Patent Nonuse and the Role of Public Interest as a Deterrent to Technology Suppression Essay

Patents are contracts between the society and the inventor to encourage development in the field of science and technology. It helps the society by enabling them to utilize this technology, and the inventor by protecting his rights and rewarding him appropriately for this intellectual efforts and innovations. Once a patent is given by the patent office, the inventor has to work the invention by himself or through somebody else by means of an assignment or a license. The patent office does not look at the potential commercial value of the invention whilst giving the patent. The invention should have a specific use and should fulfill what it is meant to do. Many inventions given patents have turned to be commercial failures. However, there are several instances in which neither the patentee has worked the invention by himself, nor has he allowed others interested to do so. This is a very serious situation, because it goes against the very intention of granting the patent. The patent system grants patents only to those inventors who are willing to reveal their invention with others, so that it can benefit society. Some patentees may not work their invention due to several reasons, one of which may be to wrongfully hide or suppress technology from the public. One of the first such cases was the Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co. case of 1908. In this case, the patentee had invented a machine that could make a folded paper bag with a rectangular bottom. However, he had not made his invention available to the public, thus preventing others from working the invention. At that time, this invention was a breakthrough, and many people felt bad, because the very intention of giving a patent was not fulfilled. No concrete rules regarding nonuse of patents and compulsory licenses were existent at that time, and everything was left at the mercy of the patent holder. Lower courts also found that the patentee was unreasonable. They in fact tried to draw a line between ‘reasonable nonuse policy’ (inventor unable to use his invention because or some understandable problems) and ‘unreasonable nonuse policy’ (purposefully suppressing technology). However, as no concrete rules existed at that time, the higher court had to give its decision in favor of the rightful owner of the invention. Many breakthrough technologies exist which are being currently suppressed from the public. A plastic that is strong, long-lasting, and can be utilized to make houses that last forever, was granted patents, but not accessible to the public by the owner. New rubber for tires is invented which does not blow up. If this technology could be utilized currently, the lives of many people who die in road accidents could be saved. A new material has been invented for use in toothpastes, which protects the teeth from developing cavities. These technologies are being suppressed due to the anticompetitive intentions of their owners. Some patentees may not use or license their technology so that others may be forced to infringe up on their patents. Lawsuits for infringements could be filed, which could give them earning in millions. An instance of this is a case between Minolta and Honeywell’s, in which Minolta had to pay $127 million to Honeywell for infringing their auto-focus camera patent, although the owners were not using their patent. The patent office should come up with strict rules such that all the patentees have to give an annual report of how their patent is being worked commercially, and in case it is not being worked, the reasons for the same. In case the inventor does not respond, the patent should be revoked. Instances of patent nonuse can be used as evidence in the court, against individuals who indulge in anticompetitive practices. Such practices are strictly considered unlawful under the US Antitrust Laws. The Sherman Act was one of the first such as to protect against unfair trade practices. According to this act, any individual monopolizing or attempting to monopolize, or combines with other people or with other nations to monopolize any trade business in the US, shall be held guilty of an offense under the act. Patent is a monopoly granted to the owner, but they are also contracts between the owner and the public, to permit the later to access the technology. Patent laws are likely to be misused. The exclusionary right (to prevent others from using or making the invention without the license of the owner) is limited and should be more meaningful. The patent system does not give absolute monopoly to the owners. In the case Pfizer V. Government of India [434 US 308 (1978)], the US permitted foreign nations to sue under the Section 4 of the Clayton Act. The Government of India was asking Pfizer to grant licenses for certain broad spectrum antibiotics. However, the company refused to give reasonable licenses. Several antitrust violations such as price-fixing, fraud, market-division, etc were being imposed by the Indian Government against Pfizer and group. The respondents also said that petitioners were trying to limit and monopolize the production, sale and distribution of their patents. The respondents also said that these practices had destroyed businesses. The Company said that the Indian Government could not bring this case forward, as they belonged to another nation. However, the court went on to say that foreign nations could also claim under antitrust laws. The court said that the case was similar to having a citizen having his rights under the antitrust laws being violated. In the case Remington Products V. North American Philips corporation [107 FRD 642, 1985], Remington alleged that the company Philips, a leading Dutch MNC, was indulging in anticompetitive behavior by not disclosing information needed to work the discovery. The defendant claimed that certain clauses in a Dutch statue did not permit disclosure. However, the US court granted the case in favor of Remington saying that the defendant wrongfully withheld information regarding the discovery. The plaintiff had previously approached the defendant to provide information regarding the discovery. However, the defendant refused to give this information needed saying that the information was irrelevant. In the Chevron Research Company’s patent [1970; RPC, 580], the court said that the patentee has to disclose full and relevant information regarding the patent. In the Image Technical Services V. Eastman Kodak Co. [504 U. S. 51 (1992)] provides an association between the antitrust laws and the intellectual property rights regime. Kodak Company had a patent for a photographic device. The case was alleged by companies that serviced Kodak’s products. In this case, a distinction is being made between ‘attempting monopolization’ and ‘attaining monopolizing by exploiting’. The court had to study the market situation to determine if the company was trying to control prices or destroy competition. Kodak in fact monopolized manufacture of components of its photographic equipment and even monopolized servicing of its equipment. The court had said that both patents and copyrights did not come under antitrust laws. An inventor had the right to license or refuse license of his invention. However, a patent owner may be held for developing practices against the antitrust laws (that could destroy competition). The extent to which antitrust laws could be applied to patent laws had to be determined by studying the market situation. The plaintiffs had gathered enough proof that Kodak were trying to monopolize their market situation by limiting the availability of its components to the service companies Nowadays, exclusive license holders may also try to misuse their rights by monopolizing their licensed to make or use the patent. This can be demonstrated in the Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc. v. Michelson case. Dr. Michelson had invented a new spinal treatment device and had given a license to Medtronic which manufactured medical equipment. However, the company did not promote his treatment device, and hence the doctor had to grant licenses to other companies that would compete with the original license holder. The company filed a case in the court claiming that the patent holder breached clauses of the contract. However, the Court felt that the company had adopted certain anticompetitive principles that did not promote the patent. Patent holders are trying to maximize their monopoly, by indulging in anticompetitive acts. Often there is a clash between patent laws and antitrust laws. Patent laws provide the holder with rights to eliminate competition, whereas antitrust laws enable protection of healthy business competition practices. A clear border line has to be drawn between these two conflicting legal regimes. In the case Illinois Tools Works V. Independent Ink, the question of the manufacturer having a market power over a patented product or process could be presumed whilst granting the patent, was being asked. A patent holder may hold so much of powers in the market such that he/she may dominate the scene. A patent holder will usually violate antirust laws if he or she feels that they are in a situation to dominate the market. In this case, Illinois printers invented a printing device and had prohibited the customers from using non-patented ink. The defendant felt that such terms were against the true spirits of competition, and were under the impression that Illinois tool works were trying to dominate the market situation. It may be difficult in such a case to determine the party that would carry the burden of proof. The patent holder had tried to extend his patent. In this manner, they had created both, primary and secondary market rivals. The primary rivals included other manufacturers of printers, and the secondary rivals included other manufacturers of printer inks. The court gave its decision in favor of Independent Ink, citing that patents could not be extended to non-patentable areas. A patent had only specific boundaries, and crossing such boundaries constituted infringement. In another case, Schering-Plough held a patent for a drug. A company that manufactured a generic version of the same drug felt that the original company’s patent was invalid. They wanted to file for a patent opposition, but Schering-Plough decided to pay the generic drug manufacturers to withdraw the case and also stay out of the market for some period. Federal Trade Commission filed a case before the Supreme Court, saying that Schering-Plough was trying to destroy all competition in the market by wrongfully preserving its invalid monopoly. The Court felt that the agreement between Schering-Plough and the generic manufacturers was invalid and was executed to destroy competition in the market. Patent laws should make it easier to obtain a compulsory license in case the patentee wrongfully suppresses the invetion from the public. A compulsory license should be given to anybody in case:- The patentee is unable to meet the reasonable requirements of the public with relation to his patented process or product. †¢ The patentee does not make the invention available to the public at an affordable cost. †¢ The invention is not being worked in the jurisdiction of the patent office. †¢ Special considerations should be given to inventions that relate to public health and nutrition, and emergency situations. Compulsory license should be a sanction (for the patentee) and a remedy (for the public); in case the patentee indulges in anticompetitive practices. The concept of compulsory licenses developed following the African AIDS crisis situation. The continent was in a crisis situation with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. A few companies such as Glaxo, Merck, etc held a patent for an antiretroviral drug which could be life-saving for people suffering from HIV/AIDS. However, these companies had indulged in several anticompetitive practices. The cost of treating each AIDS patients in Africa was exceedingly high (US$ 10,000 per patient per year). Hence, the drugs were inaccessible for many poor patients who belonged to underdeveloped nations. Cipla, an Indian pharmaceutical company volunteered to supply the drug at a fraction of the overall costs the other companies were offering (US $ 350 per year per patient). Some of the African Nations had to modify its trade laws so that parallel imports and compulsory licenses could exist. However, the original companies that held the patents for antiviral drugs began to sue for infringement. These companies had to later withdraw their infringement cases, as there was a worldwide agitation against the anti-public health policies adopted by the patent holders. Later, at the WTO conference in Doha, a comprehensive agreement to protect public health issues was adopted to prevent unhealthy practices by the patent holders (through compulsory licenses). Some people feel that the patent system can create an obstruction in the development of science and technology, as instances of nonuse often arise. Once a patent is granted, it may even prevent others from inventing around a particular invention or inventive concept. This will seriously hinder the developments in that particular field. Inventors, who tend to sit on their inventions by refusing access to the public, should be henceforth refused patents.

Drug Testing Welfare Applicants

As of 2011 there are 4. 3 million Americans on welfare and using 131 billion dollars that come from the tax payers. Welfare has been a hot issue in the United States for a while and a common debate is whether citizens that qualify for welfare should be drug tested or not. Most Americans agree that some sort of support system for citizens that are struggling financially is a good idea and can help some get back on their feet. Others will argue that many people on welfare abuse their privileges to fund their substance abuse and misuse the taxpayer’s money.My own view is that people should have to pass a drug test in order to receive these government handouts and prevent habitual users from abusing these privileges. Welfare is a federally funded program that gives monetary assistance to citizens who have little to no income. The United States welfare system began back in the 1930’s, during the Great Depression, era due to an overwhelming amount of families that were strugg ling to get by. Still today there are millions of people barely making by during these tough economic times.Citizens can apply for different types of welfare including social welfare, corporate welfare, child welfare to name some of the most popular. On these types of welfare people can receive different types of aid such as health care, food stamps or child care. There are many factors go into a person’s eligibility for a welfare program. Eligibility is determined by using gross and net income, size of the family, and certain situations such as medical emergencies, pregnancy, homelessness or unemployment.After the initial application a case worker will gather all this information and determine if the person qualifies for any benefits and how much he or she can receive. A person can also apply for a state run welfare program called the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF. TANF, however, is different than most and requires that the applicant find work within two ye ars of receiving aid. Not finding work will result in a loss of these benefits. A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen such as urine, hair, blood or saliva, to determine the presence or absence of specified drugs in a person’s system.A urine drug test, which is the most common in the United States, screens for ten types of drugs: Amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids (THC), cocaine, methadone, methaqualone, opiates, phencyclidine, and propoxyphene. All of these drugs have various detection periods in the human body but the average is two to ten days. Within this window of time. Studies have shown that the prevalence of substance abuse among welfare recipients has varied widely in their findings, with rates of between 10 and 37 percent.Much of the difference in rates found in these studies is due to different data sources, definitions, and measurement methods and the different thresholds used to define substance abuse. Another differen ce is whether alcohol abuse and/or the abuse of prescription drugs are included in the estimate. Also how can we get true evidence when we don’t have the means to drug test these welfare recipients yet. Employers require drug testing before employment so why should welfare recipients get the same treatment for the gift of receiving government funding.Its tax dollars of the working people funding someone else’s addictions. Drug use and use and its consequences affect all of society that is vital to a strong America. Drug use strains our healthcare, criminal justice systems and endangers the future of our young people with the overall strain on our economy. Florida recently became the first state to require adults applying for cash welfare assistance (i. e. , not food stamps and housing assistance) to undergo drug screenings. Florida Gov.Rick Scott defended the new rule by arguing that: â€Å"It’s not right for taxpayer money to be paying for somebody’s dr ug addiction. †¦ On top of that, this is going to increase personal responsibility and personal accountability. We shouldn’t be subsidizing people’s addiction. † In 2009, 20 states put in proposals to pass the drug test laws and at least 36 states put proposals in 2011 around drug testing of welfare (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families – TANF) and food stamp (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP) recipients.When Florida passed the law of requiring drug tests to receive welfare it set a precedent for other states to follow. Florida government believed that by passing this law itwould deter people from misusing welfare benefits to buy drugs. Florida expects the recipients to pay for the drug test and the government will reimburse the recipient the cost of the drug test. Arizona and Missouri require testing for anyone they â€Å"reasonably† suspect of illegal drug use. As of April17, 2010 Utah and Georgia also passed legislat ion for drug testing.

Percy Julian Biography

WHENEVER PERCY JULIAN TOLD his friends about his life, and how he had overcome all the obstacles from his beginning as the grandson of a slave, born â€Å"at the corner of Jeff Davis Avenue and South Oak Street in Montgomery, Alabama, the Capital in the cradle of the confederacy,†1 to scientist, inventor, business leader, humanist, protagonist of human rights, he liked to illustrate this long arduous climb by Donald Adams' The Seventh Fold:My dear friends, who daily climb uncertain hills in the countries of their minds, hills that have to do with the future of our country and of our children, may I humbly submit to you, the only thing that has enabled me to keep doing the creative work, was the constant determination: Take heart! Go farther on! 2 This imperative, go on! , characterizes not only his life but his research, where each answer created at least two new questions and led to the exponential growth of science as Percy experienced it in his lifetime. With this growth, h e later realized the concomitant responsibility and questions of ethics.Percy Julian was born on April 11, 1899, the oldest of six children of James Sumner Julian, a railway mail clerk, and his wife, Elizabeth Lena Adams. Since 1976 his birthday has been a holiday for the Village of Oak Park, a fashionable suburb of Chicago where the Julian family has resided since 1950, initially under precarious conditions (the Julian home, the first in the neighborhood to be owned by a black family, was the victim of arsonists on Thanksgiving Day, 1950, and the target of a dynamite bomb on June 12, 1951), and where other famous people, such as Ernest Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright, had their residences.Because Percy's father was a federal employee, the family held a higher status than most blacks of that day. This advantage, and the fact that his well-read father had a great love for mathematics and philosophy, helped him on the way to a formal education. Clearly, his must have been â€Å"a mi nd forever voyaging through strange seas of thought† (Wordsworth), or â€Å"a restless curiosity about things which he cannot understand† (Pascal), but the cultural and, above all, religious tradition in his family provided not only a epository of substantive values, but also a coding device for new ideas and achievements. That â€Å"the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all practical wisdom† was taught him, and not in Latin, by his revered paternal great-grandfather. My children and my friends all know him as Grandpa Cabe because they've heard me speak about him so many times. My great-grandfather, with the rest of us that day, was singing in the cotton field, where we children, particularly Dr.James Julian, my next brother, and I were sent to my grandfather's farm to work during the summer. We were singing on that day a beautiful spiritual, â€Å"There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. † â€Å"Grandpa Cabe,† I asked, â€Å"what's a balm in Gilead? † â€Å"Well, Sonny, you see, Gilead was a famous town in Israel for the manufacture of salves to heal wounds and sores,† he told me. â€Å"And they called these salves balms.Now one day Jeremiah was having a hard time trying to lead his people the right way. Everything was going wrong for Jeremiah, and he cried out in anguish, ‘Is there no balm in Gilead? ‘ You see, what he was saying was, ‘Ain't there no way out? ‘ I want you to know that, Sonny, because I believe there is always a way out. † It was then that I made my vow–that I would forever fight to keep hope alive because there is always a way out . . . . His optimism was one of the most pertinent lessons I learned as a youngster. Next t

Identify and evaluate three credible sources of information on that Essay

Identify and evaluate three credible sources of information on that topic - Essay Example The credibility of these studies is based on the following facts: all three studies are peer reviewed studies, being published in academic journals. This means that these studies have been thoroughly examined as of the accuracy and the quality of the information provided. These studies have been chosen using certain criteria: a) they are published in academic journals, being part of academic literature, b) they are recent; two of them were published in 2012 and one of them was published in 2009; c) they refer to different aspects of the subject involved, i.e. of mass media, so that the particular subject is explored as effectively as possible. Academic and professional research must use credible sources since they need to lead to the development of accurate assumptions in regard to the issues under examination. Online library offers a critical advantage, compared to the search engines, in regard to academic and professional research: studies available through the online library have been already checked as of their credibility; in this way, valuable time can be saved in checking the credibility of resources required for developing an academic research project. Moreover, online library offers the option to set exact criteria in regard to the material required. In search engines such features are not available while if existed cannot perform effectively. Hongcharu, B. & Eiamkanchanalai, S. (2009). A Comparative Study Of Traditional Mass Media, The Internet And Mobile Phones For Integrated Marketing Communications. Journal of Business & Economics Research, 7(12), 31-40. Soomro, Y., Hameed, I., Butt, A. & Shakoor, R. (2012) Significance of Internet Marketing in Promoting Consumer Goods in Subcontinent. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(13),

Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Terrorism - Essay Example Others linked it with civil disobedience while others label it as acts of violence. However, experts claimed that these three are very different terms from each other but in as much as one wished to gain adequate understanding of the word â€Å"terrorism†, it is crucial also to obtain insight about the other two terms often connected with it. Civil disobedience is deemed acceptable by many deliberative democrats as long as it remains relevantly tied to the objective of communicative action (Allen 15). However, Allen also emphasized that certain kinds of terrorism cannot be ruled out either (15). On the other hand, an individual must acknowledge that the deliberative democrat will not really be able to justify taking life as a maneuver for the reason that dead people cannot deliberate (Allen 15). Allen highlighted that this does not rule out terrorism per se, the object of which is not death so much as to bringing about fear, anxiety and trauma (Allen 15). Moreover, while a per sistent circumstance of fear would set the boundaries on forethought, restricted and transitory physical harm to individuals need not (Allen 15). For this instance, it entails that deliberative democrats must elucidate why purposely causing some physical harm to property or person is constantly an illicit and unlawful means of communication and demonstration (Allen 15). This paper endeavors to explore the concepts associated with terrorism and to tackle the impacts brought about by such circumstance. Definition, Association and the Concepts surrounding Terrorism Terrorism had always been synonymous to threat, intimidation, trauma and destruction. Individuals express anxiety whenever such term is brought up. Defining exactly what terrorism is proves to be a rather daunting task. One must also learn and understand to grasp the essence of the other terms connected with it to be able to fully obtain a clear insight about what this is as guided by certain propositions of expert and the l aw. Civil Disobedience is one of the terms confused with terrorism for the reason that some governments might label such acts as form of terrorism even though for the ones doing it, their main objective was only to find a means for their voices to be heard and for their standpoints to be given attention. Civil Disobedience is a tactic that is hard to reconcile neatly with persuasion and communication as stressed by Allen (15). Indeed, many deliberative democrats are willing to concede that civil disobedience contains some irreducible elements of threat and intimidation (Allen 15-16). Nevertheless, the deliberative democrats still supposed that it can still be accommodated within the conceptual orbit of deliberative democracy, and the priority that it gives to legitimate actions through public communication (Allen 16).

Comparing the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Diplomatic Service Essay

Comparing the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Diplomatic Service and UK Diplomatic Service Regulations - Essay Example In this way, the major areas that will be discussed between these two code of laws revolve around the expectation of impartiality, receiving of gifts or other remunerations, the level to which the monitoring and/or implementation of successful agreements is performed, whether or not discrimination is a determinant compliments that requires elaboration and definition, the process and regulations regarding the acceptance of gifts, and the level and extent to which the sponsoring state is ultimately responsible for providing the needs and welfare of the employed individuals within the diplomatic services. One of the first and most blatant the differentials that is noted with regards to the law concerning the diplomatic services between Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom is with respect to the overall level of importance and time that the United Kingdom’s code of law gives towards the importance of impartiality. For instance, the United Kingdom specifies the following in DSR one se ction 3: â€Å"As a civil servant, you are appointed on merit on the basis of fair and open competition and are expected to carry out your role with dedication and a commitment to the Diplomatic Service and its core values: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality† (Diplomatic Service Regulations, 2012, p. 5). Further section 3 of DSR 1 goes on to state that impartiality is defined as â€Å" acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well Governments of different political persuasions (Ibid). Although there is not a specific section within the law governing the actions and expectations of the diplomatic service operating at the behest of Azerbaijan, article 4 subsection to denotes the following with regards to the expectation concerning proper behavior of diplomatic professionals: â€Å"Diplomatic service agencies may carry out other functions in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan† (Law of the Rep ublic of Azerbaijan, 2012, p. 2). Once again, a clear level of divergence is noted with respect to the fact that the laws governing diplomatic expectations within Azerbaijan deviate quite a bit from the law governing diplomatic expectations within the United Kingdom. Serving based upon impartiality is a fundamental construct of the UK law whereas serving in strict adherence and accordance with existing Azeri law and the Constitution serves as the regulatory framework and concern for the Azeri consular services. Another noted differential is with regards to the level and extent to which British law defines appropriate behavior and expected outcomes is with regards to what the regulations specific concerning appropriate remuneration and/or the acceptance/receipt of gifts. Whereas the British law allows for the receipt and acceptance of certain low monetary value gifts, special favors, discounts, or benefits of any other variety are strictly prohibited from being enjoyed by the individ ual employed by the diplomatic services. Although this is not to say that the receipt of gifts and or any level of persuasion/coercion on the part of a third-party is not specifically frowned upon within the regulations of consular and diplomatic conduct that had been laid out within the aforementioned case, no such specification of regulations

Fight Club - How Multiple Identities Were Portrayed in The Film Essay

Fight Club - How Multiple Identities Were Portrayed in The Film - Essay Example The symptoms vary over time according to different conditions (Ringrose 64). The movie, Fight Club, clearly shows how D.I.D can affect a person. This is as discussed below. Dissociative identity disorder normally tends to be exhibited by an individual during highly traumatizing, painful, and violent moments (Ringrose 123). This is fully exhibited in Fight Club when Jack fights to put off the bombs set by Tyler for the destruction of the credit card companies. The trauma at the scene transforms him into someone else such that he acquires two personalities while being in one body. He has exactly to know the side of the body where Tyler is hiding so that he can shoot him. He uses sense and conscience to determine the side Tyler is hiding and finally manages to shot him (Palahniuk 13). The main symptoms of the disorder are depression, sleep disorders like insomnia, and sleep walking. Mood signs, headache, panic attacks, and phobias can also be part of the first symptoms of the disorder. The disorder makes an individual perceive intrusive thoughts and emotions, which make the individual act in accordance with such emotions and thoughts (Ringrose 63). It also causes them to forget information and thus act as a blank personality driven by the implanted thoughts and no logic or reasoning. This is the most dangerous part of the disorder. It thus makes it necessary to take good care of such patients. The treatment of such a disorder is not yet fully defined but is mostly dependent on past case studies. The reaction a patient gives is the one that gives the doctor a clue about the required action to be taken. A patient is handled according to how a previous patient was handled (Ringrose 78). It is thus important to notice any early symptoms for the treatment to be easier. Complicated cases can be difficult to handle. Considering Fight Club as a movie, identity is used as a style. Identity is used to show how the character of Jack, the narrator of the movie has the same pe rsonality with Tyler. This is well exhibited at the end of the movie when Jack has to shoot through his cheek so that he can hurt Tyler (Palahniuk 23). It clearly shows how Jack and Tyler have merged into one person and are operating using the same body and characteristics. Identity is also exhibited at places when people are referring to Jack as Tyler. This was mainly when Jack was following the trail of places where Tyler used to do the preparation for destruction of the credit card companies. All the people he met during the trip referred to him as Tyler. Marla also is seen to refer to Jack as Tyler. She even gets confused and ends up having an affair with both of them. This shows that most probably the two personalities having have merged into one body are inseparable and unidentifiable (Palahniuk 16). Fight Club as a movie exhibits a number of film techniques. Suspense as a technique is used in the movie at the place when the narrator is not given a name at the start of the mov ie. In this case, the viewer does not fully understand the position of the narrator. Finally, it comes out that he is the main character and suffers from failure of identity (Ringrose 92). This again brings up another film technique of symbolism. The disorder affecting the narrator that leads to lack of identity makes the narrator not be given a name. Suspense is created at the place when

Mutual Funds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mutual Funds - Essay Example similarly we can outline the concept of bonds. Bonds gives people chance to lend our money to the government or a company. We receive interest and principle back over pre-determined amount of time. We can say that bonds are the most common lending investments traded on the market. Other than shares and bonds there are other types of investments like real estate and precious metals but it is generally perceived that mutual funds mostly invest in stocks and bonds. Many definitions have written by people but essentially all dwell upon the same idea regarding its concept. So a mutual fund can be defined as a financial intermediary that allows a certain group of investors to pool their money together with a pre-determined investment objective. Here in mutual fund there exists a fund manager who trades the fund's underlying securities. He then can realize capital gains or loss and then collects the dividend. Whenever we invest in a mutual fund, we are buying shares of the mutual fund and thus in the process becoming a shareholder of the fund. After the dividend income is found, the investment proceeds are then passed to the individual investors. We then calculate the value of the share of the mutual fund which is known as net asset value. ... ies we can say that it is one of three types of investment companies in the United States and outside United States & Canada mutual fund can termed as generic word for various types of collective investments. Types of Mutual Funds There exist few common types of mutual funds and they are outlined as follows: Money Market funds, fixed income funds, equity funds or growth funds, balanced funds, global funds, specialty funds and index funds. Lets describe each of them briefly so as the understand the whole concept clearly. Monet Market Funds: These are generally perceived as low risk funds offering low returns. These are a type of mutual funds that invest in a short term debt securities of agencies like banks U.S Treasury bills. They have advantages of being widely used, low risk and highly liquid in nature. Fixed income funds It is a type of mutual funds which invest in debt securities like bonds and mortgages. The main goal is to provide the investors with regular income with low risk. Here in this type fund values fluctuate in response to changes in interest rates Equity Funds Equity funds are also called as growth funds. It invests primarily in common shares. The goal is to have long term growth because the value of the assets held usually increase over time. Some funds focus on blue chip companies and others on smaller companies. Balanced Funds It invests in a balanced portfolio of equities, debt securities with the goal of providing reasonable returns with low to moderate risk Global and foreign funds It is a type of mutual fund which may be fixed income or growth or balanced funds and which invest in foreign securities. Specialty funds It is a type of mutual fund which invests primarily in a specific geographic location or a specific

Lesson Planning Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Lesson Planning - Assignment Example It is important to for the students to understand the constitution amendments in the US. This is because it will help the students understand the rights and duties that they are entitled to ones they become citizens. It is also important for the students to know that the constitution amendments will help to strengthen the US government and to help the US citizens not to let other people control them. This topic will help the students to reflect and to rethink about what is actually needed from them when they become Citizens. Question 2 The lesson plan that is ideal in teaching the amendments of the United States constitution is the Understanding by Design template (UDB). The reason why the UBD is selected is that it will help the teacher in establishing goals of his or her lesson plan, which will make the students understand better. The UDB lesson template allows the teacher to have essential questions that helps in giving the students skills and knowledge. The template has a perform ance task description that helps in checking the performance tasks that will help the students to demonstrate the desired understanding of the topic. The lesson plan template allows the teacher to give tests, quizzes, observations and academic prompts that will help the teacher see whether he or she has achieved the desired results. The Understanding by Design template will be the most effective to teach the constitution amendments in the United States because it will help in engaging the students in the study, which will lead to better understanding of the topic. Lesson plan Understanding by design Stage 1-desired results Established goal – The teacher’s goal is to make the students understand Article V of the constitution, which highlights at what circumstances the constitution to be amended. The teacher will teach the students what percentage of the Houses can make the constitution be amended. The teacher will let the students know that the constitution is amended w hen it is ratified by three quarter of the legislatures of several states. The students will also be taught that constitution can be amended if it is ratified by three quarters of the Conventions, or congress may propose the mode of ratification. The students should be in position to explain, what constitution amendment is and at what terms can a constitution be amended (Wiggins & Tighe,1998). Understanding- The teacher will try to ensure that every student understands the Article V of the constitution. This will be achieved by the teacher moving at a slow rate, which will aim at teaching every student in the class including the slow learners. The teacher will enhance this by repeating his points well and by asking general questions, randomly. The general random questions will be asked to the bright, average and poor students, which will help the teacher in accessing how the students have understood the lesson (Wiggins & Tighe, 1998). Related misconception – The teacher will make sure that the students understand that no state that will be deprived its equal suffrage they have in the state without its consent. The teacher will also make the students understand that the mode of ratification that the congress proposes can only take place if there is no amendment made prior to the year 1888. Essential questions – What is constitution amendment? What percentage of the congress of the Houses is required for the constitution to be amended ? Knowledge- Students will understand the constitution amendment. The students will understand the circumstances under which the constitution will be amended. The students wil

Personal Essay with current financial status Scholarship

Personal with current financial status - Scholarship Essay Example We both did think of other options too like securing a loan by mortgaging the house. Unfortunately, for me this is not a viable option due to the ongoing recession. However, I have not let my circumstances affect my determination. I am currently and have been the Drum line Captain of my high school since the last for years and the Los Angeles Unified All District Honor Marching Band (LAUSD) with 300-plus members and we have performed in the Rose Bowl Parade. Apart from this, I was the Vice President of the Physics Club for two years. Leadership is my forte. I have also won many awards including the Music Department Award for â€Å"Outstanding Music Performance,† the Instrumental Music Department Award for three years in a row (2005-2007) and the Arizona State University & The Academy Drum & Bugle Corp Summer Marching Academy in 2007. Our band has performed from 2006-2009 in the Rose Bowl Parade, Band Fest and at Disneyland, the Dodgers 50th Anniversary Opening Night in 2007 an d in 2006 for Hilary Clinton’s ‘Keep America Beautiful’ campaign. I do hope that you understand my situation that there is absolutely no way I will be able to pay my tuition fees and enjoy studying the course of my choice unless I receive some financial

Why do Brand Extension Strategies Fail Literature review

Why do Brand Extension Strategies Fail - Literature review Example The strategy of brand extension is being used by the organisations in order to cope up with different challenging situations and overcome the competitive pressure in the industry. According to the Han (1998), the brand extension of strategy have been beneficial for the companies in the process of reaping additional benefits from the already established brand. The main reason or rationale behind the introduction of new product under the name of well known and established brand is to make sure that the customers and market is familiar with the brand and the new product category can capture market on the basis of the positive and main characteristics of the parent brand (Buil, Chernatony, and Hem, 2009). Different options available to the brand managers in the process of brand extension are: 1. Horizontal Extension: the horizontal extension is further divided into line extension and category extension. In the line extension a whole new product, within the same category as that of the pa rent brand, is introduced in order to target and capture a new and different segment of the market. On the other hand, in the category extension the same brand is extended into a whole new product category. ... IMPACT OF BRAND EXTENSION STRATEGY ON THE BRAND IMAGE AND BUSINESS: In order to make sure that the brand extension strategy proves to be beneficial and helpful for the organisation and increase the competitiveness of the organisation it is important to identify and understand the implications of the brand extension strategy on the brand image and overall business of the organisation (Serrao and Botelho, 2008). There are several factors which directly influence the impact of the brand extensions on the brand image. According to the research study of Martinez and Chernatony (2004), the perceived brand quality by the consumers and the attitudes and behaviours of the consumers towards the overall extension strategy have positive impact on the general brand image and product brand image. The research study also concluded that the fact that consumers are familiar and aware of the brand only have impact on the general brand image and have no impact on the product brand image. On the other h and the consumers’ perceived degree of fit between the parent brand and new brand only influence the product brand image. The research study of Martinez and Chernatony (2004), have created a difference between the general brand image and the product brand image. They have correctly identified the impact of the consumers attitudes on the general brand image and product brand image. However, their stance about the impact of familiarity and awareness on the GBI and PBI is somewhat shaky. If the customers are aware and familiar with the brand it will definitely affect the PBI also, because the customers will relate the product with the overall brand image and will associate same image with it. The research study by Park, McCarthy, and Milberg (1993), concluded that the

Putting Global Warming on Ice Essay Example for Free

Putting Global Warming on Ice Essay What makes the earths temperature rise and fall? Do greenhouse gases block solar heat from leaving the earth, or is it only a product of solar activity? Many people have theorized on what causes temperatures to change. A catch phrase named Global Warming came to popularity. Environmentalists from all walks of life joined the global warming fight. According to Thomas OConnell the global warming debate wasnt accepted in the 60s and 70s when he studied it. It only became popular recently in the 90s. Everyone believed that humans were causing a catastrophe by punching a whole into an ozone layer in the sky, letting harmful rays of sun in. People fought to shutdown plants in order to stop the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Everyone believed the global warming claims coming from senators and environmentalists. Today in the 21st century, science has stepped up to disprove the common myths of global warming. Many of the theories and claims of global warming are easily disproved with science. Science is the only tool that can be used to tell whether theories are fact or fiction. The first issue of global warming is the recent Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty designed to cut greenhouse emissions from successful countries. The international Kyoto protocol has been in debate for many years. The Kyoto protocol is an international treaty to reduce developed countrys greenhouse emissions, specifically carbon dioxide, to 7% below their 1990 levels. As President Bush came to office he refused the U.S.s involvement in the treaty. President Bush wasnt even the man that killed the idea for the U.S. (National Center 2). A bill, stating that the U.S. wouldnt ratify any climate treaty that would harm the United States economically and would have no consequences for developing or 3rd World countries, was passed with a unanimous 95-0 vote by the senate before President Bush was elected (National Center 2). The treaty isnt about global warming. It was designed in order to transfer success from developed nations like the U.S. to developing or struggling countries (Tuccille 2). Research declares that China, India, and Brazil who are not affected by the Kyoto Protocol will increase their CO2 emissions by 16% more than the United States even without  the Protocol in effect (National Center 3). Proponents of the protocol confessed that the treaty would not have the beneficial environmental impacts advertised and that the costs of implementation would be much higher than the public had been told (National Center 1). U.S. economy would suffer if we agreed to partake in the Kyoto scheme. Gasoline prices would increase by as much as 66 cents per gallon, electrical costs would also increase up to 80%, energy intensive products such as chemicals, steel, paper, and cars would rise in price by as much as 15%. (National Center 2). The economy of the USA would be devastated, states Thomas OConnell. The minority income would be lowered by about 10%, 864,000 African Americans as well as 511,000 Hispanics would be unemployed (National Center 2). Oil and fuel used for farming would be taxed or restricted causing in a higher cost of producing and lower profits of products including corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, hogs, and milk (Heartland Institute 2 and 3). Businesses taxed by the government for their emissions would result in raising costs for their consumers (Heartland Institute 3). New regulations would be implemented for automobiles making carpooling mandatory and would penalize owners of trucks and sports cars. The average household income would even drop by about $2,700 (Heartland Institute 2). Even the unbiased and credible Time magazine quoted, the campaign against global warming seemed to be over before it even started referring to the Kyoto Protocol (Tuccille 1). Are we prepared to disappear from the map in order to prevent 1 degree Celsius of warming for the next Century? One of the hot issues on global warming is that humankind has had something to do with the temperature. Man-made emissions such as carbon dioxide have been claimed to cause global temperatures to increase over the years. Ever since the industrial revolution in the 1940s man has continued to emit gases such as CO2 into the air. Many people claim that CO2 is what blocks heat from escaping the atmosphere. They also claim that mankind has poked a hole in something called the ozone layer, a protective layer above the atmosphere that keeps harmful UV radiation out, which lets more solar rays in. How convenient. The fact is that 98% of these greenhouse gases are natural to the earth. Man has not emitted them and they are not pollutants. They are mostly water vapors and clouds (Zipperer 2). Does that sound dangerous to you? The earth  has even cut down on the rate of carbon dioxide emissions from the years 1973-1990 (Lindzen 1 and 2). Even if we did have a lot of CO2 in the air evidently the effects wouldnt be catastrophic. In the past the atmosphere has had much more amounts of CO2 in it before without significant increases in temperature (Lindzen 4). Richard Lindzen, a professor of meteorology at MIT, claims that a doubling of CO2 in the earths atmosphere would only result in a 1 degree Celsius increase in global temperature (National Center 3). Another greenhouse gas is methane. Methane is more harmful than CO2 but will not increase significantly for another 100 years if it continues at its current rate (Michaels 1). Many credible experts in the field of science have agreed that man is not responsible. Over 17,000 scientists from all over the world have signed a petition declaring that there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the earths atmosphere and disruption of the earths climate (Heartland Institute 5). Even if there were significant cases of warming global temperatures the effects wouldnt be as tragic as everyone thinks. There are many benefits to the warming of the earth, as there are consequences. Warming on a global scale would have dramatic effects on life and climates. Some effects may be harmful but many of them are beneficial. Some ideas about global warming consequences are myths that are unlikely. Many people say that global warming is linked with the uprising in tropical storms. Storms such as hurricanes coming from the southeast into Florida coasts have been getting stronger for many years, but in 1991 there was a drought of storms that ranged to 1995. The amount and intensity fell way below the average, which suggests that these storms were not affected by the warming of the earth (Bible Believers 3 and 4). Others claim that sea levels have risen all over the world because the polar ice caps are slowly melting due to the warming. Tests have proven that temperatures at the poles are actually getting colder and that sea levels have been rising for centuries before we had any affect on the c limate (Bible Believers 3). Former Vice President Al Gore spoke of diseases migrating due to climate warming. He spoke of diseases like the Black Plague and Cholera, which he believed were  spread because of weather patterns. Rats, who spread the Black Plague, lived in both warm and cold climates so they had no reason to migrate. His second example Cholera has been a problem in both warm and cold climates and can be easily treated by purifying the water we drink (Heartland Institute 9). Many people have never heard possible benefits of global warming before. Having a warmer climate is very beneficial. Historically, very warm periods in time resulted in flourishing life such as plants, animals, and fish (Bible Believers 4). Even large amounts of CO2 can be beneficial. More CO2 in the atmosphere fuels plants, which makes more food for all walks of life. Vikings were once able to farm what is now a cold and icy Greenland (Zipperer 3). A warming of the earth would result in longer growing seasons and would deplete world hunger and crop failure (Robinson 3). Global warming wouldnt be all that bad, but we do not have a way to tell if there is or will be any warming because of the difficulty to predict the weather. In order to make predictions about weather, people have designed computer models that estimate changes in weather patterns. The models are designed from past weather data and possible factors effecting the weather. What modelers do not know is that global weather is very hard to predict, maybe even impossible without the right understanding and tools for the job (Robinson 2). Factors such as clouds, precipitation, oceans, and the sun are misunderstood and often underestimated (Zipperer 2). Modelers also leave out possible advances in the future such as nuclear energy and the positive effect it would have on the environment (Lindzen 2). Our current technology isnt even close to being advanced enough. Errors in the data are equivalent to 50% (Lindzen 3). These computer models could not even predict weather from the past. While global temperatures have raised by .3 to .6 C over the past 100 years models have over predicted the increase to be from .7 to 1.4 C by the year 1990 (Heartland Institute 7). Climate modelers have even inputted their own bias into the data, shifting variables to what they want them to be. Climate modelers have been cheating for so long its almost become respectable, says Richard A. Kerr, a writer for Science magazine. Further research on the topic is necessary in order to accurately determine whether we have a problem or not. Many people of profession have studied global warming and what may affect the outcome of their results. When measuring from the surface global temperatures have increased by about .6 degrees Celsius with a .2-degree error, but parts of the United States including the southeast have cooled slightly since the late 19th century (NOAA 2). For those 100 years of slight warming, 70% of it occurred before the industrial revolution in 1940 in which man began to emit gases into the air (Zipperer 2). The surface on and around the equator has remained plus or minus 1 degree Celsius of its current temperature for billions of years (Lindzen 4). Research has also been done to determine the affect on rising and falling temperatures. Scientists have found very close relations with solar activity from the sun and the current temperature patterns, which suggests that fluctuations in temperatures are out of our hands (NOAA 5). Satellites are the best way to determine global temperatures. They are unbiased and have only a 0.001-degree Celsius of error (Heartland Institute 6). These satellites have confirmed that there is no evidence of global warming. If anything there is a slight cooling in the atmosphere (National Center 3). Very reliable agencies have done their own research on global warming. Many scientists have tested the greenhouse theory carefully and have found that greenhouse warming isnt even occurring and that rising temperatures are do to different stages of solar activity (Robinson 1). In 1995 the IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, did not prove that humans were affecting global temperatures (Heartland Institute 8). Their report, Climate Change, includes a statement, The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on the global climate (Heartland Institute 8). Dr. Roy Spencer, a meteorologist and team leader of the NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, quotes, The temperatures we measure from space are actually on a very slight downward trend since 1979 the trend is about 0.05C per decade cooling (Heartland Institute 7). In a recent poll only 17% of the meteorological society and the American Geophysical Society believe that global warming is a product of man (Bible Believers 2). Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency are threatening to withdraw their support from a global warming study done by the government. They have said that the report has an extreme/alarmist tone and that it does not appear to fairly reflect the scientific literature and the historical record  (Torres 1). The representatives claimed that the report also had scientifically inaccurate statements about the potential implications of climate change for air pollution and human (Torres 1 and 2). Usually, in scientific law, if a hypothesis fails through experimentation it should be discarded, but the theory of global warming and greenhouse gases as a result of man is still considered substantial hypothesis even though it has been proven to be unlikely (Robinson 2). The debate of global warming may continue on for many years to come. Mankind may never see any rising in global temperatures, but nevertheless it will be speculated. Thomas OConnell At this moment in time there has not been any reliable and convincing evidence that the globe is dangerously warming. Global temperature is a product of natural variables that affect the earth. Man has little if any influence on this temperature. Many of the greenhouse claims have been poorly researched and have yet to be proven credible. Hopefully in the future science will prevail and provide the real answer. Until then, people interested in global warming should do research of their own in order to formulate their own opinion. Life on earth has adapted or evolved to the environment. The earth will never adapt or change due to a single species; the earth is far too powerful. As this paper comes to a close a quote sums up the main idea. Thomas OConnell once said, As the rhetoric of the proponents gives w ay to real problem or is this phenomena more closely related to political agendas. Ill wait for the science.

The competitiveness of pharmaceutical industry in Saudi Arabia

The competitiveness of pharmaceutical industry in Saudi Arabia The aim of this paper is to describe and analyze the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical industry in Saudi Arabia, what new companies need to consider before entering this market and evaluation of such investment. I will discuss the boundaries of this industry under à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I will briefly highlight competitiveness of the Pharmaceutical industry at the global level. Boundaries of the industry: The scope of this analysis is the pharmaceutical industry where Key Products are human drugs excluding veterinary drugs, medical devices and diagnostics. Key players in the market are pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, distribution agents, chain pharmacies and patients support groups. As Porter identifies an industry as the group of firms producing products that are close substitutes for each other (Porter, 1980, p. 5), I will take the perspective of the pharmaceutical companies. The geographic scope of this paper is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, large hospitals and institutions have access to medications through international brokers (Business Monitor International, 2010) making the market open to international competition. Many pharmaceutical companies in the Saudi Market are international companies (IMS Health, 2010). Six out of the top ten pharmaceutical companies, as measured by their 2009 sales, in the Saudi Market are international companies five of them are American (IMS Health, 2010). This leads to broadening the competition scope to take a global level as will be discussed. Also there is a very high impact of supra-state organizations like FDA and EMEA as Saudi Arabia considers guidelines and warnings issued by them as a reference (Business Monitor International, 2010). For example approval or suspension of a medication by those authorities impacts the business of the drug in the Saudi Market (ibid). So changes at the global level are reflected on the market. Overview on the Saudi Pharmaceutical Market The total market size was around US$ 2.65bn in 2008 and due to the countrys wealth, novel patented drugs and expensive ones are growing in demand (Business Monitor International, 2010). One of the good tools to analyze the external factors affecting or might in the future affect the industry is PESTLE analysis (Armstrong, 2006). It is an acronym for Political, economic competitive, socio-cultural, technological, legal and ethical factors. Looking at the six dimensions, offer a good insight for strategic analysis (ibid). Political Review (Insurance companies and price pressures) Although the middle-east tends to be a politically unstable area, the political system in Saudi Arabia is relatively stable (Business Monitor International, 2010). The political power lies in the hand of the king who faces new challenges including pressures from the United Sates to democratize the system (Shoult, 2006). Yet, with 25% of worlds oil reserves in the country, international powers, including the US, see stability of the kingdom in their favour (Business Monitor International, 2010). Such political stability could represent a motive for international pharmaceutical companies to invest in the kingdom. However political stability alone is not the only factor to consider for investment decisions. Other dimensions in the following analysis will give a more comprehensive view of the industry. Economic Competitive Review With the discovery of oil reserves in Saudi Arabia in 1930s, the country turned into a first-world economy (Shoult, 2006). Saudi Economy is ranked among the top ten most competitive economies (Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority). Saudi Pharmaceutical market is the largest among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries with an estimated double digit annual growth till 2019 (Business Monitor International, 2010). Such a high growth rate should represent an attractive opportunity to foreign pharmaceutical companies especially at times of international slow down. Some companies like JJ consider Saudi Arabia as one for the international emerging markets along with Brazil, Russia, India and China that the company is willing to invest in to expand its business (Al-Abd, 2009). Socio-Cultural Review The Saudi pharmaceutical industry like many other industries is reliant to a great extent on expatriate workers whether as pharmacists or physicians (Shoult, 2006). This increases bargaining power of suppliers to residency visas to pharmaceutical companies as discussed below. The Saudi culture is a very conservative one (ibid). Direct to the patient promotional activities although legal, might be a very risky move especially in certain therapeutic areas like women and men health. That could make the competition between pharmaceutical companies more aggressive at the level of prescribing physicians. More details about this will be discussed under the 5 forces analysis below. From my experience, when it comes to patients support groups; most of them are relatively newly established. Their role, so far, is limited to increasing the awareness about illnesses and trying to minimize the stigma associated with some diseases like psychiatric illnesses and HIV. They dont present a real threat for lobbying or exerting pressures on pharmaceutical companies. So most companies perceive them as an opportunity to increase awareness about illnesses and grow the total market size. Technological review Most of the local Saudi companies dont have the know-how of manufacturing high technological products like bio-technology products and anti-cancer therapy (Business Monitor International, 2010). So the market of those therapeutic areas is almost totally controlled by international companies (ibid). This should represent an opportunity for local companies as the development of such capability could be a differentiating advantage versus all local Saudi incumbents. Yet, developing such capabilities would require a very heavy initial investment (Bogner, Thomas, McGee, 1996). On average, it takes around US$ 700 million to develop a new molecule and then around US$ 400 million for marketing activities (Leask Parker, 2007). One of the characteristics of the pharmaceutical industry is the slowness of diffusion of new technologies, where around 17 years is required for the results of clinical trials to become standard clinical practice (Porter, 1985, p. 406). This may be due to the legal an d ethical issues related to the pharmaceutical industry, which brings us to the last element of PESTLE analysis. Legal and Ethical Factors The pharmaceutical industry is recently under scrutiny like never before (Beller, 2008), especially when it comes to relations with health care professionals. With the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States and the very aggressive penalties on the giant company Pfizer, $ 2.3 Billion by the FDA (The New York Times, 2009) most of the companies became very conservative. International companies, especially American ones, find themselves forced to follow Health Care Compliance Guidelines. This factor is not affecting local Saudi Companies, where such regulations are not in place (Al-Abd, 2009). For example, it is very common for local Saudi pharmaceutical companies to invite physicians and even purchasers for international trips with their families in a practice that is not controlled or regulated by Saudi Health Authorities (ibid). This PESTLE analysis represents the outline of the playing ground. Competitive force and what is happening inside could be seen by the following 5 forces analysis. Five Forces Analysis As per Porter, the health care industry is very complex, highly customized and, unlike many other industries, consumers have limited information (Porter, 1985). Porter identified five forces that can drive the competition in an industry (Porter, 1980). The following analysis will briefly go through the impact of each force in the Saudi pharmaceutical market. Threat of New Entrant New entrant into an industry exerts pressure on incumbents prices and costs hence represent a risk in eroding their profitability (Porter, 1985). The intensity of new entrants will depend on the ease of entering the market and Porter identifies seven factors that might represent an entry barrier (ibid). I find at least four of them to be applicable in Saudi pharmaceutical market, the relative high investment required to establish a new pharmaceutical company, government policies that raised the cost required for registering new drugs (Al-Abd, 2009), the recent price cuts enforced by Saudi Ministry of Health (Business Monitor International, 2010), incumbency advantage including know-how for manufacturing and unequal access to distribution channels. For example, many hospitals now have regulations that necessitate the removal of a drug from their formularies in order to add a new one (Al-Abd, 2009). This makes doctors face tough decision upon requesting new medications. All of these factors are in favor of incumbent companies and might represent entry barriers. On the other hand the low switching cost is an opportunity for new entrants. From my experience, shifting from a medication to an alternative or a generic doesnt cause any switching costs. Pharmaceutical companies in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to make special offers or special discounts (Al-Abd, 2009). They also cant explicitly state the disadvantage of a competitor. Such heavy regulation would minimize the impact of retaliation against a new entrant. The Power of Suppliers In Saudi Arabia, foreign pharmaceutical companies dont have a legal entity as they must work through local Saudi agents (Shoult, 2006). Such agents are responsible for the distribution and act as a supplier of labor. My personal experience is that, it can be a source of competitive advantage to companies as agents access to residence visas depends on many factors including but not limited to their personal network with the governmental officials. Therefore some companies expansion plans might be put on hold due to deficiency in visas required for new workers. The Power of Buyers Key participants of the industry changed recently with the tendency of buyers to collate into central buying centers like NUPCO, a newly established National Unified Procurement Company for Medical Supplies for all Ministry of Health hospitals (NUPCO). The same applies for National-Guard hospitals which decided to issue a unified tender for purchasing drugs (National Guard Health Affairs). The authors experience shows that even private street pharmacies are dominated by chain pharmacies with central purchasing centers. The declared reason behind such moves is usually increasing efficiency (NUPCO) (National Guard Health Affairs). As per Porters five forces for industry analysis, the main reason might be the wish to increase their bargaining power against pharmaceutical companies. The availability of me too products and several generics to non-patent drugs in the Saudi market (IMS Health, 2010) could turn many drugs into a commodity. As several alternatives become available, the bargaining power of purchasers increases (Porter, On Competition, 1985). This in turn could erode companies profitability. Therefore most of the international companies stop promoting their drugs once they lose their patents and shift their focus to new still patent protected drugs (Al-Abd, 2009). The Threat of Substitutes Porter defines a substitute as something that performs the same or a similar function as an industrys product by a different means (Porter, 1985, p. 17). With this definition in mind, a substitute to a pharmaceutical drug could be a surgery or an alternative medicine. Alternative medicine is common in Saudi Arabia to the extent that an official National Centre for Alternative and Complementary Medicine was established in 2008 (Business Monitor International, 2010). Yet, it would be difficult to quantify and measure this market and its impact on the Saudi Pharmaceutical market due to the lack of reliable statistics and the poor control on traditional healers (Al-Rowais, Al-Faris, Mohammad, Al-Rukban, Abdulghani, 2010). As key hospitals can purchase medications through international brokers, this exerts more price pressures on local operating companies. Such international brokers might be considered as a substitute to local pharmaceutical companies. Their impact might lead to forcing the local operating companies to reduce their prices in order to match brokers price which could lead to eroding profitability. Rivalry among Existing Competitors This force analyzes how competitors are jockeying for positions (Porter, 1980, p. 17). It might be the most important force in the Saudi Pharmaceutical Market. The Saudi Pharmaceutical Market is fragmented among 271 companies (IMS Health, 2010). This might be one of the reasons behind the high intensity of competition. The leading company, GLAXOSMITHKLINE has a market share of only 9% followed by Pfizer 8% and then the local company SPIMACO 7% and the rest of the market distributed among the remaining companies. Intensity of rivalry increases in cases of Numerous or equally balanced competitors (Porter, 1980, p. 18). Yet the relative high growth rate in the market (IMS Health, 2010), could retain its attractiveness as possibility of reaching zero sum competition looks remote. Porter considers the competition in the health care system as zero sum (Porter, On Competition, 1985). This might be relevant only to the US market. The Saudi Market is not yet mature given its high growth rates and the under awareness and under diagnosis in many therapeutic areas like HIV and ADHD (Business Monitor International, 2010). It might be a positive sum competition. From the authors experience, pharmaceutical companies in the Saudi Market can be classified into International companies with most of their products patents and local companies producing mostly generics. Some of the International companies like GLAXOSMITHKLINE and Pfizer work in different therapeutic areas and most of their products are patents so their main strategy might be differentiation. There are other international companies that are focused in one segment, therapeutic area, like Lundbeck in central nervous system and Novo Nordisk in Diabetes (IMS Health, 2010). Such companies are mainly utilizing a niche or focusing strategy. Then there are the Saudi companies producing generics and their main strategy could be cost leadership. The existence of many generics, me too products, increases the intensity of competition due to the lack of differentiation (Porter, 1980). Such competition is very clear as many buyers are relying on tenders (Business Monitor International, 2010) rathe r than direct orders to utilize such competition in their favor. Price war among generics companies can be understood with such lack of differentiation. This could be compounded with the high initial investment required as mentioned earlier that might raise the exit barrier making companies more committed to the business. When it comes to competition between international companies and local Saudi companies, economies of scale are in favour of international companies as they produce and sell their products worldwide while local Saudi companies usually dont have access to European or American markets due to concerns on quality standards (Business Monitor International, 2010). Advice to a New Firm Entering the Market For a new firm entering the market, it needs to carefully position itself. Comprehensive understanding of the industry value chain will be important for the company to position itself (Porter, 1985). Industry Value Chain If this new company were a local Saudi one then it should rely on cost leadership. For example, the firm infra structure, like manufacturing facility, should be in a nearby location to the main consumers like the Ministry of Health in order to minimize the shipping costs. IT infrastructure and Human resources all should be designed with cost leadership in mind. Currently most of the local companies purchase their row materials from India in order to reduce their costs. If the new company were an international company, then it would be almost essential to have patent and differentiated new molecule entities. Such patents would enable the new company to avoid a price war with local generics companies and being differentiated could help in positioning its products against existing international companies. A deep and comprehensive understanding of the Saudi Market and Saudi culture is also required. This level of understanding would depend on the new company background and whether it has previous experience in the Saudi Market, or not. For the new company to secure its supply of labor and expatriate staff, they need to develop a strategic partnership with a local Saudi vendor. Conclusion As per Porter, the objective of industry analysis shouldnt be to declare the industry attractive or unattractive (Porter, 1985, p. 5). It should be to understand the drivers of profitability so that more informed decisions could be made (ibid). Future Changes Shift to privatization and private market, shift toward generics. If outsourcing the product from another company, logistics and registration is the barrier. (You need to register the manufacturing facility which requires inspection by the Saudi FDA to the site a process that takes around one year. The registration process of the drugs itself will take around another one year. This will not limit the entry to the market but it slows down the new competition. Saudi Arabia requires local laboratory testing Pay to delay! Tutor Hints: Think about the different levels in the industry value chain, and the fact that the issues of competitiveness at those different levels may be driven by different sets of business environment and industry environment factors. They may also involve different sets of industry players, some of whom may be more extensively integrated across the industry value chain than others, operating different types of business models and competing on different bases and perspectives. Keep the focus firmly at the industry level, and not on individual companies. That said, comments on different companies competing one with another may form part of the analysis and argument. Obviously in choosing an industry and setting some boundaries within which to work, the nature of the industry is one of the factors to consider. Some industries are inherently more international than others. Some markets are more open to international competition than others. Competitiveness: Define success in the competition, how do you score a goal? is it volume, share, profit, brand recognition? include extent, nature, features and character. And in terms of thinking about success, once again it is worth thinking about how this is judged best and from whose perspective in any context. Basic analytical models (eg PESTLE, P5F, SW/OT) may provide a useful starting point or provide a basic overview of an industry My Comments: Outside in PESTLE analysis Under scrutiny like never before. Inside Out Merge and acquisitions Importance of Patents in Pharma About 80% of all pharmaceutical products and about 45% of all processes are patented (Arundel and Kabla, 1998). Overall, patent protection is particularly effective in this industry (Gambardella, 1995), playing an important role for preventing imitation (Levin et al., 1987). Typically, patenting occurs when new chemical and potentially useful compounds are synthesized, applications for them are identified, and manufacturing processes are developed. (Sternitzke, 2010) Relationship between high innovative propensity and sustained superior profitability in pharmaceutical industry in the US is confirmed (ROBERTS, 1999) Advertising promotion in Pharma decreases price elasticity which means, the heavier the promotional activities, the higher the prices. (Rizzo, 1999) Abstract This paper uses data on the majority of name-brand antihypertensive drugs marketed in the US during 1988-93 to test the hypothesis that advertising decreases the price elasticity of demand in the pharmaceutical industry. This is the first study to directly estimate the effects of drug product promotion on the price elasticity of demand in this industry. We find strong evidence of an advertising effect. In particular, detailing efforts (the salient means for product promotion in this industry) systematically lower price sensitivity. Given the inverse relationship between elasticity of demand and price, it is likely that consumers pay higher prices as a result of the advertising that occurs in this industry. Our findings are thus consistent with Hurwitz and Caves, who find evidence that advertising inhibits entry into this market but in contrast to earlier research that found no anticompetitive effect. Advertising and Competition in the Ethical Pharmaceutical Industry: The Case of Antihypertensive Drugs Comment on referencing: For chapters of edited books the required elements for a reference are: Chapter author(s) surname(s) and initials. Year of chapter. Title of chapter followed by In: Book editor(s) initials and surnames with ed. or eds. after the last name. Year of book. Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher. Chapter number or first and last page numbers followed by full-stop. Smith, J., 1975. A source of information. In W. Jones, ed. One hundred and one ways to find information about health. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ch. 2. Samson,C., 1970. Problems of information studies in history. In S. Stone, ed. Humanities information research. Sheffield: CRUS, 1980, pp. 44-68.

Examining Media Discourse And The Amounts Of Crime Criminology Essay

Examining Media Discourse And The Amounts Of Crime Criminology Essay Media discourse is sutured with crime. Crime consumes an enormous amount of media space as both entertainment and news. Much of our information about the nature and extend of crime comes to us via the secondary source of media. We should expect then, that as distributors of social knowledge, they play a significant role in our perception and understanding of the boundaries between order and disorder. (Surette, 1998: 11) Because of the importance of media in everyday life, the study of crime and the media becomes a vital concern of sociology and media studies. Since media has the ability to interpret and give meaning to events through dramatization, this places it at the pinnacle of all social institutions in its ability to shape perception and reactions of its readership. It has been criticized over years by enormous sociologist that media is responsible for fomenting moral sensibilities and anxieties about crime and disorder. (Cohen, 1963; Young, 1971; Hall, 1978; Reiner, 1997; Munice:2001) The media manufactured of news (Cohen and Young, 1973/1981), created moral panics (Cohen, 1973) and fear of crime (Gerbner et al: 1980; Carlson: 1985) about folk devils, stigmatized outsiders, and amplified their deviance (Young, 1971) thus legitimating the drift to a law and order society (Hall et al, 1978) and a more authoritarian style of policing the crisis. (ibid.) In this assignment, I will discuss how and why these consequences of representation of crime are develop, and how they will affect the society. Fear of crime: In recent years policy debates have focused increasingly on fear of crime as an issue as serious s crime itself. As Home Office working party noted that fear of crime as an issue of social concern; it has to be taken as seriously as crime prevention and reduction. (Home Office, 1989: ii) When the media representation of crime is compared to real world crime as measured by official crime statistics, it appears that the media images exaggerate the probability of danger. This is said to cultivate a misleading view of the world based on unnecessary anxiety about levels of risk form violent crime. According to the BCS 1983, people are concerned most about those crimes which they are least likely to experience. (Hough and Mayhew 1983:23) The BCS data show a discrepancy between peoples fear of being a victim and their chances of being that victim. (Reiner 1997: 210; Munice, 2001: 59; Hewitt, 1995: 19) This has engendered a debate about why there should be such a disparity between the perception of risk and the actual risk. Most commonly, the media are accused of exaggerating the risk of crime, representing an image of the world which is scary and mean, (Carlson 1985) (Sparks 1992: Chapter 1) which lead to publics fear of crime in an unreasonable fashion. (Reiner 1997: 199) Most analyses of newspaper crime reporting have been concerned with the potentially distorted impression is created by the high proportion of reports of violent crimes. Ditton and Duffy (1983) analyzed the crime content of three Scottish newspapers concludes that the proportion of violent and sexual crimes are far more than those reported in the official statistics. (Ditton and Duffy, 1983) Many British studies also showed the same pattern of over representation of violent and interpersonal crimes. The risks of crime as portrayed by the media are both quantitatively and qualitatively more serious than the official statistically recorded picture.  [1]   Although media representation of crime is biased and they present crime in an exaggerated way, we cannot simply conclude that fear of crime is associated with media presentation of crime. The reason why people can be easily influenced by media is because they are lack of knowledge about crime. It is rare for people to experience or witness crime. Therefore, they need to rely on media as source of information to understand crime and use it as a guideline in assessing probability of being a victim. Furthermore, people are tended to use a simplistic way and the most available information to make assessment without reviewing other alternative source before they make judgment, this can lead to people use newspaper and television as source of information to understand crime and construct perceptions of crime. (Williams and Dickinson, 1993: 36) Base on these assumptions, it is sensible to say that medias representation of crime do have influence peoples perception about crime. The media biases associated with public misperceptions argument is confirmed by the study of relationship between newspaper crime reporting and fear of crime by Williams and Dickinson and 1996 BCS. According to Williams and Dickinson, there was a significant relationship between reading newspapers with more emphasis on violence crime and measure of fearfulness expressed in a survey. This association survived control by a number of demographical variables. (William and Dickinson, 1993) Thus, the research concludes that readers of those newspapers that report crime in the most dramatic and salient fashion have the highest levels of fear of crime. (William and Dickinson, 1993) Moreover, in the 1996 British Crime Survey, Hough and Roberts also concluded that there are some strong associations have been found between media biases representation and public misperceptions. (Hough and Roberts, 1996) These study both evident the media have direct influence on constructing fear of crime. The news media may constitute biased perception of crime, however, some scholars have a controversial view on the association between media representations and its effects. Increasingly, it is acknowledged that media representations are unlikely to be received passively, but rather interpreted by an active audiences but as one element in their lived experience. (Ericson, 1991; Livingstone, 1996, Reiner, 1997) Many studies show that the media is not the crucial agent in accounting for fear of crime, increasingly, it is more widely accepted that demographic factors such as age, sex, class, background, level of education, area of residence are significant determinants of anxiety about crime and violence. (Gunter, 1987; Sparks, 1992; Ericson, 1991: 287; Schlesinger and Tumber, 1994: 188) Crawford and his fellows (1990) also support such argument that fear does indeed accord to peoples real life circumstances. It may be generated by any number of personal, cultural or environmental factor s. Box et al also concur with Crawfords opinion, he further suggested that fear of crime depends on an interactive complex of vulnerability, environmental conditions, personal knowledge of crime, confidence (or lack of ) confidence in the police. (Munice, 2001: 59) Since there are many factors can affect the perception of crime, we should bear in mind that fear of crime is extraneous, generated by social and personal factors other than risk of crime per se. Moreover, we should remain alive to ability of the public to differentiate and interpret the information they receive. Though there is evidence concerning media partiality and distortion, it cannot by any mean be assumed that media representation are always received uncritically. (Munice, 2001: 62) The issue of media effect on perceptions of crime remains controversial. It is because of the difficulties in rigorously establishing straightforward casual relationships between images and effects. (Reiner, 1997: 191) Since the association between tow factors are remain unknown, it is plausible to conclude that media may have influence on perception of crime. What is more important about the issue of fear of crime is not whether it has any rational basis or it is solely cultivated by media, but rather how far its emotiveness as a topic can be used for ulterior and political motives. (Munice, 2001: 62) Moral Panic: During the 60s to 70s, the British public was riveted by magnified coverage of highly unusual crime stories of violence crime committed by youth that turned into what some news outlets described as an all too familiar story. Rather than providing context, the medias labeling of these youth violence as symptom of social decline has tended to exacerbate peoples moral sensibilities about youth violence. The result is that misdirected public policy is being generated to increase social control, even though the real threat is minimal. Study of Mod and Rockers by Cohen: The first systematic empirical study of a moral panic in the UK was Stanley Cohens research on the social reaction to the Mod and Rockers disturbance of 1964. (Cohen 1973b) (Munice, 2001: 50) A group of youths broke out sabotage in the seaside resort of Clacton over the Easter bank holiday in 1964. The events were to receive front page outrage in the national press. The media spoke out of a day of terror of youngsters who beat up entire town. Youth were described as organized gangs who deliberately caused trouble by acting aggressively towards local residents and destroyed a great deal of public property. In Cohens research, however, found no evidence of any structured gangs within that area, thus, the total amount of serious violence and vandalism was not as great as media described. (Cohen, 1973) According to the Cohens analyses, it is obvious that media have exaggerated the seriousness of the Clacton event, in terms of criteria such as the number taking part, the number involved in violence and the amount and effects of any damage or violence. Such distortion took place primarily in terms of the mode and style of presentation characteristics of most crime reporting: the sensational headlines, the melodramatic vocabulary and the deliberate heightening of those elements in the story considered as news. (Cohen, 1973) The frequent use of misleading headlines and vocabulary like riot, beat up the town, attack, screaming mob which were discrepant with the actual story and left an image of a besieged town from which innocent holidaymakers were fleeing to escape a marauding mob. Medias distorted reporting not only exaggerated the seriousness of the initial events in 1964 but also amplified the youth deviance. The incessant news coverage of Mod and Rockers initiated a wider public concern, youth are labeled as a symptom of social decline. They are portrayed as being outside the central core values of our consensual society and as posing a particular threat to society. (Cohen, 1981: 273) Once youths have been identified with negative labeling, they will believe themselves to be more deviant and segregating out from the community, which will create a greater risk of long term social disorder. Thus, overreaction of the police and general public will contribute to further polarization between youth and the society. As a result, more crime would be committed by stigmatize group and lead to less tolerance of deviants by conforming groups.(McRobbie and Thornton,1995: 561) (Munice, 2001: 52) As Cohen shows in Mod and Rocker study, The continuing disturbance attracted more news coverage would increase police activity and further public concern. Media exaggerate the problem can give rise to local events seem ones of pressing national concern, and an index of decline of morality standards, which obliged the police to step up their surveillance. Consequently, the stepping up of controls lead to further marginalization and stigmatization of deviants which, in turn, lead to more calls for police action and into a deviancy amplification spiral. (McLaughlin, 2001: 176) Study of Mugging by Hall et al Hall et al (1978) reused the concept the moral panic in identifying a series of major social problems to do with permissiveness, vandals, student radicals and so on, culminating with the moral panic of mugging. Hall and others revealed that the media make use of moral panics to both define and distort social problems was fleshed out into a general critique of the medias construction of social reality. (Munice, 2001: 52) In Halls study of mugging in Policing the crisis, the media regarded mugging not as a particular type of robbery but rather a general social crisis and rising crime. (Hall et al., 1978: 66) The media presented mugging as a new and rapidly growing phenomenon. In fact, the crime was not new, only the label was, and official statistics did not support the view that it was growing rapidly, however, with a name for the crime now in existence old offenses were categorized as such, creating the impression of growth. The medias generated new category of crime created the impression of a crime wave, it further whipped up a moral panic around the issue which served to legitimate an increase in punitive measures; they conclude that the media played a key role in developing and maintaining the pressure for law and order measures-for example, police mugging squads and heavy sentences. (Munice, 2001:52-53) (Hewitt, 1995: 17) In this regard, moral panic can strengthen the powers of state control an d enabling law and order to be promoted without cognizance of the social divisions and conflicts which produce deviance and political dissent. (Munice, 2001: 55) It is not just a new category of crime has been defined by media, the media misrepresentation of crime also stigmatize the black youth as the cause of mugging without further explaining the structural reason of the crime, like poverty, social deprivation and class and racial inequality. (Munice, 2001:53) This ready application of stereotypes in mugging crime reporting portray crime in a way to be depicted in terms of a basic confrontation between the symbolic forces of good and evil. The process of deprivation and modes of social organization are rarely provided. (Chibnall, 1977: 79) As Hall concluded, crime reports tend to undo the complexities of crime by constructing a number of easy categories into which each type of crime can be placed. (Hall et al, 1978:13-15) (Munice, 2001: 47) After the analyses of issue of moral panic or fear of crime, there is one common element between two consequences of media representation of crime-both are generated by the media biased representation of crime. In order to investigate cases of apparent moral panic and fear of crime, it is necessary to understand how news is developed and the structural relationship between media and source of crime stories. The element of newsworthiness: The media appear to be involve in a continual search for the new unusual and dramatic. This is what makes the news. Under the market model (Cohen and Young, 1981), because of the business concern, news content needs to be generated and filtered primarily through reporter sense of newsworthiness to produce what makes a good story that their audience wants to know about in order to engage audiences and increase readership. The core elements of these are immediacy, dramatization, personalization, titillation and novertly. (Chibnall, 1977:22-45; Hall et al., 1978; Ericson et al., 1991) Thus, there are five sets of informal rules  [2]  of relevancy which govern the professional imperatives of popular journalism: these are visible and spectacular acts, sexual or political connotations, graphic presentation, individual pathology and deterrence and repression. (Chibnall, 1977: 77-79) These rules help us to understand how news values are structured and explain why there is a predominant e mphasis on violent offences. Organizational pressures: Besides the element of newsworthiness, there are a variety of concrete organizational pressures, for example, the periodicity, or timing, of the events and how they match the scheduling needs of the agency, cost effectiveness and efficiency, all these factors not only determine what is reported, they also lead to an unintended consequences- that is bolstering the law and order. (Reiner, 1997: 142) For example, numerous police personnel are available and willing to provide comments about an incident, which resulting in frequent citation of police sources in all types of crime stories. (Chermak, 1995: 38) Thus, court cases are frequently used by media, because lots of newsworthy cases are expected to recur regularly, therefore, court cases are an economic use of reporting resources. (Reiner, 1997: 221) Because police and courts resources are easily accessible and constantly available, media become more habitually rely on them as the main source of news information, and over time, the s tructural dependence of media on between criminal justice bureaucracies will be established, which permits the institutional definers to establish the primary interpretation of the topic in question. (Hall et al, 1978: 58; Chibnall 1977: chaps. 3, 6; Schlesinger and Tumber 1993) The notion of impartiality and the use of accredited source: The notion of impartiality and the news source used by journalists are the crucial reason to explain media biased representation of crime and the tendency towards institutional definers ideology. (Hall, 1981: 341-343) The media reporting is underwritten by the notions of impartiality, balance and objectivity. (Hall et al., 1981: 341) The practical pressures of constantly working against the clock and the professional demands of impartiality and credibility resulted in constant use of accredited representative of major criminal justice institutions- the police, the courts and the Home Office as the main source of news. These institutional representative agents are accredited because they are in a position to provide initial definitions or primary interpretation of crime and locate them within the context of a continuing crime problem. Because they control over material and mental resources, which news media have little direct access to, and their domination of the major institutions o f society, this classs definitions of the social world provide the basic rationale for those institutions which protect and reproduce their way of life. This control of mental resources ensures that theirs are the most powerful and universal of the available definitions of the social world. (Hall, 1981: 343) As a result, these rules which are originally aim to preserve the impartiality of media turn media as an apparatus to reproduce the definitions and ideology of primary definers. The study of Crimewatch UK-case illustration of relationship between Media and source of crime news The study of Crimewatch UK by Schlesinger and Tumber (1993) is a modern example to illustrate the above argument. The production team of Crimewatch UK has heavily used the information provided by the criminal justice institutions as the main source of crime stories. It is partly because of the notion of cost effectiveness, more importantly, it is because they want to make the program as documentary reconstruction rather than merely a crime drama without a realistic and documentary basis. (Schlesinger and Tumber, 1993: 24) However, the police as the source of crime stories broadly define the terms of reference within which Crimewatch UK may operate. It can be shown by the two basic ground rules of productions requested by the police in exchange for information: first, anything filmed would be embargoed and could not be used again unless the force involved gave its permission, and second, the police must reveal all the known facts and their suspicions to the Crimewatch team. (Schlesing er and Tumber, 1993: 23) Although the production team exercise editorial judgment over how the cases that they reconstruct are to be presented in television terms in order to maintain their impartiality, it is inevitable that their decisions are still within the criminal justice bureaucracies defined framework. (Schlesinger and Tumber, 1993: 30) From the above analyses, we can see how the notion of impartiality lead to the use of accredited source, and how the source provider- the criminal justice institutions turn a documentary program into the polices public relations program to reproduce the definitions of primary definers. Furthermore, this study also demonstrated the asymmetrical relationship between the news and source of information. Journalists are always in an inferior negotiating position in the negotiation process regarding to the definition and presentation of crime. News media are constrained to sacrifice their relationship with the police personnel because they fear losing information access. Reporters rarely challenge the police perspective because of the information police can provide. As what Chibnall described, The reporter who cannot get information is out of a job, whereas the policeman who retains it is not. (Chibnall, 1977: 155) This asymmetrical relationship between media and the source is evidently demonstrated in the case of Crimewatch study. Since the production team is heavily dependent upon the police to provide information of crime cases, they realize that if the police do not provide such information, the program can never be successfully produced. Therefore, editorial judgmen t is limited and the presentation of crime stories are constrained within the polices basic grounded rules and their defined framework. Representation of crime and definition of criminal justice bureaucracies Most commonly, the media are accused of exaggerating the risk of crime, representing an image of the world which is scary and mean, creating crime waves in order to cultivate moral sensibilities and fear among the society. However, such argument ignores the significant influence of the source of crime and overestimates the representation power of the media. It is important to understand that the power to construct social reality rests not merely with media, but also with those who can control the medias raw materials for news-the criminal justice institutions. (Fishman, 1981: 136) Crime news is mutually determined by journalists, whose image of crime is shaped by police concerns and by police, whose concerns with crime are influenced by media practices. However, if criminal justice bureaucracies are not cooperative in providing relevant information as requested by media, media would not have sufficient resource to form crime waves and representation of crime will be changed. In this regard, criminal justice institutions are the crucial determinant to define what is produced and presented. Journalists convey an image of crime wholly accord with the police departments notion of serious crime and social order as orchestrating with criminal justice institutions. Therefore, as long as the routine source for crime news is criminal justice institutions, the presses are inevitable to reinforce the crime definition from criminal justice institutions. Representation of crime and social control According to hegemony theorists, media are regarded as a secondary definer to orchestrate with dominants consent by actively intervening in the space of public opinion and social consciousness through the use of highly emotive and rhetorical language. This exaggerated way of presentation has a effect of requiring that something has to be done about it. Thus, the impartiality notions of media can be served to objectify a public issue. That is, the publicizing of an issue in the media can serve as an independent opinion to a real issue of public concern rather than merely official information or a direct projection of the governments ideology. In this regard, media can be leveraged as a public agenda setting function to translate primary definers definition of crime into a public issue. (Hall et al., 1981: 346) Once the prolonged public agenda concern in particular crime is formed, moral sensibilities and anxiety are cultivated among society, the press can help to legitimate and reinfo rce the actions of the primary definer by bringing their own independent arguments to bear on the public in support of the actions proposed; or it can bring pressure to bear on the primary definers by summoning up public opinion in support of its own views that stronger measures are needed. (Hall et al., 1981: 348) In late 1976, a great deal of publicity and anxiety was generated over an apparent crime wave against the elderly in New York, which led to the setup of a police sponsored community deference program. However, the official statistics did not support the view that violent crime against elderly was rapidly growing at the same time as the media were reporting a crime surge. The US sociologist Mark Fishman used this example to demonstrate the above argument. According to Fishman, the police do play a crucial role in reinforcing journalistically to produce concern about crime waves by selecting further incidents for reporters based on what has been covered before. Furthermore, the police are in a position to intimate perceptions of a crime wave themselves by the way in which they select crime incidents for their press release. (Fishman, 1981) In this regard, media play an orchestrating role to present what is defined by the police in order to create crime wave, the widespread of news cove rage cultivated anxiety among society, as a result, like what we have concluded above, media in respond to public opinion to pressure the police in order to increase social control by forming the deference program. In this case, the initiation of social control can be legitimated as the reaction of the criminal justice institutions to the public opinion Newspaper reports are disproportionately concentrated on violent crimes, even it seems they are not deliberately focus on this particular category of crime due to medias organizational pressures and code of practice, however, as what I have discussed above, without the source of news provided by criminal justice institutions, crime stories can never be formed. Therefore, the criminal justice institutions are also responsible to affect the media representation of crime by manipulating the source of information. Criminal justice institutions and media can generate fear by providing same kind of crimes persistently in epidemic proportions. For instance, media will suddenly focus on crimes that they had previously ignored and report them to the public. (E.g. mugging and violent crimes against elderly) (Fishman, 1976). In this regard, criminal justice institutions and media are both responsible for exaggerating the magnitude of the problem to sustain public attention for prolonged periods , as a result, fear and moral sensibilities can be instilled. What is important to recognition that moral panic and fear of crime are the first link in a spiral of events leading to the maintenance of law in society by legitimize rule through coercion and the general exercise of authority. The sudden defining and focusing of the historically recurring event of street crime have created the impression of a crime wave, this provides government with the justification to introduce repressive legislation in order to increase its control among the society. (Munice, 2001: 53) Since fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard line postures. They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities and other anxieties. (Signorielli 1990:102) (Reiner, 1997: 217) Consequently, the report of crime waves will produce public pressure to call for tough authoritative institutional control, public support can be mustered to institute formal sanctions. The study of Mod and Rocker by Stanley Cohen and the study of muggers by Stuart Hall and his fellows both demonstrate medias exaggeration of crime risks is claimed to increase political support for authoritarian solutions to a crisis of law and order which is largely the creation of media misrepresentation of crime. Media act in a role to stigmatize young Afro-Caribbean as folk devils and generate moral panic in order to created social conditions of consent for the construction of a society more focused towards law and order. The government uncontrollable and structural causes of social unrest can be overlooked, when the public gaze is fixed by stigmatizing young Afro-Caribbean as visual symbols of what was wrong in society, with the increase of social control measures initiated by the government. As a result, the threats of society seems to be eliminated by social and legislative action; the tough punitive measures can be legitimized to control the unstable social environment, the l egitimacy of the government can be reassured by providing public a image of strong government and strong leadership. (Cohen, 1973; Munice, 2001: 52; McRobbie and Thornton, 1995: 562, Hewitt, 1995: 12-16) The media not only exaggerate crimes, on the other hand, they portray the criminal justice bureaucracies, especially the police in a positive light. Routine news reporting about police and crime has a public relations function for police, promoting organizational and occupational ideologies. (Ericson, 1991: 224) The news media dramatize the polices routine works and give the police a ceremonial force. This has promotional value for the police, because it often shows them to be quite effective in fighting crime. (Marsh 1988) (Ericson, 1991:224) Several researchers have examined the relationship between news and police personnel (Chibnall, 1977; Ericson, Baranek and Chan, 1989; Fishman, 1980; Hall et al., 1978) . Most ethnographic research concludes that the police determine what is presented in the news, and describe news media as conduits for police ideology (Chibnall, 1977; Fishman, 1980; Hall et al., 1978) Police frame crime stories in a self promoting way to exaggerate their effectiveness by compiling statistics on performance measures such as the number of offences as well as arrest data. Furthermore, the police can decide when story information should be released, limiting access to reports and diverting attentions from specific events, in order to manipulate medias representation of crime and criminal justice. The US sociologist Chermaks media contend analysis study (Chermak, 1995) and Roshiers study in the UK  [3]  both evident that (Schlesinger and Tumber, reading list: 186) criminal justice bureaucracies, espe cially the police can manipulate the medias representation of crime and criminal justice system by manipulating information in order to provide a favorable image of police and strengthen the states legitimacy. Furthermore, it has been also suggested by Carlson (1985) that such biased representation of criminal justice bureaucracies can lead to support of more social control. He claims to show that heavier television viewers are comparatively ill-informed about legal process; they have a propensity to believe that the police are effective in combating crime and support. As a result, heavy viewers are tended to support more social control. (Sparks 1992, , Ericson, 1991: 283) Criticism of hegemony and Halls theory: The theory of hegemony has been criticized by many scholars that it has paid inadequate attention to the communication process. They argued that the hegemony theory supporters have been characterized by a tendency to treat media as homogeneous, this largely ignores the distinctiveness of particular media and the ways in which such media are internally differentiated. (Schlesinger et al., 1990: 96-97; Ericson et al, 1991) It has been suggested by Ericson et al that there are systematic variations between the presentations of crime in different media and markets.(Ericson et al, 1991) This is partly because of they have different variants to political and professional journalistic ideology according to patterns of ownership and perceived audience. There are interconnected with differences in technological resources, budge