Safeguarding: Childhood and Young People

Portfolio Evidence 10 Safeguarding Describe how legislation, policies and procedures regarding safeguarding impact on own role in the workplace As a youth worker I have the obligation in my role to know policies and procedures that are in place for safeguarding. Taking into consideration the five outcomes identified by Every Child Matters 1. Protection from harm and neglect (to stay safe) 2. Physical and mental health and emotional well-being (to be healthy) 3.Education training and recreation (to enjoy and achieve) 4. Social and economic well being (to achieve economic well being) 5. The contribution made by them to society (to make a positive contribution) It is vital that every person who works with children and young people should be able to recognise and know how to respond should they be concerned or be aware that a child is, or may be, at risk of significant harm. The policy highlights key issues and recommends actions when dealing with an allegation.These key issues include r ecruitment policies for those working with children and young people, their induction and training, how to respond to disclosures, how to make a referral, suspicions or allegations of abuse. These policies and procedures are there to protect me and colleague’s as well young people. Describe the issues which may arise in implementing safeguarding procedures * I could have a too good relationship or not have a good relationship with the young person. * I might not have enough knowledge about the situation * People being reported are close to me. Safeguarding: Childhood and Young People Portfolio Evidence 10 Safeguarding Describe how legislation, policies and procedures regarding safeguarding impact on own role in the workplace As a youth worker I have the obligation in my role to know policies and procedures that are in place for safeguarding. Taking into consideration the five outcomes identified by Every Child Matters 1. Protection from harm and neglect (to stay safe) 2. Physical and mental health and emotional well-being (to be healthy) 3.Education training and recreation (to enjoy and achieve) 4. Social and economic well being (to achieve economic well being) 5. The contribution made by them to society (to make a positive contribution) It is vital that every person who works with children and young people should be able to recognise and know how to respond should they be concerned or be aware that a child is, or may be, at risk of significant harm. The policy highlights key issues and recommends actions when dealing with an allegation.These key issues include r ecruitment policies for those working with children and young people, their induction and training, how to respond to disclosures, how to make a referral, suspicions or allegations of abuse. These policies and procedures are there to protect me and colleague’s as well young people. Describe the issues which may arise in implementing safeguarding procedures * I could have a too good relationship or not have a good relationship with the young person. * I might not have enough knowledge about the situation * People being reported are close to me.

Market Entry Timing Strategy Essay

Empirical study (Robinson and Fornell, 1985) shows that first mover 20%, early followers 17%, and late entrants 13% market share. Robinson (1988) believes that the order of entry alone explain 8.9% of the variation in market shares. It has been shown that the longer the elapsed time between entry of the first mover and that of later entrants, the more opportunities becomes available to the first mover to achieve cost and differentiation advantages. A longer response time provides the first mover to promote awareness and trial that contribute to category learning and for consumers to integrate into their memory additional information through media and WoM. Lieberman and Montgomery (1988) believe that first-mover advantages arise from three primary sources: Technological leadership, pre-emption of assets, and buyer switching costs. Technological leadership provides a learning curve, where unit production fall with cumulative output, which generates a sustainable cost advantage for the early entrant if learning can be kept proprietary and the firm can maintain leadership in market share. If the first-mover has superior information, it may be able to purchase assets at market prices below those that will prevail later in the evolution of the market, such as natural resources and retailing or manufacturing locations. Where there is room for only a limited number of profitable firms, the first-mover can often select the most attractive niches and may be able to take strategic actions that limit the amount of space available for subsequent entrants. With switching costs, late entrants must invest extra resources to attract customers away from the first-mover firm. Buyer may rationally stick with the first brand they encounter that performs the job satisfactorily. Brand loyalty of this sort may be particularly strong for low-cost convenience goods. Thus, late entrants must have a truly superior product, or else advertise more frequently or more creatively. Schnaars (1986) implies that the early bird normally catches and retains the worm. ‘Me-too’ products introduced by later entrants were much more likely to fail. Second entrants obtain on the average only about three-quarters of the market share of the pioneer, and later entrants are able to capture progressively smaller shares. Consumers tend to know and favour the pioneering product, they have no reason to experiment with subsequent entries. These cost advantages put later entrants at a competitive disadvantage, and pioneers may be able to erect entry barriers that lock out subsequent entrants. Late entrants can also find that the field is crowded and the market offers little opportunity. However, a well-conceived ‘second-but-better’ entry, backed by aggressive advertising, may be able to surpass the pioneer’s entry. Later entrants must be better in terms of performance or price, or both, if they are to have any chance of success. Many firms with str ong market orientation seem to embrace later entry. No one entry strategy proved best in all situations. Primary benefit for the pioneer is to build an unassailable position before later entrants recognize the promise of the market or are willing to take the risks of an early entry. It is most appropriate when image and reputation are important to the customer, experience effects are important and not easily copied, brand loyalty accrues to the pioneer, and cost advantages can be obtained by early commitment to suppliers and channels. It carriers many risks, because almost every aspect of an emerging market is unknown. Many pioneers end up pursuing false leads that later entrants are able to avoid. Thus it must be willing to commit a great deal of money – for R&D and educate customers’. The chances of a pioneer getting the product right for the first time are almost nil. One study found that it takes seven to eight years on the average before a firm that enters a new line of business actually turns a profit. Golder and Tellis (1993) state that for pioneers, consumer-based advantage relate to the benefits that can be delivered from the way consumers first choose and then repurchase the product. The pioneer may become the standard for the product category, and a pioneer can lock-in some customers in categories that have high switching costs. Seventy percent of market leaders are pioneers, and almost half of all pioneers are market leaders. Second firm to enter the market would obtain only 71% as much market share as the pioneer, and third firm to enter would obtain only 58% as much. On the other hand, they believe that if later entrants can leapfrog pioneers with superior technology, positioning, or brand names, firms could better off entering late. Evidence shows that the advantages of being first-in are almost equally balanced by the many pitfalls and disadvantages. Kerin, Vradarajan, and Peterson (1992) state that one can achieve first-mover status by producing a new product, use a new process, and/or enter a new market. They distinguish between two perspectives: the economic-analytical and the behavioural. The former indicates that the pioneer creates barriers to entry so it becomes costly for others to follow, this in turn lengthens the lead time, thus enabling the first mover to benefit initially from no competition, and being more experienced once new entrants emerge. From the behavioural view, the first mover communication is more effective and it obtains reputational advantage. Through purchase and trial, customers can become more reluctant to switch. Similarly, there are economic and behavioural views on market contingencies. From the former perspective, the uncertainty of product demands can lower resource commitments and reduce cost advantage due to scale, but small scale operations are more efficient. A first mover can influence how attributes are valued, define the ideal attribute combination, and ultimately influence consumer’s preferences to its benefit over later entrants. The industry relies heavily on advertising and marketing, thus early consumer exposures to advertising is even more beneficial. The technology changes quickly, so the legal protection and experience advantage decreases. From the behavioural perspective, products can be easily evaluated before purchase, so the purchase and trial benefits decrease. The cost of evaluating a product and making a purchase mistake is lower, hence switching costs decreases. But when consumers need to invest in special, related assets, the switching costs increase. However, following firms may benefit from the ability to free-ride on first-mover investments, resolution of technological and market uncertainty, technological discontinuities that provide ‘gate-ways’ for new entry, and various types of incumbent inertia. They can achieve a CA by influencing consumers’ preferences rather than responding to them, such by moving away from the pioneer and develop a more desirable position. Early entrants’ main benefit is to learn from the pioneer’s experience, and avoid many of the onerous costs, along with being able to assess the market’s reaction to the pioneer’s entry. Many early entrants have relied on some combination of marketing clout, product enhancement and low-cost production. Later entries can benefit from the passage of time. If the product form is changing rapidly and standardization has not been achieved, the later entrant may be able to leapfrog earlier entrants by introducing a superior product, backed by market clout. The later entrant can gain a sizable share of proven growth marketing by capitalizing on the low-cost production of me-too products. Many foreign companies pursue this strategy. Late entrant is risky when earlier entrants are able to erect entry barriers, or the market is already flooded with products that leave no room for enhancement. Level Brother’s Persil entered the tablet detergent market as a pioneer, whereby P&G’s Ariel entered as a follower. The former achieved satisfying customers that stuck to the brand, despite low switching costs. It built a brand image that indicated it was the best, it was innovative and technological advanced. It increased customer choice, which could lead to increased satisfaction and loyalty. Persil soon enjoyed large or monopoly market-share in the category, and had potentially highest share after followers enter. Moreover, entering early allowed it to learn from experiences, with more time for trial and error. By entering first, it could create barriers for entry in the retail through shelf-space, and have patent on technology. Persil also set rules for competition on features, benefits and added services. It could also set the price value based or cost based, thus deciding the market. Ariel, on the hand, had the opportunity to assess the market profitability upon entrance, and needed less knowledge to educate the market. It could learn from Persil’s mistakes in terms of pricing, and had less risk to brand equity. Ariel also enjoyed lower R&D costs and could free-ride on Persil’s effort, in addition to develop a better product. The saved time can be used for optimal positioning. The two competitors were competing heavily on the price per wash, higher and lowering accordingly to each other, starting at 22.0p and 28.0p respectively in 1999, both finishing at 20.0p in 2004, but Ariel did better in the end through learning. In conclusion, one can say that faster entry into the industry does not necessary guarantee absolute competitive advantage. The magnitude of first-mover advantage depends on the degree of fit between the environmental opportunity and the first-mover’s skills and resources. Market pioneering is not a strategy that is appropriate for all firms. In organizational reality, firms are more often a later entrant than a pioneer.

Case: Patients like me Essay

Patients like me(PLM) is a social network which covers different diseases. Members get access to a large database of information about other people who has the same illness as them selves. They also have access to forums, which lets them communicate with other patients as well. This enables patients to get information about their disease and gain new insight, the possibility to ask for practical advice, which doctors do not know about. Other reasons for becoming a member can be to contribute to research about their disease, to help other people with the same medical problems, sharing experiences and having someone to relate to and who knows what they are going through. The site thus covers human needs for both information and emotional support when handeling complex problems in pressing situations. Does the platform work for any diseases? In the short term the platform is most useful on diseases that have a lot of daily practical aspects to it. This is because this is where other patients can best contributing with advice. In the longer term medical companies can use the information to research new drugs. 2. What are the reactions of physicians to sites like PLM? Do you agree with them? Reactions for physicians are mainly issues of misinformation and for what purpose the information is used. When it comes to misinformation this is related to people self reporting on their illness and people without a medical degree voicing their unqualified opinion about drugs, other peoples symptoms ect. The statements on these pages can have consequences that unqualified person did not intend. When it comes to misinformation I have agree with the physicians. There are limitations to the data posted by the unqualified members of sites like PLM. On the other hand I am also of the opinion that even though the information is self-reported, it can be a valuable lead and provide information that is good enough for a particular use. This large amount of self reported information could also be a way to gain new insights that were previously unknown. 3. Should PLM launch the General Platform? If yes, how does it ensure that it is as successful in engaging patients as its current platform? If no, how does PLM grow? From a business standpoint, PLM should launch the General Platform. This creates a business opportunity to start the first communities for a lot of different illnesses that does not yet have a social network. The first mover advantage is very significant in social media and should be taken advantage of. There are a number of factors that make up a digital social network with engaged users. One of them is functionality and ease of use. This is very important so that the user experience is as enjoyable as possible and thereby barriers to usage are as low. Secondly, the content that is on the site needs to be of use for the members using it. This means that there should be some sort of moderation on the site. This is important since bad/abusive/misinforming users tend to crowd out the good/contributing users. If abusive users are allowed to still be active on the site can make potential members shy away from the site. This will seriously damage the PLM brand and profitability in the long run. By being aware of this and having prepared systems to handle this kind of problem the risk of this happening is limited. 4. So far, PLM has generated revenues by providing market research to pharmaceutical companies. Should it expand its business model to insurance companies and research institutions? Does it have the potential of becoming the â€Å"Bloomberg of medical data’? PLM has opened a large amount of data about different patients that would otherwise not be avaliable to third party institutions. This makes it possible for them to become a †Bloomberg of medical data†. It is without doubt that this can be a large business opportunity for PLM and the firms in need of medical information. If insurance companies could get better insight into how the populations health is, they could write more precise policies which better descibes the risk that patients are exposed to. If the risk is overstated, this means more expensive insurrance. This can lead to a loss of marketshare for the insurrance company and higher prices for consumers. Research institutions can get access to data that they might not have been able to get or would have cost a lot of money to gather. This would be a win-win situation for both PLM, the research institutions, insurance companies and patients.

Discuss the appeal of ‘The Crucible’ Essay

English Literature Coursework: ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller Discuss the appeal of ‘The Crucible’ to its audience ‘The Crucible’ is a 20th century play that focuses on the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. These events led to mass hysteria over the persecution of those who, allegedly, participated in acts of incantation. Over-exaggeration, emotion, tautness, suspense and the eradication of characters (due to their alleged involvement in witchcraft) are the main themes of the play throughout the four volatile scenes of ‘The Crucible’. The audience observing would be enticed by the mood swings of characters and their persecution for such crimes in the theocratic village, where interrogated citizens in the dense society were forced to name other possible witches. If they failed to produce names of others, they would be hanged ruthlessly. The inhabitants of Salem believed in witches and the Devil and that the Bible had instructed them that witches must be hanged. A feeling of inequity is sensed here. The events of the play, first performed in England in 1954, are analogous to the McCarthy era in the USA , where anyone suspected of criticising the government or its direction was to be brought before a court to respond to the charge of ‘Un-American Activities’. The opening scene in ‘The Crucible’ immediately gives the audience a feeling of a sinister and lifeless atmosphere: A candle still burns near the bed †¦ The roof rafters are exposed, and the wood colours are raw and unmellowed. Reverend Parris is discovered †¦ , evidently in prayer. His daughter †¦ is lying on the bed, inert. (Act One, p1) The candle beside the bed indicates a slight source of light, perhaps hope that Betty will wake. The environment around is silent. The rafters are bare, and the wood is: ‘raw’. The Reverend is peacefully in prayer and his daughter is lying, as if lifeless, on the bed. A prayer is a silent act which emphasises the mood of the room. The imagery illustrates a dark, dull and demoralising sector of the Reverend’s home. The description of the stage in the opening scene creates a false impression for the audience as the majority observing the play would now expect a lethargic plot, with limited excitement and monotonous dialogue with little emotion, but actually it is a play full of overdramatic behaviour and emotion.

Seismic Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Seismic Studies - Essay Example A significant extent of advanced material and effort is required for this technique to be carried out. (Economides, p.1) This similar technique can be used discover any mineral deposits under the seafloors, that by carrying out the similar process in the ocean by means of a ship. In this case not the 'thumper truck' but the technical equipment called the air guns, shoot high pressure air into the water, due to which the energy waves travel to and into the ocean floor, as seismic event occurs when these vibrating wave go through rocks. Unlike the land case, the reflected waves aren't received by the geophones, but the hydrophones actually record and receive these waves. Sophisticated computerization is used to analyze the received waves. The computer application software can easily generate the behavior of these waves graphically and mathematically thus creating a graphical image of the rocks under the crust. A two dimensional figure can be created using the data from a single wave received this is the cross sectional image of the rock underground. A three dimensional figure can be easily generated by a number of two dimensional cross sections that can be produced when the hydrophones or the geophones from a boat or a truck respectively, sends number of vibrating waves through the ground as they move onwards on the sea level or on the ground. (Deffeyes, p. 77-79) The petrole Importance to the Industry The petroleum industry has revolutionized after the introduction of this technique. According to most of the engineers of the industry express that this techniques has substantially improved the success rate of oil drilling, as the highly detailed three dimensional images of the rocks have reduced the elements of uncertainty that maybe present at the oil drilling site. Furthermore the best sites and locations of the oil deposits underground can be located by the geologists and engineers using seismic models, thus also significantly reducing the number of wells that are actually drilled. Thus these advancements have actually raised the quality of the oil extraction processes in terms of precision, speed and productivity.. (Deffeyes, p. 71-72) Seismic reflection surveys have proved to be a hopeful expertise in reviewing the extended regions of entrenched marine sites quickly and accurately. Figure 2: Adopted from 'The National Methane Hydrates

UK Government Policies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

UK Government Policies - Essay Example The reasons for the banking crisis were many including low real interest rates, too much liquidity and a misjudged faith in the financial system. These three factors created an entourage that was extremely optimistic and full of opposite opinions. By not understanding the sensitive situation, some banks have only themselves to blame (Singh, 2007). The tradition within the banking sector in the UK has been one of the risks taking type that lead to its ultimate failure. Bankers made a mess of the financial reading and hence the financial situation (Singh, 2007). However, this failure was not just restricted to individual banks but also the system constructed to defend the public from risk. Banks got concerned about the value of their mortgage and also about the mortgages they had purchased from other institutes. For this reason they refused to lend to other banks in the money markets (Singh, 2007) The measures that the governments stuck during the financial crisis were public investments like debt and equity which further resulted in acquiring banks and other institutions. Government investments eased the situation of banks that went bankrupt and failed to meet its obligations. It increased the amount of money or capital they had and able to make them go on with their daily business routine. The banks that did not keep up to their reputations were legally intervened by the government as it is a part of legal procedure. This intervention means taking away the license from the banks if they were under performing to the level that they had huge debts. This practice however is very common in the USA and some examples include the closing of Washington the sale to JPMorgan (Giudice, 2012). In some cases a few banks could not be sold and so the government decided to take over them by nationalization. For example in the UK the government nationalized many banks and took over some by b uying through common stock. Common stock gave them the right to owner ship of some of the largest banks in the UK like Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds (Giudice, 2012). To recover from this financial crisis, the government of the United Kingdom came out with different schemes. One of the schemes was known as the recapitalization program. Under this scheme the government agreed to finance the largest banks in the UK by injecting ?50 billion worth of investment. A company called the UK Financials Investment Limited (UFIL) was created to manage investments in these large banks and to check if they were providing lending with reasonable rates of interest to the general public (Lybeck, 2011). The recapitalization program required an approval from Her Majesty’s treasury for banks to attain it. Eight banks and building societies subscribed to the program including RBS and Lloyds who were granted funds worth ?20 billion and ?17 billion respectively. The government also put some dema nds forward. It said that the banks, after receiving funds should try to help people with their mortgage payments so that they could stay in their homes. The government also kept the right to appoint new non-executive directors. The government recapitalized RBS and Lloyds and taking over 70% and 65% respectively. It took complete control over Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley. The reason

APPLE INCORPORATED Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

APPLE INCORPORATED - Essay Example Liquidity Ratio Initially, the liquidity ratio for Apple needs to be evaluated. This ratio determines the company’s capacity to pay short-term debts2 The formula for calculating the liquidity ratio is current assets divided by current liabilities. 2010 (in USD) (numbers in thousands) 2009 (in USD) (numbers in thousands) Current Assets 43,927,000 31,555,000 Current Liabilities 23,795,000 11,506,000 Liquidity Ratio 1.84 2.74 Working Capital 20,132,000 20,049,000 In the above table, working capital has also been calculated which has been obtained by subtracting current assets by current liabilities. The table depicts that Apple Inc has positive working capital and this shows that Apple has the capability to pay their debts3 Debt-to-Equity Ratio 2010 (in USD) (numbers in thousands) 2009 (in USD) (numbers in thousands) Total Liabilities 32,076,000 15,861,000 Shareholders’ Equity 54,666,000 31,640,000 Debt to Equity Ratio 0.58 0.50 When there is high debt to equity ratio, it generally indicates high amount of debt utilised by the company in order to finance its operation. It is evident from the above result that Apple has low debt to equity ratio and thereby its assets are financed by means of shareholders equity instead of long term debts4 Net Profit Margin Ratio 2010 (September) (in USD) (numbers in thousands) 2009 (September) (in USD) (numbers in thousands) Net Income 14,013,000 8,235,000 Net Sales 65,225,000 42,905,000 Net profit Margin Ratio 21% 19% A strong net profit margin is one factor that can effectively control the cost of the organisation and show the operational efficiency. It has been found that there has been significant improvement in the net profit margin ratio of Apple in comparison... The intention of this study is Apple Inc that was previously known as Apple Computers. It is a multinational corporation with its headquarters in United States of America. The main business of the company has been to market and create consumer electronics, personal computers and to market consumer electronics. The company has four main divisions in which the company operates. It had been reorganised in the year 1988 as Apple USA, Apple Europe along with Apple Pacific and Apple Products. The various strategic business units of the company are portable digital music players, media devices, peripherals, third-party digital contents as well as applications. Its numerous products and services consist of Macintosh Computers, iPads, iPhones, iPod, Apple, Xserve and Apple TV, service as well as support systems. It can be stated that Apple Inc has been capable of achieving great success since last few years because of the methods and the procedures used for marketing its products. In addition to these, the company’s strategy also consist of expansion of its distribution channels so that it can reach more and more number of customers effectively and therefore provide the customers with goods which are of high quality and also offer after-sales services to them. Apple Inc. received great success from numerous products such as iPhones, iPods as well as iTunes. The communication strategy followed by the company is quite simple, clear, clever and sober. It makes use of TV advertisements, prints advertisements as well as online advertisements in order to lure the customers