Essay on Furman v. Georgia The Death Penalty Case

Death penalty, or also known as capital punishment, today is still used. Many oppose many support it. In the case Furman v. Georgia, the death penalty was abolished. But not fully, because it is still used today. In 1991 more than 2,600 people awaited execution but only fourteen were executed. Capital punishment should be legal, and should be used more often. In the case Furman v. Georgia, Furman committed crimes, not because he wanted to, but because he had to. â€Å"William Henry Furman, a twenty-six-year-old black man with a sixth grade education, was not what most people called a â€Å"bad† man,† (Herda 7). Furman was just laid off of his job and was struggling to find work. But there was none. Every job did not pay enough, or was a short term†¦show more content†¦But then, several days later one of the psychiatrists revised their medical opinion. Because he was not insane, the case would go on. The state of Georgia charged him with murder and issued the death penalty. This was because Georgia state law stated that any form of murder issued with a felony was punishable by death. Furman’s attorneys knew that the murder had been accidental and that Furman was genuinely sorry for the action he had caused, so they decide there was only one other path out: The Supreme Court. Furman’s attorney had to sub mit an argument and so did the lower court. Both were nervous, because they knew this case would have a huge impact on capital punishment through the years. †¦[T]he American people no longer felt that the death penalty was suited to human dignity, they said. Most importantly, however, the attorneys argued that poor people and people of color routinely received the death penalty for capital offenses, at a rate vastly disproportionate to that of whites, particularly affluent whites, accused of similar offenses. This was a clear violation of the 14th Amendments guarantee of equal protection of the laws,† (Supreme Court Cases: Furman v. Georgia).† This was Furman’s attorney’s argument. They felt that the decision of the Georgia court was unconstitutional and was discriminating Furman, an African-American. Furman’s attorney, Clarence Mayfield, preparedShow MoreRelatedThe Death Penalty1347 Words   |  6 PagesThe concept of the death penalty has been around since the 1700’s B.C. where it was first defined in the Code of Hammurabi (Historical Timeline). Since then, the death penalty has morphed and changed. In 1608 A.D., Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia was hanged for treason (Historical Timeline). This became the first execution recorded in America (Historical Timeline). After this moment in history, people have debated the concept of the death and if it is truly constitutionalRead MoreTaking a Look at Capital Punishment1004 Words   |  4 PagesWilliam Furman murdered William Micke on August 11, 1967 in Savannah, Georgia. Furman was unemployed, and only had a sixth grade education. William Furman became depressed, and started to commit theft for food and money. Furman was caught stealing several times, but was only given a light sentence. At 2 a.m. on August 11, William Furman broke into the house of William Micke, while Micke and his five children were sleeping. William Micke heard a noise and went downstairs to see where the noiseRead MoreSentencing Guilty Verdict1067 Words   |  4 PagesI. Introduction Sentencing is defined as the penalty phase which follows a guilty verdict levied for a criminal act (The Free Dictionary, 2014). Sentencing attempts to accomplish four goals: a. Punishment b. Incapacitation c. Deterrence d. Rehabilitation (Renter, 2008) When imposing legal sanctions we must consider the criminal act committed. The importance of this consideration lies in fact that the punishment should fit the crime. We would not want to sentence a child to life imprisonment forRead MoreThe Death Penalty Was Furman V. Georgia Essay1300 Words   |  6 Pagesthe death penalty has been implemented has also evolved- sometimes against the words of our Constitution. One of the more influential cases that transformed how people view the death penalty was Furman v. Georgia. This case set up a guide for limited sentencing discretion; this meant that sentencing for the death penalty would become standardized. Essentially in extreme cases, every criminal death qualified would be sent to death row and eventually executed. After disputes after Furman, cases likeRead MoreThe Debate Of Capital Punishment1313 Words   |  6 PagesCapital Punishment Introduction The state of California has carried out 13 executions since the enactment of capital punishment in 1992 (NAACP, 2016, 10). According to the NAACP winter quarterly report, there are currently 743 prisoners on death row (NAACP, 2016, 39). Since the enactment, there has been a wide range of political debate. The largest concern is in regards to the number of wrongful convictions and its philosophical underpinnings. The citizens in California are as diverse as theirRead MoreDisparities of the Death Penalty850 Words   |  3 Pagesdisparity of application (gender, race) 1. Disparity of application of the death penalty is a researched and heavily discussed topic. There is no disparity applied to the death penalty due to race. Many individuals believe that discrimination against minorities directly contributes to the amount of offenders on death row that are African American, Hispanic, or part of a different minority group. These trends exist for a reason, however I believe the reason is due to the fact that individuals striveRead MoreCapital Punishment On Trial : Furman V. Georgia And The Death Penalty985 Words   |  4 PagesIn David M. Oshinsky’s book, Capital Punishment on Trial: Furman v. Georgia and the Death Penalty in Modern America, he discussed the case of Furman v. Georgia. He explores the controversy that capital punishment holds in the United States of America. The death penalty has been in practice for many centuries. For example, â€Å"In Massachusetts, where religion had played a key role in settlement, crimes like blasphemy, witchcraft, sodomy, adultery, and incest became capital offenses, through juries sometimesRead MoreCapital Punishment During The Colonial Era1165 Words   |  5 PagesBritain was the biggest influence on America when it came to utilizing the death penalty. The death penalty was used for minor offenses such as stealing, killing animals, and trading with Indians. As the late 1700s approached, a movement towards abolishing the death penalty began. Beccaria wrote an essay in 1767 called â€Å"Crimes and Punishment,† that had a significant impact on the world’s opinion towards the death penalty (Bohm,1999). Beccaria suggested that there was no justification for the governmentRead MoreThe Issue Of Racial Discrimination985 Words   |  4 Pagesin the death sentencing process. The death penalty is a hot button topic in the United States. It has always had its critics and has always had its issues. However, the issue of racial discrimination is the most dangerous issue inhere nt in the death penalty because there is another human being on the receiving end that has to pay the ultimate price, his or her life. Racial discrimination in the sentencing process is not only a legal issue but a social issue. The idea of racism in the death penaltyRead MoreHistorical Developments Surrounding Capital Punishment2105 Words   |  9 Pagesthe death penalty will once again come to the forefront of all legal and legislative discussion. Since the reinstatement of the federal death penalty in 1988 (while state executions were reinstated after Gregg v Georgia in 1978) only three individuals have been executed for violating federal law (â€Å"deathpenaltyinfo.org† 2014), but with multiple states still permitting the application of the death penalty in state related crime, this case could prove to play a pivotal role in the overall death penalty

Government response to terrorism Free Essay Example, 3250 words

Over the same period, over 50 international organizations were blacklisted as perpetrators of terrorism. Among the blacklisted organizations include Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. Currently, most organizations involved in terror acts are Islamic militant groups. With respect to terrorism incidents over the past two decades, UK has not been exempted from being targets by violent extremists. Fraser and Staniforth (2012) say that in 2001, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside BBC’s news offices, injuring 1 worker. In June 2007, an Islamic extremist group called Jammat Ul-Furquan conducted a bombardment mission in Glasgow International Airport, which injured only the suicide bomber. Last year, a terrorist named Pavlo Lapshyn detonated an explosive device outside a mosque in Tipton. Origin of Islamic Terrorism In the past, UK used to battle with terrorist groups from Ireland and those from Central European nations. However, the UK government now worries more about Islamic terror groups than radical extremist from other European nations. Islamic terrorism started in the late 1960s as a result of overflowing Israeli-Palestine conflict. In 1968, a terrorist group called Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) successfully hijacked a plane on route to Rome, Italy. We will write a custom essay sample on Government response to terrorism or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The airline attack was directed towards coercing the Israeli government into giving in on some political demands. After the incident, Western Alliances including the UK joined an operation to support Israeli forces in fight against terrorism. Consequently, sympathizers of Palestine, especially extremist groups from other Islamic nations started siding with Palestine. In addition, radicals inside Europe started aligning with Islamic extremists in order to coerce and intimidate European governments. Currently, Pakistan and Afghanistan features as the two epicenters of Islamic terrorism activities. Current State of Terrorism The UK government did not intensified responses to terrorism until after the 9/11 attack on World Trade Center. In the past, terrorist groups were small extremist organizations engaged in small time bombing of cars and few carriages in train stations. However, terrorism has evolved into state sponsored political strategies. Currently, certain states finances, train and protect militants involved in terror activities. According to Fraser and Staniforth (2012), relationship between these militants and the sponsoring state is based on mutual political interests. For example, Iran is currently engaged in development of a nuclear program.

Project Management Association Of Canada - 785 Words

Deep Shaileshkumar Shah Mini-Research 2 ENMG-650: Project/Program Management Certification Project/Program Management Certification Organization is something which consist group of people which is use to plan, manage, work, arrange and set specific goals. In an organization we come across many things, short-term goals, long-term goals, different objectives and mainly various certifications and rules. Certifications do play an important role in every kind of organizational institution. ïÆ'  What are the different organizations that offer certification? Certification is something which provides assurance and confirmation about specific objects namely; people, organization, projects etc. There are several organizations which provide project management certifications namely, †¢ International Project Management Association (IPMA)[1] †¢ Project Management Institute (PMI)[1] †¢ Center for International Project and Program Management (CIPPM)[1] †¢ Association of Project Managers (APM)[1] †¢ Canadian Project Firm (CPF)[1] †¢ Project Management Association of Canada (PMAC)[6] †¢ Project Management Institute of Canada (PMIC)[1] †¢ Project Management Association of Japan (PMAJ)[2] So this are several project management organizations which basically provide certifications. ïÆ'  What are the different certifications that are available and how do they differ? There are several certifications provided by different organizations. And all differ from each other. 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China s Position On The United States - 1215 Words

China is supplanting its primary economic opponents around the globe to a great extent without the utilization of power. China s prosperity denotes the first instance of realm building in the time of globalization. The United States played a key role in China s economic ascendance by advancing globalization and grasping, lately, free market conventionality (Zhang, Duysters Filippov, 2012). In the records of history, it will be noticed that it was the United States itself that championed another economic structure which at last undermined its own particular position on the planet. China s choice to open its economy to the world concurred with the U.S. drive for globalization. In addition, the United States and the Western companies opened the financial conduits to China through direct venture and subcontracting trade agreements. Notably, as the Western capitalism went global, China turned into the factory of the world. China has turned into an undeniably critical part of the worldwid e trading framework in the course of recent decades; enthusiasm for the nation and its universal financial strategies has expanded among global business analysts who are not China authorities (Petras, 2012). This paper represents an endeavor to give a review of the business atmosphere toward globalization in China with and a brief outline of the real strides in the advancement of Chinese strategy towards international trade as well as foreign direct investment, protectionism, and theirShow MoreRelatedRelations Between The United States And Mexico1218 Words   |  5 Pagesbeen elected, world politics are in trouble, free - trade agreements gradually canceled and the objection of immigrants from Mexico. These problems have led the United States are in an alarming condition. The United States will meet many difficulties in controlling these situations inside the country. 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Mba Spring2011 Merck Sample Group Project Free Essays

DELAWARE STATE UNIVERSITY (MBA – Spring 2011) Strategic Management Case Study Executive Summary:3 Current Vision4 Current Mission4 Values5 Current Strategies:6 Developed Vision7 Developed Mission7 Reason for new mission8 SWOT Analysis9 External opportunities:9 External Threats:10 Financial and Operating Performance Analysis11 Close Competitors11 Ratio Analysis11 Key Industry Ratios14 Operating Profit margin14 Net Profit margin14 Current Ratio14 Return on Assets15 Debt/Equity Ratio15 Inventory Turnover Ratio15 Revenue Growth16 Market Share16 Internal Strengths16 Internal Weakness20 External Factor Evaluation Matrix21 Competitive Profile Matrix23 Internal Factor Evaluation24 Space Matrix27 SWOT Matrix29 Grand Strategy Matrix31 Recommended Strategies31 Recommended strategy No. 1:31 Recommended strategy No. 2:32 Projected Financial Statements33 Projected Ratios34 Company worth Analysis34 Annual Objectives:35 Strategic Review and Evaluation Procedures:35 Bibliography:36 Executive Summary: Merck amp; Co. We will write a custom essay sample on Mba Spring2011 Merck Sample Group Project or any similar topic only for you Order Now is a research driven pharmaceutical company involved in manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and drugs. Merck’s products are not limited to preventive and therapeutic vaccines. Merck merged with Schering-Plough in November of 2009 for $41billion. Merck is based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey and has more than 110000 employees. The company has a annual revenue of $45billion during the year ending December 2010. The increase in revenues was mainly due to the incremental sales resulting from the inclusion of the post-merger results of Schering-Plough products. The operating profit of the company was $1,653. 0 million during FY2010, a decrease of 90% over 2009. The net profit was $859 million in FY2010, an increase of 93% over 2009. Merck’s products include preventive and therapeutic vaccines sold by prescription to treat human disorders and to also treat animal health. The company manages many products in different segments. Human health pharmaceutical products consist of prescription therapeutic and preventive agents for the treatment of human disorders. Merck distributes its human health pharmaceutical products to retailers, government, drug companies, health and wellness organizations, and others. Merck’s vaccine products are primarily managed and administered at physician offices. These products include preventive vaccines. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccines for Children program is a major customer for some of these vaccines. Merck also manages a clinical pipeline that has products in many different disease domains not limited to diabetes, heart strokes, hyper-tension, inflammatory problems, neurology related diseases, osteoporosis, respiratory, female health and many other prominent and new domains. This pipeline is managed in phases followed by a few ready for registration. Majority of these are subject to FDA approval before commercial manufacturing commences. Merck also manages vaccines for animal health and this is a growing segment where there is more need for research for prevention of many diseases in animals. In addition to the above many different segments, Merck also manages a portfolio of regular consumer healthcare and manufactures many OTC products, foot and sun care products not just in the USA but also in Canada. Current Vision We make a difference in the lives of people globally through our innovative medicines, vaccines, and consumer health and animal products. We aspire to be the best healthcare company in the world and are dedicated to providing leading innovations and solutions for tomorrow. (1) Current Mission To provide innovative, distinctive products and services that save and improve lives and satisfy customer needs, to be recognized as a great place to work, and to provide investors with a superior rate of return. (1) | Mission Component| Accomplished? | 1| Customers| No| | Products or Services| Yes| 3| Markets| No| 4| Technology| No| 5| Concern for survival, growth and profitability| No| 6| Philosophy| No| 7| Self-Concept| No| 8| Concern for public image| Yes| 9| Concern for employees| Yes| Values Our business is preserving and improving human life. We also work to improve animal health. All of our actions must be measured by our success in achieving these goals. We value, above all, our ability to serve everyone who can benefit from the appropriate use of our products and services, thereby providing lasting consumer satisfaction. We are committed to the highest standards of ethics and integrity. We are responsible to our customers, to Merck employees and their families, to the environments we inhabit, and to the societies we serve worldwide. In discharging our responsibilities, we do not take professional or ethical shortcuts. We are dedicated to the highest level of scientific excellence and commit our research to improving human and animal health and the quality of life. We strive to identify the most critical needs of consumers and customers, and we devote our resources to meeting those needs. We expect profits, but only from work that satisfies customer needs and benefits humanity. This depends on maintaining a financial position that invites investment in leading-edge research and that makes it possible to effectively deliver the results of that research. Our ability to excel depends on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, diversity and teamwork of our employees. To this end, we strive to create an environment of mutual respect, encouragement and teamwork. We also strive to reward commitment and performance and be responsive to the needs of our employees and their families. 1) Current Strategies: * The Access Strategy aims at increasing access to medicines, vaccines, and healthcare in the emerging and developed countries. * To ensure safety and quality of products, Merck introduced a ‘Anti-counterfeiting’ strategy to prevent counterfeits across the world. Merck has setup an advanced laboratory to implement this strategy. * To restore confidence as a quality producer of global vaccines, Merck continues to implement vaccine supply manufacturing strategy. * Merck continues to implement its global diversity strategy. * Merck’s research strategy is designed to mprove productivity and the probability of success and this is monitored by a Research Strategy Review Committee. * The most popular MRL strategy i. e. Merck Research Laboratory strategy is designed to manage the pipeline that uses the expertise to treat many unsolved diseases and health issues. MRL scientists are passionate about resolving and meeting unmet medical needs. * Merck established External Basic Research (EBR) and an EBR strategy are formulated to expand the scope and size of Merck’s early pipeline through partnerships with external partners. * Merck follows a responsible pricing policy thru its worldwide tiered pricing strategy. To foster health literacy in Switzerland, Merck follows the Swiss e-health strategy and as part of this strategy, they work with universities around the world. * Merck formed a Global Labor Relations Strategy to include global labor guidelines and principles and monitoring tools worldwide. * Merck energy management strategy serves as a useful framework in measuring current performance resulting in Merck receiving the Energy Star sustained excellence award. * Merck’s corporate strategy is â€Å"Plan to win†. * Merck has a supply strategy that combines the skills of internal and external manufacturers. (1) Developed Vision Our vision is to be an outstanding and most trusted company in the world’s healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. † Developed Mission We are passionately committed to providing creative, comprehensive and effective health solutions (2) that will improve the health, wellness and quality of life of our customers (1), consumers and partners around the globe for today, tomorrow and forever thru our continued superior performance, intelligent and creative employees (9), innovative and qualitative safe products, sustainable and profitable partnerships and by building increased shareholder returns thru this process. We will focus on increasing healthcare access (6) in the local and emerging markets (3) and will strive to use modern environment friendly technology(4) for our scientific innovation to improve productivity and to reduce costs to make our products more affordable. We will serve the society and the eligible people (8) with programs that will provide free and cost effective health solutions. We will collaborate with global research companies to lead and contribute to the resolution of global health issues (7) and we will position ourselves as the best in the industry with sustainable prosperity(5). Mission Component| Accomplished ? | 1| Customers| Yes| 2| Products or Services| Yes| 3| Markets| Yes| 4| Technology| Yes| 5| Concern for survival, growth and profitability| Yes| 6| Philosophy| Yes| 7| Self-Concept| Yes| 8| Concern for public image| Yes| 9| Concern for employees| Yes| Reason for new mission The current mission is not exciting and does not emphasize on all the key components o f an effective mission. The new mission emphasizes on health solutions as a whole versus products and services only. The new mission is targeted towards the wellbeing of the end consumer and not just to save the life. The focus is specifically mentioned to be in all markets including the emerging markets. Modern environment friendly technology will be used to develop safe products that are not counterproductive to the wellbeing of the end consumer. The needy people will be served with effective solutions and the new mission passionately suggests sustainable prosperity while engaging creative and intelligent people building profitable shareholder returns thru the whole process. SWOT Analysis External opportunities: O1 – The recent agreement with Schering-Plough opens more avenues for potential growth in the fields of respiratory and infectious disease herapeutic segments. (1) O2 – Possible Cost savings of $3. 5 Billon from internal restructuring efforts beyond 2011. (1) O3 – There is a lot of potential for growth in the Diabetes and Oncology markets and Merck has made its entry into this market thru the product Januvia. O4 – Merck can add core strength to its portfolio b y expanding research and innovation in the biological markets thru partners, acquisitions and joint ventures. O5 – Rapidly expanding market share in emerging markets proves to be a high potential opportunity for Merck. Emerging Markets in the Pharma Industry will take 50% Growth Credit by 2013. (2) O6- Increased opportunity for new Generic Drug products. Healthcare reform suggests cost savings and insurance industries emphasize usage of generic drugs and the expiring patents on a lot of drugs opens up opportunity for Merck to pioneer the generic drug market leveraging its world-class research capabilities. The total market share of the patents that will expire over 2010-2015 is 17% with a market share of $142billion. (17) O7- Pfizer’s animal health business returned a profit of $2. billion which is second to Merck and with the cancelled joint venture of Merck and Sanofi-Aventis, Merck should further pursue their concept with Novartis who are No. 5 in animal health business. This will strengthen their No. 1 position in the light of Pfizer’s growing sales and the merger between J;amp;J and Eli Lilly Co in this segment. (3) External Threats: T1 – At least five of the patents are e xpiring in the next two years and competition is ready to introduce generic products backed by healthcare reform and this can pose a serious threat to Merck’s products and profitability. T2 – The consumer is not the one that usually makes the choice of using a particular drug. Mostly, drugs are prescribed by physicians, who sometimes lack the necessary information about relative prices. (4) T3 – The recent housing market problem, the oil prices problem and the global recession has a cascading effect on the job market and many people are unemployed losing their health insurance and forced to not being able to use medical or pharmaceutical products. If there is no sales in the pharmaceutical products, Merck can suffer financial losses and reduced returns to shareholders. T4 – The HealthCare Reform enacted in 2010 caused unanticipated losses for Merck and the effects of this Act will continue into future. These new provisions will decrease revenue and increase costs. (5) * 2010 – Costs incurred due to increased Medicaid rebates. With respect to the effect of the law on the pharmaceutical industry, the law increased the mandated Medicaid rebate from 15. 1% to 23. 1%. 2011 – An annual health care reform fee on all branded prescription drug manufacturers and importers and the requirement that drug manufacturers pay a 50% discount on Medicare Part D utilization incurred by beneficiaries when they are in the Medicare Part D coverage also known as the ‘Donut hole’. T5 – Although not included in the health care reform law, Congress has also considered, and may consider again, proposals to increase the government’s role in pharmaceutical pricing in the Medicare program. (5) T6 –    Congress may again consider proposals to allow, under certain conditions, the importation of medicines from other countries. 5) T7 – Merck is experiencing delay in manufacturing some of its vaccines and this delay can cause a competitor to launch a product that can be manufactured quickly. Financial and Operating Performance Analysis Close Competitors Pfizer Inc. Eli Lilly and Company Ratio Analysis | 2006| 2007| 2008| 2009| 2010| Margins (% of Sales)| | | | | | Revenue| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| COGS| 26. 50%| 25. 40%| 23. 40%| 32. 90%| 40. 00%| Gross Margin| 73. 50%| 74. 60%| 76. 60%| 67. 10%| 60. 00%| SG;amp;A| 36. 10%| 31. 20%| 30. 90%| 31. 10%| 28. 80%| R;amp;D| 21. 10%| 20. 20%| 20. 10%| 21. 30%| 23. 90%| Other| 0. 60%| 1. 40%| 4. 30%| 6. 00%| 2. 10%| Operating Margin| 15. 70%| 21. 90%| 21. 20%| 8. 70%| 5. 20%| Net Int Inc ;amp; Other| 12. 40%| -7. 40%| 20. 50%| 47. 00%| -1. 60%| EBT Margin| 27. 50%| 13. 90%| 41. 10%| 55. 80%| 3. 60%| Profitability| | | | | | Tax Rate| 28. 70%| 2. 80%| 20. 40%| 14. 80%| 40. 60%| Net Margin| 19. 59%| 13. 54%| 32. 74%| 47. 03%| 1. 87%| Asset Turnover| 0. 51| 0. 52| 0. 5| 0. 34| 0. 42| (Average)| | | | | | Return on Assets| 9. 92%| 7. 05%| 16. 34%| 16. 20%| 0. 79%| Financial Leverage (Average)| 2. 54| 2. 66| 2. 52| 1. 9| 1. 95| Return on Equity| 25. 00%| 18. 33%| 42. 27%| 33. 15%| 1. 1%| Growth| | | | | | Revenue Growth| | | | | | Year over Year| 2. 80%| 6. 90%| -1. 40%| 15. 00%| 67. 70%| 3-Year Average| 0. 20%| 1. 80%| 2. 70%| 6. 60%| 23. 90%| 5-Year Average| -13. 90%| -14. 10%| 1. 20%| 3. 60%| 15. 90%| 10-Year Average| 1. 30%| 0. 20%| -1. 20%| -1. 80%| 1. 30%| Operating Income| | | | | | Year over Year| -36. 00%| 49. 30%| -4. 50%| -52. 80%| -0. 70%| 3- Year Average| -24. 90%| -7. 20%| -3. 00%| -12. 30%| -23. 50%| 5-Year Average| -18. 30%| -11. 40%| -9. 60%| -18. 50%| -15. 60%| 10-Year Average| -3. 40%| -0. 70%| -2. 30%| -10. 90%| -12. 60%| EPS| | | | | | Year over Year| -3. 30%| -26. 60%| 144. 0%| 55. 20%| -95. 00%| 3-Year Average| -11. 40%| -17. 00%| 20. 10%| 40. 70%| -42. 70%| 5-Year Average| -8. 40%| -13. 90%| 4. 50%| 16. 70%| -33. 20%| 10-Year Average| 2. 60%| -2. 30%| 5. 40%| 8. 70%| -20. 90%| Cash Flow Ratios| | | | | | Operating Cash Flow Growth-YOY| -11. 10%| 3. 50%| -6. 10%| -48. 40%| 219. 00%| Free Cash Flow Growth-YOY| -6. 80%| 3. 50%| -11. 90%| -63. 40%| 373. 40%| Cap Ex as a % of Sales| 4. 30%| 4. 20%| 5. 40%| 5. 30%| 3. 60%| Free Cash Flow/Sales| 25. 56%| 24. 75%| 22. 11%| 7. 04%| 19. 88%| Free Cash Flow/Net Income| 1. 3| 1. 83| 0. 68| 0. 15| 10. 64| Liquidity/Financial Health| | | | | | Current Ratio| 1. 2| 1. 23| 1. 35| 1. 8| 1. 86| Quick Ratio| 0. 95| 0. 97| 0. 65| 1. 03| 1. 25| Financial Leverage| 2. 54| 2. 66| 2. 52| 1. 9| 1. 95| Debt/Equity| 0. 32| 0. 22| 0. 21| 0. 27| 0. 28| Efficiency| | | | | | Days Sales Outstanding| 50. 3| 52. 4| 56. 7| 69. 1| 55. 4| Days Inventory| 104. 2| 108. 5| 136. 1| 209. 2| 138. 1| Payables Period| 29. 4| 33. 3| 40. 6| 57. 8| 45. 1| Cash Conversion Cycle| 125. 1| 127. 6| 152. 3| 220. 5| 148. 4| Receivables Turnover| 7. 3| 7| 6. 4| 5. 3| 6. 6| Inventory Turnover| 3. 5| 3. 4| 2. 7| 1. 7| 2. 6| Fixed Asset Turnover| 1. 6| 1. 9| 2| 1. 8| 2. 6| Asset Turnover| 0. 5| 0. 5| 0. | 0. 3| 0. 4| Reference – (6) Key Industry Ratios Operating Profit margin 2010| MERCK| PFIZER| Eli Lilly and Company | Operating Profit margin| 5. 2| 20. 3| 28. 3| Merck had Operating Profit margin of 5. 2 OPM%. Merck Operating profit margin is low when compared to competitors; this indicates that there is scope for improving the cost structure. Net Profit mar gin 2010| MERCK| PFIZER| Eli Lilly and Company | Net Profit margin| 1. 87| 12. 18| 21. 97| Merck had a Net Profit margin i. e. , 1. 87 NPM%. Merck NPM is lower than its competitors. A net profit margin indicates that there is scope for improving the capital structure. Huge percentage drop when compared to 2009 (47%). Current Ratio 2010| MERCK| PFIZER| Eli Lilly and Company | Current Ratio| 1. 86| 2. 11| 2. 09| Current Ratio: Merck has Current Ratio of 1. 8, which shows that Merck may meet short-term obligations. Current Ratio 2. 0 is considered good to meet short-term financial obligations. Return on Assets 2010| MERCK| PFIZER| Eli Lilly and Company | Return on Assets| 0. 79| 4. 05| 17. 34| Return on Assets (ROA): Merck has ROA of 0. 79%, which indicates its assets are NOT at optimum their utilization. Debt/Equity Ratio 2010| MERCK| PFIZER| Eli Lilly and Company | Debt/Equity Ratio| 0. 28| 0. 44| 0. 55| Debt/equity ratio (D/E ratio): Merck had D/E ratio of . 27, which is good. Inventory Turnover Ratio 2010| MERCK| PFIZER| Eli Lilly and Company | Inventory Turnover Ratio| 2. 6| 1. 6| 1. 6| Inventory Turnover Ratio: Merck has a 2. 6 times turnover ratio, which is good when compare to competitors. It also suggests that loss of sales as it will not have sufficient stock in hand. Revenue Growth 2010| MERCK| PFIZER| Eli Lilly and Company | Revenue Growth| 67. 7| 35. 6| 5. 7| Revenue growth: Merck Sales growth rate is 67%, Revenue growth is very good when compared to competitors. New products Isentress and Januvia  sales boosted revenue. Market Share Market share: – Total Pharmacy industry share is $836 billion and Merck has $46 billion, stands one of the largest company in 2010 – 5. 5 % of Global Market. Internal Strengths S1 – Merck maintains strong financial health despite the $8. 5 billion debt needed for the acquisition. Analysts are predicting that the combined company will generate a $12billion cash flow in 2011 which should help repay the debt quickly. (7) S2 – Majority of the blockbuster products introduced recently showed very strong sales. Especially, Januvia (diabetes), Isentress (HIV), and Gardasil. (7) S3 – Merck has strong earnings when compared to the industry. | Stock| Industry| S;amp;P 500 | Stock’s 5Yr Average*| Price/Earnings| 122. 0| 17. 7| 16. 6| 40. 7| Price/Book| 1. 9| 2. 6| 2. 2| 4. 0| Price/Sales| 2. 3| 2. 6| 1. 4| 3. 5| Price/Cash Flow| 9. 8| 10. 1| 8. 5| 19. 9| Dividend Yield %| 4. 5| 3. 4| 1. 7| —| S4 – Merck’s latest acquisition of Schering results in a $6 billion pipeline of drugs with the potential of multiple blockbusters and very few patent losses are expected over the next couple of years. It is predicted that the combination of the two entities should generate $3 billion plus in annual cost savings before 2011. (8) S5 – Global market presence along with production facilities. Merck operates in 120 countries with 31 factories worldwide. (9) Merck follows a unique strategy of integrated markets as below. (10) S6 – Merck is well positioned in some Emerging Markets and is showing robust growth in China and is actively searching for a partner in India. Merck has developed a separate strategy for positioning itself as numero uno in emerging markets. 11) amp; (12) S7- A vast diversified product portfolio in Medicines, Vaccines, Biologics, Consumer Care and Animal Health. (12) S8 – It has various  patient assistance programs  in U. S. to help the people who are unable to afford the medical treatment in terms of medicine if household income is less than 400% of Federal Poverty Level. (13) S9 – The firm has robust in-house research capabilities t hat also make it a leader in designing new medical products. Internal Weakness W1 – EPS dropped from $0. 28 from $5. 7 mainly due which reflect a net unfavorable impact resulting from the amortization of purchase accounting adjustments, in-process research and development (â€Å"IPRamp;D†) impairment charges, including a charge related to the vorapaxar clinical development program, restructuring and merger-related costs, as well as a legal reserve relating to Vioxx (the â€Å"Vioxx Liability Reserve†) discussed below, partially offset by the gain recognized on AstraZeneca’s exercise of its option to acquire certain assets. (5) W2 – Singulair is Merck’s largest volume selling pharmacy product with a annual sales of $3. billion as of 2010 and this is expiring in Aug 2012. (5) On top of this, FDA announced that a potential link exists between this product and suicidal behavior. (14) W3 – Few of Merck’s late-stage pipeline products did not get approved by FDA. Following drugs did not get FDA approvals anacetrapib for atherosclerosis, cholesterol drug Tredaptive, Rolofylline for heart disease and Telcagepant for migraines. W4 – The firm faced lawsuits on Vioxx product on increased chances of heart attack and Merck Agreement Provides for $4. 85 Billion Vioxx Settlement Payment. 15) W5 – Merck settled a lawsuit with Jamp;J for $500 million over a dispute on two anti-inflammatory records. Merck also looses marketing rights in some areas. (16) W6 – Merck’s Current ratio is 1. 8, has a limited liquidity position as compared to its competitors. W7 – Merck has minimal presence in the Generic Drug Market. External Factor Evaluation Matrix | External Factor Evaluation Matrix (EFE)|   |   |   |   | Opportunities| Weight| Rating| Weighted Score| 1. | O1 – The recent agreement with Schering-Plough opens more avenues for potential growth in the fields of respiratory and inf ectious disease therapeutic segments | 0. 8| 4| 0. 32| 2. | O2 – Possible Cost savings of $3. 5 Billon from internal restructuring efforts beyond 2011. | 0. 10| 3| 0. 30| 3. | O3 – There is a lot of potential for growth in the Diabetes and Oncology markets and Merck has made its entry into this market thru the product Januvia | 0. 05| 3| 0. 15| 4. | O4 – Merck can add core strength to its portfolio by expanding research and innovation in the biological markets thru partners, acquisitions and joint ventures| 0. 05| 1| 0. 05| 5. | O5 – Rapidly expanding market share in emerging markets proves to be a high potential opportunity for Merck. Emerging Markets in Pharma Industry to take 50% Growth Credit by 2013 | 0. 10| 3| 0. 30| 6. | O6- Increased opportunity for new Generic Drug products through more focus on quality Ramp;D. Healthcare reform suggests cost savings and insurance industries emphasize usage of generic drugs and the expiring patents on a lot of drugs opens up opportunity for Merck to pioneer the generic drug market leveraging its world-class research capabilities. The total market share of the patents that will expire over 2010-2015 is 17% with a market share of $142billion. | 0. 15| 2| 0. 30| 7. | O7- Pfizer’s animal health business returned a profit of $2. billion which is second to Merck and with the cancelled joint venture of Merck and Sanofi-Aventis, Merck should further pursue their concept with Novartis who are No. 5 in animal health business. This will strengthen their No. 1 position in the light of Pfizer’s growing sales and the merger between J;amp;J and Eli Lilly Co in this segment| 0. 02| 3| 0. 06| | | | | | | Threats| Weight| Rating| Weighted Score| 1. | T1 – At least five of the patents are expiring in the next two years and competition is ready to introduce generic products backed by healthcare reform and this can pose a serious threat to Merck’s products and profitability| 0. 5| 2| 0. 30| 2. | T2 – The consumer is not the one that usually makes the choice of using a particular drug. Mostly, drugs are prescribed by physicians, who sometimes lack the necessary information about relative prices. | 0. 05| 3| 0. 15| 3. | T3 – The recent housing market problem, the oil prices problem and the global recession has a cascading effect on the job market and many people are unemployed losing their health insurance and forced to not being able to use medical or pharmaceutical products. If there is no sales in the pharmaceutical products, Merck can suffer financial losses and reduced returns to shareholders. 0. 08| 3| 0. 24| 4. | T4 – The HealthCare Reform enacted in 2010 caused unanticipated losses for Merck and the effects of this Act will continue into future. These new provisions will decrease revenue and increase costs. | 0. 08| 2| 0. 16| 5. | T5 – Although not included in the health care reform law, Congress has also considered, and may consider again, proposals to increase the government’s role in pharmaceutical pricing in the Medicare program. | 0. 03| 3| 0. 09| 6. | T6 – Congress may again consider proposals to allow, under certain conditions, the importation of medicines from other countries. 0. 03| 3| 0. 09| 7. | T7 – Merck is experiencing delay in manufacturing some of its vaccines and this delay can cause a competitor to launch a product that can be manufactured quickly. | 0. 03| 2| 0. 06|   | TOTALS| 1. 00|   | 2. 57| Competitive Profile Matrix Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM)| | Merck| Pfizer| Eli Lilly and Company | Critical Success Factors| Weight | Rating| Score| Rating| Score| Rating| Score| Global Expansion| 0. 10| 3| 0. 30| 3| 0. 30| 4| 0. 40| Market Penetration| 0. 06| 4| 0. 24| 4| 0. 24| 2| 0. 12| Pipeline| 0. 15| 3| 0. 45| 4| 0. 60| 2| 0. 30| Patents| 0. 8| 4| 0. 72| 3| 0. 54| 2| 0. 36| R;amp;D| 0. 17| 3| 0. 51| 4| 0. 68| 2| 0. 34| Financial Profit| 0. 05| 2| 0. 10| 3| 0. 15| 4| 0. 20| Customer Loyalty| 0. 00| 3| 0. 00| 3| 0. 00| 2| 0. 00| Market Share| 0. 08| 4| 0. 32| 4| 0. 32| 3| 0. 24| Product Quality| 0. 06| 1| 0. 06| 2| 0. 12| 2| 0. 12| Generic Drugs| 0. 15| 2| 0. 30| 3| 0. 45| 2| 0. 30| Totals| 1. 00|   | 3. 00|   | 3. 40|   | 2. 38| * Global Expansion: Merck is in 121 countries Pfizer is in 150 countries Eli Lily is in 143 countries. * Pipeline: 94 in Pipeline for Pfizer, Lilly has 15 and 57 in Merck Pipeline excluding registration. Patents: Pfizer has 11 basic patent products and Lily has 8 basic patent products and Merck has 29 basic patent products. * Financial Profit : EPS – Lilly has EPS 4. 58 Merck has 0. 28 Pfizer has 1. 02. * Market Share : Merck has $45 billion and Pfizer has $67 and Lilly has $23 billion. * Product quality : Merck has two major lawsuits whereas Pfizer has one and Lilly has one. * Generic Drugs : Pfizer has 59 generic drugs which is more than what Merck has and what Lilly has Merck is still entering into different JVS with SUN and other pharma companies. Internal Factor Evaluation Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix (IFE)|   |   |   |   | Strengths| Weight| Rating| Weighted Score| 1. | S1 – Merck maintains strong financial health despite the $8. 5 billion debt needed for the acquisition. Analysts are predicting that the combined company will generate a $12billion cash flow in 2011 which should help repay the debt quickly. | 0. 05| 4| 0. 20| 2. | S2 – Majority of the blockbuster products introduced recently showed very strong sales. Especially, Januvia(diabetes), Isentress(HIV), and Gardasil. | 0. 08| 4| 0. 32| 3. | S3 – Merck has strong ea rnings when compared to the industry. | 0. 04| 3| 0. 12| 4. S4 Merck’s latest acquisition of Schering results in a $6 billion pipeline of drugs with the potential of multiple blockbusters and very few patent losses are expected over the next couple of years. It is predicted that the combination of the two entities should generate $3 billion plus in annual cost savings before 2011. | 0. 15| 4| 0. 60| 5. | S5 Global market presence along with production facilities. Merck operates in 120 countries with 31 factories worldwide. | 0. 06| 3| 0. 18| 6. | S6 Merck is well positioned in some Emerging Markets and is showing robust growth in China and is actively searching for a partner in India. Merck has developed a separate strategy for positioning itself as numero uno in emerging markets. | 0. 15| 3| 0. 45| 7. | S7 A vast diversified product portfolio in Medicines, Vaccines, Biologics, Consumer Care and Animal Health. | 0. 05| 3| 0. 15| | | | | | | Weaknesses| Weight| Rating| Weighted Score| 1. | W1 EPS dropped from $0. 28 from $5. 67 mainly due which reflect a net unfavorable impact resulting from the amortization of purchase accounting adjustments| 0. 04| 2| 0. 08| 2. | W2 Singulair is Merck’s largest volume selling pharma product with a annual sales of $3. 2 billion as of 2010 and this is expiring in Aug 2012. 0. 10| 1| 0. 10| 3. | W3 Few of Merck’s late-stage pipeline products did not get approved by FDA. Following drugs did not get FDA approvals anacetrapib for atherosclerosis, cholesterol drug Tredaptive ,Rolofylline for heart disease ,Telcagepant for migraines| 0. 10| 1| 0. 10| 4. | W4 The firm faced lawsuits on Vioxx product on increased chances of h eart attack and Merck Agreement Provides for $4. 85 Billion Vioxx Settlement Payment. | 0. 04| 2| 0. 08| 5. | W5 Merck settled a lawsuit with J;amp;J for $500 million over a dispute on two anti-inflammatory records. Merck also looses marketing rights in some areas. 0. 04| 2| 0. 08| 6. | W6 Merck Current ratio is 1. 8, has a limited liquidity position as compared to its competitors. | 0. 05| 2| 0. 10| 7. | W7 Merck has minimal presence in Generic Drug Market. | 0. 05| 1| 0. 05|   | TOTALS| 1. 00|   | 2. 61| Space Matrix Financial Position: * Return on Investment is Average when compare to Industry. * Leverage: Compared to the industry standard, leverage or debt equity ratio of Merck is more industry is whereas Merck is 0. 27. * Liquidity: Current Ratio is around 1. 8. Above 2. 0 is preferred to meeting Short-term obligations. * Working Capital: Working Capital is low. Cash Flow: Cash Flows for 2010 is very good which is around $9 billion. Industrial Position: * Growth Potential: Revenues are up by 67% and successful new product launches. And successful merger with Schering Plough * Financial Stability: After M;amp;A, company financially is in difficult position, but in long-term it will do better. * Ease of Entry into Market: As Merck already exists in multiple markets and different pharma domains, ease of entry into market is considered high for Merck * Resource Utilization: Merck has ROA of 0. 79%, which indicates its assets are NOT at optimum their utilization. Profit Potential: As free cash flows are high, profit potential is more. Competitive Position: * Market Share: Second in global position * Product Quality: Two products have litigations. * Customer Loyalty: Due to Voixx and other products side effects, customer loyalty became average. * Technological know-how: Getting new biotechnology and bio-pharma industry. * Control over Suppliers and Distributors: Merck has control on Suppliers and Distributors. Sustainability Position: * Rate of Inflation: S ame as like other products * Technological Changes: Minimal * Price Elasticity of Demand: As more are patent products, the effect will be less. Competitive Pressure: Yes, there is lot of competition with pharma and other generic drug products. * Barriers to Entry into Market: Minimum Barriers. SWOT Matrix SO Strategies: * S5O5O6: Healthcare reform emphasizes a paradigm shift to generic drugs from branded drugs and 17% of the patented drugs are going to expire by 2015 and this is an opportunity of $142 billion and there are not a lot of market players in this segment yet. Merck can take advantage of this upcoming situation and start working on generic drugs in the pipeline to be released in the established and emerging markets. We believe Merck should be able to tap into at least $50billion by this strategy. * S4O4O1: Merck’s merger with Schering results in a $6billion of pipeline of drugs and not many patents are expiring in this set. This strategy will result in $3billion of savings before 2011. Merck should further expand their research and innovation thru joint ventures and innovations in the current, biogenetics and other potential domains and follow a market penetration strategy in current and emerging markets. Merck should further expand their research and innovation thru joint ventures and innovations in the current, biogenerics and other potential domains and follow a market penetration strategy in current and emerging markets. ST Strategies: * S6T4T1: Healthcare reform can cause major losses in the domestic market and many laws of healthcare are not yet in implementation and the result of this will continue thru 2014 and so, Merck should start expanding globally beyond its current footprint and should focus on generic drugs as a majority of the emerging markets prefer inexpensive drugs compared to branded expensive drugs. The savings here are double-edged as we minimize the effect of healthcare reform oriented costs and we expand globally and earn more before competition takes over. The potential savings by this strategy is estimated to be a minimum of $4billion in the next one year considering we have a good presence in many established and emerging markets. * S7T2: Merck should start implementing a pharmacy management program by working closely with physicians and customers to deliver a one-of-a-kind integrated specialty pharmacy in every national segment that is part of Merck’s client advisory board. This pharmacy management program specifically targets specialty medications for a number of chronic conditions and helps them better understand their condition, medication side effects, and the importance of adherence. WO Strategies: * W2O6O5W7: Singuliar is a branded product of Merck the patent of which is going to expire in 2012 and Merck should equip itself by penetrating into the generic drugs market that will substitute Singuliar and Merck should rapidly expand in emerging markets and focus on improving in existing markets to position itself better for the post patent expiration loss of sale. W3O4: FDA’s denial of products in research and development can setback the product development lifecycle timeline during which competition can catch up and release their own branded or generic drug and so Merck should expand its research and innovation to adopt latest technologies for quicker innovation and also use joint ventures or partners or possible acquisitions to quickly suppl ement its lacunae in the research areas and thereby position itself for success. WT Strategies: * T1W2: More than six of Merck’s patents are expiring in the near term. The additional capacity realized upon the cessation of Singuliar manufacturing should be used for high potential drugs which will face limited competition. The high potential drugs in the pipeline approved by FDA should be made ready for use for the additional capacity. * W3T3: The current recession caused by multiple problems can hit Merck’s profitability and the failure of FDA approvals can cause further sunk losses in the research and development area. Merck should look into outsourcing research and development to places where it is inexpensive for research. Grand Strategy Matrix The extensive analysis of Merck suggests the first quadrant of the Grand Strategy Matrix. Merck is in a good long term strategy and should continue to pursue its strategic plans and the recommended strategies. Recommended Strategies Recommended strategy No. 1: Healthcare reform emphasizes a paradigm shift to generic drugs from branded drugs in an effort to save money for the consumers and to eliminate undue profits for the healthcare or pharma industries. 7% of the patented drugs are going to expire by 2015 and this is an opportunity of $142 billion and there are not a lot of market players in this segment yet. Merck can take advantage of this upcoming situation and start working on generic drugs in the pipeline to be released in the established and emerging markets. We believe Merck should be able to tap into at least $50billion by this strategy over the next five years with an immediate return of $15billion in the upcoming fiscal year. More research and development can be leveraged by outsourcing research and development into areas where it’s more productive for the investment. A more detailed vision of this strategy in monetary terms is presented in the next section to give the audience a perspective of how this strategy is beneficial in making Merck the number one in the industry with sustainable prosperity laying the foundation to diversify into pharmacy management program in light of the healthcare reform. Recommended strategy No. 2: Merck should start implementing a pharmacy management program by working closely with physicians and customers to deliver a one-of-a-kind integrated specialty pharmacy in every national segment that is part of Merck’s client advisory board. This pharmacy management program specifically targets specialty medications for a number of chronic conditions and helps them better understand their condition, medication side effects, and the importance of adherence. More research and development is suggested in areas that Merck can improve upon and the excess capacity that will be obtained after Singular should be used for pipeline products. This will position Merck as a differentiator in not just health but the health and wellness industry and will form a close nexus with physicians and customers while pursuing research in the most needed areas to improve life and wellbeing as visualized in the revised mission. Projected Financial Statements Projected Income Statement| | | | | 2010| 2011| | Revenue| 45,987. 00| 62832| Around $17 bln increase due to new strategies| COGS| 18,396. 00| 21991. 2| 35% of revenue| Gross Profit| 27,591. 00| 40840. 8| | | | | | Operating Expenses $Mil| | | | SGamp;A| 13,245. 00| 15708| 25% of sales | Ramp;D| 10,991. 0| 13991| allocated $3 billion more| Other| 985| 985| | Pharmacy Management| | 200| | New Market Development expense| | 300| | Operating Income| 2,370. 00| 9656. 8| | Other Income and Expense $Mil| | | | Net Int Inc amp; Other| -717| -717| | Earnings Before Taxes| 1,653. 00| 8939. 8| | Income Taxes| 671| 3575. 92| 40% tax| Earnings After Taxes| 982| 5543. 88| | Acctg Changes|  | | | Disc Operations| —| | | Ext Items| -123| -123| | Net Income| 859| 5420. 88| | Diluted EPS, Cont Ops$| 0. 28| 0. 37| | Diluted EPS$| 0. 28| 0. 37| | Shares| 3,120. 00| 3208| | | | | | Project Balance Statement| | | | Assets $Mil| | | | | 2010| 2011| | Cash and Equiv| 10,900. 00| 11500| | Short-Term Investments| 1,301. 00| 1320| | Accts Rec| 7,344. 00| 11016| 50% increase| Inventory| 5,868. 00| 7335| 25% increase| Other Current Assets| 3,651. 00| 4250| | Total Current Assets| 29,064. 00| 35421| | Net PPamp;E| 17,082. 00| 19555| | Intangibles| 51,834. 00| 52544| | Other Long-Term Assets| 7,801. 00| 8022| | Total Assets| 105,781. 00| 150963| | | | | | Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity $Mil| | | | | 2010| 2011| | Accts Payable| 2,308. 00| 2828| | Short-Term Debt| 2,400. 00| 2605| | Taxes Payable| 1,243. 0| 1300| | Accrued Liabilities| 8,514. 00| 8914| | Other Short-Term Liabilities| 1,176. 00| 1220| | Total Current Liabilities| 15,641. 00| 16867| | Long-Term Debt| 15,482. 00| 18282| | Other Long-Term Liabilities| 20,282. 00| 30455| | Total Liabilities| 51,405. 00| 55604| | Total Equity| 54,376. 00| 85359| | Total Liabilities ;amp; Equity| 105,781. 00| 150963| | Projected Ratios | 2010| 2011 | Debt/Equity Ratio| 0. 28| 0. 65| Return on Assets| 0. 79| 3. 59| Net Profit margin| 1. 87| 8. 6| EPS| . 28| 1. 49| Company worth Analysis Net Worth Analysis |   | |   | Stockholders Equity| $66,754,000,000 | Net Income x 5| $4,295,000,000 | (Share Price/EPS) x Net Income| $104,429,857,143 | Number of Shares Outstanding x Share Price| $104,948,066,926 | Method Average| $70,106,731,017 | Annual Objectives: * A projected increase in sales of $18bn is to be expected for 2011 and reduction of Singuliar sales will be $3bn resulting in $15bn. * An additional expense of $3bn for research and development is assumed for 2011 as part of recommendation 2. * A new category of expenses called â€Å"Pharmacy management expenses† will appear in statement for the amortization expenses of the start up of pharmacy management. A spike in interest of $200mn should be planned for due to the loan required for pharmacy management. * The pharmacy management program is expected to yield $2bn in profits in the first year. * New market development expenses should be planned for $300mn. * Merck should plan on generating equity to the tune of $30bn in the year 2011 to meet the expenses related to increased sal es. Strategic Review and Evaluation Procedures: * At the end of the year, Merck should compare the stated objectives with the actual data. A re-evaluation of IFE and EFE should be implemented and should be checked for variance against the current IFE and EFE. * If no major variance is observed, the same strategies can be continued thru the following year. At the same time, if the result of these strategies position Merck in a better place, few more aggressive quadrant strategies should be evaluated and considered at that moment. * In the case of a situation where a wide variance is observed from the planned strategies, corrective actions are recommended after careful evaluation of factors from all relevant dimensions to check the main cause/s of the variance. A revised vision, mission and objectives may be needed at that moment in light of the new changes in external and internal factors. * We would also like to recommend usage of a balanced scorecard to evaluate the firm from multiple dimensions and ensure the overall progress of the firm follows the trajectory. * Key performance indicators should be evaluated from time to time internally against the plans or annual objectives and with industry standards for averages to identify any needed changes to the strategy. How to cite Mba Spring2011 Merck Sample Group Project, Papers

Usage of Accounting Software Packages in Australia Free-Samples

Question: Write a Literature Review on the Usage of Accounting Software Packages in Australia. Answer: In this part, I will review The Grace Hotel which is located in Sydney`s central business district, Australia. The variety of amenities provided by this hotel includes a restaurant, laundry facilities, indoor pool, quality accommodation, free Wi-Fi and much more. Being a large and complex entity in the hotel industry, the hotel relies heavily on accounting software packages to run a majority of its operations, if not all. The present organizational structure of the hotel An entity`s organizational structure defines how makers of decisions coordinate their work in pursuit of a common objective (Ilaria, 2013). This means that all the activities and decisions within an institution are geared towards attaining the overall goals of the organization. As such, the various organizational departments in an entity are normally linked up in a cohesive manner to ensure that all their operations contribute to the common goal set by the entity. Organizational structure has two paramount goals namely; to promote the flow of information within the entity to lower decision making uncertainty and to integrate conduct across the organization`s parts to enhance coordination (Virginia, 2009). According to her, it involves task allocation concepts and coordination. The hotel`s ideal organizational structure is vividly illustrated below. Below the executive chef, we have preps, line cooks, and tray assembly. The other subordinate employees include sanitation workers, dishwashers, laundry, room attendants, security personnel, waiters and waitresses among several others. Possible operational challenges linked to the above structure Every other organization is bound to face operational problems connected to its design of the organizational structure. The most common and evident setback of the above structure is rigid bureaucracy usually attributed to the hierarchy complexities in such entities. This leads to complex and tedious procedures in carrying out daily activities in the entity. Other regular problems are the issues of demoralization and discouragement experienced by the junior staff to contribute new ideas in the firm due to the fear of the top management usually associated with some withdrawal. This means that the junior workforce is in most times discouraged from voicing their views or ideas concerning the organization. However, it is indispensable for entities to establish structures and management control systems that vary from mechanical to organic and from autocratic to democratic accordingly (Jackson, et al., 2012). This means that it is essential for organizations to embrace the culture of fully involving every employee in the running of the firm. This should mainly entail giving them equal opportunities to express themselves freely and participate in the decision making within the organization. The management control systems should too be wholesome and accommodative rather than being inflexible. Hotel general managers have direct responsibility for their properties and hence are normally under great pressure to exhibit short-term results (Michael Denney, 2011). This means that the managers need to ensure that every piece of the organization`s assets is well taken care of especially from damage by either the workforce or customers. Additionally, they are expected to deliver particularly on a daily basis for an overall excellent performance. A majority of service centred challenges in hotels must be resolved fast or not at all (Michael Denney, 2011). This implies that the daily problems faced by hoteliers need to be solved with immediacy and in an efficient manner. This will greatly save on time and use it in other productive activities. The adoption of these approaches will enable the entity to maximize output and at the same time maintain a highly motivated and loyal pool of employees. The possible adoption system method for the firm The Grace Hotel is a complex and huge company whose operations follow sophisticated channels on a daily basis and this is chiefly attributed to its wide variety of amenities and services coupled with its immense customer base. As such, the best and most likely acquisition method would be the custom software since it will allow the company to cater for its variety of accounting needs. It means that the custom software will be able to accommodate all the requirements and needs of the hotel and in a unique manner. On the contrary, commercial software is normally developed to suit the needs of a wide range of customers (Leslie Andrea, 2016). This implies that it is accessible to different business sizes. Moreover, various accounting software products are accessible to businesses of varied sizes and the ones used by huge companies are frequently more sophisticated (James Robert, 2007). This means that large firms acquire complex ones. However, the best one for Grace Hotel would be the custom software since the entity is a more complex one. This will allow the hotel to efficaciously execute its various operations especially maintaining a healthy accounts records, invoices, bank statements, payment vouchers, sales, ticket booking and purchases records among several others. The acquisition of the custom accounting software is quite an expensive venture but the most suitable for large entities worldwide. As such, the above-mentioned hotel would adopt custom software due to other factors like its financial capabilities and the complexity of its day to day operations. However, custom accounting software may not be compatible with the existing accounting and computer systems of an organization (Jeffrey Kelvin, 2013). As such, it has become the main challenge which gives headaches to most medium and large size companies that are adopting the custom software to be employed in running their daily operations. The system flowchart of the entity sales procedures A system flowchart illustrates the processes which occur within the system and the decisions which are made (Paul, et al., 2016). They go on to say that it normally majors on the system logic rather than the data found within the system and that it may represent a complete system or only part of a system. This implies that the reasoning within the system is the key factor of the flowchart. As such, there is ease of following the order of the activities within the system flowchart of the hotel`s sales procedures particularly for the management and the marketing team. The most paramount merit of a flowchart is the visual appeal it possesses, which enables a quick follow-up of the sequence of events constituted within the flowchart and consequently saves on time. The Grace Hotel`s sales procedures systems flowchart would be in the following form shown below. The above flowchart is normally the ideal one for such a large company. The hotel awards priority to its pool of existing customers and the potential ones too and as such, this gives the hotel a remarkable competitive merit in the profitable yet risky sector, especially in the country. The simplified flowchart ensures that less time is spent in designing efficient and effective marketing strategies while maximizing the output. Possible frauds and control hiccups in the system As nature would have it, there is no single system which is devoid of problems may it be internal or external. As such, the custom software is not an exception. The possible frauds associated with this software system include inaccurate and incomplete accounting systems and reports (Leslie Andrea, 2016). This is particularly engineered by the staff member operating the system. However, according to them, an organization which keeps a commendable accounting system and IT internal controls and ethical conduct values will be less likely to face fraud. The evolution and adoption of accounting software packages Towards the end of the 1950s and the start of 1960s, the accounting and financial information emerged as a chief automation candidate because of its repetitive nature and bulky volume (Ashutosh, 2006). He goes on to add that early accounting software run on mainframe systems was usually written in programing languages like Assembler, COBOL, RPG, and FORTRAN. However, he adds that these accounting packages were normally created by programmers within the entity and was meant to resolve certain challenges. According to him, a large number of today`s accounting software organizations like Macola were established in the early 1980s. The software has been significantly adopted by many entities globally. The present market size Today`s market size for accounting software packages is large and is increasing at a noticeable pace. The wide segments in the market comprise of home or small, small, medium, huge and multinational entities (Ashutosh, 2006). This is due to their ability to simplify and produce quality work in a speedy manner. The leaders in the industry and their competitive merit The key leaders in the industry include Oracle, SAP R/3, and Lawson; with much specialization on huge- multinational and large organizations, Great Plains, Macola, Traverse Open Systems and Sage software; who major on medium to large entities and small-medium businesses, and MYOB and DacEasy among others focus on small businesses and home/small office (Ashutosh, 2006). Today Sage Group is a worldwide concern and leader in the market in both North America and Europe (Isobel Robin, 2005). They add that the company`s competitive advantage lies in its wide product range, its reseller distribution channels, and the huge customer base. This is evidently what the above companies do, that is producing a wide array of accounting software products. Present gaps for the accounting software users and the necessary suggestions Several of the gaps include fraud loopholes, possible system let-down and sophisticated user skills and much more. There exists some avenues suitable to mitigate or even avert such and related challenges namely; establishing proper legislation and code of ethics to prevent frauds, properly training and inducting the software users to handle the complicated and ever-evolving software and having a standby system in case of failures just to mention a few. Reference Ashutosh, D., 2006. `Digital Accounting: The Effects of the Internet and ERP on Accounting`.: Idea Group Inc. (IGI). Ilaria, G. (ed.), 2013. `Behavioral Issues in Operations Management: New Trends in Design, Management and Methodologies`.: Springer Science Business Media. Isobel, D. Robin, L., 2005. Strategic Marketing Decisions in Global Markets.: Cengage Learning EMEA. Jackson, M., Keys, P. Cropper, S. (ed.), 2012. Operational Research and the SocialL Sciences.: Springer Science Business Media. James, H. Robert, P., 2007. College Accounting, Chapters 1-15. 19 ed.: Cengage Learning. Jeffrey, L. Kelvin, C., 2013. Methods of IT Project Management.: Purdue University Press. Leslie, T. Andrea, B., 2016. Accounting Information Systems: The Processes and Controls.: Wiley. Michael, J. Denney, G., 2011. Hotel Management and Operations.: John Wiley Sons. Paul, L., Sarah, L. Victoria, E., 2016. `Cambridge International AS and A Level IT Coursebook with CD-ROM`.: Cambridge University Press. Virginia, D. (ed.), 2009. Handbook of Research on Multi-Agent Systems: Semantics and Dynamics of Organizational Models.: IGI Global

Three Paradigms of Cold War free essay sample

In the history of human societies, I would venture, the term paradigm must take on a slightly di? erent meaning, closer, in fact, to how the term was generally used before Kuhn’s work in the early s. For our purpose, I want to look at paradigms as patterns of interpretation, which may possibly exist side by side, but which each signify a particular * Stuart L. Bernath Memorial Lecture delivered at St. Louis, ? April . A draft version of this lecture was presented to a faculty seminar at the London School of Economics on ? March . The author wishes to thank his LSE colleagues (especially MacGregor Knox) and David Reynolds of Cambridge University for their helpful comments (while absolving them from any responsibility for the lecture’s contents). ?. For more on how Cold War studies is developing as a ? eld of inquiry see Odd Arne Westad, ed. , Reviewing the Cold War: Approaches, Interpretations, Theory (London, ). D H , Vol. , No. ? (Fall ).  © The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR). Published by Blackwell Publishers, Main Street, Malden, MA, , USA and Cowley Road, Oxford, OX? JF, UK. : ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? approach – an angle of view, if I may – to the complex problems of Cold War history.? This is, of course, also to indicate genuine doubt as to whether comprehensive and mutually exclusive interpretations of the Cold War as a phenomenon are possible today. It seems to me that both our general approaches to how history is studied and the emergence of massive new bodies of evidence lead in the direction of analytical diversity and away from the concentration on so-called schools of interpretation. If one looks at the way the Cold War is taught at my school, one ? ds a multitude of approaches: as U. S. political history, as history of the Soviet Union, as history of Third World revolutions, as history of European integration, as hi story of gender relations, as history of economic globalization just to mention a few. Few of our colleagues twenty-? ve years ago would have foreseen how the ? eld has opened up and spread out way beyond diplomatic history. Our task now, it seems to me, is to ? nd ways to describe, in looking at this long axis of analysis, points that seem particularly promising for further scholarly inquiry, based on a combination of work already undertaken and the availability of sources. I have chosen to discuss three such possible paradigms in this article. They are the ones that seem to me best suited for rapid advances in our understanding of the Cold War as a period or as an international system, and not just as a bilateral con? ict or as diplomatic history. Perhaps the most useful – and certainly the most misused – of the paradigms I will be addressing here is that of ideology, understood as a set of fundamental concepts systematically expressed by a large group of individuals. Integrating the study of such fundamental concepts into our approach to international history holds tremendous promise as a method within a ? eld that has often ignored ideas as the basis for human action. Used in ways that are sensitive to historical evidence and consistent in their application, the introduction of ideology as a part of our understanding of motives and broad patterns of action helps us overcome two of the main problems that international historians of the Cold War often face. One is that we are seen to be better at explaining single events than we are at analyzing causes and consequences of larger historical shifts. The other is that we are – rightly, I believe – often seen as using a narrow concept of causality, mostly connected to interests or state policies.? Let me use an example. When President John F. Kennedy met with First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) Nikita ?. Thomas J. Kuhn, The Structure of Scienti? c Revolutions (Chicago, ). Richard Evans, In Defense of History, rev. ed. (New York, ) has a useful discussion of the role of alternative paradigms in historical research. ?. For a discussion of operational de? nitions of ideology see Douglas J. MacDonald, â€Å"Formal Ideologies in the Cold War: Toward a Framework for Empirical Analysis,† in Westad, ed. , Reviewing the Cold War. Three (Possible) Paradigms : Khrushchev in Vienna in June , both leaders brought with them briefs and position papers that underlined the need to seek common ground on a number of issues, including the threat of nuclear war. Still, their public and private encounters were marked by sharp confrontation and the summit itself probably contributed to the increased tension that followed, culminating in the Cuban missile crisis the following year. Obviously, the policies that the two leaders pursued on most issues prior to their meeting were in con? ict. Equally clearly, the personalities of Kennedy and Khrushchev were, to put it mildly, disharmonious. But in order to understand the outcome of the summit, I ? nd that each man’s basic ideological perception – his preconceived image of his own role and that of the other leader – is an invaluable tool that can only be discarded at our peril.? For Khrushchev, it was not primarily Kennedy’s youth and relative inexperience that made it necessary to go on the o? nsive over Cuba and Berlin during the summit, or to lecture JFK on communism. It was, as those who came with Khrushchev to Vienna explain, because the Soviet leader was convinced that his society and political thinking were in ascendance, and that Kennedy, as a class representative of the U. S. â€Å"monopolists,† could be brought to recognize this historical necessity. For John Kennedy, it was exactly this ideological challenge that mattered most, since he perceived his own role as U. S. president as assuring â€Å"the survival and success of liberty† on a global scale. With the passing of the torch to a new generation, Kennedy more than anything meant a more vigorous and determined pursuit of U. S. ideological hegemony in the world.? While the Vienna example shows how ideologies can be used to understand both concrete historical events and long-term trends, it is important, as Douglas MacDonald has shown, that our use of the concept does not become determinist or one-sided. One danger is associated with the overreliance on ideologies as a kind of theoretical catchall – such as has happened in the case of some Gramscian Marxists – or the replacement of the historical narrative with the study of ideas per se. In other cases, ideology has been reduced to formal concepts, such as often happened in Cold War era U. S. studies of the Soviet Union, in which Marxism-Leninism (meaning the Marxist coda) kept out more composite and complex views of Soviet ideology. Finally, there is always the ?. On personalities and issues at the Kennedy-Khrushchev summit see Michael R. Beschloss, The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, – (New York, ); Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, â€Å"One Hell of Gamble†: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, – (New York, ; Lawrence Freedman, Kennedy’s Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam (New York, ); and Sergei N. Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower, trans. Shirley Benson (University Park, PA, ). ?. For Khrushchev see Oleg Troianovskii, Cherez gody i rasstoianiia: istoriia odnoi semi [Across time and space: One family’s history] (Moscow, ); and Oleg Grinevskii, Tysiacha i odin den Nikity Sergeevicha [Nikita Sergeevich’s thousand and one days] (Moscow, ); for Kennedy see Thomas C. Reeves, A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy (London, ); or Freedman, Kennedy’s Wars, chaps. ? and ?. Kennedy quote from inaugural address, January , at http://www. hpol. org/jfk/. : ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? danger of making the other side â€Å"ideological† – and one’s own side only too logical or interest driven. I see this as one of the main post-Cold War fallacies of U. S. international historians – while we have gradually become comfortable with making ideology an integral part of the study of Soviet foreign relations, many people in the ? eld ? nd it much more di? cult to deal with U. S. elite ideology as a meaningful concept.? As Michael Hunt has pointed out, the latter omission is particularly important to rectify if ideology is to be used as a meaningful interpretive tool. I would claim that during much of the Cold War, the ideology of the U. S. foreign policy elite was more pervasive in terms of decision making than was that of Soviet party leaders. In the cases that really mattered – the Marshall Plan, the support for European integration, U. S. occupation policy in Japan – it was a set of key U. S. ideas centered on a speci? c U. S. esponsibility for the global expansion of freedom that made the di? erence. These ideas, which emphasized freedom of expression, freedom of ownership, and freedom of capitalist exchanges and negated freedom of collective organization, precapitalist values, or revolutionary action, were essential elements in the U. S. transformation of the world after , and in Washington’s unwillingness to engage the Soviet U nion in the give and take of pre-World War II diplomatic practice.? As will be clear from the above, I to some extent go along with Anders Stephanson’s contention that the Cold War may pro? ably be seen as a U. S. ideological project, although I would go much further than Stephanson in giving autonomy to other actors – my point is that it was to a great extent American ideas and their in? uence that made the Soviet-American con? ict into a Cold War. While Soviet foreign policy was no less fueled by its key ideas or its understanding of what made the world tick, the crucial di? erence is that at most times Soviet leaders were acutely aware of their lack of international hegemony and the weakness (relative to the United States and its allies) of Soviet or Communist power. From the Yalta summit to the Malta summit they therefore most often thought that they would have to satisfy themselves – short term, as they saw it – with what they could get from the standard Great Power mix of negotiations, cajoling, and limited military action. On the U. S. side, although the general public have been quite regularly visited by elements of paranoia with regard to the outside world, what really needs explanation is the remarkable consistency with which the U. S. foreign policy elite has de? ned the nation’s international purpose over the past three to four generations. That purpose has been the global domination of its ideas – and although military domination has ?. MacDonald, â€Å"Formal Ideologies. † See also Westad, â€Å"Secrets of the Second World: Russian Archives and the Reinterpretation of Cold War History,† Diplomatic History (Spring ): –. John Lewis Gaddis summarizes the arguments for why Marxism-Leninism mattered in We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (New York, ). ?. Michael H. Hunt, Ideology and American Foreign Policy (New Haven, ). As I have pointed out earlier, the study of U. S. oreign policy ideology is in itself a useful way of transcending the orthodox de? nitions of historiographical â€Å"schools. † See Westad, â€Å"Introduction,† in Westad, ed. , Reviewing the Cold War. Three (Possible) Paradigms : not always been recognized as a necessary companion to this ideological hegemony, it has still been an aim that U. S. leaders have been willing to intervene to accomplish from World War I to the Kosovo con? ict.? For most of the Cold War the majority of Americans did not share their leaders’ willingness to spend their resources on extending U. S. ideas abroad. Without help from Stalin and the generation of Soviet leaders he created, it is uncertain whether the Truman and Eisenhower administrations would have been able to keep a strong U. S. involvement in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. Stalin believed that by isolating the Soviet Union and the countries it had occupied after the war, he could preserve the Communist dictatorship and build a long-term challenge to U. S. domination. Had it not been for Stalin’s in? exibility and his insistence that his â€Å"zone† was extraneous to any form of U. S. in? uence, it would have been much more di? cult for the U. S. foreign policy elites to get at least limited acceptance among the general public for substantial and long-term foreign involvements.? What then about the countries that joined with the United States in waging Cold War against communism – ? rst and foremost Western Europe and Japan? The West European elites that issued the â€Å"invitations to empire† that Geir Lundestad has emphasized seem to have done so both out of fear of Stalin’s intentions and because of the attractiveness of U. S. assistance in sorting out their own domestic problems. What is much more important to understand, though, is how he U. S. response to the â€Å"invitations† came to be shaped – not as a rescue operation for besieged (and to a great extent discredited) political leaderships but as conscious and comprehensive attempts at changing Europe (and Japan) in the direction of U. S. ideas and models. To me, it is the ? exibility of U. S. policies and the negotiability of th e ideology they were based on that explain both the uniquely successful alliance systems that the United States established with Western Europe and Japan and the rapid political, social, and economic transformation that these countries went through. This, perhaps, was the real revolution of the Cold War: that the United States over a period of ? fty years transformed its main capitalist competitors according to its own image. This did not, of course, happen without con? ict. But mostly – and in great part because of the Cold War perceptions of an external threat – it was a peaceful transformation. Its peacefulness, however, ?. Anders Stephanson, â€Å"Fourteen Notes on the Very Concept of the Cold War,† http://mail. hnet. msu. edu/~diplo/stephanson. html. This is of course not denying that ideology was crucial to Soviet foreign policy – my point here is about capabilities, not intentions. For an attempt at de? ning the key ideological themes in U. S. foreign policy history see David Ryan, US Foreign Policy in World History (London, ). ?. For Stalin’s intentions see Vojtech Mastny, The Cold War and Soviet Insecurity: The Stalin Years (New York, ); and Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev (Cambridge, MA, ). For U. S. perceptions see Melvyn P. Le? er, A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War (Stanford, . . Geir Lundestad, â€Å"Empire by Invitation? The United States and Western Europe, – ,† Journal of Peace Research , no. ? ( ): – ; John L. Harper, American Visions of Europe: Franklin D. Roosevelt, George F. Kennan, and Dean G. Acheson (Cambridge, England, ). : ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? and the fact that it happened as much as a result of trade, education, and consumer culture as political pressure should not obscure its intrinsicality. In the novel for which he received the Nobel Prize for iterature last year, the German author Gunter Grass describes how his country has changed over the past century, with the most basic transformations happening after . It was not just the e? ects of World War II that changed Germany, Grass seems to argue, it was the postwar presence of the Americans. The same – although to di? ering degrees – could be said of all of the United States’s key alliance partners. The changes in policies, social strati? cation, and economic foundations that the U. S. presence inspired gradually created systems of alliances that were based on similar world views and that could survive con? cts of interest (unlike those of the East). To me, at least, it is the second generation of postwar leaders who hold the key to this more profound transformation: Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand, Margaret Thatcher, Yasuhiro Nakasone, all born in the interwar years, cam e to accept U. S. models much more readily than previous or (perhaps) coming generations, and in doing so they not only changed their countries (and settled the Cold War) but also laid the foundations for the new system of globalized markets that in e? ect replaced the East-West con? ict. In terms of ideologies, one may say that the Cold War was a con? ct between two di? erent versions of what anthropologist James C. Scott refers to as high modernism – on the one hand, one that underlined social justice and the role of the industrial proletariat, and, on the other, one that emphasized individuality and the role of the stake-holding middle class. For the world at large, both ideologies were in their ways revolutionary, intent on transforming the world in their image. As with many modernist projects, American and Soviet Cold War ideologies based an important part of their legitimacies on the control of nature, be it human nature or our physical surroundings. They were both attempts at simplifying a complex world through social engineering, massive exploitation of resources, regulation, and technology. Technology was the epitome of both ideologies and of the systems they represented – it symbolized the conquest of nature itself for socialism or for freedom and the use the . Two excellent overviews charting these developments, in politics and economics, respectively, are John Killick, The United States and European Reconstruction, – (Edinburgh, ); and Marie-Louise Djelic, Exporting the American Model: The Postwar Transformation of European Business (Oxford, . See also Margaret Blomchard, Exporting the First Amendment: The Press-Government Crusade of – (New York, ). For Germany see Ralph Willett, The Americanization of Germany, – (London, ); for France see Richard Kuisel, Seducing the French: The Dilemma of Americanization (Berkeley, ). . Gunter Grass, Mein Jahrhundert [My century] (Gottingen, ). Insight s on how the American alliances have in? uenced the four leaders are in Hugo Young, One of Us: A Biograpy of Margaret Thatcher (London, ); Karl Hugo Pruys, Helmut Kohl: Die Biographie [Helmut Kohl: The biography] (Berlin, ; Jean Lacouture, Mitterrand: une histoire de Francais [Mitterrand: A history of the French] (Paris, ); and Yasuhiro Nakasone, The Making of the New Japan (Richmond, ). Three (Possible) Paradigms : physical world could be put to in constructing a social system or in confronting its enemies. At the beginning of the Cold War, nuclear technology stood at the core of the con? ict. U. S. possession of the secrets of atomic energy created a push for wider global responsibilities among U. S. political leaders and fueled deep-felt suspicions within the Communist movement about U. S. plans for controlling their countries. The Soviet quest to develop a nuclear capability of its own was – as David Holloway has explained – a key feature in Moscow’s establishment of a Cold War world view. The future of socialism depended on the Soviet Union matching the technological achievements of the imperialist states. Without a Soviet bomb, the socialist world would be inherently weak and under constant pressure. But nuclear technology was not only important for the military aspects of the con? ict. In the late s and early the battle for access to energy resources formed part of the core Cold War competition, and atomic energy was of course a vital part of that battle. Both on the Soviet and the American side degrees of modernity were measured in energy output – it was as if Lenin’s adage that â€Å"Communism is workers’ power plus electricity† held true in both Moscow and Washington. As the Soviet Union dramatically increase d its energy output in the s – the ? rst Soviet nuclear power plant became operational in – there was a widespread sense that Moscow’s model of development could eventually overtake that of the United States. One of the biggest surprises that early Cold Warriors would have been in for, had they still been with us in the s and s, was that it was neither nuclear bombs nor nuclear power that came to decide the Cold War. After Nagasaki, the bombs were never used. After Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, nuclear power lost much of its luster, and some advanced industrial states, such as Sweden, are now closing down their nuclear plants. While nuclear technology therefore defends its place in Cold War history, more attention needs to be paid to other connections and implications of the relationship between the Cold War con? ct and the development of science and technology. . James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven, ). For further discussion of technology as key to the modernity project see Michael Adas, Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance (Ithaca, ); and Marshall Berman, All That is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity (New York, ). See also, of course, Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan (New York, ). For overviews of the Soviet approach see Kendall Bailes, Technology and Society under Lenin and Stalin (Princeton, ); and especially Richard Stites, Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution (New York, ). Stephen Kotkin has an excellent discussion of Soviet modernity and its discontents in Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization (Berkeley, ). The classic statement of technology as power in the postwar world is Vannevar Bush, Science: The Endless Frontier (Washington, ). . David Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, (New Haven, ) . William O’Neill, A Better World: Stalinism and the American Intellectuals (London, ); Marcello Flores, L’immagine dell’URSS: l’Occidente e la Russia di Stalin ( – ) [The image of the USSR: The West and Stalin’s Russia ( – )] (Milan, ). : ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? As David Reynolds explains in his compelling survey of international trends since World War II, these connections are not di? cult to ? nd. Already in October Secretary of War Robert Patterson noted that â€Å"the laboratories of America have now become our ? rst line of defense. Ten years later more than half of all spending, public or private, on industrial research and development in the United States went to defense projects. Crucial areas of technology that were opened up through defense-related funding include navigation systems, space exploration, and even genetics (including the Human Genome Project). But ? rst and foremost, in terms of its short-term implications, the Cold War provided public funding for research in electronics and communications – the two areas of technology, it might be said, that most contributed to the global changes that took place during the Cold War, and to the way the con? ct ended. With regard to the development of global, interconnected communication systems, it has been argued that the S oviet Union collapsed because, in the words of one author, it â€Å"did not get the message. † In , the Soviet Union had around one-sixth as many telephone connections as the United States, and – as everyone who visited with the Soviets can testify to – those that did exist often did not work very well. By the mid- , however, the Soviets had communications satellites in orbit, as a result of their enormous investments in space technology, that could have been used to connect the Soviet Union to the emerging communication networks and to spread the Soviet message to the world. Why didn’t that happen There are two meaningful ways of answering that question. The ? rst is that the failure to link up was the result of decades of Soviet isolation – in part self-imposed, in part enforced. On the one hand, there was Moscow’s fear that, as one former CPSU leader put it, â€Å"with their technology comes their political system and their culture. On the other hand, there was the Western urge to isolate the Soviets, in part so that their political system would su? er from not having access to the newest technology. But there are also more inherent reasons for the Soviet communications failure. Not only did the peoples of Eastern Europe show by the direction of their antennas that they preferred Dallas to Dresden but also the Soviet leadership simply did not want to invest in more elaborate wars of propaganda, since they knew that socialism was winning in the long run. Contrary to the general perception at the time, it was the United States that was the propaganda master of the Cold War, in terms of both e? ort and resources spent. . The following paragraphs are based on David Reynolds, One World Divisible: A Global History since (New York, ), – ; Patterson quote on . . John Barber and Mark Harrison, eds. , The Soviet Defense-Industry Complex from Stalin to Khrushchev (New York, ); Je? rey L. Roberg, Soviet Science under Control: The Struggle for In? uence (London, ). . Former Vice-Foreign Minister Georgi Kornienko, interview with author, ? February . On U. S. propaganda see Walter Hixson, Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War, – (Basingstoke, ); and Frances Stonor Saunders, Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the Cultural Cold War (London, ). For a very instructive overview of the purposes behind the physical presentation of the United States abroad see Robert H. Haddow, Pavilions of Plenty: Exhibiting American Culture Abroad in the s (Washington, ). Three (Possible) Paradigms : The other main technology with an immediate Cold War relevance was, of course, the development of computers. Like advanced communications, the ? rst computers were all for military use in the United States and Britain, and, as a technology, came out of the needs of World War II. In the United States, the history of the development of computers is very much connected to the history of one company, IBM, and one business leader, Thomas J. Watson. In the s over half of IBM’s revenues came from the analog guidance computer for the B- Bomber and from the SAGE air defense system. As Watson himself put it: â€Å"It was the Cold War that helped IBM make itself the king of the computer business. † The Soviet Union, it could be argued, was not far behind the West in computer development in the early s. But then something happened. Even though the U. S. military took percent of the overall production of computer chips as late as , by the Pentagon procurers had begun to look outside the big companies for some of their needs. It was this increasing ? exibility in the U. S. military-industrial-academic complex in the mid- s – or, to put it more bluntly, the marriage between easy defense money and Bay Area ? owerpower – that created the crucial breakthrough, the commercially available personal computer. This was something the Soviet Union would not want to match – its research went into big computers for big purposes. It was out of the need to link small (but available) computers at di? erent U. S. military research centers that the ? rst long distance computer network, ARPAnet, developed in the s. This union of computer chips and communications – later to be known as the Internet – was perhaps the single most important technological innovation of the Cold War. By the late s it came to de? ne, in a very narrow sense, who was on the inside and who was on the outside. Linking the main capitalist centers more closely together in terms of business, trade, and education, the Internet came to underline exchange of all sorts, and was gradually spreading out of its original centers in North America, Japan, and Western Europe. Communications technology had become an important part of the message of global capitalism. Indeed, it could be argued that the market revolution of the late twentieth century – or globalization if one prefers to use that term – would not have been possible without the advances in communications that the Cold War competition brought on. The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were cut o? from this development by choice as well as by design. The new communications technology made the East Bloc elites feel isolated in a di? erent sense than before. By the late s . Watson quoted in Reynolds, One World Divisible, . . See Stuart W. Leslie, The Cold War and American Science: The Military-Industrial Complex at MIT and Stanford (New York, ); Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, Computer: A History of the Information Machine (New York, ); for the Soviet Union see Daniel L. Burghart, Red Microchip: Technology Transfer, Export Control, and Economic Restructuring in the Soviet Union (Aldershot, ). . Richard O’Brien, Global Financial Integration: The End of Geography (London, ). : ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? it seemed as if not just the Soviet Union’s Western enemies but substantial parts of the rest of the world – East and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and parts of the Middle East – were moving away from interaction with it and toward a higher degree of interaction with each other. The ruling Communist parties, within their own countries, also had to compete with the image of the West as being more advanced, an image that was, in the case of Eastern Europe, projected daily into many people’s homes through terrestrial or satellite antennas. In the end, Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika project was about being included into the world that the satellite channels represented while upholding a degree of ideological challenge to the system that had created them. His was no surprising failure, although the consequences of that failure rightly stunned the world. In the little that has been written so far by historians about the role of technology in the Cold War, their overall relationship has often been reduced to the simple question of which political and social system delivered and which did not. Looking at Cold War technology in the way I have tried to present it here, this is perhaps the wrong question to ask. It is better, I think, to explore the purposes for which technology was developed in its di? rent settings and to discuss the way the military-technological policies on both sides contributed to the direction of science and to the many weapons with which the Cold War was fought – from strategic missiles to satellite transmissions and computer networks. Against this proposition of making the history of technology a key aspect of the new Cold War history, it is sometimes said that we are confusing categories, that technology is in its essence politically and ideologically neutral. In the strictest sense this is of course true. For individual scientists it is the thrill of discovery that matters, not the speci? purposes for which the invention will later be used. But if we want to understand the Cold War in terms not just of diplomacy and warfare but also in terms of social and political development, we need to look more closely at how technology was created, for what purposes it was used, and how some aspects of it came to de? ne, in very concrete terms, the ? nal stages of the Cold War con? ict. We need to explore the links between military priorities and technological development and to be open to the suggestion that innovation in some key areas during the past ? ty years moved in directions it would not have taken had it not been for the Cold War. Approached along these lines, I believe that the interplay between technology, politics, and social development forms one of the most useful prisms through w hich to view the East-West con? ict. Such research would not just deal with â€Å"technological imperatives† (if there ever was such a thing), but more profoundly, begin to see the Cold War as a con? ict of the core concepts of . See, for instance, Peter Dicken, Global Shift: The Internationalization of Economic Activity (London, or, for a more critical view, Thomas C. Patterson, Change and Development in the Twentieth Century (Oxford, ), esp. –. Three (Possible) Paradigms : modernity, an essential part of which was what direction technological innovation should take and for what means its products should be used. This con? ict took on a particular signi? cance for areas outside Europe and North America, since their meeting with modernity, and, eventually, with capitalism, to a great extent happened during the Cold War era. As I will explore in the next section, there is little doubt that these encounters would have been less unhappy and less destructive had it not been for the globalization of the Cold War con? ict and the superpower interventions that this produced. The concept of three worlds is often seen as a product of Cold War perceptions: A ? rst (in every sense) world consisting of the main capitalist states; a second (alternative) world made up of the Soviet Union and its allies; and a third (-class) world constituting the rest. Interestingly, this etymology is almost certainly wrong; the term Tiers monde was ? st developed by the French economist and demographer Alfred Sauvy in to denote a political parallel to the Third Estate (Tiers etat) of the French Revolution – Sauvy’s point was to underline the revolutionary potential that the new countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America would possess in relation to the existing bipolar world system. Sauvy and many of those theori sts who adopted the term envisaged a Third World that, like its illustrious predecessor in France, would rise against and overturn the established order(s). In terms of the Third World’s actual fate during the Cold War, Sauvy could not have been further from the truth. Instead of overturning the international system, many Third World countries became its main victims through the extension of Cold War tensions to their territories. Central America, Angola, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Indochina, Korea – the list of countries that have had their futures wrecked by superpower involvement is very long indeed, and many of these countries are still not beginning to come to terms with the consequences of their predicament. But equally damaging to the new states that were created in the aftermath of World War II was the willingness of Third Word elites hemselves to adopt Cold War ideologies for purposes of domestic development and mobilization. This wholesale takeover of aerial and divisive ideas by feeble states caused untold damage not only through warfare but also through social experiments inspired by both socialist and capitalist versions of high modernism. From rural resettlement programs in Indonesia and Thailand and strategic villages in . For in vigorating attempts at making such connections see Wolfgang Emmerich and Carl Wege, eds. , Der Technikdiskurs in der Hitler-Stalin Ara [The technology discourse in the Hitler-Stalin era] (Stuttgart, ; and David C. Engerman, â€Å"Modernization from the Other Shore: American Observers and the Costs of Soviet Economic Development,† American Historical Review (April ): –. . Alfred Sauvy, â€Å"Trois mondes, une planete† [Three worlds, one planet], l’Observateur, August . : ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? South Vietnam, to collectivization in Ethiopia and ? ve-year plans in Mozambique and Angola, the social and human cost of the attempts by Third World elites to force change on unwilling societies has been frightful. In some cases, such as in South Vietnam or in Ethiopia, it makes sense to speak of a continuous war against a peasantry that had to be â€Å"transformed† – and fast – if the version of modernity that the regime had bought into should be able to overcome its rivals. The main signi? cance of the Cold War for the Third World (and of the Third World for the Cold War) seems to me to be this: That the ideological rivalry of the two superpowers came to dominate Third World politics to such an extent that in some countries it delegitimized the development of the domestic political discourse that any state needs for its survival. As a result, the elites in these countries increasingly isolated themselves from the peasant population and, in the end, sought a superpower ally in order to wage war on their own people. Guatemala after and Ethiopia after are good cases in point. Seen from a U. S. perspective during the Cold War, this was, of course, not quite the way things looked. The United States’s Third World allies were most often seen, by both supporters and critics of U. S. Cold War policies, as local powerholders who joined with the United States in order to ? ht communism and preserve their own privileges. They were â€Å"traditionalists† – a term that in the early s quickly made the leap from modernization theory textbooks to State Department dispatches. Few general descriptions could, in my opinion, be further from the truth. When we look at their actions and their beliefs, leaders such as Indonesia’s Suharto and the last Pahlavi shah in Iran were, in their way, revolutiona ries, who attempted to create completely new states based on authoritarian high modernist visions of social transformation. Like leaders in Western Europe, their main source of inspiration was the United States, but their societies were . Gary E. Hansen, ed. , Agricultural and Rural Development in Indonesia (Boulder, ); Walden F. Bello et al. , A Siamese Tragedy: Development and Disintegration in Modern Thailand (Oakland, CA, ); Arthur Combs, â€Å"Rural Economic Development as a Nation-Building Strategy in South Vietnam, – † (Ph. D. thesis, London School of Economics, ); Tesfaye Tafesse, The Agricultural, Environmental, and Social Impacts of the Villagization Programme in Northern Shewa, Ethiopia (Addis Ababa, ; Mark F. Chingono, The State, Violence, and Development: The Political Economy of War in Mozambique, – (Aldershot, ); Pierre Beaudet, ed. , Angola: bilan d’un socialisme de guerre [Angola: Accounts of a socialism of war] (Paris, ). . Jennifer G. Schirmer, The Guatemalan Military Project: A Violence Called Democracy (Philadelphia, ); Tefarra Haile-Selassie, The Ethiopian Revolution, – (London, ). . On the curious development of concepts for viewing Third World elites see Frederick Cooper and Randall Packer, eds. International Development and the Social Sciences: Essays on the History and Politics of Knowledge (Berkeley, ); and Michael Edward Latham, â€Å"Modernization as Ideology: Social Science Theory, National Identity, and American Foreign Policy† (Ph. D. diss. , University of California, Los Angeles, ). The major analytical statements of modernization as an American project are Walt Whitman Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge, England, ); and Samuel P. Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven, . For a historical critique see Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds. , The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, England, ); and, for a vigorous counterattack by an anthropologist, Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development: The Making of the Third World (Princeton, ) . Three (Possible) Paradigms : much further removed from that ideal in social, ideological, and technological terms. Just as Mao Zedong in the late s spoke about â€Å"catapulting† China into socialism, Suharto and the shah wanted to catapult their countries into advanced capitalism. Not surprisingly, since human societies cannot be formed into projectiles aimed at ideological images, none of them had much success. The civil wars in the Third World during the Cold War era therefore often began as clashes between a center that had adopted one form or the other of high modernist ideology and movements on the periphery that saw themselves as defending their values and customs. Like all wars, however, these con? icts transformed because of the levels of violence, uprooting, and destruction that they created. This transformation was often as much ideological as military or strategic. In many cases, these calamitous wars provided unique opportunities for revolutionary movements to recruit adherents to their beliefs, and thereby transform peasant communities into armies of rebellion. The Chinese Communist Party is a good case in point: In the ? rst phase of the Cold War, radical socialist movements in the Third World often began their march to power by defending local areas against imperialist armies, or â€Å"modernizing† states, or simply against encroachments by capitalist practices that, for the peasants, could be as destructive as warfare or forced labor. The second phase of the Cold War, beginning in the early s, saw an extension of this pattern. With decolonization, within two decades more than one hundred new states emerged, each with elites that had their own ideological agendas, often connected up to the ideals constituted by the superpowers. Instead of reducing tensions in society, decolonization – for the formerly colonized – often increased them, and gave rise to state administrations that were, for the peasants, more intrusive and more exploitative than the colonial authorities had been. As a result, most of the new states became chronically unstable in both political and social terms. Had it not been for the existence of these new states, it is likely that the Cold War con? ict, in its s and s form, would have petered out sometime in the s, with the stabilization of European borders and the Soviet post-Stalin â€Å"normalization. † What prolonged the con? ict was its extension into areas in which the Cold War ideological duality had no relevance for the majority of the people, but where U. S. and Soviet leaders convinced themselves that the postcolonial states were theirs to win or lose. Local Third World elites were therefore able to attain Great Power allies in their wars against their peoples, and the organizations opposing them could often forge their own foreign links, . Marvin Zonis, Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah (Chicago, ); Michael R. J. Vatikiotis, Indonesian Politics under Suharto, ? d ed. (London, ). . Theda Skocpol, â€Å"Social Revolutions and Mass Military Mobilization,† World Politics (January ): – ; Je? Goodwin and Skocpol, â€Å"Explaining Revolutions in the Contemporary Third World,† Politics and Society ( ): – Quee-Young Kim, ed. , Revolutions in the Third World (New York, ); and Barry M. Schutz and Robert O. Slater, Revolution and Political Change in the Third World (Boulder, ). : ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? in some cases based on the most incongruous of ideological alliances, such as U. S. support for radical Islamist parties in Afghanistan. What changed from the early Cold War, however, was th e pattern of superpower involvement: During the s, it was as often the Soviet Union as the United States that found itself on the side of the government against the rebels. In this latter point I think there is an important clue to how we may be changing our understanding of the relationship between the Cold War and developments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As seen from within many Third World societies, the United States was as much of a revolutionary force as was the Soviet Union – the two, and those who adopted elements of their ideologies, emphasized standardization, engineering, and planning; the orders that they wanted to establish were distinctly Western, with roots going back to the Enlightenment and the eighteenth century. I was struck by this recently when I attended a series of oral history conferences on the Vietnam wars with former Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara as one of the main participants. As far as I could see, MacNamara and his former North Vietnamese enemies still lived in completely di? erent worlds as to their understanding of the war except when talking about the social changes that they had attempted to foist on Vietnamese society – MacNamara’s â€Å"villagization† was only a few steps away from the North’s collectivization in terms of its e? ects (unfortunately both intended and real). Like Mao Zedong – perhaps the most destructive utopian of the past century – both sides viewed the peasants as â€Å"blank slates, on which the most wonderful texts may be written. † Some of my colleagues will undoubtedly think that working within the alternative paradigms I claim to observe will broaden the study of the Cold War to a point where it becomes indistinguishable from a â€Å"global history† approach. If the Cold War was all these things, this thinking goes, then what in latetwentieth-century history is left outside the realm of Cold War history? Am I not reducing very complex and in part unrelated phenomena to that narrow area of history in which my own research interests began? In this article, I have tried to show how these new paradigms may stay clear of reductionist fallacies by constantly emphasizing the interactions between developments in the East-West political con? ict and other changes in human societies during the Cold War era. These interactions are what may help us to a wider understanding of the con? ct – which is not the same as saying that all events from Yalta to Malta can be explained by simple political references. Like the journalist Thomas Friedman, who has written one of the best books available about the post- international system, I believe that the â€Å"Cold War system didn’t shape everything, but it shaped many things. † The point is that without attempting to understand these wider connections, we run the risk of disregarding those aspects of the Cold War and of the processes of change that Three (Possible) Paradigms : ccompanied it that we are most likely to encounter as questions from future students or from the general public. If one, like me, hopes that in some way what I am doing as a historian may help people make more sense of the world they live in today, then it should be these wider connections that inspire our work. What is really reductionist, I think, are the attempts at making Cold War history into games centered on narrow concepts of â€Å"interest† – be it the realists’ strategic interests or the Marxists’ economic interests. Last year’s Bernath Lecture – and much of the debate that followed – may serve as a depressing example of the relative limitations of these approaches, and as prescriptions for how international history may remain peripheral within the wider profession. Global events after the end of the Cold War have already exposed the disregarding of cultural and ideological background to con? ict as dangerous folly. I believe that excluding the other key issues of change that I have pointed to above may turn out in the long run to be equally dangerous. Attempting to point out what we carry over from the Cold War and what turned out to be speci? c for the late twentieth century is one useful way of approaching contemporary international history. I have tried to distinguish dimensions that are important enough to contain both durable and speci? c elements and that therefore seem to become important avenues to our understanding of the Cold War system. Like anyone talking about the past and the future, I may, of course, turn out to be mostly wrong – there may be other new paradigms beside those I have described here that will dominate the ? ld in ten years’ time. What I am certain of, however, is that the remarkable ability that international historians have shown up to now to use new evidence to feed into old interpretations will not continue to dominate, and that in the future we will be looking at a much more diverse ? eld of approaches and interpretations than any of us thought possible before the Cold War ended. . Fr iedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree (New York, ), ? ; for more critical views of the system that replaced the Cold War see Anthony Giddens, â€Å"The BBC Reith Lectures† at http://www. lse. ac. uk/Giddens/; and Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (Oxford, ). . Robert Buzzanco, â€Å"What Happened to the New Left? Toward a Radical Reading of American Foreign Relations,† Diplomatic History (Fall ): – , and the debate between Buzzanco and his critics on H-DIPLO discussion logs starting in October (http://www?. hnet. msu. edu/~diplo/). Interestingly, Buzzanco, in his footnotes, lists the works of only four non-American scholars – Marx, Lenin, Bukharin, and Geir Lundestad. ?. Another useful approach is the comparison with other periods and systems. See, for instance, Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Con? ict from to (London, ); and the critique in Torbjorn Knutsen, The Rise and Fall of World Orders (Manchester, ). See also B. Teschke, â€Å"Geopolitical Relations in the European Middle Ages: History and Theory,† International Organization , no. ? ( ): –.