Working Poor

The Struggle of the Working Poor Revised Essay Sociology 113 Yvonne Barney October 19, 2012 The Struggle of the Working Poor Society often describes the impoverished with one word, lazy. Society has taught us that if a person wants to be financially successful, it is a simple process of education and hard work that will equate to a successful income. This is the American dream. If the impoverished simply would get a job instead of being lazy, they would not need to rely on programs like welfare. The impoverished would succeed if they only would apply themselves.However, in an attempt to present another point of view, The Working Poor Invisible in America by David K. Shipler (2004) explored multiple variables this group struggles with daily. Chapter 1, â€Å"Money and Its Opposite,† explains the workings and effects of tax payments and refunds, the abuse of the poor by public and private institutions, the spending habits of the working poor, the consumerist culture of the Unite d States, and the omnipresence of money as a guiding factor in the lives of the working poor.Chapter 2, â€Å"Work Doesn’t Work,† chronicles the struggles of three working women as they attempt to climb out of poverty through employment. They hold jobs that pay between $6 and $7 per hour and attempt to eke out a living with the additional assistance of welfare checks, food stamps, Medicaid, and other services. However, a slight raise in their pay creates an offsetting loss in benefits. Chapter 3, â€Å"Importing the Third World,† addresses the poor immigrant workers, both legal as well as illegal, laboring in sweatshop conditions in the United States.Shipler recounts the working conditions of numerous sewing shops in Los Angeles, where legal and illegal immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, Korea, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Thailand, Cambodia, and other nations work for wages below the federal minimum wage and without overtime pay. Chapter 4, â€Å"Harvest of Shame,† tells of the harsh living conditions of migrant farm workers across the United States. They receive low wages—mostly minimum wage; live in deplorable housing; are exposed to azardous pesticides and herbicides; face little government enforcement of labor laws; are difficult to organize due to the transient nature of their work and the undocumented status of most; and are constantly on the move, which does not allow their children stable access to education. Chapter 5, â€Å"The Daunting Workplace,† addresses the diverse challenges the workplace holds for those from the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. Many working poor have no work experience, no education, a criminal record, a drug addiction, and a lifelong absence of role models.Dysfunctional families in which no one works, or even ventures outside the neighborhood, have provided no support system or role models. Chapter 6, â€Å"The Sins of the Fathers,† begins by unveiling an epidemic of sexual abuse that affects all classes and races in the United States. Both the wealthy and the poor are abused; however, the wealthy tend to have the financial as well as the family resources that enable them to overcome abuse. Chapter 7, â€Å"Kinship,† emphasizes the role that kinship plays in overcoming the hardships of poverty.Shipler writes, â€Å"Kinship can blunt the edge of economic adversity† (p. 179). He describes a family of five that has faced all forms of hardship and poverty—from job loss to cancer to the death of the mother—yet holds together through bonds of love and caring. He also chronicles the story of a woman who chose to earn significantly less and be plunged into poverty and debt in order to spend time with her children, one of whom eventually attended Dartmouth College. Chapter 8, â€Å"Body and Mind,† addresses health issues affecting poor families.Shipler mentions malnourishment, susceptibility to infections, disease, chronic conditio ns (such as asthma, diabetes, and allergies), premature birth, retarded cognitive and physical development, stress, and emotional distress, as well as material support that can help a family endure. It is not uncommon for children in poor families to suffer from poor diets, which can be the cause of numerous related health problems. Chapter 9, â€Å"Dreams,† begins with the ambitious professional aspirations of sixth and eighth grade children from poor families in Washington, DC.Shipler contrasts these aspirations with the enormous faced problems beyond their control. Chapter 10, â€Å"Work Works,† is dedicated to the positive impact that job training and working has had on some poor individuals and families. Job training programs that teach soft skills as well as hard skills and are successful in instilling confidence and self-esteem are appreciated by employers. Chapter 11, â€Å"Skill and Will,† emphasizes that American society must understand what it can do using the skills and resources it has to combat poverty.The approach to remedying poverty, Shipler argues, must be holistic, tackling all problems associated with it at once. The United States is often described as a place where anyone can â€Å"pick themselves up by their bootstraps† and realize the American dream of a comfortable lifestyle. But, for over 30 million Americans, this dream is no longer possible. Though we live in the richest and most powerful country in the world, there are many individuals who are living under or at the poverty level. While the United States has enjoyed unprecedented affluence, low-wage employees have been testing the American doctrine that hard work cures poverty† (Shipler, 2004). The status of poverty translates to families of four making around $ 18,850 a year. And as soon as they find work or move just slightly above the $ 18,850 a year (which is still a meager and deprived way to live), they are cut off from welfare subsistence and lose other support designed to help them, such as food stamps and health insurance; This situation often leaves them no better off, and sometimes worse off, than when they were not working.Proponents of welfare reform have verbalized that the working poor are poor because of their lack of effort and laziness; this statement is an oxymoron. The working poor work longer hours, with less pay and few, if any, benefits. Some make the right choices and save a little money, avoid overwhelming debt, and live modestly. Even for those who live carefully off a working wage, it only takes one issue for their world to crumble around them. If the car breaks down or a family member is injured at work, what little savings they have accumulated could be gone in an instant.Why do people stay poor when popular opinion tells us if we work hard, we will be okay. The answer lies in the valued social inequalities; the opportunities available to each socioeconomic status level differ greatly. One factor t hat seems to distribute over the impoverished is lack of education. Lack of knowledge affects every aspect of life from basic health care to effectively raising children in a safe and secure environment. Children who come from a working-wage family should not be disadvantaged.There is no reason why the public education system should not give every child an equal opportunity to graduate high school and continue on to college or trade schools. The fact is public schools are funded to a large degree by property taxes. Impoverished schools receive considerably less funding and have to find ways to make their budgets work. Furthermore, the best teachers are often in school districts that can offer competitive salary. It is a well-known fact that children from affluent families tend to do better in school.Children from low income families tend to do poorer on tests, have a lower graduation rate, and are less likely to attend and complete college (Melville 2012). Yet the income divide has received far less attention from policy makers and government officials than gaps in student accomplishment by race. Now, in analyses of long-term data published in recent months, researchers are finding that while the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed significantly over the past few decades, the gap between rich and poor students has grown substantially during the same period (Levitan, Magnum & Magnum 1998). We have moved from a society in the 1950s and 1960s, in which race was more consequential than family income, to one today in which family income appears more determinative of educational success than race,† said Sean F. Reardon, a Stanford University sociologist. Professor Reardon is the author of a study that found the gap in standardized test scores between affluent and low-income students had grown by about 40 percent since the 1960s and is now double the testing gap between blacks and whites (Tavernise 2012).A-1 In another study, by resear chers from the University of Michigan, the imbalance between rich and poor children in college completion — the single most important predictor of success in the work force — has grown by about 50 percent since the late 1980s (Tavernise 2012). Tavernise (2012) concluded that 8 % of the working poor hold college degrees compared to 26% of all workers. Although, two-thirds of the working poor hold high school degrees; this proportion is much lower than the 88% of all workers who hold high school degrees.The consequence of not holding a high school degree is often poverty. 22% of workers who do not hold high school degrees fall below the official poverty level which is $23,050 for a family of four, and 34% fell below 150% of the poverty level which is $ 34, 575 for a family of four (â€Å"Problems facing† 2012) . There is some evidence that the working poor are less likely to receive job training from their employers. The combination of lower education and lack of training compared to other workers make it difficult for the working poor to climb out of poverty.Only 30% of the working poor live in married couple families, compared to 65% of all workers. Single, female-headed families are especially overrepresented among the working poor. Among the working poor, 49% live in families headed by a si ngle woman. Of those who live in families headed by a single female, 28% work but live below 150% of the poverty level. In addition, almost half (46%) of all single parents who work and have children under six years old are in poverty.Workers who were never married or those who were once married also face relatively high rates of working poverty. Twenty percent of workers who have never been married and 21% of those who were divorced, widowed, or separated lived below 150% of the poverty level (â€Å"Problems facing† 2012). The working poor are less likely to be covered by health insurance by their employers. Only 18% of the working poor are co vered by health insurance available through their employer or their union, compared to 55% of all workers.Malnourishment, susceptibility to infections, disease, chronic conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, and allergies), premature birth, retarded cognitive and physical development, stress, and emotional distress can be a side effect of lack of health insurance. It is not uncommon for children in poor families to suffer from poor diets, which can be the cause of numerous related health problems. Although many of the working poor qualify for food stamp benefits, few receive them. The average food stamp benefit for a family of four is $ 496 per month (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 2010).Of those who qualify for these benefits, two-thirds do not receive them. It is unclear why the working poor do not receive these benefits, but lack of need does not seem to be the reason. Research suggests that the working poor do not know that they qualify for these benefits. In addition, we lfare administrators in some states incorrectly tell applicants, especially men, that they do not qualify for these programs. Finally, often local agencies create added barriers to discourage welfare participation.The City of New York, for example, used to require that applicants return to the welfare office for a second visit in order to apply for food stamps. This requirement was eliminated only recently because of a court order (FamiliesUSA. org 2012). Many working poor families cannot find affordable housing. Almost one in six households are cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of household income on housing expenses. Median level shelter costs, including mortgage payments, real estate taxes, property insurance, rent, nd utilities, account for 20% of the average non-poor household's income. For poor households, the median expenditure can be as high as 60% of household income (Levitan, Mangum ; Mangum, 1998). In addition, poor families may face long waiting lists for available sub sidized housing units, especially in rural areas. However, access is improving as extension educators provide the working poor with information about home ownership and special mortgage programs, and how to access them. Balancing employment and parenting demands is especially challenging for the working poor.They have fewer financial resources, and the types of jobs for which most are eligible provide little independence, authority, and flexibility to respond to conflicting demands (Henly 1999). Child care is an important obstacle. Nationwide, high-quality child care is scarce and expensive. Respondents in one study paid, on average, $70 per week for child care, about 22% of their earned income. In the same study, about one-fifth of respondents reported they had no regular child care provider and had to piece together care for their children at the last minute or leave children home alone or with an older sibling.Thirty percent of respondents reported having left a job because of a child care disruption (Henly, 1999). According to a study conducted by the Urban Institute in 2005, more than two thirds of children ages 5 and under from low income families spend a significant amount of time in child care each week. This is significant because the quality of child care available to low income families is much worse than that available to higher income families, and the quality of the child care affects the child's development. High quality, center-based care is expensive and is simply not an option for many low income families.Instead, they turn to informal, sometimes unregulated child care (Melville, 2012). There are federal programs to improve and fund early childhood education, but these programs do not work with the hectic working schedule of low income parents. Child care subsidies are available in some states, but not available to all low income workers. In other words, low income families often have difficulty accessing support systems that help them balanc e work and family life. As a result, the children of low income families are not given the same opportunities as their middle class counterparts (Melville, 2012).Unfortunately, high-quality care tends to be more expensive, and childcare subsidies in many states pay only the average market rate. Moreover, childcare subsidies cover only a minority of the low-income workforce (Henly, 1999). Parents who choose to enroll their children in high-quality child care often would have to pay the additional costs; a choice many cannot afford to make given other demands on the family income. For many working poor families, these additional costs; make selecting high-quality child care financially impossible (Schulman & Adams, 1998).Extension educators can make sure the working poor know about and take advantage of available subsidies, and tax credits can offset the high costs of child care. Transportation is also a major barrier to financial self-sufficiency for many working poor families. Many of the working poor do not get to work with the ease that most working non-poor enjoy (Lambert, 1998). Even though some communities have identified creative solutions to local transportation needs, transportation remains a problem for many of the working poor. Mass transit, if available, is often sparse, not taking direct routes to most job locations.Outside of heavily populated metropolitan areas, public transportation is largely unavailable. Working poverty does not affect everyone to the same extent, and certain segments of our population are more likely to become members of the working poor. Individuals in this category include workers who are most likely to be allocated to the low-wage jobs that fail to provide full-year employment. Women make up a greater share of the working poor than do men, probably because on average they earn lower wages and work fewer hours.Although women comprise 47% of workers between the ages of 18 and 56, 56% of the working poor are women (FamiliesUS A. org, 2012). Non-citizens of the United States are also disproportionately represented among the working poor. Fifteen percent of such workers live below poverty, and 30% live below 150% of the poverty level. Blacks and Hispanics are especially affected; working poverty affects people of color to a much greater extent than it does white Americans. A surprisingly large number of blacks and Hispanics work below the poverty level.Twelve percent of all blacks who work fall below the poverty level, and 23% fall below 150% of the poverty level. Among working Hispanics, the poverty rates are even higher: 14% live below the poverty level and 29% of Hispanic workers fell below 150% of the poverty level (Shipler, 2004). The working poor face a number of difficulties: low wages, insufficient hours, layoffs, lack of skills along with limited health benefits affect their health and other conditions that may affect their work performance. Thus, prescribing one solution is not likely to solve th e problem of working poverty.The working poor need higher wages and jobs that offer full-year employment, wage supplements such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, and access to services such as health care and child care. Most importantly, we should not assume that we can solve the problems of working poverty without income supports. Because many of the working poor are disabled or suffer from other serious health limitations, some workers may not be able to work more hours or in higher paying jobs and must rely on income supports in order to survive above the poverty level. References Center for American Progress (2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012 from http://www. mericanprogress. org/issues/women/report/2008/10/08/5103/the-straight-facts-on-women-in-poverty/ Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2010). Retrieved October 10, 2012 from http://www. cbpp. org/cms/index. cfm? fa=view&id=1269 FamiliesUSA. org. (2012). Retrieved October 10, 2012 from http://www. familiesusa. org/resource s/tools-for-advocates/guides/federal-poverty-guidelines. html Henly, J. (1999). Challenges to finding and keeping jobs in the low-skilled labor market. Poverty Research News, 3(1), 1-5. Levitan, S. , Mangum, G. , & Mangum, S. (1998). Programs in aid of the poor.Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press. Melville, J. (2012). Effects of low family income on children. Retrieved 0ctober 10, 2012 from http://www. ehow. com/list_6195251_effects-low-family-income-children. html Problems Facing the Working Poor. (2012). Retrieved September 30, 2012 from http://www. dol. gov/oasam/programs/history/herman/reports/futurework/conference/workingpoor/workingpoor_toc. htm Shipler, D. K. (2004). The working poor: Invisible in America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Tavernise, S. (2012, October 10). Education gap grows between rich and poor, Studies say New York Times, February 9, 2012, A1.

Perception of Different Sugars by Blowflies

? ? Fly? lab? report? p. 1? SAMPLE LAB REPORT Perception of Different Sugars by Blowflies by Alexander Hamilton Biology 101 October 24, 2009 Lab Partners: Sharon Flynn, Andi Alexander ? ABSTRACT ? Fly? lab? report? p. 2? To feed on materials that are healthy for them, flies (order Diptera) use taste receptors on their tarsi to find sugars to ingest. We examined the ability of blowflies to taste monosaccharide and disaccharide sugars as well as saccharin. To do this, we attached flies to the ends of sticks and lowered their feet into solutions with different concentrations of these sugars.We counted a positive response when they lowered their proboscis to feed. The flies responded to sucrose at a lower concentration than they did of glucose, and they didn’t respond to saccharin at all. Our results show that they taste larger sugar molecules more readily than they do smaller ones. They didn’t feed on saccharin because the saccharin we use is actually the sodium salt of saccharin, and they reject salt solutions. Overall, our results show that flies are able to taste and choose foods that are good for them. INTRODUCTION All animals rely on senses of taste and smell to find acceptable food for survival.Chemoreceptors are found in the taste buds on the tongue in humans (Campbell, 2008), for example, for tasting food. Studies of sensory physiology have often used insects as experimental subjects because insects can be manipulated with ease and because their sensory-response system is relatively simple (E. Williams, personal communication). Flies are able to taste food by walking on it (Dethier, 1963). Hollow hairs around the proboscis and tarsi contain receptor neurons that can distinguish among water, salts, and sugars, and flies can distinguish among different sugars (Dethier, 1976).These traits enable them to find necessary nutrition. ? ? Fly? lab? report? p. 3? In this experiment we tested the ability of the blowfly Sarcophaga bullata to taste dif ferent sugars and a sugar substitute, saccharin. Because sucrose is so sweet to people, I expected the flies to taste lower concentrations of sucrose than they would of maltose and glucose, sugars that are less sweet to people. Because saccharin is also sweet tasting to people, I expected the flies to respond positively and feed on it as well.METHODS We stuck flies to popsickle sticks by pushing their wings into a sticky wax we rubbed on the sticks. Then we made a dilution series of glucose, maltose, and sucrose in one-half log molar steps (0. 003M, 0. 01M, 0. 03M, 0. 1M, 0. 3M, and 1M) from the 1M concentrations of the sugars we were given. We tested the flies’ sensory perception by giving each fly the chance to feed from each sugar, starting with the lowest concentration and working up. We rinsed the flies between tests by swishing their feet in distilled water. We counted a positive response whenever a fly lowered its proboscis.To ensure that positive responses were to sug ars and not to water, we let them drink distilled water before each test. See the lab handout Taste Reception in Flies (Biology Department, 2000) for details. RESULTS Flies responded to high concentrations (1M) of sugar by lowering their probosces and feeding. The threshold concentration required to elicit a positive response from at least 50% of the flies was lowest for sucrose, while the threshold concentration was highest for glucose (Fig. 1). Hardly any flies responded to saccharin. Based on the results from all ? ? Fly? lab? report? p. 4? he lab groups together, there was a major difference in the response of flies to the sugars and to saccharin (Table 1). When all the sugars were considered together, this difference was significant (t = 10. 46, df = 8, p < . 05). Also, the response of two flies to saccharin was not statistically different from zero (t = 1. 12, df = 8, n. s. ). DISCUSSION The results supported my first hypothesis that sucrose would be the most easily detectabl e sugar by the flies. Flies show a selectivity of response to sugars based on molecular size and structure. Glucose, the smallest of the three sugars, is a monosaccharide.The threshold value of glucose was the highest in this experiment because a higher concentration of this small sugar was needed to elicit a positive response. Maltose and sucrose are both disaccharides but not with the same molecular weight or composition. It has been shown that flies respond better to alpha-glucosidase derivatives than to beta-glucosidase derivatives (Dethier 1975). Because sucrose is an alphaglucosidase derivative, it makes sense that the threshold value for sucrose occurs at a lower concentration than that for maltose. This might also be the reason why sucrose tastes so sweet to people.My other hypothesis was not supported, however, because the flies did not respond positively to saccharin. The sweetener people use is actually the sodium salt of saccharic acid (Budavari, 1989). Even though it ta stes 300 to 500 times as sweet as sucrose to people (Budavari, 1989), flies taste the sodium and so reject saccharin as a salt. Two flies did respond positively to saccharin, but the response of only two flies is not significant, and the lab group that got the positive responses to saccharin may not have rinsed the flies ? off properly before the test. ? Fly? lab? report? . 5? Flies taste food with specific cells on their tarsal hairs. Each hair has, in addition to a mechanoreceptor, five distinct cells – alcohol, oil, water, salt, and sugar – that determine its acceptance or rejection of the food (Dethier, 1975). The membranes located on the tarsi are the actual functional receptors since it is their depolarization that propagates the stimulus to the fly (Dethier, 1975). Of the five cells, stimulation of the water and sugar cells induce feeding, while stimulation of the salt, alcohol, and oil receptors inhibit feeding.More specifically, a fly will reject food if the substrate fails to stimulate the sugar or water receptors, stimulates a salt receptor, or causes a different message from normal (e. g. , salt and sugar receptors stimulated concurrently) (Dethier 1963). Flies accept sugars and reject salts as well as unpalatable compounds like alkaloids (Dethier & Bowdan, 1989). This selectivity is a valuable asset to a fly because it helps the fly recognize potentially toxic substances as well as valuable nutrients (H. Cramer, personal communication).Substances such as alcohols and salts could dehydrate the fly and have other harmful effects on its homeostasis (Dethier, 1976). Thus, flies are well adapted to finding food for their own survival. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank Prof. Cramer for help with the t-test and my lab partners for helping me conduct and understand this experiment. LITERATURE CITED Campbell, N. A. , & J. B. Reece. 2008. Biology, 8th ed. Pearson Benjamin Cummings, San ? Francisco. ? Fly? lab? report? p. 6? Budavari, S. , et al. 1989. The Merck Index. Merck & Co. , Rahway, NJ. Biology Department. 2000. Taste Reception in Flies. Biology 101 Laboratory Manual, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Dethier, V. G. 1963. The Physiology of Insect Senses. Methuen & Co. , London. Dethier, V. G. 1976. The Hungry Fly. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. Dethier, V. G. , & E. Bowdan. 1989. The effect of alkaloids on sugar receptors and the feeding behaviour of the blowfly. Physiological Entomology 14:127-136. Table 1. The average number of flies in each lab group that fed from 0. M concentrations of each chemical tested. The mean + standard deviation is shown. chemical tested number of 10 flies responding glucose maltose sucrose saccharin 3. 2 + 1. 5 7. 8 + 2. 3 8. 6 + 2. 1 0. 2 + 0. 5 ? ? Fly? lab? report? p. 7? Fig. 1. Taste response curves of flies to different concentrations of the sugars glucose, maltose, and sucrose. Fig. 2. Chemical formulas of sucrose and maltose (Biology Department, 2000). Glucose is a monosaccharide an d is shown as part of each of these molecules.

American Airlines Strategy Paper Essay Example for Free

American Airlines Strategy Paper Essay Currently the airline industry as a whole seems to be on the road of recovery. We, American Airlines, the fourth largest carrier recently avoided bankruptcy, but had a summer full of pressure due to ongoing union struggles and questionable executive compensation packages. After having incurred such big losses, this recovery has come about because of the government bailout and many of our large competitors’ abilities to survive the turbulence in the industry. So far, the prospects look promising. Revenue has improved across all regions of the business. Domestic unit revenue was up almost 10 percent and Latin American revenue has increased by close to 11 percent in the last quarter of 2012 compared to the same period the prior year. We are performing better than other airlines that have filed for protection and have done so without slashing capacity. In short, American is doing the right things to return to business efficiency and customer effectiveness. In order to establish a sustainable position for the future, American Airlines must adopt a three-pronged strategy moving forward. First, we should focus on low priced operations and increased marketing strategies to improve customer demand. We have to enhance customer experience and our volume of loyal customers to build a stronger presence in Airline Industry. Second, we must focus on increasing and improving the routes to cater to large customer base. Lastly, we must address the difficulties our company might face in integrating with the culture of US Airlines. Our future success is highly dependent on these two entities efficiently operating as a single organization. US Airline industry today is dominated by five major domestic carriers. United, Delta and Southwest each has more than 15 percent market share. American is fourth, with around 12 percent and US Airways is fifth with around 10 percent. Four of these five are profitable — all but American. We lost $2 billion in 2011 and $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2012. Our emphasis in 2013 is on operational flexibility, international growth through alliance and selective network expansion, and domestic partnerships to reduce operational and balance sheet risks. American’s market differentiation is based on emphasizing and meeting the needs and expectations of high value customers (particularly large global corporates) and better alignment with the one world airline network and value proposition. Also, being the lead carrier between not only the United States and Latin America but, increasingly, the world and Latin America—connecting through Dallas, Los Angeles, or Miami. This strategy makes sense; if they can get all labor work groups on board, they should be able to make it happen. That is still the main challenge, as is competitor contestation, particularly from larger traditional rivals like Delta and United. Improve Customer Demand Lower Operational Costs American passenger division which already has 57 fewer planes in service than an year ago, should further shrink by another 57 planes this summer. This would improve operational efficiency. Current service levels include 275 cities with a fleet of over 1000 aircraft. American carries about 80 million passengers daily and receives more than 329,000 reservation calls, handles more than 293,000 pieces of luggage and flies more than 4300 flights in one typical day. In order to reduce costs further over 27000 jobs will have to be eliminated. Because of high competition in the industry, substantial price fluctuations occur related to fares. Increase value added services offered through our interactive website, AA.com. Any differentiation that convenience added capabilities offer is the center of focus. Busy hiub systems and schedule patterns need to be looked at to improve efficiency and routing effectiveness, thereby enhancing customer experience. We need to do rigorous marketing to attract more customers. Our marketing is currently focused on seasonal and business travelers and much analysis is taken in order to optimize peak travel seasons as well as frequent flier miles programs and pints systems. The Making More Room in coach program is the original marketing ploy of American to project a perception of higher passenger comfort levels. As increased advertising and intense market share is gained, we will continue to remain a key player assuming passenger demand goes up as projected. We will focus on upgraded in-flight entertainment systems, football game special fares, and buy-on board meal options to further enhance customer experience. American Airlines’ new network strategy is designed to improve profitability by offering the routes and schedules that attract and retain not only their own high value customers but also those of alliance partners, an important source of revenue through codeshare agreements and closely aligned loyalty programs. The network is the core product that works in concert with lie-flat seats, onboard amenities, and customer service. Latin America is a prominent focus, due in part to our strong presence in key hubs to Latin America such as Dallas and Miami. This is where the profits are. Passenger growth forecasts for Latin America for 2013-17 are 6 percent for Latin America North (Central America and the northern rim of South America) and 8 percent for Latin America South (southern cone countries such as Brazil and Argentina). This compares with 3.6 percent for Europe and 4.4 percent for Asia. To follow the growth markets, we must change our portfolio mix to focus more on international rather than domestic routes. This is a gradual process, moving from 38 percent international and 62 percent domestic capacity in 2013 towards a 44/56 percent balance by 2017. As we refocus more of our flying towards international opportunities, it is likely to look towards increased code-sharing with domestic carriers like Alaska Airlines, jetBlue, and others to further enhance our network in places like Los Angeles and New York City. This is likely to have initial teething problems, due to terminal colocation and product disparity issues. For instance, the business passengers that we are pursuing may be disgruntled by jetBlue’s more restrictive carry-on baggage policies or by extra time and added security checks if they are required to change terminals. Our plan is also to diversify our domestic feed by increasing the number of regional carriers with which we do business to reduce operational and balance sheet risk. Today, we primarily get a feed from our wholly-owned subsidiary, American Eagle, which has higher costs than some other regional carriers. American Eagle is going through its own restructuring to lower its costs, and it may ultimately be spun off. Merger with US Airways will result in the largest carrier in US. It would create roughly $1.2 billion in financial benefits. American Airlines Strategy Paper. (2017, Jan 20).

Management and organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Management and organisations - Essay Example As far as Khurana (2010) is concerned, he has but made a differentiation between university-based business education and private business education because in his view, the legitimacy and credibility imparted to a university-educated business graduate by the industry as well as the general public makes it mandatory that such business students/professionals orient their profession in harmony with public good (Khurana, 2010) . Khurana (2010) has reminded his readers that the 125 years old univerity-based business school system, though initially meant for the professionalisation of management study, is now run by a â€Å"managerialistic logic that emphasized professional knowledge rather than professional ideals, and ultimately by a market logic that taken to its conclusion, subverts the logic of professionalism altogether† (p.7). I also agree with this opinion as I have always felt that managers of most business establishments have no problems of conscience in using unethical means to achieve their ultimate end, that is, enhancing the profits of their company. After arguing in this line, Khurana (2010) has called for the balancing of university-based business school education in the favour of â€Å"professionalism and professional leadership† (p.20). He (Khurana, 2010) has also stressed the need of this realignment in four areas of the interactions of such business schools, namely, â€Å"student, faculty, business, and society at large† (p.20). ... After arguing in this line, Khurana (2010) has called for the balancing of university-based business school education in the favour of â€Å"professionalism and professional leadership† (p.20). He (Khurana, 2010) has also stressed the need of this realignment in four areas of the interactions of such business schools, namely, â€Å"student, faculty, business, and society at large† (p.20). In totality, what Khurana (2010) has tried to focus is the questions related to the abandoning of the notions of public good in management education, which I also feels to be the need of the hour. From the definition offered by Oxford English Dictionary that public good is actually common good, to the definition given by Barley (2007) that â€Å"public good is where externalities happen†, there are a wide range of definitions for public good (p.202). Calhoun (2006) has reminded that what is expected from a university-based education system are mainly four â€Å"public missionsà ¢â‚¬ - imparting education for training people in â€Å"occupations traditionally centered on public service,† furthering â€Å"social mobility,† developing â€Å"new technologies,† and providing information needed for â€Å"the public sphere and also prepare the citizens to participate in it† (p.10). It is also observed that the â€Å"direct governmental financing and governance of universities† is necessitated by the notion that universities have to â€Å"contribute to the public good† (Calhoun, 2006, p.10). I want to remind here that whatever finance that reaches universities from the government is actually the taxes paid by the people. But as is criticized by Calhoun (2006), when

Los Angeles lab report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Los Angeles lab report - Essay Example The test of reference is done on the fraction size 10/14mm. In order to understand the operation of the Los Angeles test, an experiment was set to determine the resistance to fragmentation. Apparatus The apparatus that would be used in this experiment include: Los Angeles Machine Recycled Concrete Aggregate Scale Tray Sieve Method. A 5kg of Recycled Concrete Aggregate was introduced in the cylinder via a hatch. The thecharge of eleven steel balls, with each ranging between 45mm and 49mm in diameter, while weighing in totallity between 4690g to 4860g was also added. The hatch lid was bolted in place with the cylinder being rotated about 500 revolutions at a given rate of 31 to 33 RPM (Revolution Per Minute). The machine was operated in a soundproofed cabinet. A built-in counter stopped the machine after 500 revolutions. The hatch was opened, and the contents of the cylinder were emptied into trays set underneath the opening. The balls were removed and the aggregate was sieved using a 1.6mm sieve. For the fraction that was retained on the sieve, was weighed. The result, the Los Angeles Coefficient, was calculated using . All the data collected was recorded in table 1. Table 1: Data collected. Type of aggregate Recycled Concrete Aggregate Initial mass of sample (g) 5000 Mass retained on the 1.6mm sieve (g) 3790 g Type of aggregate Thames Aggregate Initial mass of sample (g) 5000 Mass retained on the 1.6mm sieve (g) 3943 Calculations The Los Angeles Coefficient, LA, was calculated as follows: Aggregate with a LA value of less than 30 (LA30) is considered strong enough for use in coating and road surface treatments (i.e. surface dressing). For example, a faulty scale or a faulty Los Angeles machine may automatically affect the readings of the experiment. It is recommended that for experimental errors to be reduced the following steps should be followed. During the experiment one should ensure that at least three readings for a particular step are taken then an avera ge of the reading obtained to minimize the errors of parallax. The experiment needs to be done at least twice to confirm the recorded values and minimize the errors. The Los Angeles Machine and all the apparatus used for the experiment should always be checked before the start of the experiment to ascertain their efficiency (BS 1377-4, 1990). The experiment could also be done in an area with vacuum conditions in order to minimize the interferences in obtaining the readings demonstrated to air resistance. Whenever the capacitor is by-passed by an emitter, and capacitance of the coupled capacitor is large in regards to the AC frequency signal, the capacitors would be approximated as a circuit that is short (BS EN 1097-2, 1998). Whenever the input signal or voltage is increased the output voltage and the signal would be further vary around the dc bias point that has been established (Highways Agency , 2009). This effect would continue up to when the limiting condition of the voltage is reached. For the current in the circuit, the limiting condition would be VCC/RC, at the end, considered to be high, and a zero at the end considered to be low of the swing. The voltage of the emitter collector and the supply limit reaches a limit when they have a zero and VCC. Additionally, the voltage output and the varying current around the point of bias gives out ac power towards the load (Highways Agency, 2009). The delivered ac power is made to go through the load referred to as RC. AC signal, on

DQ2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

DQ2 - Essay Example It was Goffee and Jones who considered the fact that, there are never-ending assortments of leaders and managers moreover no individual can immediately imitate a different leader or a different manager. Accordingly the dare facing the potential leaders and managers is for them to maintain their true personalities with a lot more polished skills. Which is why, individually they would need to formulate their own approach towards successful leadership and managers (Goffee, 2000). Will set a track or else visualization that others pursue, without taking into account the fact as to how this fresh direction is going to be accomplished. There are individuals then within the group who have to try real hard to complete the picture, a lot of effort is then required on their behalf. In this case the individual will be able to administer the resources in order to preserve the position or else make sure things go on in line with the previously recognized tactics. E.g.: a cricket match umpire supervises the game, however does not generally endow with leadership for the reason that there is no fresh alteration, no novel direction. Moreover the umpire is scheming resources to make sure that the rules of the game are ensued also position is preserved. In a situation where both exist, it would imply mutually the establishing of new paths along with administering the resources to accomplish it. E.g. A recently nominated leader otherwise a premier. It is quite possible that an individual might be an effective leader but not an effective manager. In this case, the manager or the leader would somehow make sure that there work goals are met, but they would not be able to accomplish anything in total. Experts also believe that all human beings have sometimes both the traits. The efficiency of the management comes into play here, when they need to recruit an individual and then work upon his skills to polish

The History of Tea in China Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 6

The History of Tea in China - Dissertation Example RBT, as above-mentioned objectives, is aiming to serve a quality product, diversify in business, to satisfy customers and shareholders, to enter into a new market and last but not the least, to cash up on the new taste through pleasant and finicky existence. The main purpose of RBT is to build-up a new trend in the UK by bringing in the traditional Chinese Culture and by offering high-quality hygiene Tea of almost six different types along with light snacks. Most importantly, making a high profit is the ultimate goal of entering a new market. RBT tends to offer several unique tea blends of Chinese traditions, a power snack i.e. sandwiches, salads, bakery items, and desserts. Hygiene and proper food handling are also important at RBT. The raw materials used in the preparation process will be supervised to ensure strict adherence to the highest standards of hygiene. Our menu includes Teapuccino, Pearl Sago, Green Tea, Jasmine Boba Tea, RBT special, Coffee, Spin Frozen Beverage (cold) and Shakin’ Savvy. For the UK, we plan to introduce light snacks like sandwiches and as it is a tradition in the UK to have tea in the afternoon with a bit of snack. Along with this menu, we plan to offer additional services that include weekend system i.e. our special menu for weekends would be extraordinary happy hour or live entertainments on Sundays to freshen up the moods of the consumers. Similarly, student discount will be offered too. Take away option is also there for the ease of customers. Moreover, we are planning to open up a Club Card system for the entertainment of the consumers and swing chairs instead of the usual furniture used as well to appeal the kids as well as to give customers a fresh homely atmosphere. There are wide varieties of hotels in London offering the typical classic afternoon tea experiences.

Historicist Analysis of Christopher Marlowes The Passionate Shepherd Essay

Historicist Analysis of Christopher Marlowes The Passionate Shepherd to His Love - Essay Example The poem or the song was written during the time when the art focused on the idea of idyllic country settings, where shepherds were love-sick and obsessed with their lovers. It was also the time when musical composers and artists praised the country settings and consider them their usual subject (â€Å"Christopher Marlowe†). However, although this is the realistic element in the poem, some lines in the poem are obviously a product of the shepherd’s rich and love-filled imagination. For example, in the line where he wants to give his lover â€Å"A gown made of the finest wool† (13) and slippers â€Å"With buckles of the purest gold† (16), the shepherd is obviously only imagining giving these very expensive presents to his lover. Nevertheless, although he cannot possibly afford it, he tells her about it as a proof of the greatness and sincerity of his love for her. Moreover, the phrases â€Å"finest wool† and â€Å"purest gold† may actually rep resent the purity of the shepherd’s intent and love for his lover. It would then be interesting to think that the Elizabethan era during the late 16th century and the early 17th century was actually a time when lovers were sincere about their proposals of love. According to information from the Norton Anthology of Poetry, the life of Christopher Marlowe was actually not the same as the bucolic peacefulness of â€Å"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.† Despite the tranquil rural setting of the poem, Marlowe was a rather energetic spy and entrepreneur of his time. The modern-day market during the commercial revolution during his time was also far from the ideally simple life of the shepherd in his poem, for Marlowe desired fortune during his time. Moreover, there was also disease, crime and violence during his time in England – which are actually elements that are entirely in contrast with the calmness and tranquility of the mood in the poem. In fact, according to the Norton Anthology of Poetry, Marlowe was involved in a number of controversies and his life was reflective of the urban violence during his time. In 1589 he was involved in a brawl that brought him to hail. In 1591, he was accused of atheism and treason, which were heavy crimes during those times. On Ma 18, 1593, he was arrested for blasphemy although these were merely allegations, for which a trial began on May 20. However, in 1593, on May 30, at the age of 29, he was stabbed with a dagger but the motives were unconfirmed whether this was related to his arrest or if it was the killer’s personal vendetta against Marlowe’s atheism and epicurean lifestyle (â€Å"Biography†). During the time that Marlowe wrote â€Å"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,† it was the year 1593, the pastoral genre of poetry gained popularity, although the poem was posthumously published in 1599. The shepherd poet became a regular symbol of romance, pastoral text and erotic love. Particularly, in Marlowe’s poem, there is simplicity of language pertaining particularly to the use of vernacular. It therefore shows charm and wit without pomposity or pretention. It is the reflection of courtly love without the trappings of metaphors as w ell as other elitist and artificial elements (Zlateva 126). In short, the poem shows utmost simplicity. However, such simplicity even reflects in the trip around the countryside of

Project Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 3

Project Management - Assignment Example It also develops ways to integrate these resources within the organizational context and the wider company strategy for management of wide-ranging interpersonal issues that might crop up in the organization. The given business is that of a car manufacturing company that is undergoing a scale improvement in business practices. From a regular business of buying from the manufacturer and selling cars on a retail basis, the company is transforming into full scale car assembly and manufacturing business along with the selling strategy. This transformation involves a number of hiring and recruitment processes of individuals with different skill sets so that necessary resources are well utilized with a strong human resource team. For the purpose of business expansion, the human resource management decides to recruit staff that shall have specific skill sets at each level of the manufacturing process, so that the entire production line has specialized and skilled employees (Cole, 2002). In case of this project, the company shall need to hire about 40 new people at various positions and different levels of the employee hierarchy. These employees shall be distributed within the Purchasing, Receiving, Manufacturing and the Sales departments. It is believed that the highest recruitment shall go towards the sale team because it is an enlarged part of the business team. The car manufacturing process is highly automatic and hence, shall not require many people in the manufacturing task (Harrison, 2000). The revamped business has been started afresh and the team shall make use of existing staff as higher level managers while hiring staff posited below them. This activity will recruit one person who shall be responsible for overseeing well-functioning of the manufacturing activity and assure that all different activities in the process of manufacturing are well aligned. Another twelve individuals shall look into goods transfer to point of sale and

Environmental Audit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Environmental Audit - Essay Example This paper is focused upon environmental audit and how important it is for an organization. It would elaborate on the environmental policies of 3M. Moreover it would shed light upon how 3M followed sustainable practices. Discussion Anything that impinges on the firm can be included in the environment. The environment is not stable; in fact, it is increasingly turbulent due to the era of change and uncertainty in which we live. Changes are happening faster and faster, requiring continual response on the part of businesses. Thereby, it is becoming increasingly imperative for companies to carry out feasibility studies and environmental audits to assess the nature of the new market and plan the strategies accordingly. Environmental audit is the process by which the company’s environmental performance is tested based upon the various environmental policies and strategies that are implemented. The environmental policies and objectives of an organization are clearly stated and docume nted even if they are not followed as rigorously. The audit is carried out based on tests that study the documentation, the policies, work manuals and other material, observation of work practices, and other tests that ensure compliance to the policies and legal requirements. According to the International Chamber of Commerce environmental audit is defined as â€Å"a management tool that ensures a methodical, documented, regular and objective assessment of how an organization is performing in its aims to maintain and protect the environment through controlling management of environmental practices and evaluating the conformity with the policies of the company† (Environmental Auditing, 2004) Environmental audit is a done in a structured and organized manner in order to manage environmental and sustainability issues. It must be supported through the documentation so that verification and validation is carried out effectively at any point in time. The purpose and idea behind an environmental audit is to assess the performance of an organization in terms of its environmental management and equipment. There are various types of environmental audits including environmental management audit, environmental compliance audit, environmental assessment audit, waste audits, environmental due diligence audits and supplier audits. I formerly worked at 3M US which is one of the top companies when it comes to environmental sustainability. It has been at the forefront from the beginning when it comes to adopting programs and policies to ensure environmental protection, social responsibility and economic vitality. The legal structure of the US also has influence over the companies and ensures that environmental policies that are stated are properly followed and implemented. The environmental protection agency (EPA) had strong compliance and conformity principles. At 3M the environmental audit is conducted by the company’s lawyers. The information of the audit is ke pt confidential and not issued until court orders are received. The approach of audit is been changed by the USEPA to go towards ‘self-policing’. Self audit is considered a better option as it allows the companies to reduce any potential legal costs by a great amount. 3M had high regards for sustainability and gave precedence to the sustainable practices. The sustainable practices policies of 3M were in line with the overall corporate policies and values. 3M

Employment-At-Will Doctrine Essay Example for Free

Employment-At-Will Doctrine Essay Abstract This paper encompasses what we understand about the Employment-at-will Doctrine and how it’s applied to determine the employer and employee relationship. We examine how exceptions to the doctrine can be applied to questions relating to legality of firing an employee. Determine how we limit liability and impact to operations by creating a collaborative environment empowering employees to feel a part of the overall mission and strategy of the company. Finally, exploring how to create a whistleblowing policy that outlines the process employees can follow to report any wrongdoing and method for resolution. Summarize the Employment-At-Will Doctrine Employment-at-will is a doctrine that originated in the early 1900s involving a treatise on master and servant relationship. The main premise of the doctrine is the assumption that the duration of employment is for an indefinite period of time and may be terminated by either the employer or employee. In 1935 the Wagner Act was passed making it illegal to fire employees because they were involved in union activity, and is one of the first laws passed that diminished employment at will. Congress added more laws in the 60s and 70s that protected employees from being discharged for certain reasons, mostly related to bias and whistle-blowing. The doctrine varies in each state with some who have established exceptions to the doctrine to protect the employee. In addition to these exceptions there are federal and state laws that limit the employers ability to terminate employment based upon race, ethnicity, religion, marital or disability and sexual orientation. As we begin to review eight cases involving employment at-will and a COO who must determine whether or not she can legally fire her employees by taking into consideration the following exceptions to the  doctrine: a) Employer cannot violate public policy doctrine b) Employer cannot fire an employee when an implied contract is formed c) Employer cannot fire an employee for refusing to commit illegal acts d) Employer cannot fire an employee for family or medical leave e) Employer cannot fire an employee for implied covenant of good faith 1. John posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized the company’s most important customer. While John has his 1st amendment right for freedom of speech, he did not consider the fact that his rant was in violation of the company Code of Conduct Policy to negatively discuss their customers. John received a letter of reprimand for his actions. If his Facebook rant was made on a company computer Jim would be fired. 2. Jim sent an email to other salespeople protesting a change in commission schedules and bonuses and suggesting everyone boycott the next sales meeting. Although Jim sent this email on his companies system which goes against company email policy, there is no legal reason to fire Jim. Therefore, he received a letter of reprimand for his actions. 3. Ellen started a blog to protest the CEO’s bonus, noting that no one below director has gotten a raise in two (2) years and portraying her bosses as â€Å"know-nothings† and â€Å"out-of-touch†. Starting blogs to protest goes against the company’s social media policy and defamation of her bosses’ character which goes against the company’s policy. Ellen was fired for â€Å"Good Cause†. 4. Bill has been using his company-issued BlackBerry to run his own business on the side. Employees should not make business calls from their personal wireless device except in emergency circumstances. Running his business using the company issued blackberry while on company time goes against the company’s equipment use policy and could be considered a conflict of interest. Therefore, Bill was fired for â€Å"Good Cause†. 5. The secretaries in the accounting department decided to dress in black-and-white stripes to protest a memo announcing that the company has installed key logger software on all company computers. There is no legal reason to fire or discipline the secretaries for their attire since it did not cause a disruption within the workplace 6. After being disciplined for criticizing a customer in an email (sent from his personal email account on  a company computer), Joe threatens to sue the company for invasion of privacy. Since he was already disciplined for the action, his eluding to suing the company is no grounds for further discipline since he has a right to file a claim if he believes his privacy was invaded. We cannot retaliate against his comment. However, Joe should have no expectation of privacy since he was on a company computer when he opened his personal email account. 7. One of the department supervisors requests your approval to fire his secretary for insubordination. Since the secretary has always received glowing reviews, you call her into your office and determine that she has refused to prepare false expense reports for her boss. Under the employee at-will doctrine exception, an employer cannot fire an employee for refusing to commit illegal acts. There is no legal reason to fire the secretary. 8. Anna’s boss refused to sign her leave request for jury duty and now wants to fire her for being absent without permission. This is a form of public policy which protects employees from retaliation who have simply performed their legal duty to serve on a jury. There is no legal reason to fire Anna. What action you should take to limit liability and impact on operations; specify which ethical theory best supports your decision. The eight cases we reviewed highlighted the key reasons why we must have policies and processes in place that limit liability and impact operations. Creating a collaborative environment allows employees to address their concerns. In addition, establishing a weekly or monthly team meeting allows employees to provide feedback on items or topics of concern. It also provides a forum to address company policy relating to the use of email, social media, blackberry and the expectation on how an employee should conduct themselves in the workplace. I would also recommend establishing annual training/refresher briefings for the entire team on Code of Business Conduct, Social Media Standards and Personal Use of Company Systems. Deontology Theory can be applied and best represents employees who follow his or her obligations to a nother individual or society because upholding ones duty is considered ethically correct. Take a position on whether or not you would recommend to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) that the company adopt a whistleblower policy. Support the position. If we adopted the Deontology Theory, we could apply the emphasis on personal responsibility, protection of others and ability to do more than is morally  needed. Employees need to feel valued and part of the overall strategy or mission of the organization. One of the key reasons why Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was the behavior of corporate America. Companies like Enron, Tyco and WorldCom accounting fraud led to them filing for bankruptcy and their employees losing their entire life savings. Because of these financial wrongdoings, I would highly recommend adopting a ‘Whistleblower† Policy. Employees need to feel they have a place to go to report improper or illegal conduct without fear of retaliation. Having an open door policy and good internal process that addresses complaints including a whistleblower protection/anti-retaliation policy can help organizations protect itself from risk of violating state and federal laws. Justify at least three (3) fundamental items that should be included in a whistleblower policy. Provide a rationale for your selection of each of the three (3) recommended items. As the CEO of a Company striving to adopt a Whistleblower Policy some of the key elements that should be considered when developing the policy are: a) Employee (Persons Covered) – To determine who will be covered by this policy and who will be protected for reporting suspected wrongdoing and/or whose actions should be reported under the policy b) Reporting Complaints Process – To develop a clear channel through which the employee can report any suspected improper or illegal activity and a person whom they can contact and submit the compliant c) Investigation Resolving Complaints Process – To identify a compliance officer or person to lead the investigation and resolution of all complaints. Determine when and how suspected violations will be documented, tracked, investigated and resolved. References * Muhl, Charles (2001). â€Å"The Employment-At-Will Doctrine: Three Major Exceptions,† Monthly Labor Review Outten, Wayne N (2007), â€Å"When Good Deeds Are Punished: The Legal Landscape of Retaliation and Whistleblowing,† Litigation and Administrative Practice Course Handbook Series, PLI Order No. 11091 * Sentell, Ed; Robbins, Randall (2008). Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory. Employment at-will. Retrieved from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-190795487.html * Stone, Katherine V.W. (March 2007). â€Å"Revisiting the At-Will Employment Doctrine: Imposed * Terms, Implied Terms, and the Normative World of the Workplace,† Industrial Law Journal

Debates on “Standard of Care” in Research

Debates on â€Å"Standard of Care† in Research Current debates on â€Å"Standard of Care† in Research on Human subjects in the Developing World Zoheb Rafique INTRODUCTION: For sometimes now, medical and bioethics communities have been facing some of difficult and divisive issues regarding the ethics of the international research. These issues often get fuel, when the interventional research is conducted on the poor and vulnerable people in the poor developing countries. Normal term â€Å"Standard of the Care†, against which some of new interventions and inventions are tested in the medical research has not been adequately defined. This term is often usually taken to mean the â€Å"best proved treatment† for any of the condition under investigation in any of the trial. The debate regarding what constitutes a reasonable and fair standard of care for subjects in the developing countries and those who participate in the clinical trials has been aroused by the critics of the studies on transmission of HIV. Those critics also argued that the placebo controlled trials of the new regimens as to prevent the vertical transmission of the HIV were hi ghly unethical because of the reason that they included the placebo arm rather than â€Å"best proven treatment† which is available in the developed countries. While some of the commentators considered criticisms to be unbiased and associated with imperialistic attitudes. This debate made it very clear that high standards of the research plans to have not been comprehensively and adequately defined. Although there was some justified concern that the pressure from US food and the drug administration could â€Å"dilute† declaration of the Helsinki, and critics were also confident that whether a trial was ethical could be deduced from text of a declaration. But some declarations such as declaration of the Helsinki, that governing international research ethics are accepted like the constitutions and needing interpretation. Also assuming what is ethical, goes beyond merely following all the prescriptions and also requires some moral reasoning (1). In this article, I will di scuss and comment on various debates on standard of care in human research in the developing world. DISCUSSION Equal standards of medical care during research, reflecting equal respect for the dignity of subjects, could be taken to mean any one or a combination of several requirements. It is arbitrary and not justifiable to select only one of these, for example, which drugs are used to compare the standard of care in developed and developing countries. In context of some disputed studies on the issue of HIV transmission, the forced emphasis on some â€Å"best proven drugs† having greater considerations of whether those drug regimen can be safely applied in the different settings. Also little attention has been paid to fact there were so many differences between the pregnant women in the developing countries, and in countries where â€Å"best proven† treatment previously been established. The pregnant women in the developing countries present to the antenatal clinics at much later in the pregnancy than women in original studies; they are often malnourished and anemic, and they of ten live within some context in which the breast feeding having different implications for the newborn infants. Moreover, the advice don’t breast feed would then contradict years of the intensive education by WHO (World Health Organization). Also concerning use of the placebos, the approach than also been simplistic. A placebo arm is legal and justified in any trial requires some careful consideration of the potential benefits and harms in those specific contexts and they cannot be just simply deduced from any general declaration. And of course it is very necessary to acknowledge the fact that many of the placebo trials are often unethical because they are performed largely for the marketing purposes just to show that â€Å"me too† drugs, have effects and actions greater than those placebo, and rather than to study that they are better than the existing similar, often cheaper, drugs. Also not only should nothing to be done to make it easier to perform such trials, but also each and every effort can be made to reduce and decrease wasting time, money on the â€Å"promotional studies†. In these situations where there are some good reasons for the placebo controlled trials, those should be considered on the merits rather than to be precluded by any bluntly designed clause in the declaration. To protect the host communities from the exploitation, most of the commentators argue that the efforts to improve the health care in developing countries should never ever involve the research that uses and utilizes less than â€Å"Worldwide best† methods, and meaning best of methods available anywhere in this world. Most notably, paragraph 29 of the Declaration of Helsinki states: â€Å"The benefits, risks, burdens, and effectiveness of a new method should be tested against those of the best current prophylactic, diagnostic, and therapeutic methods†. The debate over the issue what standard of the care should be required for the individuals p articipating in the research trials typically focuses on the research conducted in the developing countries by the investigators from the developed countries. This focus makes some sense. Most of the clinical research is conducted by the investigators from the developed countries, and most of communities lacking the access to good health care are located in developing countries. Researchers from the developing countries can also exploit the host communities. And also the communities in the developed countries lack access to best methods available in the world, and increasing the potential of being exploited. Then a complete analysis, should also address the potential for exploitation and independent of nationality of investigators, and the geographic location of any study (2). When the Helsinki calls for â€Å"the best proven therapeutic method† than does it mean [A] â€Å"the best therapy which is available anywhere in world†? Or does it say [B] â€Å"the standard th at is applicable in that country in which drug trial is conducted†? Helsinki is not very clear about this. But I must say that [1] a detailed and careful analysis of document and also its history tells us that the best therapy standard was intended initially and primarily as the standard of medial practice. This conclusion yields another conclusion: that [2] â€Å"the best proven standard of therapy must necessarily be the standard which prevails in that country in which clinical trial is being carried out. In part, interpretations A and B often differ over what I call the question of relevant reference point. Also emphasizing this disagreement makes it appear as the dispute hinges on question of whose medical practice constitutes relevant medical practice. So, the sides of the debate are divided into the proponents of local standard of care and also the critics who often champion the global standard of care. Framing the debate as the question of relevant reference point, how ever, effectively obscures a more fundamental source of disagreement. To see this, consider a crucial assumption that lies behind following argument. It is sometimes claimed that (1) because content of the standard of care is often fixed by local reference point and (2) because the prevailing treatment for preventing the maternal-infant HIV transmission in those countries where short-course AZT trials were conducted was no treatment at all, that (3) use of the placebo does not fall below established standard of care. Also it is important to see, however, that in order for (3) to follow from (1) and (2), we have to adopt the local reference point for standard of care (3). The ethics of the placebo-controlled trials to prevent the perinatal transmission of the HIV infection in continents like Asia and Africa have been widely debated. Some critics have argued that it is very unethical to leave the patients untreated when the proven life-saving treatment and therapy is being used in oth er parts of the world. We note, that conduct of the placebo-controlled trials in any developed country which would be unethical in some other developed country, has evoked some of furor that surrounded HIV perinatal transmission trials. The patients on other hand can choose not to take part in the trials. Reluctance to participate in the trail may be greater when there is some placebo control and the patients are asked to delay and forgo known effective therapy, also large number of the patients regularly agrees to take part in the placebo-controlled trials of the new agents. The perceived scientific value of the trial can contribute to this decision. Although care must be taken to ensure that manipulation of such considerations (e.g., by exaggerating scientific importance of trial), it seems very reasonable to allow the potential study participants to balance these benefits against some potential risk of the participation in this trial (4). Some of the observers noted more than dec ade ago that the research was conducted in the developing countries without the concern for the adherence of international ethical principles regarding the human subject’s research contained in 1947 Nuremberg code and also in the 1964 Declaration of the Helsinki. This situation has not improved. As for example, two years back, Food and Drug Administration decided that the research studies submitted to it for the review purpose need no longer be bound by Declaration of Helsinki and they must follow only the industry-sponsored Guidelines for the good clinical practice also outlined by International conference on the Harmonization. What is the legal status of Nuremberg code and Declaration of the Helsinki? Are they old outdated ethical rules that the researchers might ignore with the impunity? The question remains open, but just as clinical trials attempting to interrupt mother-to-child transmission of HIV in mid-1990s gave rise to some continuing debate about the global standar ds of care and also benefit sharing, so another mid-1990s research trial in the continent Africa has brought the international research rules back to the center stage (5). In addition to discussing recent debate and concerning international HIV research, also we should focus on whether or not to randomized, as the controlled trials must be conducted for the researchers to learn about intervention’s efficacy. The choice of the study design is not between ethically questionable perfect trials that produce the complete knowledge versus the imperfect designs that produce no knowledge. Moreover designs, such as the observational studies, that resolve the certain ethical quandaries are not necessarily free of the other ethical problems. One problem is that these studies can provide only limited guidance for the public health policy. The other issue is of informed consent, which is one of corner-stones of the research ethics. The quality of the informed consent is compromised when t he potential patient participants believe, wrongly, that the medical care is contingent on their agreeing to participate in the research. Also it is important to emphasize the potential participants that neither their access to the medical care, nor quality of care they receive, will be affected in any of the respect by their decision. It is sometimes very difficult to clarify this separation of the research from the medical care; the potential participants can be made aware through the effective communication that the decision about the research has no implications for their medical interests. Some more challenging situation occurs when the potential participants rightly believe that the medical care is contingent on their agreeing to enroll in the research (6). CONCLUSION The concept of standard of care has prominently figured in the recent controversies over use of placebos in design of the randomized controlled trials conducted in United States and the developing countries as well as the control group selection in critical care RCTs conducted in the United States. The traditional understanding of standard of care to which the physicians are held responsible refers to the typical practice of physicians in professional community. To answer the clinically valuable questions, it is often necessary for the clinical trials to randomize the subjects to interventions that deviate from standard of care in the medical practice. Nevertheless, the control groups that represent standard of care are mostly required to promote clinical value of the randomized trials and also to protect the research subjects. In case of the critical care trials, question whether RCTs should include a control group raises some complex scientific and also ethical issues that call for the careful assessment and judgment (7). In conclusion it is stated that every medical research project involving human subjects should be preceded by careful assessment of predictable risks and burdens in comparison with foreseeable benefits to the subjects or to others. REFERENCES: Solomon R Benatar, Peter A Singer. A new look at international research ethics. BMJ. 2000; Vol. 321, 824-826. David Wendler Et Al. The Standard of Care Debate: Can Research in Developing Countries Be Both Ethical and Responsive to Those Countries’ Health Needs? American Journal of Public Health. 2004; Vol. 94, No. 6, 923-928. Alex John London. The Ambiguity and the Exigency: Clarifying ‘Standard of Care’ Arguments in International Research. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. 2000; Vol. 25, No. 4, 379-397. Susan S. Ellenberg, and Robert Temple. Placebo-Controlled Trials and Active-Control Trials in the Evaluation of New Treatments. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2000; Vol. 133, No. 6, 464-470. George J. Annas, J.D. Globalized Clinical Trials and Informed Consent. N ENGL J MED. 2009; 360; 20, 2050-2053. Ruth Faden, Nancy Kass. Editorial: HIV Research, Ethics, and the Developing World. American Journal of Public Health. 1998; Vol. 88, No. 4, 548- 550. Franklin G. Miller and Henry J. Silverman. The Ethical Relevance of the Standard of Care in the Design of Clinical Trials. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2004; Vol. 169, 562-564.

Downstream Linkages in the Zambian Copper Industry

Downstream Linkages in the Zambian Copper Industry Resource extraction is often regarded by governments and people of resource-rich countries as a solution to poverty alleviation, ranging from tax revenues, technology transfer, and employment creation, export enhancement to upstream and downstream linkages. Downstream linkage industries do promise the widening of employment opportunities and high foreign earnings as a result of value-addition. Western resource intensive economies such as Australia, Canada, US and the like are examples of well-managed, resource-rich economies in which the mineral sectors spurred knowledge-intensive processes, created jobs and foreign exchange earnings and resulted in spill-overs into new industrial and service sectors. The scope of downstream linkages is often considered an important determinant of the extent to which a mineral-rich nation stands to gain additional economic benefits that come with it. This explains the continuous pressure that is always mounted on mining companies by host governments to engage further in downstream activities. However, downstream activities irrespective of their location are influenced by global market dynamics and competitive elements. Therefore, in an attempt to grasp the benefits that come with downstream activities, it is extremely imperative to examine the opportunities, risks and possible ways of striking a balance taking cognizance of the global demand and supply interplay to ensure that the highest possible net positive benefits are achieved and sustained. In focus is Zambia which has been an active copper mining country since 1900s though performed poorly along the line but revamped barely in the last decade. In 1968, Zambia held an important position as a copper producer, with peak output at 815,000 ton and a 15% share of world output, but the abysmal performance of its state-owned enterprises that took over after the 1969 nationalisation resulted in a drop of output to a trough of 250,000 tonnes in 2000 (Radetzki, 2009p.182). Nevertheless, the copper industry has been revitalised with the privatization of the mining sector which occurred between mid-1990s and early 2000s. In the period 2000-2005, copper exports contributed to around half of total foreign exchange earnings, but from 2006 onwards, this share increased to 73.5% 83.2% ( Fessehaie, 2012 p.3). Copper also provided 10% of formal employment and its contribution to GDP in the last decade increased on a yearly basis, reaching 9.1% in 2009. Copper mining has and continues to be one of the largest economic activities in Zambia, comprising approximately 10 percent of GDP and more than 60 percent of exports (Wilson, 2012pp798-799). The paper therefore examined downstream or for ward linkages to copper production in Zambia by first exploring the scope of downstream linkages and examined the risks, opportunities and risks mitigation measures in the downstream sector of Zambias copper industry. The rest of the paper is structured as follows; section two introduces the background and established the theoretical framework. Section three examined the scope of downstream activities, the risks, opportunities and possible measures for risks mitigation and section four concludes with recommendation. 2.0 BACKGROUND 2.1 A Brief Overview of Global Copper Production and Consumption The global cumulative annual growth in global mine output of copper has gone through significant changes over the period 1750 to 2007. It stood at 0.8% in 1750-1800, rose to 2.6% in 1800-1850 and from 1850 and until 1900, the annual growth of copper production accelerated to 4.5%. Output expansion subsequently reduced to an average of 3.3% between 1900 and 1950, and remained at this level until 2007 (Radetzki, 2009p.182). In 2011, global copper production reached an output level of 16100 metric tonnes from 15900 metric tonnes in 2010 with a total reserves value of 690000 metric tonnes (USDSp. 49) (2012). On the other hand, growth rates in global copper consumption fell from 4.48% in the period 150-1973 to 0.65 covering 1973-1983 largely explained by the oil price shocks of the 1970s and 80s and picked up again, reaching 2.51% for period 1983-2003 (Nishiyama, 2005p..132). The period following 1990 saw a significant increase of Asia, especially Chinas share of global copper consumption , currently about 40% (ICSG) which gradual spurred up copper prices in the mid-2000s. The interplay of Chinas demand growth and appropriate timing of additions to production capacity speaks a lot about the future global trends in both production and consumption. 2.2 Overview of Copper Mining in Zambia Copper mining in Zambia dates back to the 1900s under the control of two mining companies, Rhodesia Selection Trust and Anglo-American Corporation (AAC)( Fessehaie, 2011p.16) .The industry came to be nationalized in the late 1960 and was operated under state ownership and control, a typical characteristic of mining operations in mineral exporting countries in the decades following the Second World War. The government, following years of significant losses, privatized its copper mines, which were later consolidated into the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), majority-owned by Government (60.3%), with a minority share owned by AAC (27.3%)( Fessehaie, 2011p.16). For instance, Kansanshi mine, the largest copper project in Africa is 80% owned by First Quantum Minerals Ltd and 20% by the state run ZCCM Investments Holdings which replaced ZCCM (ARB, 2012). The mining sector is regulated primarily by Act No. 7 of 2008 (the Mines and Mineral Development Act of 2008). The Zambian copper industry is not insulated from the acquisitions and mergers characteristic of the global mining industry. In 2011, Barrick Gold Corp. of Canada acquired Equinox Minerals Ltd. of Canada (USp43.1). Newshelf 1124 (Proprietary) Ltd. of South Africa, an indirect subsidiary of the Jinchuan Group Ltd. of China acquired Metorex Ltd. of South Africa and its underground Chibuluma copper mine (Metorex Ltd., 2011, p. 8). Konnoco Zambia Ltd., a joint venture of African Rainbow Minerals Ltd. of South Africa and Vale, continues with the development of the Konkola North underground copper mine (African Rainbow Minerals Ltd., 2012, p. 70). Mining companies equally undertake joint ventures in explorative activities in Zambia. Argonaut Resources NL of Australias subsidiary Lumwana West Resources Ltd. in a joint venture with Mwombezhi Resources Ltd. of Zambia set to explore in Northwestern Province (Argonaut Resources NL, 2012, p. 2). Zambias economy is heavily reliant on mining, particularly its copper and cobalt, and the mining sector makes significant contribution to Zambia exports and economic growth. Copper output rose dramatically following the copper price rise in the mid-2000s with annual copper production increased from 335,000 metric tonnes in 2002 to over 569,000 metric tonnes in 2008 (Wilson, 2012) . From 2007, copper exports contributed 73.7-80.5 per cent of total foreign exchange earnings, 10 per cent of formal employment, and in 2010 Zambia was the largest copper producer in Africa and the 7th largest in the world ( Fessehaie, 2012). Copper exports jumped from $474 million in 2000 to almost $4 billion in 2008. In 2010, the mining and quarrying sector accounted for 9.9% of Zambias real gross domestic product (at constant 1994 prices) compared with a revised 9.3% in 2009. Copper exports earnings increased by 15.5% to US $6,660.2 million from US $5,767.9 million in 2010 (Bank of Zambia, 2012, p. 23,) a nd in 2011, copper exports were valued at $6.9 billion (Mobbs, 2012 p.43.1). 2.3 Theoretical Framework The concept of linkage development in the academic discourse has its root from early works of Leontief (1936) who applied an input-output analysis to static quantity modeling (Lenzen, 2003 p.1), modified by Rasmussen (1956) for inter-industrial analysis as setting the basis for structural interdependence. In determining the key sectors of an economy, Hirschman (1958) argued that above-average linkages are pre-requisites for economic development and structural changes within an economy or a region (p1-2). Contrary to this argument, Bharadwaj (1966), Panchamukhi (1975) and McGilvray (1977) highlighted that international comparative advantages, technical and skill endowment, final demand structure are among the driving forces of economic growth and concluded that linkage interconnectedness is a weak rod to rationalising a development policy(1-2) According to Hirschman as cited in Morris et al (2012), there are three main types of linkages in the commodity sector thus, fiscal, consumption and production linkages. In his view, fiscal linkage encompasses royalties and taxes which together form mineral rents; consumption linkage entails the consumption demands of workers of the commodity sector, whereas the production linkage encapsulates both backward and forward linkages. Authors such as Sonis and Hewings (1989, 1999) and Sonis et al. (2000) in their works on the dynamics of backward and forward linkages, and economic landscapes of multiplier product matrices pushed further the arguments of Hirschman and Rasmussen (Lenzen, 2003 p. 2). The linkage thesis has been applied in a number of studies in attempts to examine the impact of mining on economies. Lenzen (2003) utilised the input-output application in his analysis of the key environmentally important factors of production, linkages and key sectors in the Australian economy and concluded without a factual basis that strong forward linkages are characteristic of primary industries like grazing and mining whereas strong backward industries characterized secondary industries (p.29). Similarly, Cristobal and Biezma (2006 p1,5) analysed the forward and backward linkages of mining and quarrying in ten EU countries to determine whether the industry constitute a key sector and came to a conclusion that the mining and quarrying industry has a strong backward link to regional economys production more than other sectors and otherwise holds for forward linkages. Though not a metal mineral, the Southern Louisiana offshores oil fields is the most apparent successful linkage ca pture identified throughout the 20th century. The ability to sustain pre-existing competition and the availability of the commodity in large quantities were largely responsible for the successful linkage capture (Freudenburg and Gramling (1998p 575-576). Moreover, Aroca (2001p 131) employed the input-output Leontief matrix to determine the impact of the mining sector on the Chilean II region and analysed the driving forces to the extent of the impact. With regards to the volume of production, his analysis indicates that the mining sector is very important but loses its importance in developing forward and backward linkages in the economy. Lydall (2009 p.2, 119) investigated backward linkage capture of South Africa platinum group metals and found different categories of supplier firms, ranging from base, medium to large able to satisfy the needs of the various PGM mines, concentrator plants, smelters and refineries. She however cautioned the existence of market-related and firm-speci fic factors militating against the growth and expansion of such linkages. Morris et al (2012 p 1-2,14) examined the underlying factors to linkage capture in the commodity sectors in low income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with much attention on backward linkage capture and recommended for strategies to be mapped to propel industrial sector upgrading especially in commodity exporting countries. Also, Fessehaie (2012p 2,7) examined the determinants of upstream linkages to copper production in Zambia. She noted that backward linkage was growing and copper mining presents opportunities and recommended that in order to broaden backward linkage to utilize such opportunities there is the need to eliminate barriers to upgrading through an industrial policy which takes care of supplier competitiveness constraints. From the preceding literature reviewed, much attention on linkage capture studies has been directed at the backward linkage capture. The few works on linkage development in Zambia copper (Fessehaie, 2011 and 2012; Morris, 2012), the emphasis has been on the backward linkage. Therefore, the existence of paucity of studies that investigate forward linkages in the mineral sector particularly the copper industry in Zambia exposes a gap which the study aims to contribute to. 3.0 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 The Scope of Downstream Activities Forward linkages encompass the establishment of downstream activities, at least processing and refining of copper ore and concentrates into primary metal, the fabrication of primary metal into semi-fabricated products and possibly, induced industrialisation. For the purpose of this study, mining ends with primary metal production and downstream activities begins with semi-products fabrication and beyond. Zambian copper industry has long history of existence but became more active and copper mine production of ore, anode and cathode increased following the privatization of the mining industry through the 1990s to early 2000s. The majority of copper ore mined in Zambia is smelted locally before being exported to foreign markets (Fraser and Lungu, 2007 Wilson). Fig 3.1 confirms that though greater share of mine output is refined locally, very less of it is used in the country. The graph covered a short period due to lack of access to up-to-date quality data. Zambias copper is mainly exported as cathode or blister, the standard forms of the internationally-traded commodity. Zambia uses less than 5 percent of its copper output to make fabricated products (World Bank, 2011 p ii). However, finished goods containing copper are mainly imported into the country. Zambia has developed a small copper fabrication industry that produces a narrow range of products for domestic use and for export to regional markets, largely informed by proximity to customers guided by profitability. However, these markets are small, and yet the industry competes with larger and more developed industries especially that of South African copper fabrication industry. Zambias fabrication industry is growing rapidly, but from a small base, led by Metal Fabricators of Zambia Ltd (ZAMEFA), a subsidiary of the US-based General Cable Corporation followed by others such as the Cast Product Foundry Non Ferrous Metals, Kavino and Central African Recycling in the scrap metal busi ness (World Bank, 2011p ii). ZAMEFA which has a domestic, regional and international market orientation produces wire rod, wire, cable, and a few other products. Its product portfolio is growing. Kavino, wire and cable manufacturer has a domestic market orientation whereas Central African Recycling is well positioned to utilized opportunities as they arise. Total number of employees falls below 1000. In 2008, Zambian mine, smelter and refined copper output in tonnes stood at 546 600, 232,000 and 416,900 respectively. The fabricated metals production sector contribution to GDP grew at an annual average of 0.2 percent for the period 2002 to 2008.(World Bank, pp 18). 3.2 Risks Associated with Downstream Activities The resource-based industrialiation that characterized the development process of resource-rich developed economies is often quoted to back resource-rich developing countries quest for resource-driven industrialisation which in their view masterminded the in dustrialiation process of some mature economies. However, the growth strategy of the Nordic countries, United States and Canada for instance did not based entirely on mineral extraction but span from a low-technology based on low-cost labour to highly sophisticated knowledge-intensive activities (Walker and Jourdan, 2003. P.30.). Nevertheless, risks, largely economic, abound alongside the potentials of further downstream activities. Downstream activities beyond primary processing are capital intensive and require less skilled labour. Guided by profit motive, firms seriously consider capital cost in securing capital to finance assets. Backed by the electronic revolution, market efficiency sets the ground for capital and skills to be deployed to most productive locations (Walker and Jourdan, 2003p 30) and countries without traditional comparative advantages like Zambia are less strategic in competing for foreign direct investment. Again, the capital intensive nature of further processing of copper questions the employment multiplier and rather breed associated risks of either expanding or contracting employment opportunities. Moreover, the fabrication industry uses 37 percent of copper that is derived from scrap metal which is limited in the country (World Bank, 2011p.iii). Therefore, importing other raw materials including scrap for fabrication may not make any comparative advantage sense in the short to medium t erm and highlights the risk associated with an uncompetitive and injudicious allocation of the nations scarce economic resources. The ability to compete and access adequate market, both regional and global to justify downstream activities on any significant scale comes with a risk. Committing resources into fabrication without any competitive market edge exposes the copper mining sector to possible collapse and the entire economy to possible shocks. This is because upon the small size of the sub-regional market (less than 1 percent) of the global total for fabricated copper products (World Bank, 2011p ii) better established firms in South Africa have captured a greater portion of the regional market. Internal demand for fabricated products is woefully inadequate and therefore, the promised job expansion, high foreign earnings and associated growth potential are easily erodible, if even attained. Walker and Jourdan, 2003p 33 noted that domestic demand was instrumental in Swedens initial resource-oriented industrialisation. Closely linked is tariff escalation that discourages exports of higher value-added products from Low Income Countries (LICs) (IMF, 2011p.16). Tariff escalation and high physical transport cost jointly further accentuate the risks to Zambian copper downstream activities. Consuming countries of copper metal and semi-fabricated products especially the newly industrializing countries and roaring developing countries of China and India, in their industrialization drive, have in one way or the other resort to restrictions in the form of differential tariffs (varies directly with the value already added) on raw materials imports for their industries. Dimaranan et al, (2006 p. 13) note that Indian policy measures in this regard include more effective duty exemptions for intermediates used in the production of manufactured exports. The high transport cost and tariffs imposed on value-added products together can cancel completely if not negate the often expectant high profits and associated em ployment multipliers. The prices for both the primary and fabricated products of the mining industry are characterized by troughs and peaks. However, the existence of terminal markets such as London Metal Exchange (LME), the Commodity Exchange Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX/NYMEX) and the Shanghai Metal Exchange (SHME)(ICSGP.33factbook) provides mitigation to the risk on primary metal resulting from price volatilities. On the other hand, high-value added downstream products are more prone to price shocks as there exist no such terminal markets in that sub-sector of the industry. Therefore, the often envisaged employment multipliers and high foreign earnings that motivate pressure for further downstream processing places the entire economy at risk in the event of weak prices without any competitive edge. Mainstream fabricated metal products are largely low margin items. However, high level of capacity utilization and throughput is required to generate sufficient margins which are currently in non-existence in Zambian copper industry. This is largely informed by the uncompetitive and comparative disadvantages to the downstream sector of Zambian copper industry. The situation exposes the downstream copper fabrication industry to the risk of at best earning low margins. In 2008 for example, First Quantum Ltd, a leading European copper rod producer made profits of 12.2% and 49.6% from large Cap Cast Copper Rotors (CCR) rod mill and Oxygen-free High Conductivity (OFHC) rod fabrications respectively (World Bank, 2011p.13) but earned a profit of 85.4% from primary cathode production. Such low margins in fabrication gives the signals that even internationally competitive manufacturers of range of specialist copper products rather earn high margins in primary metal production. 3.3 Opportunities in Downstream Value-addition The existence of copper deposits in substantial quantities is a basic requirement for mining in the first place and possibly, further downstream processing (Freudenburg and Gramling, 1998). The existing domestic and regional market does not incentivise further copper fabricating on any significant scale, but some localised small-scale opportunities may emerge. In this regard, there may be a scope for some gradual scaling-up of existing output and/or product diversification by existing operations especially ZAMEFA and for some small-scale artisanal processing, probably based on scrap metal. Sectorial opportunities could be enhanced if the basic and mainly infrastructural bottlenecks are remedied. One of such opportunities is the World Bank support to revamp Zescos existing distribution networks in selected areas to reduce losses and improve supply quality (World Bank, 2011p.33,34). Depending on the roll-out of electrification extensions, there may be some demand for low and medium vol tage. Moreover, the global copper industry has identified a potential market which could exploit the known biocidal properties of copper in combating Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA,) spread by its use in touch surfaces and all fixtures and fittings in hospitals and clinics. The international competitive nature of the downstream activities of fabrication limit these opportunities as well established firms are ever ready and prepared to cease any market opportunities as they arise and compete out less competitive ones. Chinas dominance in the recent global copper consumption forecloses in comparative and competitive terms, any opportunities of developing an internationally competitive further copper processing in Zambia at least, for the short to medium term. For instance, Chinese refined copper consumption expanded by an annual 15.3% in the 1998-2007 period and by 2007, Chinas share of global copper usage rose from 10.5% to 26.9% (Radetzki , 2009. P. 177) in a decade. Though very important, the geological potential does not itself guarantee comparative and competitive advantage in any appreciable further downstream processing. For instance, Chile, the worlds largest copper producer, accounting 34 percent of world mined copper output and 17 percent of wor ld refined copper output, yet its use of refined copper is less than 1 percent of the world total (World Bank, 2011.8) 3.4 Mitigating Downstream Activities-Associated Risks and the Way Forward Value-addition is critical to ensuring greater benefits and competitiveness for countries incorporated in the global economy (Mtegha and Minnitt, 2006 p. 236) hence further downstream processing should be encouraged and driven by state incentives taking cognizance of the external environment. A strong manufacturing base has to be developed if any significant expansion of copper value-addition activities is to grow. In order to grow and sustain a downstream fabrication sector and even beyond, new sources of accessing competitive foreign direct investment and the continual adaptation and innovation of technology which is critical to maintaining technological competitive edge globally are ideal prerequisites. Moreover, demand is indispensable in industrial development and therefore any effort in that regard must first address the market end of the value chain ranging from local, regional to global levels. The ability to create a clear niche advantage is required if the copper downstream activities are to undergo substantial growth. Ideally, attaining global competitiveness is the single most important driver in mitigating risks ranging from further downstream processing or fabrication. While this may possibly be a long term growth and development goal in the downstream sector, the provision of adequate energy, communication and other infrastructure coupled with the effective and judicious use of economic returns from copper mining for diversification in new comparative advantage industries would in the papers view set the foundation for any competitive industrialisation in the long run. From table 1 below, South Africa is better positioned to cease any downstream copper fabrication and market opportunities at regional level and at the global level, China. 4.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION The study explored the scope of downstream linkages in the Zambian copper industry and examined the risks of engaging in downstream fabrication as well as the opportunities and suggested ways for mitigating the risks. The study reveals a small and modest fabrication activity producing a narrow range of products for domestic use and for export to regional markets, largely informed by proximity to customers guided by profitability. The decision in going downstream beyond primary metal processing encapsulates political and economic dimensions hence, requires striking a balance between both dimensions. Shaping a competitive mining industry alongside conscious efforts to diversify into other industries which gradually grow to shake off the initial copper-based dependence is a policy option and at the same time revitalizing the national science, technology and innovation policy to provide the foundation for long term skills and knowledge development. Chile, having built a competitive minin g industry, diversified its economy into other competitive sectors which propelled its growth. In the short to medium term, developing a competitive copper mining industry is plausible and more realistic in comparative advantage terms while mapping out strategies to attain competitiveness from national, regional to global scales which will mitigate further copper processing or fabrication risks.