Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and 7 General Codes of Conduct Essay

Since the adherence to international social standards has become a mandatory requirement in the international business arena, the local suppliers have to be compliant to these standards in order to remain in business. There have been some significant revisions to the Bangladesh Labor Law in 2006. This newly revised law already covers a lot of the common standards like employment conditions, occupational health and safety issues as well as the ILO core labor standards. Besides being complaint to the national labor law, the suppliers must also adhere to the international standards. These international standards may be defined through their individual buyers’ codes of conduct or general codes of the conduct. Compliance to the buyers’ codes of conduct is mandatory but compliance to the general codes of conduct is optional unless the buyer accepts a specific general code as a substitute for its own audits or requirements. These voluntary monitoring or verification initiatives have taken root since the 1990s to add legitimacy and credibility to companies’ social and environmental compliance programs. The comparative analysis shows that the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 significantly covers majority of the requirements of the different general codes of conduct. This indicates that if a factory is 100% compliant to the national law, it will cover approximately 85% of the requirements of the other general codes of conduct. Hence RMG factories should be encouraged to improve their compliance with the national law as a first step towards meeting the compliance demands of the brands and retailers who they supply to. The analysis does reveal that a few requirements are not fully or partially covered by the national labor law. It should be noted that the components which are not fully covered by the Bangladesh Labor Law are either covered by the Bangladesh Constitution or are not directly applicable in the Bangladesh context. This study clearly reveals that the revised Bangladesh Labor Law along with other supporting national legislations such as the Bangladesh Building Code and the Environmental Conservation Rules as well as the overall constitutional framework of Bangladesh, provides a comprehensive guideline for factories in the RMG sector to comply with majority of all international social compliance and environmental standards. By being 100% compliant with the national labor law, a supplier has significantly met majority of the international requirements. The Bangladesh Labor Law has gone through some majority revisions in 2006 which has made it into a strong piece of legislation. However, it is not still 100% perfect. There are still few gaps and lackings which need to be adjusted and amended in the future. As implementation of the revised law is ongoing, numerous other deficiencies might gradually be identified over time. Since recent revisions just took place, another series of revisions are not anticipated in the near future. This comparative analysis of the newly revised Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct clearly illustrates where the commonalities and differences are. Overall, the recent revisions to the Bangladesh Labor Law and other national legislations that are associated with the RMG sector such as the Bangladesh Building Code and the Environmental Conservation Rules jointly provide comprehensive guidelines for RMG suppliers to manufacture and export products under socially and environmentally responsible working conditions which also meet majority of all prevailing international standards. 2. 1 General Codes of Conduct Definition of Codes The interest in the social situation of workers in developing countries has increased constantly over the last years in particular under civil societies and consumers in the industrialized countries. Social criteria have become an important part of consumer and investment decisions of individuals and organizations and therefore also big brands and retailers become more aware of compliance to social standards. Since Bangladesh is part of 1 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct he global market social compliance is extremely relevant for the export-oriented industry of Bangladesh, especially for the RMG sector. For competitiveness in the global markets, the compliance with environmental and social standards is a key point. Through modern information and communication technologies the economic activity of companies becomes increasingly transparent and makes it easier for the civil society to uncover and communicate social and ecological failure of multinational companies. Companies know about the vulnerability of their brand names and messages concerning bad working conditions can easily damage their image as well as the market position. A social responsible management policy is therefore in the long-term interest of the enterprise. However companies can have a positive influence on the economic development in the target countries through the introduction of social standards and on the same time improve their image and market share through social and ecologically responsible behavior. To address these issues voluntary monitoring or verification initiatives have taken root since the 1990s to add legitimacy and credibility to companies’ labor compliance programs. They are all voluntary, meaning that companies opt to participate in them. Each requires member companies to adopt its respective workplace code of conduct and verifies that they have complied with organizational requirements. Today, some industries have developed or are developing codes for the entire industry. That can be best seen for the apparel and footwear sector. General Codes of Conduct as well as buyers’ codes are very common in this industry. These codes of conduct are rules, which companies impose upon themselves in order to embody social and ecological goals in the enterprise. Companies formulate these rules mostly for itself and partly also for the suppliers and orient themselves with the formulation at the international regulations and agreements already mentioned. Codes of conducts may also be recognized as useful instruments to build on the companies’ image. A lot of companies are participating in this initiatives to show their interests in improving the working conditions of their business partners/suppliers across the global. Fair trade and buying practices are a competitive advantage for many businesses. The codes show their commitment to this process. Codes of conduct may be developed through a multistakeholder approach such as ETI etc. or companies may have their own codes of conduct which are specific for their suppliers or codes could be sector specific such as for garments, food, electronics etc. 2. 2 Basis of codes Social compliance can be measured in relation to a certain standard. Concerning environmental and quality management a multiplicity of standards and certification systems already exist. The introduction of examinable social standards represents however a new challenge. Internationally recognized social standards exist, e. g. ? United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN Convention on Children’s Rights UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women ? ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work ? Rio Declaration on Environment and Development However these are guidelines and recommendations which can be converted voluntarily. Standards that can be certified only exist to a small extent. Most of the codes refer to these mentioned international standards, especially the ILO core labor standards. The ILO formulates international standards in the form of conventions and recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labor rights: Freedom of association The right to organize 2 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct Collective bargaining Abolition of forced labor Equality of opportunity and treatment Besides the above mentioned standards, there are other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of the work related issues. These principles are concretized in eight ILO conventions, in each case two for the four fundamental principles mentioned (see table 1). The ILO conventions are obligatory only if they are ratified by the member states. The entire number of the ratifications increased in the last years noticeably and varies – depending upon convention – in the order of magnitude between 148 and 172. Until July 2007, 128 countries had ratified all eight conventions. Bangladesh has ratified seven out of the eight core conventions. Table 1: ILO Core-Conventions and ratifications in Bangladesh1 Standard Freedom of association and bargaining Elimination of forced and compulsory labor Elimination of discrimination Abolition of child labor Convention Convention 87 (Freedom of association) Convention 98 (Right to organize; collective bargaining) Convention 29 (Forced labor) Convention 105 (Abolition of forced labor) Convention 100 (equal remuneration) Convention 111 (employment and occupation) Convention 138 (Minimum age) Convention 182 (worst forms of child labor) Ratification Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Codes of practice develop frequently from public pressure or are preventively developed. In addition to the mentioned core labor standards these codes include general working conditions like occupational health and safety, minimum wages, leave days and working hours. Other common aspects include women’s rights or environmental standards. Also the implementation of a management system can be a requirement. 2. 3 How codes evolved The overall aim of social standards is to protect the workers. During the industrialization in Europe they evolved as a reaction to bad working conditions in the newly emerging factories. The depletion of large parts of the workforce moved child labor, forced labor, freedom of association and collective bargaining as well as women’s rights in the centre of public attention. Socially responsible behavior – this means also ecologically responsible behavior – has its starting point predominantly in the developed industrialized countries. The observance of social standards must be further supervised also in these countries. The by far larger action needs lie however in developing and emerging countries. Through the increasing world-wide division of labor large parts of the production chain are located in developing countries which have deficits with the observance of social standards. While working abroad companies are supposed to be compliant to the legal regulations. In developing and emerging countries legal regulations do not always correspond to the domestic standards of the companies. So it can be difficult for companies to combine national legislation and generally recognized basic values. Even if the legislation in developing and emerging countries corresponds to the standards of the industrialized countries there are deficits in monitoring and implementation of the standards. 1 Refer to the ILO website: http://www. ilo. org/ilolex/english/docs/declworld. htm. 3 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct However an internationally defined and recognized social standard does not exist. Thus different stakeholder came up with the idea of codes of conduct to verify the compliance to international social standards. Social standards are extremely important in an industrialized world. Nowadays due to financial benefits, most companies outsource their production to developing countries where compliance to social standards is not as important. The problem is that consumers and respective governments ask for socially responsible behavior and working conditions and often the suppliers and governments of the developing countries cannot enforce or ensure compliance to these international standards. This issue has become a concern for the companies located in Europe and the USA and hence the companies came up with formulating codes of conduct which their suppliers have to adhere to if they want to do business with them. Companies started off by developing their own codes of conduct. Then gradually as the codes evolved, many companies teamed up with NGOs, trade unions, academia etc. to formulate common codes of conduct. Most general codes of conduct were developed with this multistakeholder approach. 2. 4 †¢ Classification of codes epending upon the standards they contain (all codes have similar requirements but differ in the definitions/design and some have also additional requirements e. g. waste management or anti-bribery policy); depending upon which organization or institution introduced the code and who controls the observance (companies, enterprise federations, trade unions, NGOs, management consultations or testing institutes); depending upon their members and their prevalence. Within these four categories subjects were identified as well as indicators to measure the implementation and coverage of the subjects. The indicators were selected according to the most common aspects of the general codes as well as the Bangladesh Labor Law. 2 Please refer to Annex I for a broad overview on the general codes of conduct. 4 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct Subjects of Codes of Conduct ILO Core Labor Standards Employment Conditions Occupational Health and safety

The Hunger Games vs. Gladiatorial Games

The Huger Games The Hunger Games is a game, that occurs annually and it is set up by the ruling Capitol to show the other 12 districts of Panem that the Capitol owns them and that they are in-charge and it also serves as a merciless reminder to the price of rebellion against the Capitol. The hunger games consist of twenty-four teenagers, a male and a female from each twelve districts and they range in ages of twelve to eighteen. They are put in an arena, that differs every year and they have to battle each other in a gruesome combat until there is one sole survivor that will be declared as victors.The film surrounds the sixteen year old protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. The story goes on as she volunteered to be a tribute on behalf of her little sister. Once in the game her and Peeta Mellark played a role of star crossed lovers to woe and get sponsors for the games. And at the end they were held victors of the 74th Hunger games. The Roman Gladiators The Roman Gladiator games is held mul tiple times throughout a year at festivals, funerals etc†¦ in 80 AD, Titus the emperor at that time opened the Coliseum with a hundred days of games and one of those days 3000 gladiators fought and on the other 9000 animals were killed.The games in fact served a number of purposes in roman society, including the education of roman values and virtues and even as a means of social control. Since Rome was a highly militaristic society, its citizens valued the art of killing in a way we would simply would find hard to understand. These public executions were a gruesome reminder to non-combatants, fellow citizens or subjects, that vengeance would be exacted if they betrayed their country, rebelled or were convicted of serious crimes.So in some sense the games helped preserve order within the city. Influence of Roman gladiators to the film/novel the Hunger games The chief manner in which ancient Roman leaders won the favour of the public was by doling out â€Å"bread and circusesâ⠂¬  (Latin â€Å"panem et circenses†) a phrase coined by the satirist Juvenal, to describe a practice that began in the late years of the Roman republic and that eventually symbolized the decline of Roman civic virtue. Even the country of Panem's name has its roots from the thematically significant Latin phrase.The â€Å"bread and circuses† consisted of huge handouts of grain to the public and the staging of massive, costly games that could last for weeks and slaughter thousands of animals (human gladiators were more rarely killed than is popularly imagined). In other words, give the people nourishment and entertainment and they'll overlook a little harmless oppression. As with the tributes in The Hunger Games, the Roman gladiators who fought in the arena generally had no choice as to whether or not they fought, since they were often slaves or prisoners of war (though there were volunteers who would fight for fame and fortune).Also, just as the gamemakers in The Hunge r Games introduce animals into the â€Å"arena† through teleportation technology, so in ancient Rome animals were brought into the arena through trap doors or raised up on platforms from the basement below the arena floor. Similarly, Katniss and Peeta's efforts to win over the crowd in order to stay alive are a reminder of the crowd's power in ancient Rome to signal life or death for a gladiator. Spartacus and the Hunger games Spartacus was born a Thracian, who trained in the roman army.During a war, he ran away and later captured by the Romans, as a punishment he was forced to be a slave and He was sold, in 73 B. C. , into the service of Lentulus Batiates, a man who taught at a ludus for gladiators in Capua, 20 miles from Mt. Vesuvius, in Campania. Then Spartacus sparked a rebellion by escaping from the school where he was being trained in Capua. Spartacus and the 70ish men who escaped with him began raiding the lavish country estates of the Roman elite and the slaves belong ing to these estates joined in, creating an army of thousands of slaves.In Hunger games, Katniss and Peeta sparked a rebellion when they defied the Capitol of its rules, buy threatining to eat the poisonous berries that would result with no victors for the games. The story of Spartacus rebellion relates a lot to Katniss’s rebellion, this is because when Katniss and Peeta defied the Capitol they made one district after another join the rebellion and through-out the rebellion they managed to defeat the oppressing Capitol. Tributes are Modern Day Gladiators Gladiators were prisoners of war.The reason that The Hunger Games was created and is still taking place is to remind the people of Panem of the rebellion and just how much control, the capitol has over all the districts. The Hunger Games is basically a war. If the children are reaped they have to go into the arena. They are prisoners of war because once they are reaped or volunteered they cannot go back. They are trapped in t he clutches of the capitol. Or slaves bought for the purpose of gladiatorial combat. The tributes aren’t exactly bought for The Hunger Games, but they are reaped just so they can fight in the games.They’re slaves because they are in control of the Capitol and have to do whatever they are told once in the control of the Capitol. Professional gladiators were free men who volunteered to participate in the games. Katniss volunteered to go into the games when her sister got reaped. If they’re not reaped the children from districts 1 and 2 usually volunteer to become tributes. Whilst they’re not free from the Capitol they are free in their choice. The entertainment took the form of combat, and people called gladiators fought each other to the death.In the Capitol the main entertainment is The Hunger Games. The tributes fight each other to the death until there is one left. The tributes are the gladiators who fought to the death In the Ancient Gladiatorial Games people would fight each other to the death for the entertainment of the public or for money. Before they fought to the death, they would parade themselves around, as if they were celebrities. After that the fighting began. Many of the people came from criminal backgrounds and were forced to fight under order from the emperor.The comparison between Katniss and the olden day Gladiators first comes in play when people volunteer’s themselves. People in the Districts of Panem can put their names more then once into the reaping bowel and in return get some rations. Gladiators who had financial trouble could receive money for just signing up. Katniss, like some of the gladiators volunteered themselves up. Katniss was forced to fight against other citizens of the nations in the attempt to become famous, exactly like the gladiators would. But Katniss isn’t the only gladiator in the Games. Career Tributes (from districts 1 and ) are also a prime example. Like some Romans they h ad been trained in an Academy for most of their lives in hope that they would win and get the fame they believe they believe they rightly deserve. The gladiators had to entertain the audience to get them to like them so they could get a higher respect value to get more supporters (like a rugby team getting for fans). This also happened in the hunger games as Katniss has to get the people of the capitol to like her so she can get sponsors to give her things to help her survive in the fight to death in the arena.In conclusion, the similarities and differences between Panem and the Ancient Roman Gladiatorial Games are quite plentiful. The connections that Suzanne Collins wrote in her book show interesting results when they are compared to the Gladiator Games. Throughout The Hunger Games, there are countless similarities and differences when you compare Panem and the games, such as Roman names, the purpose of the games and the outcome from these games.

Lower Quadrant Sport Injuries - Rehabilitation program for Grade 2+ Essay

Lower Quadrant Sport Injuries - Rehabilitation program for Grade 2+ Adductor Muscle Strain - Essay Example He was afraid to make movements and told the physiotherapist that he had lost his confidence in his ability to return to his previous level of sporting activity. I checked if the groin muscles of the patient were tightened due to the injury. The muscles usually tighten the next day after the strain. The intensity of pain was checked in the groin area where the adductor muscles are located. Swelling and bruising was checked which was present. Then I checked for contraction of adductor muscles by squeezing the legs of the patient together. I was not able to contract his adductor muscles and a gap was felt in the adductor muscles. He felt pain and discomfort on stretching the muscle (Knaniik T., Tones B, Bauman C, et al). Pathophysiology The hip adductor is a group of powerful muscles which acts to pull the legs together. There are five adductor muscles namely: pectineus muscles, brevis muscles and longus muscles (these are the short adductors that go from the pelvis to the thigh bones) , Magnus muscles and Gracilis muscles (these are the long adductors which go from pelvis to the knee). These muscles are innervated by the obturator nerve except pectineus muscle which is innervated by the femoral nerve(L2- L4) and the Magnus adductor is also innervated by the tibial nerve (L4- LS )The groin strain on the hip adductors could rapture any of the muscles. (Fry, Bruce, F. 2009). I informed the patient that he had grade 2 Adductor muscle strain as he had swelling, bruisung and felt pain when it was touched. He was not able to run the way he used to before but could walk with some support till his torn muscles joined again. He was told that it would take four to five weeks for him to return to his sports activity. In grade 1 strain, a person feels mild discomfort, slight tenderness but swelling is not present. In grade 3 strain, a person presents with lots of swelling and in not capable of running or even making slight motions. A groin strain is a partial tear of the sma ll fibers of the adductor muscles. The adductors are a group of three muscles located on the inner side of the thigh. They start in the groin area and run down the inner thigh to attach to the inner side of the knee. http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/frontthigh/adductorinflam.htm Before the start of the treatment I asked the patient to get a MRI scan done for me along with his physician to study the depth of the injury and thus plan the treatment according to the severity of the injury to the muscles. After examining the groin area with the help of X-Rays and movement of the muscles, the footballer was advised ultra sound treatment by ultrasound therapists. Ultrasound Therapy Ultrasound therapies are used by therapists to treat soft tissue injuries. The therapist used ultrasonic waves (sound waves of a high frequency). The waves were then moved over the surface of the skin in the area affected by the injury. A special ultrasound gel was placed on the skin to ens ure maximal contact between the treatment head (the instrument producing the waves) and the surface of the skin. The benefits of ultrasound therapy include reduction of the healing time of the soft tissue injuries. It fastens the normal resolution time of the inflammatory process by gathering more mast cells at the site of injury. The application of ultrasound is not advised immediately after injury as it may cause an increase in blood flow. Increased blood flow is beneficial in the sub-acute phase of tissue injury. Ultrasound treatment is advantageous for patients with strains as it stimulates the production of more collagen which is the main protein component in soft tissue such as tendons and ligaments. This way there is acceleration in the proliferative phase of tissue healing. The treatment through

Solutions to obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Solutions to obesity - Essay Example This essay "Solutions to obesity" describes the problem of obesity, major causes and also focuses on the way how to prevent it. It is imperative to fight the condition of obesity on the priority basis, not only to induce good health but also to prevent the onset of dreaded diseases in the society. Physical ailments are distressing and take away the mental well being of the individual leading to psychological predicaments. Essentially, devising solution to the condition of obesity is the priority to prevent the creation of detrimental, unattractive and pricey society which squanders too much money on excess and processed food. As with time, health care costs are mounting, together with the cost of processed or fatty food awareness should be generated in the mob towards healthy eating. However, there is not a solo and simple solution to obesity epidemic and therefore solution to obesity relies on the combined efforts of states, society, schools and parents by opting healthy food choice for children, youngsters and families. It is essential that school food options for breakfast and lunch are healthy as well as appealing. Introduction of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy foods, whole grains and simultaneous reduction of the access to calorific, high-fat or high sugar containing food items. Using cafeteria to improve awareness for healthy food choice to build an environment where healthy eating is promoted. Seek student input for their eating plans and habits either in the form of discussions, classroom activities or contests.

Dante and The Inferno Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dante and The Inferno - Essay Example hat have the most masterful and creative way in attributing symbolic retribution for the sins are found in the second which is the sin of lust, seventh is the sin of violence and the ninth and last circle which is the sin of treachery. Dante and his friend Virgil found in the second circle people who were __ with lust when they were still alive. To their surprise, they found famous people in history who is wallowing in the second circle of hell. The famous people from history whom they found in the second layer of hell were the adulterers during their lifetime such as Helen of Troy and Cleopatra. They suffered together with the other people in the circle with a strong wind that refuses to abate giving them eternal trouble and without rest. This strong wind is symbolic of the restless sin of lust that made them commit sin during their lifetime and now haunts them as a retribution in afterlife When Dante reached the seventh circle, he found that this pit was filled with people who were violent when they were style alive. Again, he found mythological figures in history in the seventh circle of hell. There he found Dionysius I of Syracuse, Centaurus and others. This circle of hell however differed from the earlier circles because this hell has three sections – outer ring for the killers, middle ring for the suicidal and the inner right for the blasphemers. The retribution to those who are in the outer right is being dipped for all eternity in the river of boiling blood and fire. The retribution for the suicidal are being turned into food to harpies. Those who are in the inner rings are subjected to burning rain while being in a desert. As expected, Dante’s vortex of hell has the most colorful retribution. There he found Judas who betrayed Jesus with a kiss and other biblical figures such as Cain who murdered his son Abel. Again this is divided into Caina, Antenora, Tolomea and Giudecca where the retributions were being immersed in ice as they look

Discussion 9 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Discussion 9 - Essay Example enty, does not have any side effects or emissions and is not going to exhaust for another few million years, scientist are attempting to mimic the process of photosynthesis to generate energy. Artificial photosynthesis was performed in Edinburgh, Scotland (September, 2011) in order to get energy, to meet the escalating demand of energy (Styring, 2012). As photosynthesis is carried out in the plant cells it is difficult to meet the energy requirement of augmenting population. Photovoltaic cells or PV cells or solar cells generate electricity using sunlight as the source of energy. These cells are made up of solar panels to trap solar energy and convert it into electric energy which is utilized for various energy requiring processes. The process is environment friendly but these solar panels have to be modified to generate large amount of energy. Physicists are trying hard to utilize solar energy to its maximum and therefore solar plants are being encouraged where large number of solar panels in wide area are being affixed to trap maximum solar energy to generate electricity. Besides solar panels, solar lighting, solar pumps, solar chargers, solar fans, solar heaters for hot water are created and encouraged to have cost-effective renewable solar energy conversion into different forms of energy such as electrical energy, heat energy etc.("Solar Panels"). Trapping solar energy to generate various forms of energy is another way to imitate the process of photosynthesis. Plants are an inspiration for humans to make maximum use of natural energy source, the solar energy in the most advantageous

Case Study on Toys R US Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case Study on Toys R US Japan - Essay Example The fate of Toys â€Å"R† US Japan is encompassed by issues such as leadership, understanding cultural diversity and implementing effective communication across varying cultures. Toys â€Å"R† US is a market leader in its industry particularly in the United States. Due to this advantage, its potential to expand can be possible across other economies with varying cultural backgrounds. Toys â€Å"R† US eventually made its way in Europe. Amidst contradiction from the start among local counterparts, Toys â€Å"R† US was able to grow and continue to exist in the marketplace in Europe. Its expansion was not achieved overnight. It was able to experience challenges in times that it attempted to carry its strategic formula that it was able to successfully apply in the US retailing industry. In the US, its understanding about the market with customers who are after of the value they can get was able to inspire its discount formula. This made its fortune in the US retailing industry that it also envisioned to be achievable in other foreign markets. Toys â€Å"R† US evaluated the toy market in Japan and the result was promising. In 1991, Japan had higher spending for toys. In fact, it was the world’s second largest market for toys for that year. The case is pointing it out that the good opportunity for toy market in Japan may be due to small number of children within a family and a higher demand for excellence in the academe. Children in Japan are encouraged to be excellent in the academe and a way to motivate them would be to reward them with toys. Furthermore, parents can afford to provide more toys for their children. A less number of children in a family in Japan proved to be an important factor why parents can eventually provide for their children’s needs for almost everything. ... The company was willing to expand and go global. It started in Europe but eventually moved its way to Asia. If finally tried its chances in Japan and created a market evaluation in there at first. One important assessment it made was the interrelation between Japanese culture and its market. According to Hofstede the American culture emphasizes competition while Japanese culture emphasizes cooperation and harmony (Rainey, 1999). In reality Toys â€Å"R† US having the foundation of an American culture is always aiming to reach its competitive advantage. This is the very reason why it was able to evaluate the Japanese market in great detail. Along the way, it finally saw the importance of understanding precisely the prevailing Japanese retailing industry. Japan culture is known for collectivism while the United States is recognized for its individualism (Rainey, 1999). Toys â€Å"R† US finally was able to understand how the traditional retailing in Japan worked compared w ith the modern retailing strategies in the United States. Marked with certain level of competition and individualism, the Toys â€Å"R† US could hardly enter the Japanese retailing industry which was highly fragmented and ran by long-standing relationships among manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers (Spar, 1999). As stated in the case, Toys â€Å"R† US never took instantly its plunge into Japan’s retailing industry. It was able to familiarize the ongoing market trend in the retailing industry within the Japanese market. Toys â€Å"R† US was able to emphasize the value of understanding how it would market its product offerings and make it fit in the Japanese marketplace. Even though it was marked with full enthusiasm to enter into Japan’s market, Toys â€Å"R† US in the

The Market Business Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Market Business Questions - Essay Example According to the article, the price of eggs has more than tripled and this may have a similar effect on the prices of biscuits. The market for biscuits will be affected in the sense that high prices caused by an increase in the cost of an input will increase the price of biscuits. The demand for biscuits will fall drastically given the fact consumers are price conscious. According to the rule of demand, customers are willing to buy more at fewer prices and buy less at higher prices. This is illustrated by the diagram below: P D P2 P1 D Q2 Q1 Q The sale of biscuits will no longer be lucrative because businesses will be recording low sales volumes. This will result in most of the business closing down such lines of businesses or resort to importing biscuits produced outside the British market. This can be explained by the fact that foreign biscuits are produced cheaply hence less expensive. Textbook economic theory would agree with the statement â€Å"it is no longer about price, it i s about supply.† According to the law of supply, all other factors being equal, as the price of a good or service increases, the quantity of goods or services offered by suppliers increases and vice versa (Altman, 2004, p. 39). Suppliers will be more willing to supply eggs given that they fetch very high prices in the market. This is to maximize profits from the supply of eggs. This is explained in the diagram below: P P2 S P1 S Q1 Q2 Q Q2. A mixed economy is characterized by the presence of both public and private institutions. The two institutions are involved in addressing the needs of consumers and solving economic challenges that may exist in the market. Consumer needs and demands can be addressed adequately when the institutions utilize existing opportunities in making goods and services available in the market. According to principles of economics, scarcity refers to a situation whereby the available resources in an economy are not adequate to meet the needs of the econ omy. This results in consumers having some of their needs unsatisfied. Depending on the demands of consumers, the government has the responsibility of analyzing and determining their level of importance in improving the welfare of the consumers. The government also determines the appropriate procedures to be used in addressing such needs. Opportunity cost can be defined as the cost of a foregone alternative. For instance, the concept opportunity is best illustrated in a situation whereby someone decides to become an entrepreneur after completing college. In such a case, the person gives up the chance of getting fulltime employment and the opportunity cost of his decision to become an entrepreneur is the monthly income and allowances attached to the fulltime job. The two concepts of scarcity and opportunity cost are very important to the government given that the government collects revenues and uses them in running the economy. The government has the responsibility of making sure th at the economy is running smoothly by spending its revenue on essential projects. Government spending should be influenced by a number of factors such as challenges, costs and benefits of such projects. The government needs to develop a list of all the projects it intends to put in place and determine their relevance to the economy (Cassel, 2002, p. 122). This means that the governme

Compare and contrast the financial systems of two different countries. Use an institutional approach to describe the system. Comment on the impact on, and response to the GFC in each country Essay Example for Free

Compare and contrast the financial systems of two different countries. Use an institutional approach to describe the system. Comment on the impact on, and response to the GFC in each country Essay 1.0 Introduction A financial system inquires for efficient allocation of resources among the surplus and deficit units (Viney 2009) as such it encourages more savings where funds are provided for investor to invest and also ease the transactions for goods and services (Viney 2009). There are three main components in the financial systems which are the financial institutions, financial instruments and financial markets. All three types of financial system each carry different function, roles and regulations. However, financial institutions will be mainly focus in this research essay. Global Financial Crisis (GFC), also known as the ‘great recession’ occurs in the year of approximately 2007-08. GFC has caused a several impact on the economy which leads to a several collapse of the financial institutions. For instance, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, one of the major investment banks in US (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). Thus, the objective of this essay is to examine both financial system of the chosen countries which are United States and Australia, also the impacts and responses on the GFC in both of the chosen countries. 2.0 Compare and Contrast both Financial Systems 2.1 Central Bank The central bank of the United States (U.S.) is known as Federal Reserve System (FED) whereas the central bank of Australia is known as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The Federal Reserve System’s structure consist of the Board of Governors which are duly appointed by the president, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks located throughout the major states in the country (The Federal Reserve Board 2003). Banking in U.S. is regulated at both federal and state level. Unlike U.S., Australia has only one central bank which is the Reserve Bank of Australia. However, both central banks are independent within their government (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001) whereby for FED, the monetary policies decisions do not have to go through the President’s authorization, and for RBA, they have statutory authority established by an act of parliament which grants them  specific powers and obligations to carry out necessary policies (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). On the other hand, RBA has two board, which are the reserve bank board and payment systems board (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). The reserve bank board is responsible for monetary and banking policy whereas the payment systems board is responsible for controlling risk in the financial system, promoting the efficiency of the payments system, and promoting competition in the market for payment services, consistent with the overall stability of the financial system (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). The role of FED is to conduct the country’s monetary policy, which includes full employment, stable prices and moderate long term interest rates as stated in the Federal Reserve Act (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2008). Furthermore, they maintain the stability of the financial system, supervise and regulate banking institutions, provide financial services to depository institutions, and foreign official institutions. FOMC will determine the cost and availability of money and credit in the country’s economy by affecting the discount rate, reserve requirements and controlling the open market operations (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2012). Likewise, the role of RBA is to conduct monetary policy as well, which includes the maintenance of price stability, full employment and the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian citizens (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). Besides that, they also set the cash rate to meet a medium term inflation target (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). Moreover, RBA must maintain a strong financial system and efficient payments system and the issuing of the nation’s bank notes. Selected banking services are provided to the Australian government, agencies, official institutions, and a number of overseas central banks (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). 2.2 Commercial Bank Commercial banks in the U.S. are quite similar to those of Australia whereby their main role is to act as a financial intermediary by channeling funds from agents who deposit money and lenders who needs fund and wants to borrow. These agents and lenders include households, businesses, governments and foreigners. Australia offer products and services which include balance sheet transactions and off-balance-sheet transactions (Viney 2009). For balance sheet transaction, the first purpose is to loan activity to match the available amount of deposits that they received from customers. This activity is known as assets management (Viney 2009). The second purpose is to manage their sources of funds in order to ensure that they have sufficient amount of funds available to meet the loan demand or any other form of commitments. This activity is known as liabilities management (Viney 2009). For off-balance-sheet transactions, it includes a substantial volume of business that is not recorded either an asset or liability on their balance sheet. In comparison, U.S. obtains their funds (liabilities) by issuing deposits, checking deposits, time deposits, saving deposits (Samolyk 2004). For their use of funds (assets), it includes making commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans, and by buying U.S. government and municipal bonds (Samolyk 2004). Therefore, commercial banks play an important role in funding business borrowers. The percentage of non-financial business borrowing that commercial banks fund on their balance sheets has not declined remarkably in the past five decades or so. The commercial banks in U.S. provide trade financing, foreign exchange, corporate finances and miscellaneous banking services which include currency specified credit cards, corporate checking accounts and lock boxes (Ireland n.d.). Moreover, the existence of commercial banks made reliable transfer of funds between different countries all over the world possible. Furthermore, the distribution of valuable economic and business information among clients around the world is made possible as well (Samolyk 2004). Similarly, there are basically two functions of a commercial bank in Australia. The primary functions are obviously to accept deposits from individuals, and grant loans and advances for personal or corporate purposes. The secondary functions consists of collecting and supplying business information, providing reports on the credit worthiness of customers, standing guarantee on behalf of its customers for making payments for the purchase of goods, vehicles, machinery, and so on. Besides that, they also provide customers with foreign exchange facilities; and they also provide safe deposits vaults or lockers for valuables, important documents and securities. In a nutshell, for both countries, there are several similarities in the roles of commercial banks. Commercial banks promote capital formation whereby they accept deposits from individuals and businesses, whereby these deposits are then made available to the businesses which will make use of them for industrious purposes in the country (Ireland n.d.). Moreover, they also provide short and medium term loans for entrepreneurs to invest in new enterprises or businesses. Furthermore, they also promote trade and industry since they offer the use of bank draft, bill of exchange, check, credit cards and letters of credit. In one way or another, they also influence the level of economic activity by influencing the rate of interest and the availability of credit in the market. Most importantly, they implement the monetary policy proposed by FED or RBA to bring about price stability, full employment and promote economic growth within the country. There are several sources of funds for these commercial banks. The main source would of course be from the current account deposits. However, they do have other sources as well such as demand deposits, term deposits, negotiable certificates of deposits, bills acceptance liabilities, foreign currency liabilities, loan capital and shareholders’ equity. 2.3 Non-bank Financial Institutions 2.3.1 Depository Financial Institution Depository institutions (DPI) act as a financial intermediary similar to a commercial bank, whereby its main task is to accept deposits from surplus units and then issue loans to the deficit units in the financial system (Viney 2009). The main regulator for Australia is Australia Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) whereas for U.S. is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). As for U.S., there are about 9, 000 functional depository financial institutions in the U.S. They operate through 92, 000 branch offices located in different states (Finance Maps of World 2011). Their role is to set a benchmark for DPI in the ground of  commercial banking. The funds that are collected is used to meet the credit need of others (Finance Maps of World 2011). On the other hand, Australia’s DPI consists of three main institutions which are banks, building societies and credit unions (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). There are a total of 171 institutions of which 55 are banks, 11 are building societies and 105 are credit unions (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). 2.3.2 Investment banks and Merchant banks Investment banks and merchant banks primary objective is to collect funds and invest them in the market to achieve specific goals set for different types of investments (Viney 2009). There are generally two types of investment companies which are open-end or closed-end mutual funds. Open-end funds will accept new investment and trade in old ones, whereas for closed-end funds they only accept funds once and then do not take in any additional new funds. Investment companies have recently become more popular among U.S. and Australia, and have managed trillions of dollars. As for U.S. investment banks specialize in facilitating financial transactions rather than just providing finance. They have a good reputation as a financial innovator since their responsibilities includes the improvement of new financial products and services which must meet the ever changing needs of clients (Kumar, Chuppe Perttunen 1997). In contrast, investment banks and merchant banks in Australia are not considered an authorized bank but often referred to as money market corporations (Viney 2009). They do not have a depositor base to include in their assets. Therefore, they raise funds through the issues of securities from the international money and capital markets (Viney 2009). 2.3.3 Contractual savings institutions Contractual saving institutions offer contract that specify, in return for periodic payments to the institutions, and the institutions will make payments to the contract holders if any specified event occurs (Viney 2009). They include general insurance companies and superannuation funds. As for U.S., their insurance companies raise money mainly from the issuance of insurance policies and collecting annual premiums. Some might also borrow from the dept capital markets as an alternative source of funds. For superannuation funds, or more popularly known as pension funds in the U.S., they are funded by the deductions from employees’ monthly salary in addition with certain contribution by the employers (Cohen Schubert 2010). On the contrary, Australia have make it compulsory for their employees to contribute to the superannuation system (Cohen Schubert 2010) whereby for U.S., an estimated 78 million working Americans which include the sole traders, employees who work for small employers or even part timers, do not have access to a retirement fund (Cohen Schubert 2010). For U.S., it has firstly introduced as a beneficial payment of employment whereas for Australia, it was created as a comprehensive system from the start (McLennan 2000). 2.3.4 Finance companies Finance companies and general financiers are basically institutions who provide loans and charter finance to clients by borrowing funds directly from the financial market (Viney 2009). As for U.S., these institutions raise funds in the debt market by issuing securities. Therefore, they raise funds solely by issuing debt or borrowing from other institutions but not taking deposits directly (Samolyk 2004). Similarly for Australia, they raise funds by issuing commercial paper, bonds and medium-term notes (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). 2.3.5 Unit trusts Unit trusts is formed under a trust deed, and is controlled and managed by trustee by selling units to the public as a means to raise funds whereby investors purchase units in the trust (Viney 2009). As for U.S., there are generally two types of unit trusts, one that falls under private management and another that falls under direct state authority. Their role mainly involves traditional banking activities that are related to issuance of loans and deposits. The major difference between private and state authority trust is state authority institutions obtain funds from deposits and through the sale of shares, whereas private institutions operate as an intermediaries by generating finance through providing investment opportunities to clients (Samolyk 2004). Likewise, Australia too has two different types which are public unit trusts and cash management trusts  (Viney 2009). Public unit trusts focus more on gathering investors’ funds and investing it into specific types of assets (Viney 2009). However, for cash management trusts, they focus more on trust deed which are open to the public by confining their investment to financial securities which are accessible through the short-term money market (Viney 2009). 3.0 The impact of GFC 3.1 United States The birth of the global financial crisis begin somewhere in 2008. It all started in early 2006 when the subprime mortgage market in the United States (U.S.) began to reveal an increasing rate of mortgage defaults due to the bursting of the housing bubble (Mishkin 2011). Subsequently, in late 2006, these defaults caused a decline in the U.S. housing prices after about a decade of extremely high growth statistics. Later on, the prime mortgage markets were affected as well and were showing a higher default rates by the end of 2007. Therefore, when the mortgages backing the securities began to fall in value, the value of the securities fell as well (Nielsen 2010). Looking at the fall in price of their assets, investors quickly attempt to liquidate their assets in around late 2007. Consequently, in 2008, a major financial crisis hit U.S. which led to the most severe recession since World War II. The financial crisis in the U.S. economy eventually spread to many foreign nations, affecting the global financial system, resulting in a global financial crisis (Shah 2010). The degree of the global financial crisis was so severe that some of the world’s largest financial institutions have collapsed. U.S. was no exception. History was made when one of the largest investment banks in the world, Lehman Brothers, collapsed in September 2008. Some other institutions have been vehemently bought out by their competitors at a low price, and in some cases, the governments of the richest countries in the world had no choice but to sought an expensive bail out and rescue plan to save some of the remaining large banks and financial institutions (Shah 2010). These were all done at the expense of the US taxpayers. Approximately $9.7 trillion of US taxpayers’ money alone have been spent for bailout packages and plans (Dhameja 2010). According to Bloomberg, $14.5 trillion, or about 33%, of the  value of the world’s companies have been wiped out by the crisis. Therefore, as credit became scarce and seeing an increase in the lack of confidence in the U.S. financial institutions, international banks started to increase the interest rate for inter-bank borrowing, known as the LIBOR (Mishkin 2011). Subsequently, a crash in the US stock market was observed, liquidity drying up, and employees were being laid off which cause an increase in the unemployment line (Dhameja 2010). U.S. was in a state of limbo even after eleven months since the fall of Lehman Brothers. Banks virtually stopped lending to each other. Although several proposals for stimulus packages and some bailout plans have provided some relief, it seems that there was nothing more that could be done to ease the situation (Mishkin 2011). At the same time, smaller businesses hardly had any chances for a bail out or rescue plan and more people went into bankruptcy. Additionally, there was a decline in the US imports from its major trading partners such as the European Union, Mexico and China, due to the slowdown in economic activity (Nanto 2009). Private sectors practically stopped borrowing, trade credit was also hard to obtain, and with continuous falling demand, especially investment goods and manufacturing durables like cars, export volume decreases, foreign GDP fell as well, trade volumes eventually collapsed (Dhameja 2010). Moreover, the risk premium on inter-bank borrowing which used to be close to zero, rose steeply to five per cent. Besides, the risk premium on corporate bonds rose to over six per cent. Although the US government tried to inject liquidity into the financial markets, the damage was already done (Chambers 2010). 3.2 Australia GFC has less effect on Australia as compared to other countries such as US, UK and etc. Most developed countries had suffered recessions where Australia experienced a down turn in the economy (Stevens 2009). However, there is no government’s support required by the financial institutions in such situations like capital injections or the acquisition of distressed loan portfolios (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). The major impact of the GFC has resulted on the loss of confidence in the household sector (Stevens 2009). This is due of the decline in the equity price causes a reduced of the household wealth (The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia 2009). Thus, this leads to an effect of low consumption and investment which resulted to a decline growth of household as they felt insecure about the capacity to spend and borrow (Australian Government n.d.). GFC has also impacted on the unemployment rate which result shown an increase of number that lead to a decrease in the economic growth (Australian Workers’ Union 2009). The part-time employment has increased which balance to a loss of full time jobs where this also effect on the working hours such as the decrease hours in work (Chesters n.d.). Certain demographic groups have been affected by the job loss. For instance, the generation Y (18-24 years) has been affected (Tanton et al. 2010). However, they remain optimistic and relied heavily on the government benefit (Tanton et al. 2010). Moreover, competition in the banking system has also been affected by the GFC (Australian Super Investment Conference 2010) which resulted on harm towards the smaller banks and non-bank intermediaries as compared to the large banks where it leads to an increase in the cost of funds (The Senate 2011). Thus, this has impact on a greater gap between the major banks and other financial institutions (Australian Super Investment Conference 2010). The collapse of the Lehman Brothers, has led to a loss of confidence towards the banks which caused a decrease on the demand for credit (Australian Super Investment Conference 2010). 4.0 The response of GFC 4.1 United States GFC had seriously impacted the United States (U.S.) as compared to other countries such as Australia where it leads to the collapse of one of the major investment banks, Lehman Brothers. Thus, plans had been made by the U.S. government in response to the impact to prevent the situations to worsen. In comparison to Australia, the financial institutions do not need government intervention to assist them such as injection of capital. Unlike U.S., the government intervene where the central banks has purchased the government debt and the troubled asset which cost US$2.5 trillion in order to raise funds in the financial institutions (Halmarick 2009). This has resulted in the largest liquidity injection done by the government. They tried to inject liquidity into banks by buying share of banks, and purchase of convertible bonds of banks, whereby the government will be paid certain amount interest and the government will be given an option to convert these bonds into equity (Nanto 2009). Furthermore, FED tried to reduce the interest rates by cutting the Fed Funds target from 5.0% in September 2007 to an extremely low 0-0.25% as at December 2008. Later on, in March 2009, Fed started a â€Å"Quantitative Easing† policy by agreeing to buy a $300 billion in Treasury bonds (Halmarick 2009). The main purpose is to lower the interest rates across the yield curve and to provide additional funds to the banks. Moreover, US tried to overcome slowdown by stimulus packages of about $10 trillion for banks and guarantees to depositors, and also enhanced public spending (Dhameja 2010). According to Bloomberg, by February 2009, the total US bailout amounted to $9.7 trillion, sufficient to pay off more than 90 per cent of America’s home mortgage and was about 70 per cent of US GDP (Halmarick 2009). In addition, President Obama signed two packages which are the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act worth $787 billion and 5.5% of GDP. The main features include an estimated $285 billion in tax reduction for individuals and businesses, unemployment benefits, extra spending for food stamps, and also health care subsidies for workers that have been laid off (Halmarick 2009). These packages positively aim to generate at least three to four million job opportunities by the end of 2010. Additionally, US tried their best to prevent more banks from failing. The first case was Fed approves financing loans arrangement for J.P. Morgan  Chase to buy over Bear Sterns in March 2008. The second case was government controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac received $146 million to ease their situation. Next, AIG borrowed $85 billion from Fed to prevent them from failing (Halmarick 2009). However, Fed couldn’t do much to save Lehman Brothers from failing and thus they went into bankruptcy in 2008. Therefore, US government aim to strengthen the global financial institution mainly to prevent losses of capital flows due to the impact of GFC to the developing and emerging economy by agreed on the increase of funds (Australian Government n.d.). Besides, government also actively plans to purchase equity from the financial institutions to ensure there is a sufficient liquidity which enable them to conduct activities such as investment, issue loan and deposit and much more. GFC has caused a fall of confidence in the financial institutions. Thus, government had decided to guarantee all senior unsecured debt and also the non-interest bearing transaction deposit account mainly to increase the confidence losses in the financial institutions (Australian Government n.d.). 4.2 Australia Australia had prepared by implementing an effective monetary and fiscal policy in response to the economy when one of the biggest investment bank in United States (US), Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008. This helps to avoid the economy from slowing down and lessen the impact of Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in Australia as compared to other countries such as US, where government responded on the measurement. In order to strengthen the operation of the financial system, government has increase up to $25 billion of the issue of Commonwealth Government Securities(Britton 2008), more choices of assets provided for Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) to invest in, together with a better lending facility of AOFM (Australian Government n.d.). In response to the recommendations of Financial Stability Forum, legislation has been introduced to establish Financial Claims Scheme (Britton 2008)  where the availability of funds is given to the depositors and general insurance policyholders when the financial institutions failed to perform (Australian Government n.d.). Besides, the bank deposits and wholesale funding is guaranteed by the government for a period of 3 years (D’Aloisio 2010). Additionally, the $10.4 billion Economic Security Strategy has been carry on as this helps to strengthen and stabilize the economy (Australian Government n.d.). This aim to provide protection to households and other financial institutions to gain back confidence lost due to GFC (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). Besides, First Home Owners Boost has been introduced mainly to assist the housing sector to stimulate activity which benefits the economy (Australian Government n.d.). The competition in the market of housing finance has been supported by the government through the purchase of the Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) (Australian Government n.d.). However, a total of $840 million has been taken out by RBA from RBMS under a repurchase agreement mainly to ensure there is sufficient liquidity in the market (Britton 2008). The naked and covered of the short sale securities has been ban for a period of 30 days by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) (Helmes et al. 2009). However, a clarification of the allowable covered shares has been issued by the ASIC in concern of the set requirement (Britton 2008). A draft legislation for the covered of short sales has been released by the government and it is open for the public to comment on till 21 October 2008 (Britton 2008). Government initiated the plan of Nation Building and Jobs Plan which cost around $42 billion which was mainly to support the jobs in the country where it supported an estimated of 90,000 jobs (Sherry 2009). This help to decrease the unemployment rate and then boost the economic growth where it encourages more activities and also to increase consumption in the economy (Sherry 2009). 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the global financial crisis (GFC) had brought so much damage not only to U.S. and Australia, but to the entire nations’ financial system globally. Even some of the wealthiest nations saw the collapsed of its financial institutions while some had to undertake an extremely expensive bail-out package. As for U.S. they suffered more severely compared to Australia. This is because the Reserve Bank of Australia has taken measures in advance of the global financial crisis. Thus, they were not as heavily affected as compared to other countries. Therefore, U.S. should learn from Australia by implementing policies ahead of any unexpected crisis to minimize the impact and damage done to their financial system. Evidently, it is better for them to prevent and be prepared rather than solving an issue when the damage has already been done. The policies implemented should include healthy control of the discount rate, reserve requirement and also minimal inflation targeting such as two to three per cent. The right policy implementation will lead to full employment in the country, a healthy level of economic activity and international trades, which will eventually increase the country’s GDP to an optimal and desirable level. 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France and French culture Essay Example for Free

France and French culture Essay Despite the recent backlash against France and French culture in the past few years, as well as there being no shortage of jokes on television and on the radio at the expense at the France, the truth is that if it were not for the French and their involvement during the American Revolution, America would not have gained their independence from Great Britain. This assertion, despite the fact that historians do not like to play the game of â€Å"what if,† the large majority agree on this point. Historians from Gore Vidal, Stephen Ambrose and David McCullough all agree that had it not been for the assistance of France, America would not gave gained their independence. The â€Å"bear† is Great Britain. An aggressive pursuit of imperialism on behalf of Great Britain in the late 18th and throughout the 19th centuries had not been seen since the end of the Roman Empire. The reasons for France’s involvement in the American Revolution might have been more a question of revenge against Britain than the involvement of spreading democracy throughout the world as France itself would experience only 10 years after their initial entrance into the war with their own French Revolution. When the French entered on the side of colonists, the war was going badly in general. There had been a number of victories for the Colonists but America’s only hope that a sustained war, brought on by implementing guerilla tactics would eventually lead to a tiring of the British troops. Also, it was the entire motivatation of the Colonists to get France on their side. Ben Franklin was pressing the French constantly for their help during this time. Also, it was not out of a coincidence that Franklin was chosen and not others since Franklin were adored by the French. Thomas Jefferson also was instrumental as well in getting France involved on the side of the Colonists. It is also not a coincidence that France was being targeted for their help. They, along with Great Britain, were the powers in the world at that time. That is why such a statement as â€Å"Daddy and I killed the Bear† is accurate and correct. The bear is Great Britain. They did not conquer 1/3 of the world by being nice. â€Å"Daddy† is France and the child is America. â€Å"Daddy† is usually the stronger of the two and is more established. He is responsible for the care and well being of the child and helps the child to grow and to mature until eventually, the child exceeds the father in stature, independence and strength. However, the child would not be allowed to grow if not for the effort exerted on the part of the father. A father who neglects his son and does not raise him up in a proper way and the chances increase exponentially, for that child to fail to fully realize his full potential. The very same occurred in this instance and therefore, the aforementioned statement is accurate and carried a great deal of weight and validity.