Lev Vygotsky Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Lev Vygotsky - Term Paper Example Noticeably intelligent and articulate as a young boy, Vygotsky was dubbed the "little professor" (Wertsch, 1985, p.4). The family lived amidst an explosion of politics, philosophy, and art as well as prejudice, hunger, and disease. Growing up during the Russian Revolution, a time of tremendous social, cultural, and economic upheaval caused Vygotsky great personal difficulty at the same time it liberated him to look at philosophical and societal issues with fresh eyes. Tuberculosis struck Vygotsky at age twenty-six. Forewarned of an early death, Vygotsky worked at a feverish pace to produce over 180 studies, articles, and books (Blanck, 1990). Vygotsky was such an impassioned speaker that throngs of scholars, unable to gain entry into the crowded halls in which he spoke, gathered outside the windows in the hope of capturing his lectures. Wherever Vygotsky traveled in Russia, people left poetry and garlands of flowers by the wayside. Such accounts describe a unique mind and sensibility that affected and even cast a spell on thousands (Van der Veer and Valsinger, 1991). ... 1). Vygotsky excelled academically, spoke eight languages, and was able to teach far ranging subjects such as literature, Russian, education, psychology, logic, aesthetics, and art history (Blanck, 1990). With close collaborators, Alexander R Luria and Alexei N. Leontiev, Vygotsky formed a famous "troika" (Kozulin, 1990), or what John-Steiner (1997) calls a "thought community" (p.207) that became a driving intellectual force in Russia. Vygotsky borrowed ideas from different disciplines to form his learning theory. Psychology and education are the fields in which he made his major contributions although he possessed no formal training in either. It may be that Vygotsky's unique vision was predicated on his ability to look at established ideas in a new way. This may also account for the wide appeal of his work. Blanck (1990) believes that ... it was precisely his newness to the field coupled with his strong insights from other fields (philosophy, linguistics, semiotics, historical mate rialism) that illuminated for Vygotsky fresh answers to perplexing questions (pp.38-39). Vygotsky was coincidently born the same year as Piaget, and like Piaget, his learning theory exerted a profound influence, even creating a paradigm shift, on the way in which we view human development and learning. Vygotsky was a deep thinker, capable of integrating complex philosophical ideas into a unique vision of his own. Vygotsky investigated how humans think, learn, and function within the context of society. Vygotsky's broad-ranging inquiry across discipline, methodology, and ideology, conceived so long ago and squarely situated within the social realm, continues to motivate and inspire the

No Child Left Behind Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

No Child Left Behind Act - Essay Example The strong and weak points of the law will be discussed in this paper in addition to the aforementioned information. When the NCLB was passed, a lot of politicians looked forward to its positive effects to the system of education in America considering all groups like the administrators, teachers, students and parents. In 2006, there have been positive reports about the act and heads have been nodding in approval to the statistics presented. The long term Nation’s Report Card results in 2005 claims that achievements in Math and Reading of elementary students reached the highest level and that achievement gaps were minimal (Ed.gov). The Department of Education gave similar reports on the statistics submitted in favor of the act and these were applauded during President George W. Bush’s 2008 State of the Union Address. He claimed that in 2007, fourth and eighth graders achieved the highest math scores on record, reading scores are on the rise and African-American and Hisp anic students posted all-time highs (Bush).

Ell Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Ell - Research Paper Example lish Language Learners such as different linguistic backgrounds, varying levels of proficiency in English, varying levels of proficiency in native language, and cultural factors, it is important to design the most appropriate type of assessments for these learners. Various types of assessments for English Language Learners include formative and summative assessments, objective and subjective assessments, informal and formal assessments, and internal and external assessments. While formative assessments such as quizzes and practices tests strengthen memory recall, summative assessments including tests and exams are designed to evaluate knowledge, skills, and abilities of the learner. Apart from these, the two types of assessments that are commonly used with ELLs include large-scale assessments and alternate classroom assessments. â€Å"A comprehensive assessment system tied to instructional improvement is an essential aspect of a quality educational program that will directly impact children’s early academic achievement. Many studies have confirmed the powerful effect a well designed early education program with appropriate assessment can have on ELL’s emerging bilingualism, in addition to English language acquisition and overall cognitive development.† (Espinosa and Là ³pez, 2007, p. 20). In short, it is essential to design the most appropriate type of assessments for English Language Learners in order to improve their language abilities in every aspect. 2. Why is it important to include language objectives as well as content objectives in a lesson plan? How should you post them and share with students? Write a content and language objective from the content area English language learning. The lesson plan section of the effective instructional strategy incorporates language objectives as well as content objectives in order to help the educators be focused on the outcome of classroom instruction. This has been one of the important guidelines for the educators

Why Culture is Everything for Remote Teams Essay Example for Free

Why Culture is Everything for Remote Teams Essay Earlier this year I participated in a group to plan the Long Service Awards for the NHS. I am going to look at the group dynamics through the Tuckman Guide to Group Dynamics. Each year our NHS trust gives out Long Service Awards to staff who have 20,30 or 40 years service with the NHS. The awards are given out at a celebration buffet by our Chairman and the Executive Directors are in attendance. In order to prepare for the event, the HR assistants come together as a group with the band 4 in charge of the project. This year as part of my development I was in charge of the project. I had to bring the groups together and got through all the tasks from receiving the staff lists, organizing the event to being there on the day to make sure everything runs smoothly. Forming The team met and I explained the process of the Long Service awards, the different stages, and time frames. As a lot of the HRAs where new to the role, a lot of support was needed The HRA’s where each gives the staff for the Divisional Business Unit and the first stage would be to check all the staff on the list for 20,30 40 years services and contact them. I explained that this needs to be completed by the end of January so that numbers could be calculated to order for us to book the Room, Food, Frames, and certificates. Storming The team went back to their relevant DBUs and started to check staff service history and then contact staff. I found that at this time the HRA’s where at different stages. Some of the DBU’s where larger than others and so some HRA’s had more work but when they asked for help from others with less staff, the others would not help which caused conflict and negativity. We met up again to discuss what was happening and to make sure team was working and to see what we could do about the team members who had more work and to talk about more collaboration within the team. Norming We started meeting more and the team members got more involved making suggestions. I delegated out parts of the project. To the team and they were more focused and knew what needed to be done. I delegated out parts of the projects (i.e. checking on the prices of frames, vouchers, rooms, and food to get the best value for money). Performing On the day of the event, we arrived early to set up and make sure that everything arrived on time ticking items of on the checklist as they arrived. The awards were a great success, 120 staff showed up, there were a few issues which we dealt with on the day, where staff at gotten the wrong amount of years but all the staff enjoyed themselves. Adjourning At the end of the event, the executive Director congratulated us saying how everyone had to enjoy themselves. We pack up and went back to the office to sort through the rest of the certificates and vouchers for the staff who had not been able to attend and to talk through what we did that worked and what needed improvement. The major thing that did come out was more communication and meetings at the beginning to make sure the team knew what was expected of them and so help us all work as a team. Whilst the team was working on the Long Service Awards we had a few conflicts with the team. The first was at the beginning when staff that had smaller staff lists would not help those that had the larger lists. I resolved this using the collaborating mode of the Thomas Kilman Instrument, bringing the group back together and talking through the issues. Asking staff who had the capacity to help others. The second was later when we were meeting more often, one of the team did not drive and so it was talking her 1 Â ½ hours each way for meetings. This was resolved by using the compromising mode of the Thomas Kilman instrument by moving the meetings around the footprint of the Trust in the separate DBUs not just at Trust HQ and checking to see if any staff could offer lifts when required.

Micro Environment Of HSBC

Micro Environment Of HSBC The whole world is now getting so much competitive and diversified. So the business organization doing business globally must have to make their strategy in different way that will give them competitive advantage in the competitive global market. So the aim of this assignment is to show how an organization is making its global strategy and what the competitive advantages are they getting from this business strategy. As required, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) is selected and analyzed in this assignment. The HSBC Group has a history, which is unique. Many of its principal companies opened for business over a century ago and they have a history rich in variety and achievement. The inspiration behind the founding of the bank was Thomas Sutherland, a Scot who was then working as the Hong Kong Superintendent of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Realizing the considerable demand for local banking facilities both in Hong Kong and along the China coast and he helped to establish the bank in March 1865. Then, as now, the banks headquarters were at 1 Queens Road Central in Hong Kong and a branch was opened one month later in Shanghai. Throughout the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, the bank established a network of agencies and branches based mainly in China and South East Asia but also with representation in the Indian sub-continent, Japan, Europe and North America. In many of its branches the bank was the pioneer of modern banking practices (Company overview) This assignment includes analysis of the business environment of this organisation by analysis of the micro and macro environments and using different analysis techniques. Such as: SWOT Analysis, PEST Analysis etc. This also covers the analysis of the industry of the organization, the impact of globalization on the organization, and the international market where it operates its business. 1.1 Micro Environment of HSBC Group Stakeholders: Stakeholders of HSBC are always getting the preference. There are different stakeholders of HSBC. Such as: Shareholders Media Publics Government Citizen-action publics Local publics General publics Internal publics Suppliers: suppliers form an important link in the companys overall customer value delivery system. HSBC maintains a strong relationship with all the suppliers of this bank around the world. So they always cooperates the bank in any type of needed. Customers: The bank tries to target mainly five types of customer markets. These are as: Consumers, business clients, reseller market, Government, and international customers. HSBC mainly maintains strong relationship with international customers for long term profitability. Competitors: Competitors are the people to make the business environment dynamic and lead them to identify different new ideas of doing business. They always make a good competitive environment and maintain a formal and cooperative situation of business. Market intermediaries: Marketing intermediaries are composed of all the individuals or companies who help in the promotion, selling, and distribution of the companys products or services. They play an important role to make sure the growth of the organization. 1.2 Macro Environment of HSBC Group External climate: A key part of the Groups business strategy, announced in 1998, is the creation of a global brand featuring the HSBC name and hexagon symbol. The symbol is now a familiar sight around the world. The Group has embarked on the next phase making the HSBC brand universally synonymous with its core values of integrity, trust and excellent customer service. Economic: Through the process of listening to individuals needs and then acting in partnership to deliver the right solutions, HSBC is committed to help the clients make the most of their financial assets. This states the most favorable economic situation. Political and legal environment: HSBC operate on a global basis, but also work on a local level to ensure the cross-border differences are identified and any related benefits exploited. HSBC teams of specialists ensure that whether you need solutions across the world, regionally, or locally, and they have the skills, expertise, and resources to deliver them. They automate as many functions as possible, even as ensuring retains control. So they have to cope up with the political and legal environment of the whole world. Cultural environment: HSBC claims that they are the people to talk to if anyone wants the following: Global cash flow co-ordination Enhanced risk management Improved security and audit controls Minimized costs and reduced operating expenses Maximized liquidity, returns and interest benefits This culture makes the organization popular to the customer and the customer can be satisfied by the service of the bank. Resources (capital, people and natural): The Hexagon logo of HSBC derives from HSBCs traditionally flag, a white rectangle divided diagonally. The design of the flag was based on the cross of ST. Andrew, The Patron Saint of Scotland. HSBC brand corporate identity represents what HSBC wants its brand to mean to its customer. It is derived from the group. Without these resources it has also a large amount of capital resources and a large group of expert and trained employees. Technology: HSBCs basic drives are Higher Productivity, Team Orientation, and Creative Organization, Customer Orientation. The essence of HSBC brand is integrity, trust, and excellent customer service. It gives confidence to customers, value to investors, comfort to colleagues. HSBC is a prudent, cost conscious, ethically grounded, conservative, trustworthy international builder of long-term customer relationships. 1.3 SWOT Analysis of HSBC SWOT analysis is a process of situational analysis. Evaluating a firms strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through a SWOT analysis is an easy process that provides valuable insights relating to critical issues affecting an organization. SWOT analysis: The internal and external situations can provide valuable information which can come in handy at times. The SWOT analysis categorizes the internal organizational factors as strengths and weaknesses and the external situational aspects as opportunities or threats. The strengths can be used for building a competitive advantage, whereas weakness may hinder the process. The purpose of SWOT analysis is to identify crucial factors for realizing the goals. The internal factors of an organization can be considered as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their impact on the organization. These may include all 4Ps, personnel, manufacturing capabilities, finance, etc, whereas external factors are technological changes, macroeconomic factors, socio-cultural changes and legislation, as well as changes occurring in the marketplace. SWOT analyses of HSBC are as follow: Strengths HSBCs strengths are its resources that lie in: Cost advantages from proprietary know how is very favorable. It has a great value of Patents and trademark HSBC has Influential brand names It also has access to natural resources Accessible distribution network Weakness The weakness can be lack of certain strengths that include: Lack of patent protection Deprived of access to main distribution channels Weak brand name High cost structure Inaccessible natural resources Opportunities The assessment of external environment may bring forth certain new opportunities for HSBC, which are as follows: Technologies innovations Elimination of international trade barriers An untapped market need Threats Unfavorable changes in external environment may pose threat to the organization. Some of them are as follows: Consumers shift to different brand Arrival of substitutes Strict regulations Growing trade barriers 1.4 PEST Analysis of HSBC 1. Political Factors This exercise dissects the political, governmental, and legal aspects of a particular business. Both local and global environments are studied because federal, state, local, and foreign governments are major regulators, deregulators, subsidizers, employers. 2. Economic Factors Economic analysis, a comprehensive study of national, regional, and global economic performance and trends, represents a highly important phase of strategy development for planned, start-up, and growing businesses 3. Social Factors The social component of strategic analysis relates to assessing the social, cultural, demographic, and environmental profiles of addressable markets. 4. Technological Factors Technology is a business enabler that has revolutionary impact on the actual conduct of business. It contributes to achieving desired business productivity and efficiency. Technology is one of the key drivers of modern business firm. As an international organization HSBC try to adopt modern technology always. So this will give preference to the firm. 2.1 History of Bank Industry The history of banking begins with the first prototype banks of merchants of the ancient world, which made grain loans to farmers and traders who carried goods between cities. This began around 2000 BC in Assyria and Babylonia. Later, in ancient Greece and during the Roman Empire, lenders based in temples made loans and added two important innovations: they accepted deposits and changed money. Archaeology from this period in ancient China and India also shows evidence of money lending activity(Peter Garber, 2001). Banking, in the modern sense of the word, can be traced to medieval and early Renaissance Italy, to the rich cities in the north such as Florence, Venice and Genoa. Perhaps the most famous Italian bank was the Medici bank, established by Giovanni Medici in 1397. The development of banking spread from northern Italy through Europe and a number of important innovations took place in Amsterdam during the Dutch Republic in the 16th century and in London in the 17th century. The financial crisis of 2007-2008 caused many bank failures, including some of the worlds largest banks, and provoked much debate about bank regulation. In the Late-2000s financial crisis caused significant stress on banks around the world. The failure of a large number of major banks resulted in government bail-outs. The collapse and fire sale of Bear Stearns to JP Morgan Chase in March 2008 and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September that same year led to a credit crunch and global banking crises (Jean-Charles Rochet, 2008). In response governments around the world bailed-out, nationalized or arranged fire sales for a large number of major banks. These events spawned the term too big to fail and resulted in a lot of discussion about the moral hazard of these actions. 2.2 The Extent of Globalization and Current Internal Issues According to Modelski, globalization is a historical process which is characterized by a growing engagement between peoples on all corners of the globe (Modelski, 2003, pp.55-59). However, as Heywood points out, it can refer to various things such as processes, policies, strategies, an occurrence or an ideology. He suggests, its elusive meaning lays in the fact that it is not so much and it as a team (2007, p.143). The reason for the elusiveness of the term is that, as Heywood pints out, it involves many different facets which many different academics proclaim as its defining features. This provides the best summary of what globalization is and what it involves; however, different perspectives on globalization view these processes in different ways and provide competing explanations of their significance. The first of these to be outlined is the hyper globalist perspective (Held, D. and McGrew, A. (2003). Each perspective differs however on how the globalization process impacts on politics. The hyper globalists argue that globalization is leading the world into a period which will see the end of the nation state and the emergence of a global governance system. The transformation lists on the other hand reject this idea, and instead claim that the nation state is still relevant in a globalised world, but needs to adapt to the challenges that the increasing flows of capital and culture impose. On the issue of cultural flows there is again divergence amongst the perspectives. For hyper globalists, the path towards a homogenous world culture is inevitable as globalization develops. For transformation lists, the process of globalization is creating a world community of diverse cultures whilst for the skeptics, cultural interaction and integration is nothing new. On the question on the extent the world is actually globalised, there is also agreement and disagreement (Peter Garber, 2001). For both the hyper globalists and the transformation lists, the contemporary world is more globalised than ever before, with economics, politics and culture never more connected than in this age of mass media, internet and rapid communication. Globalization, they argue, has touched every corner of the globe, and will continue on that trajectory into the future. For the skeptics however, the world is not actually globalised but is instead regionalized. To back up this claim, they point to the massive inequalities between countries in the western world, and those in the developing world. 2.3 The International Markets In Which It Operates HSBCs International Network The HSBC Groups international network comprises of some 7,000 offices in 80 countries. A brief list is presented below: Fig 2: HSBCs International Networks Country Classifications To ensure that the key resources (management time, capital, human resources and information technology) are correctly allocated and that the exchange of best practice is accelerated between entities, the group has classified the countries where it operates into 3 categories: the large, the major and the international. These classifications are a function of sustainable, attributable earnings, the number of retail clients, balance sheet and size of operation. A brief presentation of this classification is shown below: Figure 3: Map of HSBCs Country Classifications Large: United Kingdom, USA and Hong Kong SAR/Mainland China. Definition More than one million personal clients Sustainable earnings greater than US$ 200 million Business Focus Concentrated group resources on wealth management Be a top 10 player in any market or region served Develop cross selling, loyalty programs and value added products. Major: Argentina, Canada, Malaysia, India, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore and United Arab Emirates. Definition Sustainable earnings between US$ 100 200 million Business Focus Universal banks (personal, corporate, and investment banking with domestic business) Platforms for international group business Next generation of large companies Stable self funding entities Onshore HQ International: The rest of the world Definition Æ’ËÅ" Earnings below US$ 100 million Business Focus Platforms for international group business Limited domestic presence Nursery for developing management Tomorrows major businesses Supported by offshore HQ Banks under the HSBC Group Many of the members have changed their name into HSBC, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited to introduce the whole group under one brand name. Midland Bank HSBC Holdings acquired Midland Bank one of the principal UK clearing banks in 1992. Headquartered in London, the bank has a personal customer base of five and a half million, business customers of over half a million, and a network of almost 1,700 branches in the United Kingdom. Midland has offices in 28 countries and territories, principally in continental Europe, with a number of offices in Latin America. Hang Seng Bank Hang Seng Bank, in which Hongkong Bank has a 62.1% equity interest, maintains a network of 146 branches in the Hong Kong SAR, where it is the second largest locally incorporated bank after Hongkong Bank. Hang Seng Bank also has a branch in Singapore and two branches and two representative offices in China. Marine Midland Bank Marine Midland Bank headquartered in Buffalo, New York, has 380 banking locations statewide. The bank serves over two million personal customers and 120,000 commercial and institutional customers in New York State and, in selected businesses, throughout the United States. Hongkong Bank of Canada Hongkong Bank of Canada is the largest foreign-owned bank in Canada and the countrys seventh-largest bank. With headquarters in Vancouver, it has 116 branches across Canada and two branches in the western United States. Banco HSBC Bamerindus Banco HSBC Bamerindus was established in Brazil in 1997. The bank has network of some 1,900 branches and sub-branches, the second largest in Brazil. Hongkong Bank Malaysia Hongkong Bank Malaysia is the largest foreign-owned bank in Malaysia and the countrys fifth-largest bank, with 36 branches. The British Bank of the Middle East (British Bank) The British Bank of the Middle East (British Bank) is the largest and most widely represented international bank in the Middle East, with 31 branches throughout the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian Autonomous Area, including an offshore banking unit in Bahrain. The bank also has branches in Mumbai and Trivandrum, India, and Baku, Azerbaijan, as well as private banking operations in London and Geneva. HSBC Banco Roberts HSBC Banco Roberts was acquired in 1997. Based in Buenos Aires, it is one of Argentinas largest privately owned banks, with 60 branches throughout the country. Hongkong Bank of Australia Hongkong Bank of Australia has 16 branches across Australia. It is the flagship of the HSBC Groups businesses there, operating under the name HSBC Australia, and providing a complete range of financial services. The Saudi British Bank The Saudi British Bank, a 40%-owned member of the HSBC Group, has 63 branches throughout Saudi Arabia and a branch in London. Figure 1: Banks under the HSBC Group Other associated Group banks are British Arab Commercial Bank, The Cyprus Popular Bank and Egyptian British Bank. Customer Segments of HSBC Group Personal Financial Services HSBC provides a full range of personal financial services, including current and savings account, mortgages, insurance, credit cards, loans, pensions and investments. In 2000, residential mortgages across the Group excluding Household grew by 15%, while non-mortgage personal lending increased by over 20%. Credit cards in issue grew by 20% worldwide. Sales of repayment protection insurance and deposit growth reached record levels. Current account balances in the UK exceeded  £ 10 billion for the first time at year-end 2000. The number of customers registered for e-banking services via the internet and telephone more than trebled in 2000. The internet generated sales of over 2.3 million products and 87 million transactions. Consumer Finance Through Household International, Inc., HSBC is now a major provider of consumer finance and a top 10 issuer of credit cards in the USA. Household provides consumer loans, credit cards, vehicle finance, mortgage financing and credit insurance to middle America. During 2004, Household achieved good organic loan growth, which it supplemented with portfolio acquisitions. The strongest growth was in the real estate portfolio and the mortgage services business, and also in branch-based consumer lending. Synergy benefits with HSBC included store cards and point-of-sale financing. Commercial Banking The provision of services to small and medium-sized enterprises around the world is core strength of HSBC. During 2000, HSBC increased its leading position in the UK business start-up market to 21% and attracted record levels of business current and deposit account balances. Business internet banking was offered in 20 countries and territories, and the number of registered users more than doubled to 600,000. Money transmission revenues, trade finance fees, wealth, savings and insurance products all showing growth during 2000. Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets This customer group comprises four main business lines Corporate and Institutional Banking, Global Investment Banking, Global Markets and Global Transaction Banking which focus on long-term relationships with major international corporations and institutions. Record results were achieved in 2000. The Global Markets business excelled, particularly in international debt issuance, risk management and structured products, and foreign exchange. Global Investment Banking was entrusted with a number of landmark deals in capital restructuring, corporate reorganization and strategic advice. Private Banking This customer group provides world-class financial services to high net worth individuals and their families. In 2000, Private Banking posted improved financial results in all regions, led by Asia, which had a record year. New business initiatives and a general improvement in investment markets led to increased client activity across a range of products. An increase in discretionary mandates, together with a strong demand for client-tailored structured products, contributed to higher fee revenues and dealing income. Funds under management grew by 18%, reflecting both net inflows of client assets and improving market conditions. 2.4 The Impact of Globalization on HSBC Corporate banking is the most profitable segment of HSBC, since it has globally recognized brand name and it has competitive advantage in international trade and finance. But the nature of competition in financial service is changing dramatically. Most competitive advantages are not creating long-term benefits and at best are temporarily improving yesterdays business. From the study it seemed to me that personal financial products of HSBC are mainly basic since it is less focused. Using the brand name and widening the personal financial product range, HSBC bank has the potential to become the leader in consumer banking market of the country. So, the concerned department should formulate strategy and policies to compete better with the challenging opportunities of the future. 3.1 Moral and ethical questions As an international organization HSBC sometimes faces some problems in different geographical location. This problem is the moral and ethical question. The bank operates in different conservative countries. The sociological limitations of these countries make some ethical dilemma for the bank. The bank always tries to involve with different corporate social affairs. So their different strategies sometimes have a little conflict with the existing ethical framework of those countries. 3.2 Conflicts When the bank started the journey in Africa in had to face a lot of problems in operation. Because the people of Africa have different social values and culture. So the bank had to gradually cope up with the existing culture. The climate change of Africa also made some problems. The general business policy had to change due to the conflict of the existing sociological forces. Though the bank is still changing their policy but still now there have some ethical and moral conflict. The anti-globalism policy of some countries makes the conflict with the globalized policy of the bank. 3.3 Legislation Corporate social responsibility is the one of the key marketing policy of HSBC. The banks main focus is to involve with more international corporate affairs by means of CSR. This planning has the impact on global marketing. But the corporate social responsibility issue is not always smooth in all in the countries. Different countries and region have some legislation and bindings in regulations relating to corporate social responsibility. In Asia the business policy sometimes faces some legislative obstacles and the bank have to face some problems in operations. Conclusion During the Second World War the bank was forced to close many branches and its head office was temporarily moved to London. However, after the war the bank played a key role in the reconstruction of the Hong Kong economy and began to further diversify the geographical spread of the bank. The post-war political and economic changes in the world forced the bank to analyze its strategy for continued growth in the 1950s. The bank diversified both its business and its geographical spread through acquisitions and alliances. This strategy culminated in 1992 with one of the largest bank acquisitions in history when HSBC Holdings acquired the UKs Midland Bank plc (now called HSBC Bank plc). However, it remained committed to its historical markets and played an important part in the reconstruction of Hong Kong where its branch network continued to expand. HSBC understands that there are many challenges facing todays youth as they prepare to engage in the increasingly changing and complex aspects of the real world. Recognizing the importance of educating, inspiring and equipping youth of all backgrounds to succeed in a global economy, we began a partnership with Junior Achievement USA (Junior Achievement) in 1942. We expanded this partnership to launch a global initiative in 2006 and began working with JA Worldwide.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey :: rastafarianism, reggae music

Marcus Mosiah Garvey was a powerful black revolutionary and race leader who influenced a great many people in his time and continues to do so through reggae music. Many of Marcus Garvey's lessons and ideals have found a voice in the lyrics of conscious reggae musicians past and present. From internationally famous musicians such as Bob Marley and Burning Spear, to the music and words of The Rastafari Elders, reggae musicians have found inspiration in Marcus Garvey. For many reggae musicians, their work is about more than music, it is a tool for teaching the masses. Peter Tosh at a concert in California told the audience the reason why he was there."Don't think I come here for entertainment. I and I come to flash lightening, earthquake, and thunder in these places of destruction and unrighteousness."2 Tosh and many musicians like him are taking reggae to a higher level, one where the musicians are prophets of Garvey and Rasta. Much of the teachings of reggae are based on a Rastafarian view, as this is the religion of many of the conscious reggae musicians that preach the Garvey message. Rastafarianism owes a lot to Marcus Garvey, as he is credited as the founder. The religion was born on the words"Look to Africa for the crowning of a Black king."3 They waited and in 1930, the prophecy was fulfilled when, Ras Tafari Mekonnen was crowned emperor of Ethiopia and took the name Haile Selassie. Working from the bible and their own interpretations of it, the Rastafarians found evidence to support their claim and a religion was born. Marcus Garvey is considered part of the Rastafari Trinity, and"is second only to Haile Selassie,"4 the Rastafari God. Whether singing directly about Marcus Mosiah Garvey, or about Rastafarianism, reggae musicians are helping to spread the teachings of this black prophet and revolutionary to millions of music listeners all over the world. Marcus Garvey was born in 1887 in the St. Ann's Parish in Jamaica. He came from a large, poor family and due to lack of money, when he was fourteen Garvey left school and became a printer's apprentice. By the age of eighteen he had become a master printer. Garvey had always been a quick learner and when he became the foreman of a printing company in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica,"he continued his education by reading extensively, taking advantage of the company library."5 However, Marcus Garvey's political feelings soon got in the way when the workers went on strike in 1909.

Significant Moment

I sighed and leaned back into my seat. It made a squeaky noise. I had just been given as assignment where I needed to write about a person who had made a great influence in my life. As I sat silently and listened in my seat, my mind went racing to the past, searching for ideas and digging up precious memories. It had been years since I looked back at those memories but I still remember them. By the end of class that day, I had already decided on whom to write about. I remember that momentous time in my life like it was yesterday. Two years ago on a hot Wednesday afternoon on the month of August, as I was walking home from school, I kept replaying the earlier events of the day in my mind. I was not having a good day. That day during speech class, I failed my first oral presentation. I either could not stop stuttering or talked extremely fast. I was so nervous it felt as if my gut was about to turn itself inside out. Instead of trying to finish my speech, I went back to my seat and glued my head to my desk for the rest of the day. I was utterly convinced that I just couldn’t do it. It took me about at least thirty minutes to get home. By the time I arrived, I was covered in sweat and despite my exhaustion, I was also stressing about possible ways to make up for my last failure. I tried to shake away the thought as I pushed open the front door. Instantly, I knew that my grandfather was in the kitchen. The cool air that was being dispersed by the ceiling fan was mixed the sweet, soothing aroma of my grandfather’s home-made pancakes and freshly brewed coffee. As much as I wanted some of those delicious pancakes, I wanted more to just lock myself in my room and bury my head in my pillow. I attempted to tiptoe through the living room pass the kitchen and run to my room but he greeted me with a voice so understanding that I found myself seated at the kitchen table without even thinking about it. After he had set the pancakes on the table, he pulled up a chair across me, sat down and put his eyeglasses on. For a man of his age, he always seemed younger than he really is. He wore his usual clothing, the kind he wears on hot days. His Hawaiian shirt would always have the first three buttons unbuttoned. Along with that, he had on his favorite pair of white shorts. Sometimes, I even wonder if he had been a surfer. He took a sip from his coffee mug and went back to his puzzle book. I took advantage of the silent moment to eat a few pancakes. I hated disappointing him so I decided not to tell him about speech class. After I hastily stuffed myself with eight delicious pancakes and two glasses of iced tea, I stood up slowly making an effort to leave. However, a single question came from him asking if something was wrong made me want to tell him everything not because I expected him to tell me it was ok, but because I felt guilty not telling him. His voice was also so promising that I knew that he would understand. I sat down in the chair I sat in earlier so that I faced him. After taking four deep, cleansing breaths and centered myself, I told him everything. He was a great listener. Throughout the course of my explanation, he eventually nodded and sometimes responded with â€Å"I understand. After I had told him everything, I held my breath and waited for his response. He was quiet for what seemed like a very long time. My forehead started beading up with sweat. I was afraid he might scold me for being nervous in front of a class of only fifteen students. I was also worried about what he might say about my latest â€Å"F† that I received because of my lack of confidence in myself. I was on the verge of panic when he fina lly spoke. I was surprised when he laughed. He literally laughed as if I had told him a very funny joke. Instead of getting angry or disappointed, he patted me on the shoulder and smiled at me reassuringly. He held my hand and told me that I reminded him of himself when he was young. He went through similar situations. It was almost impossible for me to believe that. How can he, the first speaker of the Federated States of Micronesia and the senior pastor of our church, who always touched the hearts of many through simple words, have the same issues as I? He told me that every time he gave a speech or a message, he was always nervous. He told me that no matter how nervous he felt or how much he believed he couldn’t do it, he would always try again. He gave it his all. He kept doing it until he overcame his lack of confidence. No matter how much he wanted to give up, he just kept pushing until he had full faith and trust in himself. Hearing this, especially from him, whom I respect the most, I promised myself that I will always be persistent in all that I do and try my best to gain self-confidence. His words motivated me and made me see that I already had the persistence and the confidence that I needed. All I needed to do was believe I could do it. Looking back to that significant moment in my life, I realized that without the encouragement given to me by my grandfather, I do not think I would be as confident and as persistent as I am today. That day he had helped me become more persistent and more confident. That moment will always be forever branded into my memories as one of the most precious ones. Even though the time we spent talking was for a small amount of time, it made a big difference in my life. I am thankful for having B****** H**** as my mentor and most importantly, as my grandfather.