Why is the Quality of Education Going Down in the USA

Where in the past the US was actually recognized as a world leader in education, it is now going through a great struggle in promoting education across its states. Where 30 years ago, America was the leader in quality and quantity of high school diplomas, today it is ranked as the 18th of 23 industrialized countries. What is the reason for this major downfall in education? Is the US Department of Education doing something wrong? Is the youth no longer interested in studying? Well, to answer these questions and to understand the details on why quality of education is going down in the USA, let us take a look at a few surprising facts: 3 million high school students in the US don’t graduate on time yearly. The educational assessment of the US states that every year only 69% of high school seniors get their diploma. Every year, 1.3 million students drop out from school. This makes for approximately one dropout for every 26 seconds and an overall 7,000 dropouts in only one day. Recent studies show that if the 1.3 million dropouts in 2010 would have graduated, the nation would have gained an overall $337 billion more in its earnings. The US, in the past, had the highest college completion and retention rates, but after combining the educational stats over the past couple of years, the nation now ranks 14th. A recent survey showed that 60% of the students lack the reading skills and 40% lack basic math skills to work a simple production job in a manufacturing company. Childhood education is not given much regard in the US. Only half of 3-year olds attend pre-school. Why are these statistics so bad? Why aren’t students graduating or completing their college? Well, here are the reasons why the quality of education is going down in the US: No Quality Teachers When it comes to education, there is no doubt that teachers play a significant role. And this is where the US is lacking nowadays. Most of the schools and universities lack quality teachers. Recent studies show that approximately 14% of new teachers resign by the end of their first year. 33% of teachers give up their teaching career within their first 3 years and 50% leave teaching by their fifth year. So, how can it be possible for a country to prosper in education when the teachers of various schools and colleges don’t pay much attention to education themselves? High Schools Lack ‘Real’ Education Real education doesn’t only refer to learning and memorizing books upon books, it also means to prepare students with the basic skills and knowledge which is required by students to excel after graduation. Recent studies show only 1 out of 4 high school students are actually college-ready in the 4 core subjects of science, math, reading, and English. Education isn’t Considered Important While this may sound a little harsh, it is true. Most companies and manufacturers offering jobs don’t require college or post-secondary education for their candidates. Therefore, education is taken for granted by most teenagers and is considered to be less important, as all of them know no matter what the education they will still be able to score a good job. Less Wealthier School Districts Are Treated Differently There are 3 times the numbers of out-of-field teachers in schools that are made up of 75% or more low income students than in wealthier school districts. So, now that you are familiar with the stats mentioned above and the reasons why quality education is going down in the US, what do you think is the best solution to solve these problems and improve education?

Final Quiz Items For Your Visits - 830 Words

Final Quiz Items for Your Visits Perpetual Pursuers- Dina Abuellel, Johana Wilson, Brittany Smith, Steven Armstrong Please prepare these ahead of time and drop in the Dropbox for the Group; only one document per group. What prompted you to choose the event that you did? We chose to attend the event because none of us had experienced a drag show before. We wanted to learn more about this community through our own participation. We also knew that drag shows and other LGBTQ+ events are not common in the city of Carrollton, and we wanted to experience Carrollton’s LGBTQ+ community. What did you anticipate about the event prior to taking the excursion? We expected a group of local people dressing up and participating, like an amatuer night, where anyone who looked the part could showcase their outfits and talent. We were expecting more of a fashion show than an actual, previously rehearsed performance. How was the reality of the excursion different than the anticipation about the event? The reality of the excursion was completely different from our expectations. The entertainers were professionals who have had years of practice performing for audiences and took their roles very seriously. We were unaware of the fact that the company behind the event travels around the United States showcasing their performance at a variety of venues. On a scale of 0-10 (0 being no help at all and 10 being the most helpful) how helpful for connecting the course theory with application was yourShow MoreRelatedtitle3115 Words   |  13 Pagesdoes not load, try refreshing your browser. Also, this page requires javascript. Please visit using a browser with javascript enabled. If loading fails, click here to try again The final section of this module is a short self-check quiz. Choose your answer, then click the submit button. Sometimes, you may have to scroll down to find the submit button. IvyTILT will display a response to your answer. Read the response then go to the next question. You can take the quiz over again, but you must completeRead MoreF14 ADMS 4561 course outline Sept 2 14 1 4742 Words   |  19 Pagesrequirement should contact the coordinator, Joanne Magee (jmagee@yorku.ca). Students who have taken ADMS 4561 in a prior term also meet the prerequisite. Students not meeting the prerequisite requirement may be dropped from the course. You must resolve your prerequisite situation before October 6, 2014 (i.e., the last day to enrol with permission). 2.1 Important Information: Read this course outline thoroughly: it has a lot of key information. All students can access lecture notes and other importantRead MoreHosp 310 Complete Course - (Quizes - Assignments - Dqs - Final) - Devry2616 Words   |  11 PagesHOSP 310 Complete Course - (Quizes - Assignments - Dqs - Final) - DeVry IF You Want To Purchase A+ Work Then Click The Link Below , Instant Download http://acehomework.com/HOSP-310-Complete-Course-DeVry-4894898494.htm?categoryId=-1 If You Face Any Problem E- Mail Us At JohnMate1122@gmail.com week 1 discussion Baby Boomer Demand (graded Why are the baby boomers so important? What impact do you see them having on the hospitality industry in the next few years? In the longer-termRead MoreThe I Am An Immigrant1469 Words   |  6 Pagesoptimism and resiliency, I am able to successfully adapt to this brave new digital world. I remember it all started with an embarrassing story. More than 30 years ago, on the first day of typing class, Mr. Thayer gave us a short quiz. He asked the class to correctly place 3 items in chronological order. And as an eager beaver, I immediately jumped at the chance to volunteer the correct answer. But perhaps because as a teenager, I watched too many Star Trek reruns on TV, I stood up and announced to theRead MoreEssay about Csia 301 - Syllabus4668 Words   |  19 Pages9:00pm. You may email me at any time at nancy.landreville@faculty.umuc.edu . I encourage you to use the private messaging area rather than the faculty email address. This will facilitate faster response to your course questions. I will respond to your email within 24 hours from receipt of your email. Please place the name of the course in the subject line so I know the email is from one of my students. I check email every day from my students. I encourage you to contact me with any questions aboutRead MoreHAS 3750 NOTE CARD Essay5140 Words   |  21 Pages(practice) manager Which of the following statements about healthcare providers is incorrect? For the instructor, this was question 4.   There are many more hospitals than there are nursing homes, but nursing homes tend to have a greater number of beds. QUIZ TWO Which of the following statements about fee-for-service reimbursement is incorrect?   Payment may be based on the number of covered lives Which of the following reimbursement methods creates the greatest incentive for providers to control theRead MoreCct 300B. Intermediate Accounting . Course Information1686 Words   |  7 Pagesat the conclusion of each chapter. The best 10 out of 11 quizzes apply towards your grade. No makeup quizzes will be given. No exceptions. Homework Assignments A total of eleven WileyPLUS online homework (each 5 points) will be assigned. The best 10 out of 11 homework will count towards your grade. In order to succeed in this course, it is critical that you keep up with the homework. Please solve each assigned item conscientiously and give yourself every opportunity to successfully complete thisRead MoreAnalysis of Ken Jenning ´s Maphead: Charting the Wide Weird World of Geography2022 Words   |  9 Pagesview the rarest maps available; others embrace the future by participating in an activity known as geocaching. Geocaching is when the participant visits special areas with â€Å"treasures† hidden using their GPS devices and smartphones. Some people even draw thousands of their own imaginary maps, highlighting details in worlds and countries they long to visit. Ken Jennings was a map nerd from a young age himself, you will not be surprised to learn, even sleeping with an old creased atlas at the side ofRead MoreEconomics - Tutorial Answers26233 Words   |  105 Pagesof tropical rainforests as well as the scarcity of mineral reserves and how the two are colliding. Review Question 2 (pp. 9) Use headlines from the recent news to illustrate the potential for conflict between self-interest and the social interest. Your students’ examples will vary according to the headlines. One example of an issue concerns import restrictions. Take the ethanol industry for an example and the February 4, 2008 headline from Reuters â€Å"Bush budget doesnt alter ethanol import tariff†Read MoreBlue Pelican JavaExercise Quiz Test Keysby83928 Words   |  594 PagesBlue Pelican Java Exercise, Quiz, Test Keys by Charles E. Cook Version 3.0.5k Copyright  © 2004 - 2007 by Charles E. Cook; Refugio, Tx (All rights reserved) This page is intentionally left blank. Keys for Quizzes/Exercises/Projects The short quizzes for each lesson in this section are not comprehensive and not very difficult. Normally, only basic, superficial questions are asked. The general philosophy here is for the specter of a quiz to always be hanging over the student where he knows he

Oedipus Trilogy Essay Example For Students

Oedipus Trilogy Essay Oedipus Rex, or Oedipus Tyrannus as it is in Latin, could be what we call todaya Freudian work of literature. The Oedipus Trilogy was originally written bySophocles and is meant to be told in a story-telling fashion. But this Greciantragedy was revised and translated into English by Paul Roche and put into anovel form. The Oedipus Trilogy is a novel that deals with destiny and fate. Thereader is shown a series of events plotted out from which Oedipus cannot escape. When we begin to read this story, we must remember that Greek society was basedaround myths and legends. They, much like todays society, had the need toexplain everything. Their myths were a way of explaining such things. They had aseries of gods and muses and fates to explain why things happened the way ithappened. They believed in a force greater than their own controlling theirevery move. Sophocles took their beliefs and used the Oedipus Trilogy to explorethe irony of how the Fates work more closely. The Oedipus plays are separatedinto three main plays: Oedipus Rex (The King), Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. The story starts in Oedipus Rex, and the city of Thebes in which he is ruler isin plague. The city calls upon the ruler Oedipus to find a way to stop theplague. At this point in time, it is 15 years after the prophecy given to him bythe Oracle of Delphi of his father dying and him marrying his mother. When hehears of this he promises never to return so he may outsmart the fates. Heeventually ends up in Thebes through his travels and gets into an argument withan old man. He ends up killing the old man in a brawl. Little does he know thatthis old man is King Laius, his father. He goes to Thebes where a Sphynx isharassing its people for an answer to its riddle. Oedipus solves theriddle and the Sphynx throws itself from its perch upon a rock outside the city. Its people make Oedipus the new King. Now he is faced with another challenge, tofind the killer and banish him from the city to rid them of the plague. We arefaced with an interesting plot indeed. When Oedipus pledges to find themurderers, he puts himself in the ironic position of having to hunt himselfdown. The story shows Oedipus following his own tracks until he finds theshepherd who gave the infant Oedipus to the king of Corinth, from King Laius. Once the story becomes clear, Jocasta, his wife, kills herself in a bloody rageand Oedipus stabs his eyes out. Oedipus has Creon, brother to Jocasta, tend tohis last affairs and assume kingship of Thebes. When we go to Oedipus at Colonus,the whole story then goes to the eminent defeat of Thebes by whomever holdsOedipuss tomb. Oedipus promises the knowledge of his tomb only to the kingsof Athens. The story of Antigone is of how Oedipus daughter defies the willof Creon and gives Polynices. When a person is faced with the possibility ofcommitting an unfavorable deed, a person will take whatever steps necessary toprevent them from committing the act. It is a basic human instinct to preventones self from committing the act. And the basic overall theme of the Oedipustrilogy is defiance. We see the attempt to defy throughout the whole trilogy. Oedipus tries to defy the Fates by avoiding his destiny. Creon tries to avoidthe will of the Fates by getting Oedipus to come back to Thebes so he can saveit from being taken. And Antigone defies the will of Creon by burying Polynicesagainst his will. What they all learned by the end of their stories was thatthey could not escape their chosen fate. All throughout the story we seeattempts to defy the will of others. Oedipus staying in the sanctuary is oneexample. His resistance to go back to Thebes is another. It all points back todefiance of fate. The entire trilogy is done from a third person omniscientpoint of view. This gives it the flexibility to move easily between the threedifferent stories without having to explain each setting in length. Eachcharacter in Oedipus line all seems to have one thing in common, theirstubbornness. Creon seems to be a man of distinction and honor in the story. Final Project Auto parts word and excel EssayTiresias, as the seer, symbolizes knowledge and reason. Jocasta acts as themediator between Oedipus and the rest of the world. The two daughters are quietand obedient to only their family and to what makes sense. The sons are thesymbol of the everlasting conflict in the line of Oedipus. Of course the settingtakes a major role in the play. It takes place in ancient Greece, naturally,where tragedies and stories of misfortune are known to happen. And as such thereare many symbols used throughout the trilogy. The chorus is one of the mainsymbols continually used in the story, singing their strophies and antistrophies. Their importance is to show what the people of the time would feel about whatwas happening. They are sort of a mild version of critics in the story. Tiresias,the seer, is another great symbol in the story. Though he is blind, he is provedin the story to have seen things more clearly than the stubborn Oedipus wouldhave. The irony of it is that Oedipus himself later became that seer in thestory of Colonus, with Antigone as his own hand-girl. The plays of Oedipus alsouse a great range of picturesque speech to make a point. We see it in the veryfirst lines of Oedipus the king when Oedipus asks his beloved people, what isthe meaning of this thronging round my feet- this holding out of olive brancheswreathed in woe? (Roche 23). By this sentence Sophocles is showing that hispeople are crying at his feet for an answer to their sickness. Little didOedipus know that he had his own much larger problem on his hands. The plays ofOedipus have long been some of the most enlightening and teaching of stories. This story sparked the study of much psychological debate and theoriespertaining to the love of ones mother and ones own sanity. It was used inAncient Greece to tell of the twisted ways that Fate worked and how you can dosomething you may not want to out of pure ignorance. This story is a trulyremarkable one for those who would read it for pleasure, and yet it is a plagueof its own for many a student. And it is still used today so that we may studyhow an ancient culture thought. Much of Greco-Roman myths are centered on thesubject of Fate. Homers epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey are two such examples. We can see that their societies were greatly concerned with Fate, as much oftheir writing reflects that. Every society has its own needs and concerns, andliterature is always the best way to reflect them.

Songs Lost Sister Essays - Chinese Women, Women In China

Song's Lost Sister Cathy Songs poem Lost Sister explores the lives of two generations of Chinese women. One generation chooses to leave China and begin a new life in America. the other chose to remain in China and experience her culture the way it was meant to be. This is a comparison of the two generations of women and how they are linked by culture and seperated by lifestyle. In China, women were put in subservient positions to society. They were quiet, obedient creatures who gathered patience. Song speaks of how women learned to provide for their families, as they were learning to stretch the family rice. Women were expected to serve a purpose and be seen and not heard. The following generation chose to go to America and lead a very different kind of life. American culture is vastly different from that of China and women are given the opportunity to experience freedom as a a first class citizen. This collective is described as a sister across the ocean, who relinquished her name, giving the reader the impression that this generation was rebelliously rejecting her culture, diluting jade green with the blue of the Pacific. However, these women were both losing and gaining by their choices. Chinese women who chose to remain in China traded freedom for their culture. They were afraid to leave the familiarity of their lives thee for an uncertain future in America Had they gone to America, they would have lost the opportunity to experience Chinese culture firsthand. They lose the freedom that the next generation would have and gained the experience of living in their native culture ane accepting it as a way of life. These women were admirable because of their strength to choose their culture and family over anything else. Their dedication is at a level close to monks and saints. They were able to find harmony in their lives because it was all they ever knew. The women who chose to go to America led a very different life. They were able to be free of Chinese expectations of women. they did not have to learn to walk in shoes the size of teacups, without breaking. Song indicates that In America, there are many roads and women can stride along with men. These women were able to experience life as people who were equal to men in society's eyes. If they had stayed in China they never would have had the chance to experience something other then their native culture. Song emphasizes the life of these women in America to point this out. She describes the sad loss of culture in America, the meager provisions and sentiments of once belonging and the possibilites, the loneliness, can strangulate like jungle vines. She refers to how these women speak Chinese, when in America people are making claims you don't understand. She offers a pale, stereotypical view on the extent of Chinese culture in America, where Americans are tapping into your communicat ion systems of laundry lines and restaurant chains. They lost the cultural experience that the previous generation was able to have and gained freedom. These women were admirable because of a different kind of strength. It takes a certain combination of dertermination and stubbornness to choose to flee their homeland. These women were, in fact, a very rebellious generation. Jade is referred to over and over in Song's poem. She states that even the peasants named their first daughters Jade. She uses a jade link to symbolized women who were born into Chinese culture, specifically handcuffed to the wrist of the generation of Chinese-American women. Song almost berates this generation, claiming that they need China and lost their culture in the unremitting space of your rebellion. She also states how neither generation left any footprints, as one was footless and the other left an ocean in between. These two generations of women were different and the same. They both had the strength to choose a way of life that suited them. they were bound together by their culture but they differed in lifestyle, and teir choices shaped their own lives and the lives of Chinese women who came after them. Bibliography Song, Cathy. Lost Sister. Poetry Essays

Investigatory Project Homemade Bouncy Polymer Essays

Investigatory Project Homemade Bouncy Polymer Essays Investigatory Project Homemade Bouncy Polymer Paper Investigatory Project Homemade Bouncy Polymer Paper after being release at a starting position of 77 cm. Polymer 3, 4 and 5 did not bounce at all. LENGTH OF STRETCH The 5 Polymers were pulled to test its ability to be stretched. The following figures were recorded: Trials Polymer 1 30 54 59 35 40 43. 6 Polymer 2 46 36 34 29 29 34. Polymer 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Polymer 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 Polymer 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 Average Standard 11. 11 6. 24 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 Deviation Table 4. 5 Comparison of the Length of Stretch of the Polymers 25 45 40 Distance (in cm. ) 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1 2 3 Polymer 4 5 Graph 4. 5 Comparison of the Length of Stretch of the Polymers Polymer 1 has an average stretch distance of 43. 6 cm before it breaks. Polymer 2 broke at an average stretch distance of 34. 8 cm. Polymer 3, 4 and 5 was not possible to be stretch. DISTANCE OF ROLL In a 45Â ° inclined plane, each Polymer was allowed to roll.The following data were collected: Trials Polymer 1 84 46 119 58 117 84. 8 Polymer 2 26 36 40 38 43 36. 6 Polymer 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Polymer 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 Polymer 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 Average Standard 29. 77 5. 78 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 Deviation Table 4. 6 Comparison of the Distance of Stretch of the Polymers 26 90 80 Distance (in cm. ) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 Polymer 4 5 Graph 4. 6 Comparison of the Distance of Stretch of the Polymers Polymer 1 traveled an average roll distance of 84. 8 cm while Polymer 2 had an average roll distance of 36. 6. Polymer 3, 4 and 5 did not roll at all.OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS Polymer 1 2 3 4 5 Characteristics White in color, rubbery, easy to mold into a ball, smooth, soft White in color, rubbery, easy to mold into a ball but it is also easily can loose its shape, smooth, soft White in color, slimy, not too easy to mole into a ball White in color, some small formation of ‘gooey’ substance can be observe White in color, watery Table 4. 7 Observable Characteristics of the Polymers 27 COST ANALYSIS The follow ing were the cost made in this project study. Total Amount Cost per unit Units used Expenses for the setup 30 P 11. 7 10 10 0 5 P 0. 42 0. 93 0. 00 14. 71 27. 82 5 5. 56 Material Glue Borax Corn starch Water Zip-lock baggie Cost 130 P 51. 00 P 0. 39 1000 200 360 30 42. 00 18. 50 0. 00 88. 25 0. 04 0. 09 0. 00 2. 94 Total expenses Polymer products Cost per Polymer product P Table 4. 8 Cost Analysis of the Research Project The amount of each material was divided by the cost of the material to get the cost per unit. Then the cost per unit was multiplied to the amount of units used to enable the researchers to get the expenses based on the setup of the project study.The total cost of the five (5) polymer products amounted to P27. 82. The cost of each polymer product was P 5. 56. 28 CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY OF FINDINGS Based on the observation, homemade bouncy polymer can be created by mixing Borax dissolved in water, glue diluted in water an d cornstarch. The characteristics of the polymer depend on the amount or ratio of the solution. The more glue solution is added the more elastic the polymer is while the more Borax solution is added the more watery it is. All the Polymers weighted the same, 40 grams.Polymer 1 has the highest volume with 90 ml. Polymer 5 has the highest density with 0. 53 g/ml. Polymer 1 has an average bounce/return height of 6. 4 cm; an average stretch distance of 43. 6 cm; and, an average roll distance of 84. 8 cm. Polymer 2 has an average bounce/return height of 5. 0 cm; an average stretch distance of 34. 8 cm; and, average roll distance of 36. 6. Polymer 3, 4 and 5 did not bounce at all; was not possible to be stretch; and, did not roll at all. The total cost of the five (5) polymer products amounted to P27. 82. The cost of each polymer product was P 5. 56.CONCLUSION Based on the results and findings of the project study, the following conclusions were obtained: 1. It is possible to make a homema de bouncy polymer using PVA glue and cornstarch with the addition of Borax dissolved in water. 29 2. Polymer 1 with the ratio of 1:5:1 (Borax solution:glue solution:cornstarch) produced the best homemade bouncy polymer. It has the highest average bounce/return, highest average stretch distance and highest average roll distance. 3. Varying ratio of the ingredients, Borax solution and glue solution, affect the physical characteristics of the homemade bouncy polymer.Using less borax will produce a goopier type of ball while adding more glue for a slimier ball. RECOMMENDATIONS Making a homemade bouncy polymer produced a positive result. With this basis, the researchers recommend the adaptation of this homemade bouncy polymer on the teaching-learning process which can be used by both teachers and students specifically in representing chemical reactions in Chemistry and demonstration of some laws in Physics. To further improve the project study, the researcher would also like to recommend the following: 1. Experiment with the ratio between the amounts of glue, cornstarch, and borax; 2.Experiment on the floor where the homemade bouncy polymer will bounce the highest, on a wood, on a glass or on a concrete floor; 3. Experiment if temperature will affect the characteristics of the homemade bouncy polymer; 4. Experiment if the size will affect the height of bounce/return, length of stretch and distance of roll; and, 30 5. Experiment if the homemade polymer can be used as an alternative on some rubber products. Moreover, other investigators are encouraged similar project to improve the quality and provide homemade bouncy polymer.

Free Middle School Science Fair Projects

Free Middle School Science Fair Projects Its hard enough to come up with a middle school science fair project, but its even more challenging to find one that wont cost you any money. Heres a selection of ideas for middle school science fair projects that use materials you likely already have on hand or else allows you to collect data from free sources. For a middle school project, try to propose a hypothesis and design an experiment to test it. Choose a project you can do fairly quickly so that you will have time to work on the report or poster. Do you have a pet? Devise an experiment to determine whether it can see in color or is right/left pawed, etc. If you have multiple pets, see if their handedness is related to gender (male or female).  Do any household chemicals repel (or attract) insects?What ratio of vinegar to baking soda produces the best chemical volcano eruption?What type of plastic wrap prevents evaporation the best? Is plastic wrap more effective than aluminum foil?What plastic wrap prevents oxidation the best?What percentage of an orange is water?Are night insects attracted to lamps because of heat or light?Do white candles burn at a different rate than colored candles?Does the presence of detergent in water affect plant growth?Can a saturated solution of sodium chloride still dissolve Epsom salts? Can it still dissolve sugar?Does magnetism affect the growth of plants?How does the shape of an ice cube affect how quickly it melts? What effect does size have?Do different brands of popcorn leave different amou nts of unpopped kernels? Can you determine how long it takes people to fall asleep? What factors affect how quickly they fall asleep?How do differences in surfaces affect the adhesion of tape?If you shake up different kinds or brands of soft drinks (e.g., carbonated), will they all spew the same amount?Are all potato chips equally greasy? How about chips made from other vegetables (e.g., beets, sweet potatoes)?Do the same types of mold grow on all types of bread? Does the same mold grow on bread as on tortillas?Does light effect the rate at which foods spoil?Can you use a household water filter to remove flavor or color from other liquids?Does the power of a microwave affect how well it makes popcorn?Compare labels on foods. Is the nutritional content of different brands of a vegetable the same?How permanent are permanent markers? What solvents (e.g., water, alcohol, vinegar, detergent solution) will remove the ink? Do different brands/types of markers produce the same results?Is laundry detergent as effecti ve if you use less than the recommended amount? More? Do all hairsprays hold equally well? Equally long? Does type of hair affect the results?What effect do additives have on the crystals? You could add food coloring, flavorings, etc.What steps can you take to maximize crystal size? You can affect vibration, humidity, temperature, rate of evaporation, purity of your growth medium, and time allowed for crystal growth.How do different factors affect seed germination?Is a seed affected by its size? Do different size seeds have different germination rates or percentages? Does seed size affect the growth rate or final size of a plant?How does cold storage affect the germination of seeds?What conditions affect the ripening of fruit?How are different soils affected by erosion? You can make your own wind or water and evaluate the effects on soil. If you have access to a very cold freezer, you can look at the effects of freeze and thaw cycles.How does the pH of soil relate to the pH of the water around the soil?How effective are natural pest det errents?

Community Health Nursing Intervention Research Paper - 1

Community Health Nursing Intervention - Research Paper Example llowing the windshield survey and the statistical analysis because the majority of hospital admission and a higher percentage of the mortality rate in the community link to either of the three. From the data gathered there is a high prevalence of deaths or hospital emergencies are resulting from heart and respiratory diseases issues. For example in the data, the rate of deaths due to heart disease stood at 191.9 per 100,000 people. Comparing to other states this number is very high. It is for this reason that the survey revealed heart disease to be the top cause for the high mortality rate in the community. The analysis also highlights that the major cause for heart disease and respiratory problems in the area is due to air pollution and overcrowding. The next concern in the area is the number of motor vehicle accidents. Most hospital emergencies also attribute to the high rate of motorcar accidents in the region. Based on the priority health issues raised for this community, a cancer screening and awareness program for people of all ages is proposed to aid in early identification and treatment. This program is best suited as it will be able to create awareness and control the menace brought by overcrowding and air pollution. The proposed intervention is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timed therefore making it meat all the requirements of a SMART program. The program is specific for testing and treating heart disease patient in the community by ensuring at least everybody undergoes testing for signs of heart disease twice a year. The outcome of the proposed intervention will help in reducing the mortality rate of the community and prolong life expectancy of the whole community as a whole. The intervention will be able to educate people on ways of preventing and avoiding situations that may lead to heart disease or complications. This will also provide a means for people who are above the age of 65 who are at most risk access the necessary

Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Project - Assignment Example The contaminants do not necessarily pose health risks however they have significant influence on the quality of the water and its applications. Water is filtered, fluoridated or physically inspected to ensure acceptable quality. The EPA provides regulations and standards of water systems. Drinking water systems can be distinguished into two categories. First, is the public water systems which are under the EPA regulations and the second is private or individual water systems that which are independent of EPA regulations and it’s the owner’s initiative to maintain the quality of water by ensuring it is free of contaminants (CDC, 1). Approximately 286 million American’s are dependent on tap water from public water systems regulated and monitored as per EPA regulations compared 45 million (15%) who rely on privately owned water systems. This clearly indicates a need for continuous and routine assessment of quality. In privately owned water systems the quality and quantity of water through design can be manipulated to meet the owner’s requirements. Properly constructed and maintained wells will provide sufficient, safe water at minimal cost. Dissolve minerals and odors are common problems associated with individual wells, but they quickly diagnosed and managed. Public water systems are associated with a high cost of construction and maintenance of the high demand. The provider regulates the contents according to approved standards and guidelines. Problems are hard to detect and control and in some cases long transport routes have been associated with stale water. Also, the quality of water at source and point of use cannot be determined to be same. Chlorinated water has been reported to mesh with organic materials to form gasses such as trihalomethane. Since the provision of these services is levied, they are associated with an increased cost of living and undesired growth. (Yoder 1). Taste, color, order, staining and fixture in clothes are

The tastiest carrot cake Essay Example for Free

The tastiest carrot cake Essay Birthdays have been special over the years, what makes it special is not balloons or parties, but the desert! Every birthday that I can remember I have had a carrot flourless cake, double layer with rich chocolate icing on the top. Its home made by my mom, she is the the only person that can cook a cake like that, I’ve never tried something so good and tasty like this one. Since I was young, chocolate has been my favorite thing to eat, no matter what time of the day, I’ll eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and cannot resist it when I see it. Just the sight of a dark, scrumptious, chocolate makes my mouth water like a little kid at the zoo eyeing some cotton candy. I inherited my sweet tooth from my mom’s dad, grandpa Valdemar; he would cover loads of healthy food such as fruit and cereal with loads of sugar. The warm inside of the carrot cake when it first comes out of the oven makes my taste buds jump with joy. It looks soft as the sky clouds on sunny days and the frosting is as smooth as malaises, rich with 2 pound of chocolate on the top of it. During the singing of the birthday song, I can see the wax from the candles dripping off and just can’t wait to blow them out so I can jump into the cake and relish the taste. This kind of cake is famous as carnival in Brazil and I can’t even find this amazing food in a city like New York, so mixed and with a lot of cultures. I hope that one day Americans will try at least one time. I’m sure that who tried once will never stay without a piece two times a month in a normal afternoon.

Personal Narrative- Time Spent in Waiting Rooms :: Personal Narrative

Personal Narrative- Time Spent in Waiting Rooms As I get older there are a few things I’ve started to notice. One that really stands out is the amount of time I spend in waiting rooms. In my particular situation, I have an 85-year-old father, a wife, a fifteen-year-old son, four house cats, goats, horses, dogs, a few other relatives, and assorted other animals that turn up from time to time. My father, who has been a widower for several years, has a variety of ailments. Primary among these ailments are boredom and loneliness. When a person gets to his age all he can think about is "what hurts, how bad, if it hurts real bad will I wake up on the right side of the grass, and who will notice if I don’t." With each of these pains he thinks, "maybe I should see the doctor, I know he cares what side of the grass I wake up on, and he will alert my uncaring family to the gravity of the situation." Well, being almost blind he needs a driver. You can guess who that might be; it’s me, his uncaring son. So we go to the doctor, he gets my attention, and the doctors. I get stimulating conversation about hemorrhoids, in the waiting room. As I mentioned in the beginning, I also have my own oblivious 15-year-old son. Any of you privileged enough to have your own teenager will know that they think they can leap over a reasonably large building, and not get hurt. He’s bullet proof, just ask him. However, the other day Mr. Bulletproof decided to open a package of hot dogs with a foot long butcher knife. "Slice, and heigh-ho, heigh-ho, off to the waiting room we go." There is also in my life, my wife. Well, as far as that goes, I should leave it there. She just may read this sometime, and in case she is, "you know your never any trouble honey, and I am sure that accident was my fault." In fact, "I’m happy to wait for you in the waiting room." Then there are the animals. Just the sound of that last sentence, brings certain fears to my mind. An example of why occurred this summer. I was mowing hay, and low and behold what should appear out of the corner of my eye, but the dog. This dog had a mission and it started on the other side of the sickle bar mower. Personal Narrative- Time Spent in Waiting Rooms :: Personal Narrative Personal Narrative- Time Spent in Waiting Rooms As I get older there are a few things I’ve started to notice. One that really stands out is the amount of time I spend in waiting rooms. In my particular situation, I have an 85-year-old father, a wife, a fifteen-year-old son, four house cats, goats, horses, dogs, a few other relatives, and assorted other animals that turn up from time to time. My father, who has been a widower for several years, has a variety of ailments. Primary among these ailments are boredom and loneliness. When a person gets to his age all he can think about is "what hurts, how bad, if it hurts real bad will I wake up on the right side of the grass, and who will notice if I don’t." With each of these pains he thinks, "maybe I should see the doctor, I know he cares what side of the grass I wake up on, and he will alert my uncaring family to the gravity of the situation." Well, being almost blind he needs a driver. You can guess who that might be; it’s me, his uncaring son. So we go to the doctor, he gets my attention, and the doctors. I get stimulating conversation about hemorrhoids, in the waiting room. As I mentioned in the beginning, I also have my own oblivious 15-year-old son. Any of you privileged enough to have your own teenager will know that they think they can leap over a reasonably large building, and not get hurt. He’s bullet proof, just ask him. However, the other day Mr. Bulletproof decided to open a package of hot dogs with a foot long butcher knife. "Slice, and heigh-ho, heigh-ho, off to the waiting room we go." There is also in my life, my wife. Well, as far as that goes, I should leave it there. She just may read this sometime, and in case she is, "you know your never any trouble honey, and I am sure that accident was my fault." In fact, "I’m happy to wait for you in the waiting room." Then there are the animals. Just the sound of that last sentence, brings certain fears to my mind. An example of why occurred this summer. I was mowing hay, and low and behold what should appear out of the corner of my eye, but the dog. This dog had a mission and it started on the other side of the sickle bar mower.

The Master Gardener

English 1301 Week 3 The Descriptive Essay Gwendolyn Wiley The Master Gardener We arrive at First Christian Church and as we approach the large red doors, I began to reflect on the days, months, and years past. A man awaits us just past those huge red doors known as the world’s greatest gardener. As a child, I remember this building seeming so large with its tall beautiful painted windows similar to the ones you might find in a Roman Catholic Cathedral. The edifice and structure of the building covered with large dark red rocks that remind you of giraffe spots.I would visit often, as a child the air of the place seems sacred and holy. The building towers up as a grand ole castle of the days of old. On the side of this massive structure, lies a beautiful garden. When we enter, the huge archway there is a feeling that you are entering into the garden of God, filled with beautiful pink gardenias, fiery red roses, white lilies, and yellow daisies the lawn always freshly manicured w ith a look of a green sea that flows through the entire garden leaving you feeling tranquil about life.The dogwood trees would bloom each spring filling the air with sweet incense that the creator would seem to smile. They stretched forth as though they struggled to find their way to the sky almost like the twisted frame of the man that cared for them. This is Jimmy’s garden. Charles James Jackson aka Jimmy a small frame man with those big gray eyes and grand smile could bring light in the darkest of rooms. He gives bone-crushing hugs to all he met. He served as a custodian, caretaker, and trustee at First Christian Church.Jimmy dedicated over fifty years of service to this community. He polished with great care and attention to detail all the grand brass within the structure. He gave such care of the large brass bells, which he rang during each wedding, baby dedication and coming of age ceremony as though he gave his approval of each act. He would witness more than three gen eration of children from birth to marriage of this great congregation. He gave advice to each generation as though they were his own children showing that great smile ensuring each felt his love by giving a bone crushing hug.Jimmy a humped back man only because he stops to bend down to hug and pick up so many children. Everyone loves Jimmy Mr. Gilmore a lifelong friend of Jimmy’s says, â€Å"God has a master gardener now†. Jimmy’s garden is a landmark in Meridian Ms everyone knows where First Christian Church is because of this elaborate garden. As the first leaf of autumn falls so does Jimmy entering into the final resting place as a seed the way so many in which he planted.Jimmy Jackson my father passed away October 19, 2012. His little three room white house with a porch covered with flowers and plants left as a reminder of that spectacular gardener. During the funeral there were more than a dozen people stand and proclaim how Jimmy influenced their lives, ma ny would paint a portrait of him so vivid it seemed that an entirely different person was lying inside that cold gray casket. The most vivid remembrance to me is that knee-slapping laugh.He laughs deeply each time he laughs it seems as though it comes from a place so deep within him he almost falls over. Oh, the way he could laugh, it is a infectious laugh. If you did not know what he was saying, you laugh because he is laughing. Jimmy Jackson, the man with a green thumb, warm heart, and bright smile is gone but not forgotten. This is the world’s greatest gardener and I will echo Mr. Gilmore now God has a master gardener. Charles James Jackson we miss you, we love you rest in peace until we meet again.

The Train

The blistering cold numbed my eyes as I stumbled through the biting snow, dragging a dull, faded suitcase overloaded with necessities behind me, leaving a train in the deadly, ice snow. â€Å"All abroad! † a man in a bright red suit, a funny red hat and an equally crimson nose called, his voice straining to be heard over the howling wind. I struggled up to him and handed over my ticket, which was faded from sweat, tears and the bitter snow. Then man, whom I safely assumed was the train conductor, glanced briefly at the ticket, then smiled at me slightly. Terrible morning isn't it? † he commented. I did not reply. â€Å"In for a long ride, I see! † he added when he saw my ticket. I gave no response as I checked my heavy bag. He beamed wider as he said, â€Å"Welcome aboard the Windows Express, ma'am! † I tried to smile back, but my scarf was bundled around my nose and my mouth, so I nodded instead. â€Å"Thank you. † My voice was barely audible over t he gusty breeze as I stepped off the platform and boarded the train. The front compartment was crowded, packed like sardines. I squeezed past the numerous bodies to get to the next train ar, which was where I was to be seated. Even though the warmth there was comforting, I hoped it was not too stuffy in my car. I finally broke free from the crowd, swinging the car door open and entering a considerably cooler car. I removed my scarf from my face. My skin was raw with cold, but I barely felt it. I glanced around. This car was deserted, the seats along its aisle empty. I checked the number of compartment I had been assigned then opened the door to it. There was a small bunk bed in the corner, with a little closed off area I guessed was the bunk. I lanced out the single window, but there was nothing to be seen through the fog and slat than plummeted so hard against the glass it felt like hail. Feeling slightly claustrophobic in the narrow compartment, I briskly threw off my jacket and e xited, walking back into the aisle. I noticed a door at the back of the car and decided to check it out. I made my way down the aisle and slid the door open. It led into the next car. This one did not have seats, but little booths lined up neatly along either side. There was a bellboy near the back, tending to a little refreshment stand. His eyes were bored, even as he attempted to reet me pleasantly. â€Å"Hello, ma'am, welcome to the lounge. Would you like anything? Some pie, perhaps, or a cup of coffee? † Uninterested, I declined politely, just as another door caught my eye. Without thinking, I flung it open. There was nothing in the room except a door with a window fixed into it, and a shiny red handle. â€Å"This is where you'll be disembarking,† the bellboy informed me. â€Å"That there's the emergency brake,† he added, pointing at the handle. â€Å"You're perfectly welcome to pull that at any time. † Taken aback, I spluttered on my Coke. â€Å"Wha t? I wouldn't. That's ridiculous.Then how will I get to where I am going? † I demanded incredulously. The bellboy shrugged. â€Å"Sometimes you can't rely on trains to get you to where you want to go. † I stared openly at him. Quickly dismissing him as crazy, I turned away and hastily returned to my compartment. Once safely inside, I lay on my bed, thinking to myself about my destination, a place I had never been and a face I had not seen for so many years it hurt to think about it. Flashbacks began to attack my once- peaceful mind, invading my would be calm pondering. At four years old, my hands pressed tightly over my ears, rying in vain to block out the sounds of heated arguments over nothing. Seven years old, an empty bottle crashing over my head as I tried to escape the debris of broken plates. Thirteen years, bruises covering my face, blood on my hands, a broken ankle, pain enveloping my body. Sixteen, my broken ribs causing me to shake as I slammed the front door behind me and limped as fast as I could into the night, my mother screaming for me to come home and my father's threats chasing after me†¦ I jerked awake, nearly falling out of bed. My head felt heavy, and my eyes groggy, as if I had not slept or days. Sluggishly, I checked my watch, which still hung from my wrist. My eyes snapped wide open as they read the time, then relaxed again. My watch had stopped at around the same time I boarded that train. I got up, feeling tired, and felt my stomach growl. I stood up, stretched, brushed my hair and hurridly with my fingers and left my compartment. I was about to go to the lounge to eat when I noticed another girl sitting on a seat in the aisle, next to the window. She was clothed very thinly for the morbid weather, and her long locks of auburn hair poured over her shoulders.I approached her slowly. â€Å"Hello,† I said, and she jumped in surprised. â€Å"Sorry for startling you, but do you have the time? † She looked up at me, and I saw a thin ragged face that would have been pretty if not for the exhaustion consuming it, and the melancholy sadness in her eyes. â€Å"Oh hello, its quite alright. Let me check. † She lifted her mobile phone from her pocket, glanced at it, then shook her head apologetically. â€Å"Strange. It seems to have died. I could've sworn I charged it yesterday. † I thanked her anyway, and asked her where she was going. She looked even weary when I questioned her. I'm going to see my long-distance partner for four years,† she said, in an almost rehearsed answer. â€Å"I think he may propose to me, but I doubt I'm ready for such a change. † She drifted off, her voice trailing away, then came to her senses and asked me where I was headed. â€Å"I'm going to see my father. I haven't seen him for nearly a decade,† I said quietly. â€Å"I can't say I'm looking forward to it. † She agreed with me, and we made small talk for awhile longer befo re I excused myself and when to the lounge. The bellboy was not there anymore, and I breathed an inward sigh of relief.The batty guy had freaked me out. I saw someone sitting down in one of the lounge booths. Hidden behind stacks of paperwork and a newspaper sat a middle aged man in an impressive suit and tie, muttering to himself in what looked like disgust. I walked over to him. â€Å"Hi, sorry to bother you, but do you know what time it is? † He glanced up and stopped grumbling. â€Å"Hmm? Oh, yes. † he shot a look at his fancy wristwatch. â€Å"Well, what is this? My watch isn't working! † He began to mumble again. I found it strange that nobody knew the time, so I stole a glimpse of the watch, and sure enough it ceased to ick. â€Å"That’s a shame,† I said good-naturedly, and asked him what he was doing. â€Å"Its for a case I have,† he replied. I must have looked puzzled, because he elaborated. â€Å"I'm a lawyer, you see, and I'm abo ut to defend the biggest drug cartels of all time- then again, I probably shouldn’t have told you that. † I was about to leave him in peace when he continued on. â€Å"In my defense, my client is one of my oldest friends. I owe him my life and he's gotten me out tons of scraps. I really have no choice. I began to feel a little uncomfortable, and averted my gaze to rest on the window.To my surprise, evening was over-the sun was rising on another day! Had I missed my stop? I was supposed to be off the train by dusk, yet here was dawn, a new day beginning right before my eyes! Panicking, I ran back to my car and asked the girl still sitting on he seat, â€Å"What time did you get on? Which state are you going to? † Bewildered, she told me the details of her travel. I calculated in my head. â€Å"But what would only take you a few hours! You should have arrived by now,† I said, unable to keep my voice from getting louder. She seemed indifferent. Maybe we made a few stops along the way. I wasn't awake the whole time, you know. † But I had it all figured out. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together, forming an unbelievable picture in my head. I ran back into the lounge, and flung open the door at the back of it, where the emergency brake ws. The lady came racing after me, asking where I was going. â€Å"Look, it’s the emergency brake. If we pull it, we'll be able to get out of here! † I exclaimed. She looked at me the same way I had looked at the bellboy- as if one of us had gone bonkers. â€Å"What? Are you crazy? Why? Its ridiculous.Then how will I ever get to where I'm going? † I smiled at the distinct resemblance her words had to mine. Reaching over, I grasped the red handle in my right hand and pulled as hard as I could. The train screeched against the metal of the tracks. I pushed against the exit door, and it opened easily. I leaped off the train. The ground was icy and cold beneath my feet, and the cold wind cut my uncovered face like a knife. I became aware that I did not even have my jacket with me as the cold began to envelope my very being. â€Å"What are you doing? You'll freeze to death! † the girl cried next to me. You don't even have your suitcase with you. † I vaguely recalled my stuffed baggage, filled with things I suddenly realized were of no importance to me. And just like that, suddenly, I felt free. Free of all my emotional baggage, free of everything that weigh me down, free of guilt, pain and sorrow. A sense of warmth, a beautiful feeling, filled up my body, and I no longer felt the chill. I turned back to the train, smiling for the first time in years. â€Å"Why don’t you come with me? † I asked the girl. She shook her head, eyes wide. And then the train door slammed shut, and began to move again.Free of doubt, I turned from the sight of the train slowly resending out of sight until it vanished, and began to trudge through the snow , in the direction of my destination. Sometimes we are weighed down by the pain, grief and guilt. We go through life day by day, merely existing, not living, and time stands still. Those days we live, so burdened by emotions, are meaningless and pas by without notice of purpose. If we could just let go of it all, forget our troubles for a few seconds, and look around us, perhaps we would see the beauty we are meant to see, and the wonder we would feel if we only let go.

Dealing with the Aspects that we are faced with Day in and Day Out

Aggression: Dealing with the Aspects that we are faced with Day in and Day Out We live in a society where aggressive acts happen every day, but do we really know what causes it? How can we help ourselves and others to understand what aggression is? First off, we need to define aggression, tell its causes and effects and determine the best way to deal with it. For example, aggression can be positive or negative, accidental or intended and physical or mental. Aggression is a continuing behavior in our world today and I feel that it is very important that we try to start controlling it now. Aggression is a critical part of animal existence, which is a driving force to humans, as we too are animals. The source of aggression within humans is an ongoing list so therefore, we must understand the definition of aggression. Aggression in psychology defined by the World Book Encyclopedia is hostile behavior that may hurt or upset other people. Such behavior may take the form of physical attack against people or their possessions, or verbal abuse (Larsen, 2000). There are many types of aggressive behaviors which we must differentiate from. Aggression may be an automatic response to such experiences as pain or danger. In other cases, it is a deliberate action with a definite purpose (Larsen, 2000). Some people act out of hostility to gain money, pleasure, power or prestige. Other aggressive behavior is intended to cause physical or psychological injury (Larsen, 2000). For example, an aggressive behavior can be negative or positive, accidental or intended and phys! There is no justification for violent aggression such as spouse, child, or sibling abuse, criminal assault, rape, bullying, or any other physical harm or psychological insult to another person. At a time like this, you dont have to hide your feeling, express yourself. Of course, if your life is in danger, do whatever it takes to help you reach saf...

History of the Olympics - 1972 Olympic Games in Munich

History of the Olympics - 1972 Olympic Games in Munich The 1972 Olympic Games will probably be best remembered for the murder of eleven Israeli Olympians. On September 5, a day before the Games were to begin, eight Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympic Village and seized eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team. Two of the hostages were able to wound two of their captors before they were killed. The terrorists requested the release of 234 Palestinians that were being held in Israel. During a failed attempt at rescue, all of the remaining hostages and five of the terrorists were killed, and three terrorists were wounded. The IOC decided that the Games should go on. The following day there was a memorial service for the victims and the Olympic flags were flown at half staff. The opening of the Olympics was postponed one day. The decision of the IOC to continue the Games after such a horrific event was controversial. The Games Went On More controversies were to affect these Games. During the Olympic ​Games a dispute arose during the basketball game between the Soviet Union and the United States. With one second left on the clock, and the score in favor of the Americans at 50-49, the horn sounded. The Soviet coach had called a time-out. The clock was reset to three seconds and played out. The Soviets still hadnt scored and for some reason, the clock was again set back to three seconds. This time, Soviet player Alexander Belov made a basket and the game ended at 50-51 in the Soviets favor. Though the timekeeper and one of the referees stated that the additional three seconds was completely illegal, the Soviets were allowed to keep the gold. In an amazing feat, Mark Spitz (United States) dominated the swimming events and won seven gold medals. More than 7,000 athletes participated, representing 122 countries.

ARTICLE CRITIQUES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ARTICLE CRITIQUES - Essay Example Another aspect covered by the article is sources of information for the recognition of potential threats arising from hazardous materials. These include location and site occupancy; placards, labels and other markings on mode of transportation, buildings and containers; as well as information about the physical and chemical properties. All these information provide HAZMAT professionals with knowledge and guidance in the handling of hazardous materials and in responding to HAZMAT incidents. Finally, the article tackles personal protective equipment or PPE’s which help reduce risks from hazardous materials encountered by HAZMAT professionals. All the initial information provided in the article should be well-known to the emergency responder of incidents involving hazardous materials. Moreover, all the inputs provided by the article should be further studied by individuals who deal with these materials. Lack of appropriate knowledge about hazardous materials not only run the risk of exacerbating the incident but also fatal risks for the HAZMAT professionals. They should be well-versed in the laws and regulations concerning such materials to be able to prevent untoward incidents. Emergency responders should also be able to recognize the presence of these materials and must know how to safely handle them. Additionally, in responding to emergency situations involving hazardous materials, HAZMAT professionals should be equipped with appropriate PPEs and should be well-trained in their use. The article provides an introduction to laws, regulations and regulating bodies concerned with hazardous materials. It gives examples of regulating bodies such as the EPA, OSHA, DOT, NFPA; as well as examples of regulation such as SARA-EPCRA, HAZWOPER, and NFPA standards. Even from the examples presented, the reader is made to realize that many entities are concerned with safety as related to hazardous materials. Although the examples are not explained at length, mere mention

Brighton Seaside Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Brighton Seaside - Essay Example In 1313, Edward II granted Brighthelmston a charter that allowed market operations each Thursday at Brighton seaside. The market operations developed Brighton into a tourist site and visited by many vacationers. In the 21st century, Brighton and Hove have grown into a world tourist attraction. The new sea front has turned into an attractive and trendy magnet for visitors. Additionally, the newly created clubs, bars and restaurants has changed the area into fashionable beachfront in Britain. Today, it is highly regarded by theatregoers and artists as the main center for much famous west ends London productions. According to statistics, Brighton pier now at 1722 ft. in length with grade two-listed building, welcomes over three million visitors annually (Easdown 2009, p.12). Besides, Brighton seaside has been included among the top ten UK destinations for overseas visitors and top five most favorite cities. Brighton seaside is the future attraction site where one can find culture, good shopping, and enough food with the selection of specialty hotels. It is estimated to host over eight million visitors annually incorporating conference delegates and leisure visitors (Benson, 2015, p.1). According to Office for National Statistics (2014), Brighton is the most popular destination in the UK that is preferred by foreign tourists. In 2013, it hosted nearly 400, 000 foreign visitors. Benson, R 2015, Coastlines: The Story of Our Shore by Patrick Barkham, Book Review, The Independent. Retrieved On 30th March, 2015 from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/coastlines-the-story-of-our-shore-by-patrick-barkham-book-review-10120105.html Farmer, B 2015, Pay Less for Parking in the Rain Plan for Seaside Town, The Telegraph, Retrieved On March 30, 2015

The importance of recruitment and selection of sales people Essay

The importance of recruitment and selection of sales people - Essay Example Effective recruitment involves the identification of certain qualities which spell success. Certain people are imbued with that quality of good salesmanship and have the ability to out forth that quality of sincerity and integrity that certain people are imbued with that quality of good salesmanship and have the ability to out forth that quality of sincerity and integrity that encourages customers to purchase a product. The focus of good recruitment is in matching the capabilities, talents and skills of a particular candidate with the demands and requirements for the job. There must be transparency and uniformity in the recruitment process, in order to identify the most meritorious candidates available for a sales job. The manner in which the recruitment is carried out will affect the kind of candidates who get selected finally. During the process of recruitment, the selectors need to match up the best candidate for the job by an evaluation of the needs of the job and the qualities o f the candidate, in order to determine which candidate is best likely to fulfill the needs of the job.

Impact of ICT on recruitment and selection

Impact of ICT on recruitment and selection The aim of this report is to identify traditional methods of recruitment and how they have been revolutionized by the emergence of the Internet. In the past few years, the Internet has dramatically changed the face of HR recruitment and the ways organizations think about the recruiting function. Presently, Information Communication Technologies (ICT), which provide enabling technologies to assist Human Resources (Hers) professionals in the delivery of services, have also simultaneously increased the expectations that employees, managers, customers, and regulators have for the HR functions. The feedback I received from essay one is that Internet recruitment is viewed as an important additional tool and traditional methods are continued to be used in recruiting process. The pros of e-recruitment were to identify and reach large of qualified candidates advertise with dispersed location, provide cost effective method, save the recruiting process time and increase image of organizations. The cons of e-recruitment were the discrimination issue forward to Internet non-user, difficult to recruit executive-level talents on the Internet, the digital divide gap between computer literate and illiterate and the risk of overload of resumes. Analysis of Viva process: The viva process went very well and that was after I submitted my both essays to my supervisor. When it came to the Viva (oral defense), I really wanted to do it well. I spent quite more than enough time preparing the viva in the way that I have seen others make similar preparations. After having been informed that I will be required to defend my second essay, I decided that a good presentation comes from good planning and having at hand all the information that anyone might request, so I spent a long time in the preparation and I went feeling confident. As soon as I arrived at the conference where the presentation was taking place, I became nervous when I realized they were all waiting for me to speak and my nerves made me tremble. I did not know how to stop it. later on, I noticed that panelists seemed not to understand what I was saying despite all the preparations I had made. I suddenly calmed myself down, and in no minutes time I found myself flowing and everybody in the room un derstood I had gained momentum. I did it so well and this happened when I decided talking more slowly without trembling. It was interesting because everyone saw a change in my attitude after a very short time, and from there, I personally started seeing things differently. I regained sufficient confidence and was able to discuss matters in greater depth, thus, I felt more positive until the end of the Viva. The title of essay and aim: The title of essay two is Impact of ICT on recruitment and selection, and the main question is whether E-recruitment is an efficient tool for recruitment, and analyzing how beneficial e-recruitment is to organizations implementing it. The aim of this paper was to: Identify what e-recruitment methods are being used, and what are experiences of organizations trying to implement e-recruitment. Establish how organizations are evaluating the success of their e-recruitment initiatives, and establish the level of success being experienced This paper will help to establish a baseline on the use of e-recruitment by organizations, thereby enabling the on-going monitoring of progress and developments in this area. How essay 2 builds on essay 1 Essay two builds on essay one by analyzing the benefits of e-recruitment to organizations implementing it. However, e-recruitment is an efficient method of recruitment due to a number of reasons, most notably for cost reduction, increases the efficiency of the process, reduce time to hire and provide access to a larger and more diverse candidate pool. The most notable benefits reported by organizations having introduced e-recruitment are the cost savings, which have mainly been due to reduced advertising cost, a reduction in the resources required to process applications and a reduction in recruitment agency costs. Other benefits include more efficient management of communication with candidates and the ability to easily report on key performance metrics as a result of internet based tracking systems. It also shows that online recruitment is an improvement but cannot totally replace the traditional recruitment. Thus, increased use of e-recruitment methods and systems is helping to facilitate this trend by removing much of the routine administration involved in recruiting allowing HR to more easily monitor and track recruitment related activities. What I did well or could have done better: What I did well was planning and researching. I came up with really good research based on what I had planned. The communication and listening skills I acquired during the course made me to respond to questions very well and with full confidence. I gathered all the materials and data that I wanted, compiled it before coming up with the final report. Though during report writing, I was not sure whether I was going the right direction as far as the flow was concerned. I kept doing what I thought was right from my own perspective. What I learned: I have learned that planning and preparing for a Viva does not guarantee someone from trembling, but makes you have the information you need at hand. I also noticed how important it is to go back over things I have written about before presenting, for this could make me familiar with what I had written down. There were things I did not know at the time of questions and answer session, and I recognized there were some areas in which I went wrong. This made me realize that the panelists did not understand what I was saying. I have learned that I was not confident enough to present what I had prepared for. I need to think from the beginning about the process of giving a good Viva, as well as being sure about my reliance on what I have prepared/planned in order to have the best Viva. Conclusion: In order to prepare a good Viva or any presentation, good planning is required as well as doing enough research (have enough information at hand). On top of planning, being confident is another important aspect that can lead a person to present a good Viva. If I was confident enough, I am sure I would not have trembled and my oral defense would have been perfectly done from the time I entered the room. I, therefore, would like to encourage students to make sure they have full confidence in mind before attempting any presentation, which for my case was an oral defense (Viva).

Secularism v. Spirituality in the Second Nuns Tale Essay -- Second Nu

Secularism v. Spirituality in the Second Nun's Tale      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer describes the men and women of the Church in extreme forms; most of these holy pilgrims, such as the Monk, the Friar, and Pardoner, are caricatures of objectionable parts of Catholic society.   At a time when the power-hungry Catholic Church used the misery of peasants in order to obtain wealth, it is no wonder that one of the greatest writers of the Middle Ages used his works to comment on the religious politics of the day.        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Yet not all of Chaucer's religious characters are failures in spirituality. His description of the Second Nun is of a truly pious woman who spends her life in the service of others; she claims this service as the very reason she tells her tale:      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And for to putte us fro swich ydelnesse,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That cause is of so greet confusioun,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I have heer doon my feithful bisynesse,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the legende, in translacioun   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Right of thy glorious lyf and passioun   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thou with thy gerland wrought with rose and lilie -   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thee meene I, mayde and martir, Seint Cecilie.   (22-28)    She is using her time wisely and in the service of her God, avoiding the easy-to-commit sin of sloth as she journeys on her horse, and aiding her comrades in the avoidance of this sin.   In addition to saving the pilgrimage from sloth, she enlightens and teaches those around her, much like her beloved Saint Cecilia.      However, while the character herself is fascinating and worthy of study alone, most intriguing is the choice of her tale.   What is Chaucer's purpose in having the character tell the tale ... ...owski, Eileen   S. "Chaucer's Second Nun's Tale and the Apocalyptic Imagination." The Chaucer Review. 36.2. 2001: 128-148. Project Muse. 2 Apr. 2002. Keyword: Second Nun. Martin, Fredrick. Increase and Multipy in the Speech Acts of Chaucer's Nun's Priest, Second Nun, and Canon's Yeoman. 30 Mar. 2002 <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/9976/chaucer8.html>. Reames, Sherry L. "The Cecilia Legend as Chaucer Inherited It and Retold It: The Disappearance of an Augustinian Ideal." Speculum. 55.1. 1980: 38-57. JSTOR. 6 Apr. 2002. Keyword: Second Nun. Taise, Brother Anthony of. Chaucer and Religion. Ewha University, Seoul. 30 Mar. 2002 <http://www.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony/Religion.htm>. Weise, Judith A. "Chaucer's Tell-Tale Lexicon: Romancing Seinte Cecyle." Style. 31.3. 1997: 440-479. ProQuest. 02 Apr. 2002. Keyword: Second Nun.   

Fi363 Final Study Guide

FI363 Final Examination Student Study Guide Final Examination 1. 05 This is a two-hour, closed book and closed notes test. Therefore, it cannot be a take-home test. Students are not allowed to use a computer during the test. Students are not allowed to bring extra â€Å"scratch† paper to the exam. They can use the back side of the test for scratch paper if needed. The examination contains twenty multiple choice questions valued at 5 points each (100 points total) and five essay questions valued at 40 points each (200 points total). The total value of the examination is 300 points.Multiple Choice Questions ask the students to relate key financial System concepts that they have learned: 1. The student should review these course concepts a. Interest rates and interest rate calculations b. Various types of financial markets c. Various types of financial institutions d. Direct and indirect finance e. Present value f. Supply and demand as applied to financial instruments; i. e. supp ly curve for bonds g. Term structure; i. e. relationship among interest rates on bonds with different maturities h. The Federal Reserve System; identify components i.Monetary Policy; concept behind raising or lower the money supply j. Monetary Policy Targeting k. Money markets; characteristics l. Capital markets ; compared to money market securities m. Mortgage Markets and how they differ from stock and bond markets n. Foreign exchange markets o. Securities and Exchange Commission; characteristics p. Currency exchange rates and the law of one price q. International finance r. Adverse selection s. Moral hazard and characteristics of loan management principles t. Too-Big-to-Fail Policy u. Conflict of interest and the concept behind consumer/business lending v.Bank Liabilities/Assets w. Dual Banking System. x. World Bank y. Financial system structure Essay questions ask the student to relate core learning concepts to financial system situations and to discuss or define financial system terms. Be certain that you completely understand the following terms. The student should review concepts that relate to the following and be prepared to write analyses that include: 1. Assess the structural characteristics of the American financial system, including both institutions and markets that lead to its efficiency and effectiveness. 2.Describe and evaluate the functions of financial markets. Provide an example of the functions of the Bond Market, the Stock Market, or the Mortgage market. 3. Discuss the role of central banks, such as the Federal Reserve in the United States, to provide economic growth and stability. 4. Differentiate between the roles of various financial institutions within the financial system. Provide a detailed example of one financial institution. 5. Describe and the regulatory system in the United States and evaluate its impact of regulations on financial institutions and markets.

Uefa & Football Governance

Jaime Andreu-Romeo – Head of European Sport Unit, European Commission Leonardo Nascimento de Araujo – AC Milan and FIFA World Cup Champion ‘94 John Barton – T. E. A. M. Marketing Genevieve Berti – Communications Manager of G-14 Marco Brunelli – Lega Calcio and our tutor Richard Bunn – TV and Media consultant Michele Centenaro – Senior Product Manager, Club Competitions, UEFA Jerome Champagne – Deputy Secretary General, FIFA Jean-Paul de la Fuente – Founding Director, Deureka Peter Gillieron – General Secretary, Association Suisse de Football Michel Guenaire – Head of Sport-Law Division, Gide, Loyrette et Nouel, Paris Rodolfo Hecht – President, Media Partners Group Jonathan Hill – Communications and Public Affairs Liaison to the European Union, UEFA GianniInfantino – General Counsel Commercial Legal Services, UEFA Thomas Kurth – General Manager of G-14 Antonio Marchesi â€⠀œ Senior Partner, Deloitte and Touche Sports, Italy Lars-Christer Olsson – Director of Professional Football and Marketing, UEFA Denis Oswald – IOC member and President of FISA (International Rowing Federation) Alex Phillips- Senior Product Manager, Professional Football, UEFA Arnaud Rouger-Conseil Juridique, LFP (Professional Football League – France) Freddy Rumo- President of Executive Board of Neuchatel Xamax FC and former UEFA Vice President Jefferson Slack- Director, Inter Active, FC Internazionale Milano Stefan Szymanski – Professor of Economics, The Business School, Imperial College London Alain Rumpf – Coordinator of the Professional Cycling Council, International Cycling Union (UCI) Additionally we would like to thank UEFA -Division of Services, especially Barbara Rodel, Division of Professional Football and Marketing, especially Marion Haap, Lucia Castelli at Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, Ruth Beck-Perrenoud from the Olympic Museum for her help in research, our professors at DeMontfort University (Leicester, UK), SDA Bocconi (Milan, IT) Universite de Neuchatel, (Neuchatel, CH), the CIES and FIFA, sponsor of the International Master, especially Vincent Monnier. Finally we thank our families and friends for their patience, support and inspiration, especially during the last phase of this project. 5 PROLOGUEThe headlines of sport news sections have been filled with tension-riddled declarations from football club managers toward football’s organisers about too many matches, national team call-ups at key points in the season and concern over players victim of injuries during â€Å"useless international friendlies. † The response is sometimes swift, sometimes harsh, but always illustrative of the conflicts between the members of the so-called football family. We recognise that all families have conflicts, some tragic, others trivial, but we were struck by the intensity of this banter internally sewing a frown to football’s countenance while still outwardly presenting a naive smile. We began to analyse the relationships and gradually realised that there were some family members with serious concerns who were not addressing each other.We heard the uproar from major club figureheads when UEFA took the nth decision to change its prize event, the Champions League. We also felt the inescapable force of commercialised-globalisation when Brazilian international players flew half-way across the world to China for 90 minutes of football worth US$ 1 million. We shed a tear when Italian legend AC Fiorentina were dissolved and Angelo DiLivio, a FIFA World Cup finalist, voluntarily descended to the fourth and final professional division and set out to paint the second Florentine renaissance, this time named Florentia Viola. We love football and we have a great interest to see the beautiful game continue to flourish to the ends of the Earth.Thus when we saw these unresolved dissonances spreadin g through the game, we made the decision to throw ourselves into the melee and clarify who the actors were, what their interests were and how they were relating to each other. After surveying the field we chose to focus on the clubs and UEFA, and then more specifically on the group of clubs creating the most commotion, the G-14. Their name seemed to pop up everywhere from the headlines, to the European Commission but never from UEFA. We found the door, brushed aside the coats and stepped into the magic wardrobe of UEFA, G-14 and European Football. . . 6 INTRODUCTION I. Aim The final aim of this project is to propose some adjustments to the current governance model of European football in order to address the conflicts arising from the pressures of the modern sport.In order to do that we structured our research to answer the overriding question of â€Å"How do international sport governing bodies adapt and respond to the pressures of lobby groups? †, looking specifically to th e case of UEFA and G-14. With the overriding question in mind, we structured our project to answer the following questions: 1. What are the conflicting circumstances within the governance of European football that are bearing the rise of such lobby groups? 2. How efficiently are those conflicting circumstances being addressed by the pertinent actors? 3. What are the main risks to the sport that can arise from the process in which the conflicts are being managed, and how can those risks be mitigated? II. Paper Structure and Scope The tructure of this paper is sub-divided in five chapters: In the first chapter we present the field of play and provide some background information on the stage and scenario in which the main actions take place. We will demonstrate the current governance structure of European football, briefly touch on the peculiar dynamics of the football industry, present the major relevant stakeholders, their interests and inter-relationships and illustrate the complexi ty of the competition calendar of professional football in Europe. This information will be relevant for the complete understanding of the issues treated in the paper. The second chapter presents the major actors involved in the production of the spectacle of European football.Although we recognize that the media and the major sponsors are important enablers in the distribution and popularisation of European football and its influence over the shaping of the game has been growing along the years, we have chosen to focus the scope of our analysis on the clubs (and with them, the G-14), the national associations, the leagues and UEFA, as we believe those are still the most influential actors in the design of football as a product. After presenting the major actors, in the third chapter we analyse the convergences and divergences of interests among them, the main areas of conflict and the potential risks that such conflicts can impose to the future of European football. We then take a break at chapter four and look outside European football in the search for examples of conflict management at similar sporting contexts. Our objective with chapter four is to learn some lessons that could be applied in the process of defining our final recommendations for the present case.Finally, in chapter five we present a model with recommendations for adjustments to the current governance of European football, with the aim of minimizing the conflicts and tensions among the members of the Football Family. 7 Although UEFA has a broad range of activities touching on every discipline of association football in Europe, the scope of this paper is limited to elite professional men’s football, as this is currently the only form of the game that has achieved significant commercial potential. And it is not until significant flows of money begin to pour over a sport that the major conflicts among different stakeholders start to surface. III. Research Methods and constraints Our res earch was carried out during May and June 2003. It has been structured around a hypothesisdriven approach, a methodology commonly used by management consulting firms.The approach consists in five major steps as shown in Figure I: Figure I – The hypothesis-driven approach 1 2 3 4 5 Overriding question Issue tree Hypotheses Research Analyses & Conclusions 1. Overriding question The Overriding question is the ultimate question the project aims to answer. As mentioned before, we have defined it as: â€Å"How do international sports governing bodies adapt and respond to the pressures of lobby groups? † 2. Issue tree The second step consists in identifying the relevant issues that need to be addressed in order to answer the overriding question. The issue tree is a hierarchical structure of questions that will be answered during the project leading to the final answer to the overriding question.For this paper we have defined three main issues and a set of 24 sub-issues in two different levels as shown in Figure II. 3. Hypotheses Once the issue tree has been defined we have generated the hypotheses for the project. The hypotheses are tentative answers to the issues based on the authors’ intuition and background knowledge on the subject. They may be proved right or they may be discharged after the research and the analyses are conducted. The importance of generating a sound set of hypotheses is that it provides the group with a comprehensive overview of the project’s main messages at its very beginning. 4. Research In this step we have designed the analyses that needed to be conducted to prove or discharge our hypotheses.Based on that set of analyses, we defined the input data to be gathered and determined their potential sources. 8 Input data was collected through the following methods: †¢ Preliminary interviews with representatives of UEFA and G-14 to validate the soundness of the initial list of hypotheses. †¢ Interviews with re presentatives of sport governing bodies, football clubs, national associations, national leagues, governmental bodies, sports marketing companies, media companies, lawyers, economists, players and industry analysts to capture the different views on the subject and its potential developments. †¢ Review of official documents provided by G-14 and UEFA, besides books and papers from academics on matters concerning the scope of our project. Search and review of websites of official governing bodies, clubs, and specialized sport press for relevant news and archive materials. †¢ Final interviews with UEFA and G-14 to discuss and validate our preliminary findings. 5. Analyses and conclusions After finishing the process of data gathering we have conducted the analyses necessary to prove or discharge the hypotheses and have drawn our final conclusions. Research Constraints Although the hypothesis-driven approach adds focus and drive to the project, speeding up the problem solving pr ocess, this project was conducted along six weeks of full-time work and there is some limitation to what can be achieved in such a reduced time frame.Notwithstanding, we have been fortunate by the fact that some of the major exponents in the European football industry were extremely collaborative and candid about the subject, allowing us to conduct twenty three high-level interviews across four different countries covering representatives of and experts on all main stakeholders involved in the subject. Precisely because of time constraints, we have not been able to directly interview executives from TV companies or sponsors, nor have we been able to conduct quantitative analyses on the opinion of fans as far as the issues touched by this paper are concerned. Our conclusions with regards to those groups of stakeholders are based on interviews with industry analysts and any available research material published on the subject.With respect to research materials we have been able to obt ain the majority of information needed to prove or discharge our set of hypotheses, perhaps with the exception of conclusive empirical data about the determinants of demand for sport. This would be particularly useful in allowing the design of more precise scenarios for the future of the game, and further research in this area might prove valuable. 9 Figure II – The original project issue tree (as designed in the first group meeting) Overriding question How do international sport governing bodies adapt and respond to the pressures of lobby groups? The case of UEFA and G14 Issue A What are the conflicts within the internal structure of European Football and why are they arising? A1 What are the interests of UEFA? A2 What are the general interests of the clubs? A3How do those interests interplay? A4 What additional factors could be creating / amplifying conflicts? A1. 1 How does UEFA pursue those interests? A2. 1 How do top clubs pursue those interests? A3. 1 What are the areas of convergence? A1. 2 How do those interests represent the views of the member associations? A2. 2 How do other professional clubs pursue those interests? How do amateur clubs pursue those interests? A3. 2 What are the areas of divergence? A2. 3 Issue B How efficiently are those conflicts being managed? B1 How have past conflicts been managed? B2 What are other examples of conflict management in sports? B3 What lessons can we learn from those examples? Issue CWhat risks can arise for the sport from the management of such conflicts and how can those risks be mitigated? C1 What if UEFA rigidly fixes its position against the Lobbying group? C2 What if UEFA adopts a reactive role towards the conflict? C3 How can UEFA adopt a proactive model to solve conflicts? C1. 1 What are the threats for UEFA coming from G-14? C3. 1 What are the most sensitive areas to be considered by this model? What are the key success factors for the model? C1. 2 What are the threats for G-14? C3. 2 C1. 3 What w ould be the consequences of those threats if carried out? C3. 3 How should the model be designed? 10 CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. STRUCTURE OF EUROPEAN FOOTBALL GOVERNANCE AND FOOTBALL – THE PYRAMID STRUCTUREThe governance of association football resembles a pyramid where each layer takes on different responsibilities in different geographical scope. The formation of this pyramid has historical roots in the early stages of organized football in Britain and it has not been a uniform process. As Britain changed from an agrarian to an industrial society in the late 18 century, the games played in the open fields of the countryside were adapted to suit the narrow streets and hard surfaces of the new urban communities. The leisure time determined by sun, seasons, and feudal obligation was replaced by the much more restricted leisure hours decreed by the artificial light of the factories and the needs of the owners.Improvements in roads and transportation allowed games to be played outside the local village, and as steam trains started to link the ever growing towns of Britain, it became possible to play on a national basis the games that the middle class favoured and promoted. This expanding scope involved agreement on rules and the formation of a national governing body. 1 th And that is where the pyramid begins to be formed. With the spread of the sport around the world, the pyramid started evolving from a local and national to an international scope and finally reached its current form as shown in Figure 1. 1: Figure 1. 1: The pyramidal structure of European football FIFA UEFA National Leagues National Associations REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS CLUBSThe clubs The clubs are the basic cell and the foundation of the pyramid. Originally founded as local associations their initial objective was to offer the local community the possibility of engaging in the sport, thereby promoting the idea of â€Å"sport for all†. With the introduction of a regular c ompetition, The FA Challenge 1 MURRAY Bill, The world’s game – a history of soccer, University of Illinois Press, 1998, p. 2 11 Cup in 1871, spectator crowds in England began to increase dramatically and in 1901 a crowd of 110,820 turned up to see Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United contest the final of the trophy . These crowds were increasingly giving birth to the popularisation of football as a spectator sport.Today, the main objective of top professional football clubs has shifted from the offer of opportunities to engage in the practice of the sport, to the offer of the spectacle of the game and all the attached psychological, emotional and social benefits for the fan. But the clubs still remain the basis and the primary link of contact with the communities. Regional associations Regional associations form the next level; although this form of association is not present in all countries. Clubs are usually affiliated to these organisations. Their scope of action is limited to a region within a country in which they are responsible for organising regional championships or coordinating the sport.National associations The first national association to come into scene was the English Football Association, or simply the FA as it is known today. It emerged from the London FA that became virtually the sole authority for the game in England after different regional associations in England came to a compromise agreement in 1877. By 1905 it had achieved the mark of 10. 000 local clubs affiliated to it. The success of the London FA in establishing its control over other regional associations came with the popularity of the Challenge Cup, instituted in 1871, a competition that is still played today. Also helping to secure the success of the dribbling game was the regular match with Scotland which began officially in 1872. 4 3 2Today, national associations besides organizing club competitions and being responsible for the coordination of a national tea m to represent the country in international competitions are also the supreme regulatory and disciplinary body of the sport within the national boundaries, although, as we will see later, they have limited autonomy and have to abide by the rules of UEFA and FIFA. By doing this they are granted a monopolistic position in the national organization of the game, as FIFA as the ultimate body in the pyramid will only recognize one association per country. National Leagues Some countries such as France, Italy or England know another form of organisation with the introduction in the structure of national leagues. The origin of leagues dates back to the England of the end of the 19 century.In 1885, after a series of complaints about athletes accepting money and the creation of committees to deal with them, followed by threats of serious punishments, the FA legalized professionalism. This meant that players had to be given a regular income. The Challenge Cup was still the main competition. Be ing a knock-out competition, even the best teams could be eliminated in an early round being left with nothing to do. The answer was the Football League. The league was 2 3 4 5 5 th : Ibid, p. 9 Ibid, p. 6 Ibid, p. 7 The elite club competitions are respectively organised in these countries by the ‘Ligue Nationale’, ‘Lega Calcio’ and the ‘Premier League’. 12 ade up of selected teams that agreed to play one another on set dates, on a home and away basis, and promised to field their strongest teams and to give league matches preference over all others. The individuals engaged in the discussions about the new league were essentially self-made men, small business owners and industrialists who came from a social category different from that of the men of the FA. With the FA watching anxiously, discussions were held by those in favour of the league. On 8 September 1888 the new football league kicked off competition with twelve teams. A constitution wo uld be drawn up determining issues such as points scoring system, how to share the gate money, and later, a system of promotion from and relegation to a second division.According to its founder and guiding spirit, the Scottish-born Birmingham businessman William McGregor, the aim of the league was to protect the interests of the clubs taking part in its competition. He openly declared that â€Å"the league should never aspire to be a legislating body†¦ by the very nature of things the League must be a selfish body. † The English Football League conceded the right of the FA to control football in all areas but the organisation of league competition. This meant that the FA was left to control the Challenge Cup, internationals, amateur football and certain matters concerning the rewards and disciplining of the professionals. 6Today, the relationship between national leagues and national associations throughout Europe is very similar to the one verified in England in the lat e 19 th century. While the national association is responsible for the control and development of all aspects and disciplines of football within the national boundaries, the league’s main interest is the commercial development of its major product, a league competition. Although there are tensions from time to time, the two bodies co-habit in relative peace given their share of common interests on the game. UEFA The next level of the pyramid is formed by the continental confederations, or more specifically in the case of Europe, UEFA – The Union of European Football Associations. As the name suggests, UEFA is formed by 52 national associations .It is the governing body of football on the continent of Europe and has as its core mission to safeguard the development of European football at every level of the game and to promote the principles of unity and solidarity, as we will detail later. Along the same lines of the national associations UEFA enjoys a monopolistic posi tion on the organisation of the game in Europe, guaranteed by the pyramid structure. It is relevant to notice that unlike the reality at the national level, where a league takes from the national association the responsibility of organizing and commercially developing an elite competition among clubs, the figure of the league does not exist at the continental level. The task of organizing and commercialising European club competition falls into UEFA’s direct jurisdiction.FIFA FIFA, is the supreme authority of football in the world. Its creation, in 1904, precedes that of the continental confederations, and thus, its membership structure is also formed by national associations. 7 6 7 MURRAY Bill, The world’s game – a history of soccer, University of Illinois Press, 1998, p. 11 See a complete list of UEFA’s member associations at appendix a. 13 Technically, the continental confederations, like UEFA, are not members of FIFA, but are recognized bodies and hav e the right to elect the vice presidents and members of FIFA’s Executive Committee. FIFA’s purpose is to promote and develop the game of football throughout the world, and to be the uardian of the regulations of the game. Unlike national associations, national leagues and continental confederations, FIFA currently does not organise club football competitions, although it regulates over matters that impact club football reality, such as transfer systems, and the coordinated international calendar. FIFA’s activities as far as competition organisation is concerned are currently limited to international competitions among national teams. FIFA is responsible for holding the whole pyramid together. The ownership of the FIFA World Cup, the most important single sporting event in the world, and a large and universal membership base are its main sources of power.By making use of regulations such as the need for a national association to be a member of a continental feder ation for two years before being granted membership to FIFA , and by obliging continental confederations to comply with and enforce compliance with the FIFA statutes, regulations and decisions, and to ensure that international leagues or any other such combination of clubs or leagues shall not be formed without its consent and approval of FIFA , or by prohibiting affiliated national associations and their clubs to play matches or entertain other sports contacts with associations which are not affiliated to FIFA or with clubs belonging to them without FIFA’s consent , it guarantees that the layers and the monopoly of the pyramid in the organisation of football are respected. 1. 1. 2. THE EUROPEAN FOOTBALL INDUSTRY 11 10 9 8Definition of the Football Industry Many people resent the use of the term ‘business’ to describe the activities performed by the main actors in the European football scenario. However, it is undeniable that European football has undergone an ac centuated process of commercialisation, especially in the last fifteen years, which has brought significant amounts of money into the game. Instead of engaging in an emotional and semantic discussion to determine if football is a game, if it is a business or if it is as much a business as it is a game, we will define as football business the group of commercial activities performed by the actors in the football industry, and we will define as football industry the group of legal entities whose commercial activities are rooted in the game of football.However, such a definition of the football industry is a very broad one and for the purpose of this paper it needs to be narrowed down as proposed in Figure 1. 2. 8 9 10 11 FIFA has currently 204 member associations (one per country), which represents a larger membership base than the UN. FIFA Statutes, art 4, par. 1 FIFA Statutes, art. 9, par. 3 FIFA Statutes, art. 57, par. 1 14 Figure 1. 2 – The structure of the football industr y12 Sports Industry Football Other Sports Sporting goods Facility dependent sports services Sport consultation services Spectacle sport Hybrid Sport Participant Sport Club Football National team Football Participant services Spectator services Sponsorship services Media servicesLicence services Scope of this paper Outside the scope of this paper The product-based typology proposed in Figure 1. 2 divides the sport industry into three main segments: Sporting goods, Facility dependent sports services and Sport consultation services. †¢ Sporting goods: companies producing apparel, shoes, equipment, team and/or league merchandise, ‘sport’ licensed products. Examples of companies in this segment include Nike, Adidas and Reebok. †¢ Sport consultation services: companies supplying advice in areas such as management, medical, design, building and maintenance, programming, among others. Examples include IMG, Octagon, and InFront. Facility dependent sports services: orga nisations offering sport as their end product be it as spectacle (matches, competitions) or as access to participation. This segment, like the others, can be further subdivided in three categories: spectacle, participant and hybrid sport. – Spectacle sport: the most prominent feature of organisations in this category is the ability to generate substantial revenues directly or indirectly from spectators. Here, athletes are usually professionals. Examples of organisations in this category are Manchester United, Juventus and the English Premier League. 12 Adapted from WESTERBEEK & SMITH, Sport Business in the Global Marketplace, Palgrave, 2003, p. 87 15 Participant sport: this is the category of entities providing opportunities for people to engage in sporting activities, usually on a non-professional basis, like gyms, community sports centres and amateur sport clubs. – Hybrid sport: in this category, sports organisations offer a mix of spectacle and participant sport. As Westerbeek and Smith 13 point out, governing bodies are likely to be hybrid sport organisations as they are charged with developing a mass participation base for the sport with the ambition of securing its longevity, while encouraging and promoting the few outstanding athletes that can perform in elite spectacle sport, providing the sport with the exposure so essential to its popularity, while developing the basis for spectacle sports’ revenue streams.Once the segmentation is understood, we can then define the European Football Industry in this paper as the group of legal entities acting in the facility dependent sports services, specifically within the boundaries of the spectacle and hybrid sport category in the territory covered by the fifty two member associations of UEFA. It is important to remark that this industry is built on two main pillars, club football and national team football, that ultimately have to â€Å"share† part of the same resources: top-level pla yers, spectatorship, calendar time, among others. Dimension and Growth of the European Football Industry There is no reliable data about the size of the European Football Industry as defined above.Deloitte & Touche estimates that, in the season 2000/2001, it should be close to national team football in Europe is in the range of 90-10% respectively. 15 10 billion. 14 A possible breakdown of this number is shown in Figure 1. 3. We reckon that the split between club football and Another important consideration is the fact that domestic football (in top and lower divisions) is by far the most important segment of the industry. As we can see from Figure 1. 3, the lion’s share of the industry is represented by top-division club football in the domestic leagues, amounting to 6. 6bn, thereof the so-called ‘big-five’ leagues (England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France) dominate 78%.Put in perspective, those numbers are not very impressive, as the entire European Football I ndustry would not even feature in the ranking Fortune Global 500 16 in 2002. What is impressive though, is the consistent fast pace with which this industry has been growing over the past 10 years. The top-division clubs at the ‘big-five’ leagues all grew at similar rates from the mid-1990s to 2001 – between 18% to 24% per annum, 17 while UEFA’s consolidated revenues grew at an impressive rate of 29% per annum 18 during the nine-year period comprised between the seasons 1992/1993 and 2001/2002 mainly 13 14 15 WESTERBEEK & SMITH, Sport Business in the Global Marketplace, Palgrave, 2003 Deloitte & Touche Annual Review of Football Finance – June 2002 – p. 16 A priori, by looking at Figure 1. , this proportion might sound counter-intuitive but we must not forget that a share of UEFA’s and the European federations’ revenues is based on club football. The Fortune Global 500 ranks the 500 largest companies in the world based on their g lobal revenues. In the 2002 ranking, Wal Mart appears as number 1 with global revenues around US$220 billion, while Takenaka, a Japanese company in the construction business ranks 500 with global revenues slightly above US$10bn. DELOITTE & TOUCHE Annual Review of Football Finance 2001/2000 – p. 4 UEFA’s consolidated revenues including amounts paid beforehand – UEFA CEO Annual Report 2002 p. 33 16 17 18 16 riven by the growth of the UEFA Champions League as we will show later. And although these growth rates are recently giving sign of slowing the pace, we believe it is more a matter of an internal adjustment of the industry than the apocalyptical actualisation of the burst of a bubble as many analysts like to put it. Most of the economic fundaments supporting the growth of the European Football Industry are solid, as notwithstanding the latest downsizing in the value of broadcast rights paid for some properties and the breakdown of companies like ISL and KirchMe dia, we do not see signs of an actual decrease in the demand for European Football.Much on the contrary, as we have seen that the TV audience for the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League grew by 9% in relation to the previous year, meaning that the competition produced an average live audience of 46 million viewers per match-week in the larger markets. 19 Figure 1. 3 – Estimated market size of the European Football Industry 2000/2001 billion 1. 3 1. 2 6. 6 ‘Big-5’ Leagues 10. 0 0. 7 0. 2 10 year average 24% 17% 14% 13% 10% 78% England Italy Spain Germany France growth > 20% p. a. Top division domestic club football1 Lower division domestic club football3 UEFA Club Competitions2 Annualized EURO Cup2 Sources: 1) Deloitte & Touche, 2) UEFA , 3) Authors’ estimatesRevenues of National Associations, Leagues, UEFA, others3 Total1 It is important to notice though, that if the industry has experienced significant growth in revenues in the last decade, profitability has not kept pace. This is mainly because of the rise in the spending on players in a phenomenon known as the ‘prune juice’ effect, which refers to the tendency for revenues generated by football clubs to simply pass through the clubs’ accounts on the way to players’ pockets. Just to illustrate that point, as already mentioned, the consolidated revenues of the top-division clubs in the ‘big-five’ leagues grew at an annual rate between 18% and 24% between the seasons 1995/96 and 2000/01.In the same period the ratio wages/revenues went from 47% to 60% in England, and from 57% to 75% in Italy, just to mention two of the major markets. profitability 21 20 The result is a plunge in the 23 of the industry in the major markets 22 with the most accentuated cases being Italy going from –1% to –19% in six seasons and Spain going from –7% to –28% in four seasons. 19 20 21 22 23 UEFA’s champion audience, Sportbusiness. com, June 3 2003 Analysis of the authors based on the Deloitte and Touche Review of Football Finances – 2002 Measured as Operating Profits / Revenues The exception is Germany that managed to keep its profitability between 8% and 10% during the period There are no available date for Spanish top-division clubs in the seasons 1999/00 and 2000/01 17Business Model of the Football Industry The current business model of the European Football Industry relies on four main revenue streams: 1. Match day revenues – Expenditure of fans on-site, mainly derived from gate receipts (including season tickets). 2. Media rights – Value paid by media companies to acquire the rights of broadcasting a specific sport property. 3. Sponsorship – Mainly derived from brand/name placing on team shirts and around stadia. 4. Other commercial revenues – Mainly revenues from licensed merchandise, but also includes conference and catering services. Figure 1. 4 gives an overview on the proportions of these revenue streams for a sample of domestic leagues. Figure 1. – Breakdown of top-division clubs revenue streams – 2000/01 16% 31% 18% 16% 42% 34% 40% 25% 54% 39% 51% 45% 51% 20% 18% 20% 12% 4% 41% 43% 13% 30% 17% 9% 15% 22% 14% 18% 15% 12% 13% England Italy Spain (97/98) Key: Germany France Portugal Netherlands Norway Matchday Broadcast Sponsorship (includes all commercial revenues for England) Other commercial Source: Deloitte & Touche As we can see from the graph above, TV is in general the single largest contributor to clubs’ revenues in the ‘big-five’ leagues. According to Deloitte & Touche in the season 2000/01, TV responded for 2. 4 billion, or 46% of the 5. 2 billion total revenues of the top-division clubs in the ‘big-five’ leagues.However, this proportion will vary significantly according to the size of the TV market in which the club is located. There is a clear difference between the relevance of TV monies for the top-division clubs in the ‘big-five’ leagues and the top-division clubs in other mid-size or small leagues like Portugal, Netherlands and Norway, as shown in the graph. The Fan: The Heart of the Football Industry Although the importance of television and sponsors is clear in the current business model of the European Football Industry, which might lead us to conclude that those are the most important actors in this industry, the dynamics of the industry rely ultimately on the interest of spectators. Figure 1. shows a simplified map of value relationships between actors in this industry. 18 Figure 1. 5 – Summarized Value Chain of the Football Industry Simplified Simplified 2 Leagues Sponsors ? Clubs B C 1 3 ? Television A Football Fans Population Note: For the sake of simplification this map does not consider some important stakeholders in the Football Industry such as governing bodies and federations, players, clubs’ shareholders, national teams, a mong others The cornerstone of value for the Football Industry is relationship – between fans and the clubs. In this relationship the clubs supply the fans with the game and all the emotional, social and psychological benefits attached to it.The fans, in turn, provide the club with financial resources in the form of gate receipts, season tickets or membership fees and purchase of licensed merchandise besides the emotional association, support, loyalty, exposure, among other non-tangible benefits. Relationship illustrates the fact that clubs need the league structure to create the on-field competition environment required by fans. And the quality of the competition, measured in the quality of teams taking part in that competition and in the level of competitive balance, is one of the most important drivers of demand for football. This relationship between clubs and leagues 24 is one of the ell-known peculiarities of the Football Industry. In any other industry the ideal object ive of the players would be to achieve a monopolistic position driving competitors out of business, whereas in the Football Industry this is not only impossible, but also not desirable, since clubs need to cooperate for the joint-production of the game. However, there are inherent conflicts between teams since the league structure also determines a team’s individual share of industry profits. Relationship reflects the fact that part of the football fans are not necessarily attached to one specific club but have overall interest in a particular competition.The marketing strategy of the UEFA Champions League has the benefit of strengthening this link eventually intending to increase the share of the population interested for European football regardless of a particular team allegiance. In the left side of the map we have television companies. Traditionally, revenues of free-to-air television companies are based on advertisement from sponsors. In order to attract sponsors, 24 Le agues or whatever entity responsible for organising a football competition 19 television companies must be able to attract audience, and this is done by offering content. That is represented by relationship A. Television companies offer content to the public in the quest for an audience.By getting an audience, television companies become attractive to sponsors. That is shown in relationship C. Sponsors will pay to use television as a channel to advertise their products and services to their target markets among the audience. Pay-TV companies have an incremental revenue stream. In addition to advertisement from sponsors they rely on subscription fees from consumers interested in having access to exclusive content. In both cases though, it is clear that audience is key. In markets where the interest for a particular sport captures a large share of the population, which is the case of football in the ‘big-five’ leagues, the link represented in relationships 25TV companies and sponsors realise the importance of and wish to exploit it. That is represented by and relationships ? and ?. In relationship ? , TV companies pay to acquire the right (if possible exclusive) to broadcast individual matches or competitions in the hope to attract an audience. In relationship ? sponsors pay to associate themselves with teams or leagues both as a way to get visibility to sports fans and as a way to associate their brand with the sporting brand they are sponsoring, thus exploring the goodwill present in the link between the fan and the sport. Their ultimate goal is to get the population to consume their products and services.In all cases it is simple to understand that the ultimate source of value for the Football Industry is the interest of the fan for the sport. The fan is the TV viewer, the pay-TV subscriber, the stadium spectator, and potentially the end consumer of the sponsors’ products and services. The larger the fan base and the larger its identificat ion with the sport, the higher the probability that this sport will attract the interest of TV and sponsors. Of course, the potential value of the Football Industry in a particular region will depend also on the size of the TV and the advertisement markets in that region, which in the end bear relation with the demographics of the region. Thus the focal point of he Football Industry is the football fan, 26 and that is the reason why it is crucial for clubs, leagues and governing bodies to understand what drives spectator interest for European football, in other words, what are the drivers of demand for football. Demand for Football Spectatorship Stefan Szymanski summarizes the most important factors driving fan interest for football in three classic elements: 27 Quality of the game Uncertainty of outcome (of the match and of the competition) Success of the fan’s own team 25 26 England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France There are several studies intending to qualify the footbal l fan according to different levels of commitment and interest.For the sake of this paper we qualify as football fan any person interested in the game regardless of the level of commitment. Interview with Stefan SZYMANSKI, Professor of Economics, Imperial College London 27 20 The quality of the game would touch on aspects such as the entertainment and spectacle, the aesthetic pleasure of watching the game, the quality of the visiting team. The uncertainty of outcome has two major aspects: uncertainty of outcome of the match and the uncertainty of outcome of a competition. About the uncertainty of match outcome, the review of the literature shows that generally, the closer the result of the match is expected to be, the more attractive the game will be to fans.Along the same lines fans would be less enthusiastic about a game in which the result is seen as a foregone conclusion. Furthermore this uncertainty must be preserved at all costs, as the integrity of the game is completely conn ected to the integrity of the result. 28 The uncertainty of outcome of the competition is measured in terms of competitive balance. There is general agreement that match attendance will be influenced by the closeness of the championship race. As more teams have a chance of reaching the finals or play-offs, fans will expect a close contest and anticipate high quality play. This anticipation will be reflected in a higher level of fan enjoyment and consumer utility and a boost to crowd size. 29Success of the fan’s own team implies that supporters achieve satisfaction from identifying with a winning team. Arguably, a team that consistently loses will have difficulty attracting large crowds. active supporter bases than their domestic peers. But if a winning season contributes to the increase of the commitment of the supporter base of a specific club and if the fan base, as argued before, is the principal source of goodwill for a club, it seems obvious to state that clubs, as indiv idual entities, will seek to maximize their winning ratios as a way to increase the supporter base. This practice, if successful, will eventually conflict with the element of uncertainty of outcome.The challenge for clubs and organisers of competitions is to understand the optimal combination between those three elements (quality of the game, uncertainty of outcome and success of own team) in the determination of demand for football as they frequently can conflict among themselves. Conclusion In summary, as much as we want to avoid the discussion of football being a business or a game, we must recognise that the dynamics of the football industry present some specific characteristics that make us conclude that football cannot be taken as just a regular business. These special characteristics fall mainly in three inter-related areas: 1. Football clubs are cultural and community assets with associated sporting and community objectives.There is a long and unfinished academic debate argu ing that football clubs are utility 30 That could help to explain why clubs like Manchester United or Real Madrid have larger and more 28 In that sense potential contractual clauses like the one suggested by the press in the Beckham transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid, in which the acquiring club will pay a bonus to the ceding club based on the former’s future performances at championships at which both teams compete could allow for the public’s perception of match fixing between the two clubs in a specific scenario, which could eventually hurt long-term demand for the game. WESTERBEEK & SMITH, Sport Business in the Global Marketplace, Palgrave, 2003, p. 64 29 30Although formation of fan basis is a more complex phenomenon and depends on many other factors apart from a team’s winning record at a given time. 21 maximisers pursuing non-pecuniary objectives rather than maximisation of economic value as any other business. Sloan 31 argues that while in US professional team sports, many teams have an established track record of profitability, in the case of European football teams, profit making clubs have been very much the exception and not the rule. He goes further explaining that chairmen and directors with a controlling interest in football clubs are usually individuals who have achieved success in business in other fields.Their motives for investing may include a desire for power or prestige, or simple sporting enthusiasm: a wish to see the local club succeed on the field of play. In many cases profit of the club seems unlikely to be the major motivating factor. As one of our experts interviewed puts it: ‘Clubs are too much under the control of local business owners or major individuals in the community looking for personal gain. When these people take the reigns of a club usually they end up satisfying themselves. Many of them have come to my office and said: – For me, investing in a club is just like having a PR c ampaign. Rather than giving money to an advertising agency, I buy a club and since the press talks a lot about me, it has an equivalent effect. ’ . The relationship between the supporter and the club can be very different to a standard customercompany relationship. Lomax 32 explains that most supporters choose their clubs at a young age and then stick to this choice however irrational it may seem at face value. Football supporters are key stakeholders contributing to the club not just by being loyal customers but also by actively adding to the match day spectacle, and often committing financially to keep their club afloat as it was the case with the English supporters of Northampton FC that contributed with money in a fundraising campaign to alleviate the club’s financial distress. 3.As already mentioned, the Football Industry depends on both competition and co-operation among clubs. Football then redistributes income from leading to lagging clubs (and leagues) in orde r to promote competitive balance. This redistribution of income would not be allowed in most traditional industries. The combination of those three factors makes the dynamics of the football industry special in relation to most of the other regular forms of businesses. 1. 1. 3. STAKEHOLDERS’ M AP After analysing the governance structure and the dynamics of the European Football Industry, it makes sense to map its stakeholders in a more comprehensive way. Figure 1. 6 depicts those stakeholders: 31SLOANE Peter, The economics of professional football: The football club as a utility maximiser, Scottish Journal of Political Economy pp. 121-145, June 1971 32 LOMAX Brian, Democracy and Fandom: Developing a supporters’ trust at Northampton Town FC, in: GARLAND John, MALCOLM Dominic and ROWE Michael (Ed),The Future of Football – Challenges for the 21st century, Frank Cass, 2000 22 Figure 1. 6 – Stakeholders Map of the European Football Industry Non Non Exhaustive Exhaustive Fans / Spectators Club Patrons Clubs UEFA Stock Market G-14 European Union Players National Leagues National Associations FIFA European Football Industry Media Sponsors Press Once the stakeholders are identified we will make use of table 1. to map their interests, analyse their bargaining power, identify the main groups over which they exercise their power and qualify the types of pressures suffered by each group. Some of the points covered in this section are introductory and will be explained in more details later, but we think it is important to bear in mind the relationships described below, as they will be helpful to understand the nature of the conflicts treated in this paper. Table 1. 1 – General overview of stakeholders interests, power and pressures Stakeholder Main Interests †¢ Identification †¢ Entertainment Power Focal point of the industry but not sufficiently organised (H/M)* Vulnerability Not sufficiently organised †¢ Too emotionally a ttached to the game, will accept poor treatment †¢ Internal conflict between individual and cooperative objectives Pressure exerted Pressure received Fans / Spectators †¢ Spectacle †¢ Psychological satisfaction †¢ Social Integration Immediate pressure for sport performance over clubs Community Fans (H/M) Press (H) Players (H) Pressure on Governing Bodies and leagues over a number of issues related to the regulation of the game (Revenue sharing, competition format, supply of players to national teams, calendar) Patrons (H) UEFA (H) G-14 (H/M) Media (H/M) FIFA (H) Sponsors (H) Leagues (H) Stock Market (H) Nat. Assoc. (H) Increase demand for football Clubs †¢ On pitch performance limited by budget constraints Basic cell of the industry, controls the most valuable assets for the production of the game (H)* †¢ Short-term view †¢ Little control over main cost items †¢ Not a homogeneous and organized group †¢ Lacks direct representation at highe r decision making level *High (H), Medium (M), Low (L) 23 Table 1. 1 – General overview of stakeholders interests, power and pressures – continued Stakeholder Main Interests †¢ Develop the following of the game in Europe Power* Vulnerability Pressure exerted Pressure received* G-14 (H) Other clubs (M) FIFA (H) UEFA †¢ Keep tight control of the game in Europe †¢ Promote solidarity †¢ Promote port for all †¢ Develop other disciplines of the game †¢ Develop the following of the game universally Detains the natural monopoly in the organisation of the game in Europe, holds the key for eligibility of players and clubs at competitions (H) †¢ Relies too much on elite club competition to fund its activities Pressure on clubs and players to comply with the regulations and principles EU (H) Press (H) Fans (L) Media (M) Sponsors (L) Players (M) Leagues (L) FIFA †¢ Keep a strong control of the game †¢ Promote solidarity †¢ Develop o ther disciplines of the game †¢ Content – to get audience from the fans Is the supreme body of world football (H) †¢ Relies too much on one single national team event to fund its activitiesPressure on national associations, confederations, clubs to comply with the rules and regulations of the game EU (H) Media (M) Sponsors (L) Confederations (M) Media †¢ Has an interest in the game as long as it generates audience. Will switch to other content options as soon as it does not †¢ Content – to get readership from the fans Is the single major investor in the game. Without TV money Football collapses (H) †¢ Limited bargaining power over the price of top events †¢ Limited concern about the long term issues of the game †¢ Subject to competition law Pressure on leagues and UEFA for changes in the format in the quest for immediate rise in audienceFans (H) EU (H) Internal competition (H) Sponsors (H) Press Extremely influential over fans (H) Has the control over the national game, is represented with decision power at UEFA and FIFA, owns the national teams – a major source of passion (H/M) Usually controls the central marketing of domestic competitions (M) In the top level, due to the limited supply of talent and due to identification of fans (H). In the lower level due to the high replaceability (L) †¢ Credibility It is the ‘Big Brother’ watching the steps of Clubs, National Associations, Leagues and Players Fans (H) Other types of media (H) National Leagues (H) Players (H) National Associations Aligned with FIFA and UEFA at the domestic level Being confined to national borders may suffer from globalisation tendencies Pressure on the clubs, and on the leagues G-14 (H) Clubs (M) Fans (M) Media (H) Press (H) National leagues †¢ Organise club competition at the domestic level †¢ Commercial optimisation of domestic competition Being confined to national borders may suffer from globalisation tendencies Pressure on the clubs for cooperation over the quest for individual objectives, pressure on national associations Clubs (H) Media (H) Fans (L) †¢ Self realisation Players †¢ Financial security †¢ Status †¢ In general not too organised †¢ Incredibly risky and specific career – shortClubs (H/M) Pressure on the clubs for better labour conditions Fans (H) Press (H) Nat. Assoc. (H/M) Leagues (M) *High (H), Medium (M), Low (L) 24 Table 1. 1 – General overview of stakeholders interests, power and pressures – continued Stakeholder Main Interests †¢ Guarantee fair trade in the industry †¢ Help Federations to implement professional management †¢ Keep the balance among football and other industries †¢ Increase representation of top clubs in the decision making process of professional club football at international level †¢ Advise clubs on current financial challenges Power Vulnerability Pressure exerted Pressure received EU Can change the structure in which the professional level of the game is managed (H)Most of the time acts like an observer, not taking action until an actor complains †¢ Do not represent all top clubs †¢ Not officially recognised by UEFA †¢ Cannot impede UEFA or FIFA to directly deal with individual member clubs †¢ Threatening behaviour †¢ Relegation / Promotion system †¢ Eligibility for international competitions Pressure on the governing bodies on anti-competitive practices Industry sectors (H) Member states (H) G-14 (The Lobby Group) Represents the major top clubs in Europe (H) Pressure on UEFA, FIFA, national associations, other clubs and the EU Fans (L), UEFA (H), Member clubs (L) Stock Market †¢ Maximisation of shareholder valueImportant source of funds for some clubs, but not very representative in the industry as a whole (M/L) †¢ Too dependant on the highs and lows of sporting performance †¢ Subject to regulations made by people who may not be profit seekers †¢ Limited sensitivity to the long term peculiarities of the game †¢ Limited control over the sponsorship agreement Pressure on the listed clubs for diversification of revenues and for financial returns Regulatory bodies (H) Fans (L) †¢ Visibility to fans Sponsors †¢ Association with the goodwill of clubs and competitions One of the major sources of revenue in the Industry(H) †¢ Reduced bargaining power over the price of top events †¢ Internal competition in the sponsorship industryPressure on competition organisers, clubs and players Shareholders (H) Other sponsors (H) Club Patrons †¢ Prestige †¢ Value transfer to other businesses Owner and benefactor of the club (H) Too much emotionally involved with the club Over players for pitch performance Fans (M), Players (H), Community (H) *High (H), Medium (M), Low (L) 25 1. 1. 4. PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL COMPETITION CALENDAR The pyramid structure of football gove rnance, along with the international nature of the game impose additional challenges to the organisation of competition in Europe. All layers of the pyramid rely mainly on the organisation and participation at competitions to generate the funds for their activities.Be it FIFA with its quadrennial World Cup or biennial Confederations’ Cup , UEFA with the Euro or the UEFA Champions League, the National Associations with the participation in the international competitions for national teams organised by FIFA and UEFA or with the organisation of the domestic cups, the national leagues with the organisation of the domestic league, or the clubs participating in domestic and international competitions, all actors depend ultimately on competition to subsist. The complexity in the organisation of the competition calendar comes from the fact that the actors have to share the same restricted resources: players and time.National team competitions, to be able to exploit their full commerc ial potential, have to count on the presence of top players, often the same players that are fighting for top teams in club competitions. International club competitions, along the same lines, hope to count with the participation of the most popular clubs, the same ones participating in domestic competitions. All of this constrained by the fact that there are only 52 weeks in the year, and there is a physical limitation to the number of matches a player can play in a given period of time. Thus it is not an easy task to find the right combination of supply among the different types of competitions: the one that will maximise the utility for the football fan. Figure 1. shows the configuration of the football calendar for the season 2002/2003, displaying the major competitions currently being played at the elite level of football in Europe. Figure 1. 7 – European Competition Calendar – Elite Professional Football – Season 2002/2003 2002 June July August September O ctober November December 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Week Domestic League1) Domestic Cup6) UEFA Champions League2) UEFA Cup2) UEFA Intertoto Cup Super Cup / Intercontinental FIFA World Cup7) Euro (qualification) International Friendlies3) 4) Na tio n Te al am Cl u b Week 4) Domestic League1) Domestic Cup6) UEFA Champions League2) UEFA Cup2) UEFA Intertoto Cup Super Cup / Intercontinental FIFA World Cup7) Euro (qualification) International Friendlies3) 003 Season 02/03 January February March April May J Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Matchdates 38 10 23 15 10 2 9 8 4 Na tio n Te al am Notes: Cl ub 1) Based on the English Premier League 2) Including qualifying rounds 3) According to FIFA Coordinated International Calendar 4) Week 22 starts on Monday May 26th and finishes on Sunday June 1st 5) Weekend matches include Monday and Friday for the Domestic League 6) Based on the FA Cup – Starting at the 3rd round when Premier League clubs join the cup 7) Maximum of 7 matches per national team Key: Weekend matches5) Mid-week matches Source: Analysis of the authors based on data from Rec. Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF), UEFA and FIFA 26 Figure 1. 7 shows that the majority of the annual football activity is based on domestic club football, including a domestic league and a domestic cup. Although the graph is based on the Premier League and the FA Cup, the activity in other countries follow a similar pattern. There is usually a domestic league being played from August to May mainly during the weekends with a number of match dates varying slightly depending on the number of participants at the top division of the league (usually between 18 and 20 in the major markets), and there is a domestic cup usually being played during the mid weeks over around 10 rounds. he UEFA Intertoto Cup. UEFA Champions League Eligibility for the UEFA Champions League depends on th e technical performance of clubs at their domestic leagues, and on the ranking of national associations prepared by UEFA. As an example, the champions and the runners-up at the English Premier League automatically secure a berth among the 32 participants at the UEFA Champions League, while the third and fourth places will play at a qualifying stage. The same is valid for Spain and Italy. But countries ranked lower by UEFA receive a reduced number of berths for the competitions with some countries receiving only a place at the qualifying phases.The competition is preceded by three qualifying phases played by 56 clubs entering in different stages. From the qualifying phases 16 clubs eventually gain access to the competition. Those clubs join the other 16 that secured an automatic berth, totalling 32 clubs. Currently, the 32 clubs play a first group stage (eight groups of four teams) with the two top teams in each group qualifying for a second group stage (four groups of four teams). T he group stages are followed by a knock out stage (quarter finals and semi finals) with home and away matches followed by a one leg final match at a predetermined venue. For the season 2003/04 UEFA has decided to eliminate the second group stage, meaning that the sixteen clubs ualifying from the first group stage (eight groups of four teams) will enter directly into the knock out stage (eighth finals, quarter finals, semi finals, and the final). This will reduce the maximum number of matches per club from 17 to 13. UEFA Cup Eligibility for the UEFA Cup is open to teams finishing in leading positions behind the champions in the domestic top divisions, besides the winners of the national cup competition, the winners of the league cup competition in certain countries, the three winners of the final matches at the UEFA Intertoto Cup and three clubs from UEFA’s annual fair play assessment. The UEFA Cup is a knock-out competition played home and away (except for the final match whi ch is played in a one leg match) and is preceded by a qualifying stage.At the third round, the eight teams falling in third place at the first group stage of the UEFA Champions League, also join the UEFA Cup. Figure 1. 8 Illustrates the format of the UEFA Cup, which is currently being revised by UEFA. 34 33 In the international scenario, there are three main club competitions currently being organised by UEFA, The UEFA Champions League, The UEFA Cup and 33 The domestic cup usually counts on the participation of clubs from many professional divisions, but the top clubs will join the cup at an advanced stage. Not considering the qualifying rounds 34 27 Figure 1. 8 – Format of the UEFA Cup # of Clubs 82 41 + 52 96 48 24 + 3 From Intertoto Qualifying Stage First Round Second Round + 8 From UCL 32 16 8 4 2 Champion Third Round Eighth Finals