Friday, January 24, 2020
Daimler Chrysler Merger Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework
Daimler Chrysler Merger Daimler Chrysler is the result of merging Daimler-Benz and the Chrysler Corporation in late 1998. The merger was to be one of the largest on record, and the beginning of a new wave of mergers sweeping through the automotive industry. Although the companies were manufacturing generally similar products, the differences between those products could not be wider. Chrysler was known for a product line consisting of mini-vans, light duty trucks, and four-wheel drive off-road vehicles; Daimler-Benz was known for its luxury brand of Mercedes-Benz vehicles and medium and heavy-duty over-the-road trucks. Merging the two companies entertained the idea of one entity possessing a product line covering nearly every type of wheeled vehicle. Daimler Chrysler’s strategy was to maintain separate brands and images, following its internal book, â€Å"Guidelines for Daimler Chrysler Brand Management.†This book outlined a strategy consistent with a clear separation of Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler brands. No sharing of common platforms, factories, or dealership networks was allowed. In effect, the two companies were to be run as separate entities; even the headquarters were to remain separate. It would appear a strategy consistent with these goals would severely limit any anticipated synergies of the merger. Upon completion of the merger, an industry wide overcapacity existed, and economic conditions suggested a further slowdown in auto sales on the horizon. Medium and heavy-duty truck sales were slowing down, Mercedes-Benz was facing stiff competition from the luxury Japanese car market, Chrysler was experiencing lackluster sales, and clearly, costs needed to be cut. The result was Daimler Chrysler’s announced layoffs of 26,000 employees and the idling of several assembly plants in North America. It became apparent to those outside the organization that the merger was more of a takeover by Daimler-Benz than a â€Å"merger of equals.†Clearly, Daimler-Benz emerged as the leading entity and named many of its executives to the board of directors. Chrysler’s management took a back seat, and the former Chrysler CEO was given a lesser role in the new organization. Since the completion of the merger, Daimler Chrysler stock (DCX) has suffered over a 55% decline. The fundamentals of the company trail i... ...strategic alliances with MMC and Hyundai should allow rapid penetration in the Asian market. The potential synergies, if realized, should allow increased production efficiencies while reducing costs. New product lead-time could be diminished sequentially, allowing an advantage over the competition, while incorporating Daimler-Benz’s engineering facilities with Chrysler should increase Chrysler’s perceived quality without sacrificing Mercedes-Benz’s brand image. Of late, the stock price has suffered more than its peers as investors recognize the lack of synergy if the entities are not combined in at least some capacity. Combining at least some portions of engineering, design, and manufacturing should be attempted, at least on an experimental basis, if any synergies are to be realized. Merging and acquiring companies without exploiting their comparative advantages offers little or no advantages. If Daimler Chrysler is to prosper in this very competitive industry, it should explore all potential comparative and strategic advantages to minimize costs while sharing its core competencies throughout the organization to increase market share and brand recognition.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Children with Down Syndrome Plastic Surgery Essay
Children with Down Syndrome: Plastic Surgery Introduction            Children with Down Syndrome share similar characteristics such as its effects on their facial features. The bandwagon of most children protracts such features as extra skin. As a result, these children have an epicanthi fold that is additional skin on their eyelids inner corners. In addition, they have slanted eye openings rather than the horizontal openings, a feature referred to as slant palpebral tissues. Besides, such children have flattened nasal bridge and may also have downturned lower lip and flat mid-facial zone. Notwithstanding, they may have an open mouth with a protruding tongue. Plastic surgery was proposed in the 1970s as a way to reconfigure their children’s facial features to recover from Down Syndrome. Surgery recoveries for this ailment are categorized into facial reconstruction and tongue surgery. The treatment approach has elicited mixed debate on the parenting and parenting rights. This paper argues that parents of children with Down Syndrome should not subject their children to plastic surgery to make them look more conventional.            To begin with, interventions to change the body of a child may involve use of medicines, surgery or hormones. Conventionally, such interventions inflicted some physical damage to the children and are generally optional (Ameen & Boby, 2013). The procedures to reshape the body of a child are irreversible, invasive and potentially dangerous. Nonetheless, the fact these decisions are made indifferent to therapy needs differentiates them from similar parental decisions that design the child. Indeed, current laws do not consider the difference in these decisions, and therefore, parents can decide to subject their children to various body shaping. Current laws are indifferent to children body shaping decisions although they raise concerns on child rights, parental rights as well as parent obligations.            In the U.S.A for instance, it is constitutionally and in common law embalmed that competent adults decide on their personal medical decisions. These decisions go beyond lifesaving treatment, dangerous cosmetic procedures and election treatment. In this regard, children are not considered as competent adults. Ethicists argue that teenagers and young children should decide on their medical procedures. However, the law vests decision making for teenagers and children on their guardians and parents withy limited restrictions. Therefore, legally, parents are free to decide among different alternatives including plastic surgery to reshape their children.            Obviously, there is much as stake when parents are allowed to subject their children to plastic surgery even when the children have Down Syndrome. Firstly, plastic surgery inflicts physical harm as it involves piercing and cutting of the skin (Ouellette, 2010). Besides, it may entail removal of organs or tissues as well as injection or anesthetizing with hormones. Consequently, the children stand at a risk of suffering cancer, nerve damage, hypertension, diabetes or death in extreme cases. Notwithstanding, such children are likely to suffer from psychological risks associated with injury to identity and stigma. Still, the piercing, cutting and injecting the tender skin of children constitute child abuse.            For ages, plastic surgery was a recipe for austerity and ostensible rich or a requisite recovery treatment for birth deformities and trauma sufferings. However, today, it is an optional cosmetic surgery accessible to people of all economic structures and ages (Ouellette, 2010). In spite of these, this paper is of the opinion that it should be accessible to adults only. For this reason, the researcher does not harbor ill will against plastic surgery for treatment but emphatically reserves it for adults only. Therefore, this is not a grand conceptualization to present a teenage girl for breast implants to rejuvenate her low self esteem. Neither should a teenage boy be subjected to plastic surgery for skin acne scars. Instead, parents should tally for a few more years for them to make these shaping decisions in their adulthood.            Parents of children with Down Syndrome subject their children to plastic surgery to make them look â€Å"more conventional†. To begin with, â€Å"conventional†is a relative word in Down Syndrome vocabulary because most children tend to take after other members of their family (Ameen & Boby, 2013). Therefore, there is nothing unusual. So, conventional is a term used to brandish children with Down Syndrome by their parents to refer to a â€Å"less embarrassing†look. Note that I do not use any particular term for that purpose. As a result, my son and daughter are my children, period! If they have Down Syndrome, they are not normal, weird, and conventional or anything like that like their elder siblings or not. They are my children, period!            Coincidentally, parents subjecting their children to cosmetic surgery claim unconditional love to their children (Ameen & Boby, 2013). However, they willingly, uninfluenced and independently expose their children to pain and suffering in an effort to throw a cover over their having Down Syndrome. Most of the parents claim to mitigate humiliation, embarrassment and pain from teasing by â€Å"fitting them in†.            Pardon my dumbness, but I wonder how it helps a kid with learning disabilities learns that his parents were extremely embarrassed and ashamed of their outlook that they would have spent astronomically to reverse the situation (Ameen & Boby, 2013). Equally, I wonder how it helps the child when it is teased at school for being â€Å"unconventional†while the peers cannot tell that the child has Down Syndrome. For this reason, parents of children having Down Syndrome should not subject their children to plastic surgery. They should wait for the children to become of age and make personal decisions. After all, plastic surgery is an irreversible condition. References Ameen, F., & Boby, C. (2013, June 4). Parenting a Child with Down Syndrome. HubPages. Retrieved December 27, 2013, from http://society-parenting.hubpages.com/hub/Parenting-a-Child-with-Down-Syndrome Ouellette, A. (2010). Shaping P arental Authority Over Children ‘ s Bodies. Indiana Law Journal, 85(3), 956-1001. Source document
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Morality And The Existence Of God - 1619 Words
In this essay, I will be arguing that Zagzebski’s argument illustrates that it is rational to believe that God does exist. I will briefly explain the â€Å"Does Ethics need God?†fundamental argument about morality that is presented in Zagzebski’s argument. After the first two parts of my essay I will discuss some objections and respond them. I will argue that Zagzebski’s argument indeed proves that God exists and I will do this by outlining the main claims of this argument and by responding to objections to this argument. According to (Evans, 2014) â€Å"The have been several arguments that have been central to the discussion of morality and the existence of God form a part of a diverse body of arguments that reason from some feature of morality†¦show more content†¦(Zagzebski, 1987: 295). The first premise states that if there is no God humans need to rely on their own human intuition in regards to living a life based on moral truth, as our own selves do not possess the necessary faculties to be able to judge what is perceived as ethical. Since, there is no what of knowing what is morally correct, as there is no moral compass that one may follow then moral despair is a rational thought for the atheists. However, moral despair is not a rational thought as humans are constantly trying to live a life that pertains to some sort of moral code and that is embedded in theistic principles. Furthermore, the second premise extends this thought and denotes that humans are constantly in pursuit of living their lives in a moral way in an attempt to be rewarded in the hereafter. In addition, there needs to be a lucid reason as to why human beings attempt to lead a moral life and there needs to be an essence of trust in a deity that would make it sufficient to partake in this attempt to lead a life that would be deemed as moral otherwise why would humans simply waste their time in this attempt initially. An opponent might object to my response by saying that that morality is not primarily based on theistic belief but instead a moral law that has no direct correlation to religion but yet encompasses ethical principles. ZagzebskiShow MoreRelatedEssay on Moral Argument for Existence of God1607 Words  | 7 PagesAll moral arguments for the existence of God work on the principle that we all have a shared sense of morality. Despite cultural differences, broadly speaking, humans worldwide have a vague idea of what is right and what is wrong; a moral argument for the existence of God would say that this mutual understanding is proof of Gods existence. 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