was not well in the world. Voltaire uses an Ironic approach when talking about the war. When Candide had been wondering the streets after getting kicked out of the Baron’s castle, two men came up to him and asked him if he was five feet tall, when he answered â€Å"yes, gentlemen, that is my height†, civilly they invited him to dinner. They said, â€Å"men were meant to help each other†. Candide was then trained in the Bulgarian army and forced to train to fight the Abarians in war. Candide’s belief in Pangloss’ Philosophy was tested for the first time. How can all be well when so much killing is going on around him? Candide was confused on why he couldn’t just... ... her, â€Å"She reminded Candide of his promises in so peremptory a tone that Candide dared not refuse her†. Just like Pangloss, Candide refused to go back on something he had believed in at one point and went ahead with the wedding even though he had not the least with to marry Cunegonde. Candide must have realized at this point that not all works for the best in this world. After leaving Eldorado, Candide thought that finding Cunegonde would make him happy. He now finds that nothing worked out how he expected. Pangloss said to Candide: â€Å"All events are linked up in this best of all possible worlds; for, if you had not been expelled from the noble castle, by hard kicks in your backside for love of Miss Cunegonde, if you had not been clapped into the Inquisition, if you had not wandered about America on foot, if you had not stuck your sword in the Baron, if you had not lost all your sheep from the land of Eldorado, you would not be eating candied citrons and pistachio s here.† To which he replies, â€Å"’tis well said, but we must cultivate our gardens.† Candide realized that even though things work out in the end, it’s not always for the best; there must still be some hardship along the way.

How Internet Addiction Affects Student’s Academic Performance

How Internet addiction affects student’s academic performance Internet addiction in the twenty-first century is as common as the flu. Technology has expanded, and about anyone, anywhere on earth has access to the web and is about to go online. The effect of this addiction may seem harmless but it has a great toll on the body and their academic performance. It can drastically change their life. The addiction, like any other, starts around the first few experiences.In the twenty-first century it starts roughly at the young age as ten to about anywhere in their adult-hood. Internet addiction isn’t only about the famous social media chat sites such as Facebook or twitter. It has a lot to do with v-logging, videos, forums, and various types of internet gaming. Technology nowadays is progressing at such a rapid speed that it makes virtually any task as simple as one click process. When the addiction is in affect, the mind doesn’t think of anything else but that.Especia lly when he/she has found himself online to what may seem a few hours but may actually be the entire day or two before realising. This affects greatly the sleep one needs in order to function on a daily basis, and everyone understands the importance of sleep. The person may also be deprived of food, the nutrition the body needs. The academic performance of the individual decreases tremendously. People in this addiction sub-consciously put tasks aside for another day or plan to do it in the very last minute.Procrastination on homework/assignments lead to marks falling quickly. They also start being late or even start missing classes due to the effect. This will easily lead to failure and/or being laid off work. In conclusion, the last generation has a lot on their plate and also have a lot of issues. The issues of health benefits, life changes, and the effects it has on their academic performances. A lot of something is a lot worse than a little of everything. Majority of the people have a lot to work on but have a lot of assistances on the way.