Effects of Junk food Essay Example for Free

Effects of Junk food Essay The moons of Saturn are a very interesting topic to research. Before beginning this amazing journey on the moons, first we must do a brief overview of the planet Saturn. Saturn is the sixth largest planet from the sun; it is very large and does not have very much water. This research paper will explore the different moons, the names, atmosphere, similarities and sizes of the moons. Saturn has 62 moons that have been discovered but only 52 have been given an official name while the others still are waiting to have specific information found out about them to give them a name. Only 18 moons have been officially sanctioned by the International Astronomical Union. The names of the moons come from characters in Greek and Roman mythology. The moons are made up of about 30 to 40 percent rock and about 60 to 70 percent water. The Saturn Moons so diversity in many area, let’s explore their differences. Since there are too many to name we will discuss the more poplar moons. Pan- Named after the Greek God of the wild, it is about 20km in diameter and its mass is 11x 10 15th lbs. Saturn is at a distance of 83,000 miles and has an orbital period around Saturn is 13.8 hours. Pan was discovered in 1990 by the Voyager team. A Pan orbit within the Encke Gap which is located in the Saturn’s A ring. The Encke Gap is a space in the A ring that helps Pan to orbit around Saturn. Helene- named after Greek goddess Helene popularly known as Helene of Troy and the name means torch. Helene’s moon is an irregular shape in body and is measured about36 x 32 x 30 km in diameter. The moon orbits Saturn at 234,500 in distance and its mass is 8x 10by 17. The surface materials are composed of particularly dark and organic rich mater and condense ices. Helene was discovered by P. Laques and J. Leacheus in the year 1990. Dione- Named after  Greek goddess Dione and the mother for Aphrodite she was describe as a temple associate. Dione is about 1,118km is diameter and has a density of 1.43gm/cm the rest is ice. The temperature is extremely cold and the distance from Saturn is 377,400 km, and includes crater area that measure about 100 km in diameter. Dione was discovered in 1684 by Giovanni Cassini. Rhea- Named after the god of fruitfulness the mother of Poseidon. Rhea is far away from and the second largest moon of Saturn. It is 1,528 km in size, its distance from the sun is 527,040 and it mass is2.31 x 10 sub 21 kg. Rhea’s temperature is cold like Dione and only one side of its surface faces Saturn. The surface of Rhea is a mixture of ice and rock similar to a frozen dirty snowball. Dione was discovered in 1672 by Giovanni Cassini. Mimas- Named after the Greek god giant of war. It looks like a bull’s eye by viewing in space. The surface of is covered with impact craters due to shock waves that happens on the moon which measure is size of about 40 kg . It is also very low in density and is composed of mostly water with small amounts of rock. The distance from Saturn is 185,520km, the period of orbit around Saturn is 22.6 hrs and its mass is 3.81 x 10 sub 19kg. The temperature of Mimas is minus 344 degrees Fahrenheit. It was discovered by Williams Herschel in 1789. Enceladus- Named the god that was responsible for tremors and volcanoes, and he was considered the leader of the giants. Distance from the Saturn is 237,378 km, about 512 x 494489 km in diameter, its mass id 1.2 x 10 sub 20 kg. The period Encelasus orbit around Saturn is 32.8 hours. It is also covered in water ice and is about -330 degrees Fahrenheit. It also reflects the sunlight. It was discove red by Williams Herschel in 1789. Titan- Named after group Greek gods who ruled the cosmos. Titan is largest of the Saturn’s moon and is the most Earthlike of its kind; it looks a lot like a frozen version of the plant earth. The surface is very cold; it has a temperature of -290 degrees Fahrenheit and has a thick atmosphere but does not hold gravity well. Titan’s atmosphere has an altitude 10 times higher than or nearly 600 km into space as oppose to the earth. According to a space expedition in 1980 by the Voyager 1Titan showed to only have air pressure of one and a half at sea level and four times as dense of the earth. Titan has chemical readings is mostly gas about 95% nitrogen and 5% methane, which are two chemicals that are present in earth’s surface. Nitrogen help produces this thick smog like cloud that can hold water and  produces rain. With the help of methane which is a gas allows the cloud s rain to produce or rain down liquids similar to gasoline. Titan orbits Saturn 1.2 million km or 745,000 miles it take16 days to make complete circle. The radius is 2,575 km and 112 km in diameter. The Greek mythology of how the naming group of Titans , hence thus the naming of the moons came about, the Titans devoured the limbs of Dionysus, the son of Zeus (the god of thunder and war) was intended to have dominion over the world. Zeus was so angry he struck the titans with lighting and the fire burned them to ashes. The moons of Saturn are too numerous to number, just like the story of the Titans. They all have their own characteristics, this paper only names a few, here are the rest: Aegean, Aegir, Albiorix, Anthe, Benhionn, Bergeimir, Calypso, Dapjnis, Epimetheus, Erriapus, Farbauti, Fenrir, Fornjot, Greip, Hati, Hyperion, Hyrrokkin, Lapetus, Lijraq, Janus, Jamsaxa, Kari, Kiviug, Loge, Methone, Mundifari, Narvi, Paaliaq, Pallene, Phoebe, Polydueces, Siamaq, Skadi, Skoll, Suttung, Tarqeq, Telesto, Tethys, Thrym, Ymir. The names of these moons will continue to grow as new moons are discovered. The moons will begin the naming process which astronomer gives each moon a temporary name that will follow this format S/2011-S1. The first S stands for Saturn and the second S after the stands for its satellite or location in space. Then the names are assigning by the International Astronomical Union. In conclusion, with the study of the moons of Saturn we learned that some range very large in size. We also learned the amount of time it takes each moon s to orbit Saturn. The time varies amongst the moon of Saturn. The all of the temperature each of the moons are too cold for human life to be sustained, and the surfaces of each one of the moons are somewhat similar; with the exception of the moon Titan. During the study of the Titan moons the discovery of the similarities between the planet Earth and Titan’s atmosphere. The naming of the moons came from Greek mythology and the history of the Greek gods were interesting the in its own way. Finally, scientists are still discover ing new moons in Saturn’s atmosphere, as of today there are only 53 moons officially named; who knows how many more are lurking out there. References The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Pan-ast.html Hatzitsinidou, Evangelia. (2005-2011). Greek-Gods.Info Gods and Goddess of Ancient Greece. October 26,2011, http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-mythology/a.php Munsell,Kirk. (2011). Cassini Solstice Misson. November 23, 2011, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov./science/mooms

ed norton :: essays research papers

Edward Norton achieved instant stardom in his feature film debut in the 1996 Primal Fear. Norton was credited for saving a rather mediocre film with his portrayal of a Kentucky altar boy accused of murdering a Chicago Arch Bishop. This role earned Norton Golden Globe and Oscar Nominations for best supporting actor. With his instant fame Norton proved that he could go on and further his acting talents. Norton was born in Boston on August 18, 1969. He was raised in Columbia, Maryland and even in his early years Norton was known as an extremely smart and serious individual. He is the son of a former federal prosecutor and an English teacher. He became interested in acting at the age of five and made his stage debut at the age of 8 in a local production of Annie Get Your Gun. Norton enrolled in the Orenstein's Columbia School for Theatrical Arts, and after high school he studied history at Yale, while staying active in the university's theater program. After graduating from Yale with a degree in hstory, Norton spent a few months in Japan, then moved to New York. In New York he worked at the Enterprise Foundation, a group dedicated to ending urban decay. Norton still acted whenever possible, and finally decided to presue acting full-time. After appearing in several off-Broadway plays Norton won his role in Primal Fear after being chosen from 2,100 hopefulls. After stunning nearly everyone who saw his performance Norton continued to amaze in movies like Everyone Says I Love you and The People vs. Larry Flint. 1998 was a big year for Norton who turned in two great performances in Rounders and

Prejudice Worksheet

Please complete the following exercises, remembering that you are in an academic setting and should remain unbiased, considerate, and professional when completing this worksheet. Part I Select three of the identity categories below and name or describe at least 3 related stereotypes for each: †¢ Race †¢ Ethnicity †¢ Religion †¢ Gender †¢ Sexual orientation †¢ Age †¢ Disability |Category |Stereotype 1 |Stereotype 2 |Stereotype 3 | |Race | People say black people are lazy. |People say white people are smart |People say Jews are cheap but | | | |and blonds are dumb. rich. | |Religion |Wiccan Pentacle Study, worship the|Gothic people are very weird and |Muslims are terrorist and women | | |devil. |violent. |are beneath them. | |Sexual Orientation |When someone see a feminine man |When someone sees masculine women |People say homosexuality is wrong | | |and call him gay. |she is a lesbian. |and immoral. | Part II Answer each question in 50 to 100 words r elated to those stereotypes. Provide citations for all the sources you use. What are the positive aspects of stereotypes, if any?The aspects of positive stereotypes can be positive if a person know the difference and have the knowledge to understand what a person may be stating. If we prefer to someone as a â€Å"jock† we are acknowledging that this person is into sports. A person that is known to be preferred to by â€Å"Gothic† or â€Å"Punk† is because of the type of music they listen to and the type of clothing they wear. Usually no one is offended by this because it is factual and evident and these are positive aspects of stereotypes. What are the negative aspects of stereotypes?The negative aspects of stereotypes are the lack of understanding, the ignorance, and the labeling of someone to hurt their feelings as an individual or a group of people. A person may see a female with a short hair cut like a man and call them a dike without getting to know who tha t person is and assuming that this is what they are. Part III Answer each question in 50 to 150 words related to those stereotypes. Provide citations for all the sources you use. Define stereotypes and prejudice. What is the difference between stereotyping and prejudice?Use examples to illustrate the differences. Stereotype is something conforming to a fixed or general pattern, a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinions, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment. Prejudice is prejudgment and negative attitude based on sex, race, age, sexual orientation, nationality, socioeconomic status, and religion towards an individual or group of people. The difference between stereotype and prejudice is that stereotype is standardized beliefs about people based on some prior assumptions.Prejudice is a type of judgment or assumption about somebody before having sufficient knowledge to judge with accuracy. Example of stereotype is all policemen eat donuts. Example of prejudice is an organization that hires more males and reject females are known to be prejudice. What is the relationship between stereotyping and prejudice? The relationship between stereotyping and prejudice is that stereotyping promotes prejudice and that prejudice reduction depends on stereotype change.Prejudice also influences the extent of stereotyping. The important theoretical tradition posits that this effect emerges because prejudice encourages the use of stereotypes as a means to justify societal inequality (e. g. , Allport, 1954; Katz & Braly, 1933; Lippmann, 1922). What can be done to prevent prejudice from occurring? Intolerance stems from ignorance and arrogance this go hand in hand and people need to understand and have the knowledge not to pre-judge people.In order to prevent prejudice from occurring we need to begin now with the way we are raising our children and teach them not to be judgmental and preconceive pe ople before we get to know someone. Teach them not to assume to not like someone because of the color of their skin or where they come from. People are people no matter what they may look like, getting to know a person is very important and not to judge a book by its cover. Have rallies of all race and culture so people can have a better understanding of others. It starts at home teach your children a better way so that they will understand life in a better perspective.

Essay on Platos Allegory of the Cave - 1315 Words

In society today most people live by what is call â€Å"social norms†, most people follow these norms and some choose not to follow them. Social norms are certain things in life that everyone does to be accepted by their co-workers, family, friends and even strangers. Some may feel that they have to live by these norms to get through life without being rejected and to be known as a â€Å"normal† person, hence the word â€Å"norm†. If a person were to stray from this path and just do what they felt like doing and do what made them happy as an individual, would they be criticized? In Plato’s Allegory of a Cave he describes an example of people conforming to the norm they were born into and then shows the results of a person emerging from this community†¦show more content†¦The man ran up the hill towards the light and the end of the cave where he was temporarily blinded because he was used to the darkness inside of the cave. Of course this is all v ery confusing to him and maybe even angers him because he does not understand what he is seeing. Eventually this man will gain knowledge of the world and everything in it, from the shadows of the objects he saw on the wall of the cave all the way up to how the sun helps the earth. He will see that was he was made to see and understand was not reality but just was he was made to believe. This freed man now pities the other prisoners that are still inside the cave because he realizes how wrong they were about everything they know. Plato describes how if the freed prisoner were to go back to the cave and tell the others what he has seen that they would criticize him, laugh at him and tell him he would have been better off if he had never escaped. They even go as far to say that if another person were to be released that they should be caught and killed so as to not follow the same fate as the released prisoner. (Plato, Parker, P. M., 2005) In my eyes Plato is describing how the society today is full of â€Å"unenlightenment† or ignorance and how we as a culture have been conformed to accepted ways and if we were to step away from these accustomed ways we would be casted out and ridiculed by our peers. According to SwapnilShow MoreRelatedPlatos Allegory of the Cave1521 Words   |  7 PagesPlato’s Allegory of the Cave Essay One of Plato’s more famous writings, The Allegory of the Cave, Plato outlines the story of a man who breaks free of his constraints and comes to learn of new ideas and levels of thought that exist outside of the human level of thinking. However, after having learned so many new concepts, he returns to his fellow beings and attempts to reveal his findings but is rejected and threatened with death. This dialogue is an apparent reference to his teacher’s theoriesRead MorePlatos Allegory of The Cave752 Words   |  3 Pagesinterpreting Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave’’ in which is a representation that described a narrative of the society of people in before Christ years. I realized how there was a major comparison of people in today’s society that reflected the same prisoner traits as the prisoners that were described in the dialogue. According to the Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave.† It described conditions of people chain ed at birth unable to function as independent individuals that were locked in a protracted dark cave. TheyRead MoreAnalysis Of Platos Allegory Of The Cave864 Words   |  4 PagesOn the surface of Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† it is just a simple piece, but the main purpose of the piece is to explain people living in a world of face value and having individuals break free from the main idea to create a new sense of what the world is truly about. In here, Plato uses the writing style of allegory to encompass the use of imagery and symbolism to explain his purpose. He also uses very clever dialogue with constant repetition to represent a bigger idea about the philosophy withRead MoreExplain Platos Allegory Of The Cave1483 Words   |  6 Pagesquestions they raised. For instance, Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† is essential for philosophy because it answers the question of why should anyone engage in philosophy. This paper will explain Plato†™s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† in both classical and modern manner as well as suggest philosophical topics for further inquiry. Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† is told through the lips of Socrates, Plato’s teacher, to Glaucon, Plato’s brother. Socrates suggests imagining a deep cave having a large room and a steepRead MoreAnalysis of Platos Allegory of the Cave948 Words   |  4 PagesPlatos Allegory of the Cave Platos Allegory of the Cave is also termed as the Analogy of the Cave, Platos Cave, or the Parable of the Cave. It was used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic to illustrate our nature in its education and want of education. It comprises of a fictional dialogue between Platos teacher Socrates and Platos brother Glaucon. Socrates gives a description of a group of people who spent their lifetime facing a blank wall chained to the wall of a caveRead MoreAnalysis Of Platos Allegory Of The Cave1532 Words   |  7 PagesIn the allegory written by Plato titled â€Å"Allegory of the Cave†, Plato discusses the concept of seeking knowledge and gaining wisdom. He uses a story of prisoners trapped into a cave to represent the confines of reality that humans are put into, and a lone prisoner exiting the cave to represent a philosopher seeking a greater understanding. Plato’s writing tells of the flaw that all humans share, which is the fact that we believe our p erceptions to be the absolute, incontestable truth. It is thisRead MorePlatos Allegory Of The Cave Essay1749 Words   |  7 Pages Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† is full of meaningful, thought provoking lessons that have been analyzed be scholars and philosophers for years. One of the basic lessons we can draw from it is immaterial truth, or forms. In Plato’s cave scenario, the men who only see shadows have ideas of what they are seeing. They conclude they can see certain things and can name those things. But what they see as an actual object, they are actually just seeing a shadow of the actual object. â€Å"If they discuss thingsRead MorePlatos Allegory of the Cave and Advertisements1889 Words   |  8 PagesJulian Figueroa (#30973127) 1 An Allegory of Advertisements How does Plato’s allegory influence the way we consume art today? Every minute of every day, millions of people are exposed to advertisements. They plague televisions, streets, radio waves, and all means of communication. These advertisements employ many methods of persuasion and their influence is irresistible. Just like prisoners in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, we are told every day to invest our time and interest into the subjectRead MorePlatos Allegory of the Cave3086 Words   |  13 PagesPrompt: Define Plato s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave†. What is the central message? Is he describing education alone? Where does politics come in? Plato is known to many as one of the most influential and greatest philosophers to have lived. Plato represents his idea of reality and the truth about what we perceive through one of his famous writings, â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave†. The philosophical writing is in the form of an allegory, which is â€Å"a story in which the characters and situations actually representRead MorePlatos Allegory Of The Cave Essay1537 Words   |  7 Pagesthe limits of reason and morality. Having freedom equals having the power to think, to speak, and to act without externally imposed restrains. As a matter of fact, finding freedom in order to live free is the common idea in Plato with The Allegory of the Cave; Henry David Thoreau with Where I lived and What I lived for; and Jean Paul Sartre with Existentialism. Generally, Plato, Thoreau, and Sartre suggested that human life should be free. They differ in what that freedom is. Plato thinks

Essay on What´s Minimata Disease - 1096 Words

Minamata disease comes from ingesting mercury contaminated fish or shellfish. Minamata was a small fishing village in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It is now considered a city, but was the sight of the most unhuman and environmental destruction cases in history. It started in the 1930s with a company that has been there since the 1907, the Chisso Corporation started to make acetaldehyde, which is used in some plastics. Acetaldehyde (C2H4O or CH3CHO) or Ethyl Aldehyde is sometimes referred as MeCHO. The company’s product waste spill into the village’s fishing bay, which bacteria turned the heavy mental into methyl mercury and later on organic form of methyl mercury chloride (CH3HgCl). The small village relied heavily on its income of†¦show more content†¦A week later her younger sister was sent to the hospital with the same symptoms. Dr. Kaneki and Dr. Hosokawa examined the two sisters, and noticed their symptoms was the same as many others. They immediately notified Minamata public health center, and they sent their director Dr. Ito to interview the two mothers. Alien Smith was an investigative reporter, and interviewed the neighbors of these two little girls, and found out that they were regarded as highly intellect b efore the disease. Alien Smith also noticed that animals around the area, were acting very peculiar. They had the same symptoms as the two children, and some of them had jump right into the bay. Dr. Hajime Hosokawa from the Chisso hospital started to investigate the disease. He ran some test to find out if it was contagious or not, and where the main source was. He concluded that the source was the waste coming out of Chisso dumping sight, but he needed to test his theory. He gave the waste to numerous cats, and depending on the amount of waste, the cats symptoms escaladed and the final result was death. He concluded that ill patients and animals were eating the same fish from the bay that Chisso was dumping in. Unfortunately, Dr Hosokawa results were never made public until years after the incident. Alien Smith and other investigators accused Chisso Corporation of being the cause, so they stopped the dumping into the bay and moved it into the Minamata river delta instead. ChissoSho w MoreRelatedAmerica s An Ocean Cleanup Program1931 Words   |  8 PagesAs stated before the ocean plays a huge role in a food source as well as weather conditions. For instance say that there was huge wind gusts blowing in from the ocean in Boston. Those winds are carrying deadly diseases from all the rotting waste that just sits in the ocean. Those diseases could be fatal for human kind, all because of where we put our trash. Many people think that mother nature can heal herself once again. But humans have polluted the ocean so much that it may not be able to support

The Later Years Of The Postclassical Era - 943 Words

The Later Postclassical Era The in the later years of the postclassical era introduces the human generation a new way to live, cities became vastly important for trades for merchants and foreigners, and how different states reacted to the change by making laws that would be applicable for their own self interests. Among the trades and policy’s. Expansion became vitally important, for many states and regions, the essay will present a big picture of how the later postclassical era innovated many lives by different states and regions interacting with each other and sharing their own traditions and values to one another. How did trades became a huge factor to the postclassical era. Trades were popular in different regions throughout the globe but major trades were happening in Eurasia, (1000-1500) â€Å"From the earliest time of Eurasia trading became extremely popular, like the trading patterns that were used like the silk road for many luxuries, good that were considered high value at its time, and where some of the bigger items or commodities that were heavy to travel with were shipped to sail in the sea of the Indian ocean.† – Journal 15 the trades era wasn’t the safest time either, they were many incidents where different states would try to conquest another to build trade advantage in the thirteenth century the Mongols were one of the perpetrator to take over cities for tradeShow MoreRelatedAp World History Units 1-3 Study Guide Essay4374 Words   |  18 Pagesenlightened an tolerant one 6. The Persian legal code was designed to * Codify laws of the subject peoples 7. The center of the Persian communications network was * The Royal Road 8. Basic tenets of Zoroastrianism that influenced later religions * The belief in heaven and hell * The encouragement of high moral standards * The doctrine that individuals will undergo a final judgment * The belief that each individual plays a key role in determining his orRead MoreEastern Christendom : Building On The Roman Past Essay2059 Words   |  9 Pagesadministrative system gave generals authority and allowed them to raise armies from peasants o Emperor claimed to govern all of creation as God’s representative o Imperial court represented Persia’s o Centralized state did not really effect citizens o Later attacks after 1085 shrank the empire because of outside attacks o Ended in 1453 when Ottoman empire took Constantinople †¢ The Byzantine Church and Christian Divergence o Emperor was both a Caesar and the pope, or caesaropapism o Treated church as governmentRead MoreEssay on Change Analysis Chart Postclassical (600-1450 C.E.)8730 Words   |  35 Pages* Change Analysis Chart Postclassical (600-1450 C.E.) | Basic Features at Beginning of period | Key Continuities | Key Changes | Basic Features at End of Period | Reasons for Change or Continuities | Global Trade What other trading systems existed at the beginning of the period? The Indian Ocean system is a continuity, not a change.What about the gold-salt trade? Dont you mean the Pax  Mongolica? | * Trade was very international. * Silk roads linked Eurasia, and goods traded hands many

The General Environment Free Essays

SUMMARY OF UNDERSTANDING STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT CHAPTER 2: The General Environment The external environment facing the organization consists of both: a. A general environment, often referred to as the macro-environment because changes that occur here will have an effect that transcends firms and specific industries. b. We will write a custom essay sample on The General Environment or any similar topic only for you Order Now A competitive environment, consists of the industry and markets in which an organization competes. In order to scan and monitor their environment, firms require tools of analysis that will allow them to factor in the changes in the general environment and evaluate their impact. One such approach involves scanning the environment to detect signals that will act as a signpost for future changes in the organization’s industry. In addition, an organization must monitor its environment to discern patterns and trends that are beginning to form and try to forecast the future direction of these trends. a. Scanning the environment Scanning, therefore, is an opportunity for the organization to detect weak signals in the general environment before these have coalesced into a discernible pattern which might affect its competitive environment. The first is that the organization may fail to identify these signals. The second is that the organization may discern a pattern that is not there but is based on the assumptions and mental models that managers carry in their heads. b. Monitoring the environment * Monitoring can be seen as the activity that follows these initially disparate signals and tracks them as they grow into more clearly discernible patterns. * Monitoring allows an organization to see how these general environment trends will impact on its competitive environment. * Monitoring uses a finer brush stroke. * There is no focus for an organization’s monitoring activities. One way in which an organization might monitor weak signals is to set thresholds such that any activity which occurs above the threshold will be monitored. c. Forecasting changes in the environment Three main types of uncertainty (Van der Heijden, 1996): * Risks: where past performance of similar events allows us to estimate the probabilities of future outcomes. * Structural uncertainties: where an event is un ique enough not to offer evidence of such probabilities. * Unknowables: where we cannot even imagine the event. Scenario planning is a disciplined method for imagining possible future. It is ‘an internally consistent view of what the future might turn out to be’ (Porter 1985, p. 446). A scenario can be seen as a challenging, plausible, and internally consistent view of what the future might turn out to be. They are not forecasts in the sense that one is able to extrapolate using past data. However, they do deal with the future and provide a tool of analysis for the organization to structure the surfeit of information that is contained in the present. In particular, scenarios help organizations recognize the weak signals that signpost changes in its environment. The benefits of scenario planning for Shell have been: More robust strategic decisions. * Better thinking about the future by a ‘stretching mental model’. * Enhancing corporate perception and recognizing events as a pattern (the recognition and monitoring of weak signals until they coalesce into a pattern is clearly important here). * Improving communication throughout the company b y providing a context for decisions. * A means to provide leadership to the organization. A process for developing scenarios is as follows: * Define the scope. This involves setting the time frame and the scope of analysis. * Identify the major stakeholders. Identify basic trends. * Identify key uncertainties. * Construct initial scenario themes. * Check for consistency and plausibility. * Develop learning scenarios. * Identify research needs. * Develop quantitative models. * Evolve towards decision scenarios. PEST Analysis * PEST analysis is simply another tool to help the organization detect and monitor those weak signals in the hope of recognizing the discontinuities or fractures shaping the environment. * PEST analysis can be used to help detect trends in the external environment that will ultimately find their way into the competitive environment. It provides a link between the general and competitive environments in that weak signals in the general environment can become key forces for change in the competitive environment. SWOT Analysis Scenario planning and PEST analysis can help to identify the external opportunities and threats (OT) facing an organization. The firm’s internal strengths and weaknesses (SW) can best be determined following an appraisal of its resources and capabilities. SWOT analysis allows an organization to assess its current strategy in light of its changing environment and to help turn potential threats into opportunities and weaknesses into strengths. A key point to keep in mind is that it is the external analysis that precedes the internal analysis of a firm’s resources and capabilities. SUMMARY OF RM-6 â€Å"Sustaining Competitive Advantage in the Global Petrochemical Industry: A Saudi Arabian Perspective† From a global perspective, the competitiveness of some firms arises from macro-economic phenomena directed by exchange rates, deficit of the national budget or interest rates (Passemard and Kleiner, 2000). Competitiveness also arises from factors other than macro-economic, such as availability of raw materials, cheaper work force or technological superiority. Porter (1980) is credited with being the pioneer in identifying factors that contribute to national advantage. Porter (1985) made valuable contributions in identifying important factors that contribute to national advantage, that is the factor conditions of a nation, such as infrastructure and the availability of resources; demand conditions in the home country; the presence or absence of related and supporting industries necessary for being competitive in the global market; the firm’s strategy, structure and rivalry with other ompanies that influence how firms are established, organised and managed; and the nature of the rivalry affects the competitive advantage of industries and nations (Porter, 1990). Saudi Arabia is well known throughout the world as a leading producer and exporter of oil. For many years prior to the 1970s, a large volume of associated gas by products which were produced in the process of crude oil production, had been flared into the atmosphere. However, in the early 1970s the Saudi Arabian government initiated a plan to utilize these precious hydrocarbon and mineral resources for the production of various petrochemicals, fertilizers, iron and steel. Saudi Arabia accounts for a little more than 5% of the world’s petrochemicals production. However, Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether) with a global share of around 15%. It has also a big market share in the production of methanol (around 12%) and ethylene glycol (14%). Domestic consumption in Saudi Arabia is low, due to the small size of the market. The industry in general has therefore pursued an ‘export-orientated’ strategy, as a result of which more than 76% of its petrochemicals production is being exported. The two major markets for the Saudi petrochemical exports are the Middle Eastern and East Asian region. The strength weakness of Saudi petrochemical industry: * Strength: Low cost due to economic of scale, initial cost, feed-stock, and utilities. Presence of efficient infrastructure * Weakness: Lack of management expertise, marketing approach, product development, and technology Main issue: From those strength weaknesses above, we could see that Saudi petrochemical industry was depending on the comparative advantage rather than the support of competitive advantage to sustain in global competition. Analysis: Using Porter’s five force model above, we could analyze that: * The entry of competitors: raw materials controlled by many firms, new and high technology, large complex operational, high investment * The threat of substitutes: concerns on biochemical substitution * The argaining power of buyers: find alternative market, focus on domestic and foreign customers * The bargaining power of suppliers: change the supplier with low cost, find reasonable price and obtaining credit facilities, no substitute of aluminum alkyls high threat * The rivalry among the existing players: zero differentiation, see the competitor like SABIC, Exxon, Shell, BASF, Dow, Mitsubishi in equal size and market power oversupply Solution: * Improve human resources department to develop the technical and managerial skills of local employees * Increase the effort in marketing, distribution Penetrated global market, and research development division to modify manufacturing process which safe for environment * Increase productivity and cut loss, merge small to medium firms to strengthen capital base. Lesson learned: Based on analysis using Porter’s model, it is illustrate that Saudi petrochemical industry environment able to help other firms to formulate the strategy, not only consider to the general environment and competitor analysis but also to the Porter’s model itself. * Realize that external factors will influence the firm, directly and indirectly. The firm also has to formulate their strategy based on the external factor (which couldn’t be controlled), how to match the next action with their capacity. How to cite The General Environment, Essay examples