The U.S. involvement in Iraq Essay Example

The U.S. involvement in Iraq Essay The U.S. involvement in Iraq and adequate response to terrorist threat remain the most contested aspects of American foreign policy. The attack of 9/11 was one of the most tragic landmarks in American history; it revealed that the issue of international terrorism should be effectively tackled. By the time of the attack, Al Qaeda terrorist network accumulated enough resources to pose a considerable threat to the U.S. homeland security. After the proxy was between the U.S. and the USSR on the territory of Afghanistan, radical Islamism began to spread over the Middle East and resulted in the establishment of Taliban government there. When the Taliban refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden, the suspect in the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. launched an attack on Afghanistan and overthrew the regime. However, there was intelligence data pointing on another major threat, that of Iraq that allegedly developed WMDs in defiance of UN resolutions. In 2003, the U.S. launched the Operation Iraqi Freedom an d toppled Saddam Hussein. However, regime change did not bring stability; neither did it put an end to insurgency. Therefore, the U.S. should stay the course in Iraq till the final settlement of the issue. The Rise of Islamism in the Middle East According to the U.S. Department of State (2003), the origins of the present form of radical Islamism can be traced back to the Afghan-Soviet conflict in late 1980s. The conflict contributed to the rise of Taliban that aimed at unifying Arabs who fought against Soviet Union and providing help to Afghan resistance. USSR’s foreign policy induced recruiting, training and financing Sunni Islamic extremists for the resistance forces. Looking at the issue in a broader historical context, after Afghanistan’s coup of 1978 resulting in the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) led by Nur Muhammad Taraki coming to power, the dangerous buildup of tension started. PDPA can be regarded as the most important Soviet-orientated Communist party of those times foe the reason that many of its leaders had studied or undergone military training in the USSR. The coup itself was planned and supported by the USSR. Following the events of 1978 Afghanistan relied on foreign aid from the USSR, which was a significant foreign policy change for a country that had maneuvered between the U.S. and the USSR without decisively siding with any of them (Ahmed, 2001). We will write a custom essay sample on The U.S. involvement in Iraq specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The U.S. involvement in Iraq specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The U.S. involvement in Iraq specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The U.S., alarmed by the fact that they were loosing Afghanistan to communism, started its covert operation prior to large-scale Soviet invasion. There were also fears of Persian Gulf area moving out of the sphere of American influence (Gasper, 2001). The goal of supporting anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan was two-fold: first of all, there were plans to overthrow Taraki’s government with a view of establishing a new government under American control, secondly, provoking Russian to invade Afghanistan was perceived as a means of weakening the rival superpower. Ex-National Security Adviser under President Carter, Zbigniew Brzezenski, is reported to have said the following: ‘We did not push the Russians into invading[but]we knowingly increased the probability that they would. The secret operation was an excellent idea. The effect was to draw the Russians into the Afghan trap’ (Power, 2005, para. 3). Fearing the U.S. overtaking Afghanistan, the USSR invaded the country in December 1979. The result was a brutal civil war that brought about numerous casualties. It also resulted in a fraction of military and political leaders fleeing to Pakistan to organize a liberation movement which was subsequently manipulated by the U.S. (Ahmed, 2001). After Soviet troops left in 1989, numerous militant groups previously sponsored by the U.S. started to compete for political power. The country remained in the state of anarchy and civil war before one of such groups, the Taliban, managed to consolidate a significant degree of power by the mid-1990s. The regime instituted by the Taliban was oppressive in its nature and violated human rights of Afghan citizens. The Taliban was backed by Pakistan and funded by Saudi Arabia (Karon, 2001). However, the far-reaching implication of the war in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s taking over Kabul in 1996 concern the rise of militant Islam in the Middle East. For many Muslim radicals, Russian invasion of Afghanistan was a sign of the ‘clash of civilization’ that led to the strengthening of anti-Western sentiment in some parts of the Muslim world. Given the support for the Taliban provided by certain fractions in other Muslim countries, it served the purpose of establishing close ties among militant Islamic organizations in the region. U.S. inconsistent foreign policy also contributed to the complication of the situation. U.S. secretly supported the Taliban until 1998, when Washington charged Osama bin Laden with the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and launched cruise missiles at Bin Ladens alleged training camps in Afghanistan (Gasper, 2001). Therefore, proxy war between the two superpowers contributed to the rise of militant Islamism in the region. U.S. covert support for anti-Soviet insurgency became the starting point of training and arming Muslim terrorists that are the primary enemy of the U.S. (and the rest of what is called ‘the Western world’) nowadays. Origins and Rise of Al Qaeda First of all, it is necessary to take a close look at the charismatic leader of Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden. He was hailed as a hero of anti-Soviet insurgency, and the Taliban welcomed him back to Afghanistan in 1996 after his had to leave Sudan. Bin Laden supposedly strengthened his connections with the Taliban leadership through his daughters marriage to its leader, Mullah Omar. His ‘Arab Afghan’ militants contributed to the Talibans takeover of the country. Many Taliban fighters received training in Bin Ladens camps (Karon, 2001). An important reason for the popular appeal of Bin Laden is connected with his promises to restore the former pride of Muslim countries, currently disoriented by globalization. He interprets Quar’an to serve his own interest; fundamentalism has always been present in Muslim countries, and the terrorist groups found a platform to consolidate it. Bin Laden issued a number of ‘fatwas’, or verdicts based on Islamic law; one of the most important was the ‘Declaration of Jihad on the Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Sacred Places’ that called upon the elimination of foreign forces at the Arabian Peninsula. Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda has grown throughout the 1990s to become one of the strongest terrorist networks. The US Department of State (2003) reports that current goal of Al Qaeda is establishing an Islamic Caliphate by combating anti-Islam regimes and removing non-Muslim population from traditionally Muslim countries. The organization was based in Afghanistan until the US-led war on terrorism made them change their location. However, Al Qaeda has cells worldwide; it is reported to have location across South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Al Qaeda planned to become a platform for the unification of allied Islamic extremist organization who shared the same values and objectives. As a consequence, Al Qaeda merged with Al-Jihad and al Gamaa al Islamiya, both Egyptian extremist groups, in 2001. Their united campaign would be known under the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and the Crusaders. Al Qaeda is in the heart of widely developed terrorist network worldwide; it is a focal point for a number of Sunni Islamic extremist groups, for example, al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and the Harakat ul-Mujahidin. As for the way of obtaining financial resources, Al Qaeda has its own businesses and benefits from donations from international supporters. Sometimes the organization uses illegal ways to gain money, for instance, by manipulating with donations to charitable organizations. As for the structure, Al Qaeda is generally viewed as consisting of four committees, namely the Military Committee, Finance Committee, Religious/Legal Committee and Media Committee; all the committees report to Majlis. Al Qaeda claims to have attacked US helicopters and US servicemen in Somalia in 1993 and to have carried out three explosions that targeted US troops in Yemen 1992. Al Qaeda planned to assassinate Pope John Paul II during his visit to Manila in 1994 and Bill Clinton during his visit to the Philippines in 1995. The same year the organization planed to bomb a number of American transpacific flights, but these plans were not carried out (Katzman, 2005). In August 1998, Al Qaeda carried out the bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Tanzania, that resulted in approximately 300 killed and 5,000 injured. In 1999, Al Qaeda planned to explode an airport in Los Angeles and to attack American and Israeli tourists in Jordan during the celebration of the new millennium. This operation was disrupted the planned operation and brought 28 suspected terrorists before the court (Katzman, 2005). In October 2000, an attack on the USS Cole in Yemen was conducted with 17 members of US Navy killed and 39 injured. In December 2001, a terrorist tried to conduct and explosion on a flight Paris-Miami with the help of a shoe bomb. In 2002, Al Qaeda conducted bombing of a hotel in Mombassa, Kenya, with 15 killed and 40 injured, and supported bombing of a nightclub in Bali that killed 180 people. In April, it conducted a bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia that resulted in 19 killed and 22 injured. In October, an attack on U.S. soldiers in Kuwait was initiated. Al Qaeda directed the attack on MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen. The organization also attempted to attack an Israeli plane with an air missile in the airport of Mombassa (Katzman, 2005). In 2003, the scale of organization’s activities became very significant. In spring 2003, it conducted bombing of three expatriate housing complexes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; this terrorist attack resulted in 20 people killed and 139 injured. In autumn, it again conducted the bombing of   a housing complex in Riyadh that killed 17 and injured 100 persons (Katzman, 2005). Al Qaeda participated in an attack on a Jewish club and hotel in Casablanca that killed 41 people and injured more than 100. It is likely that Al Qaeda took part in the bombing of Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August that resulted in 17 people killed and 137 injured. In November, the terrorist network staged explosions in two synagogues in Istanbul the resulted in 23 persons killed and 200 injured. The same month Al Qaeda carried out the bombing of the British Consulate and HSBC Bank in the capital of Turkey that killed 27 and injure 455 (Katzman, 2005). As for the major cases that occurred in 2004, there is a need to mention the explosion of ten bombs in Madrid on the 11th of March 2004. This terrorist attack resulted in 191 deaths and 1,800 injuries. It is believed that the terrorist attack was committed by the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group supported by Al Qaeda. Operation Iraqi Freedom The most significant, notorious and tragic operation of Al Qaeda was 9/11 attack. Four planes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Shanksville. According to the official report of 9/11 Commission (2004), more than 2,600 people died at the World Trade Center; 125 died at the Pentagon; 256 died on the four planes; altogether the number of deaths reaches almost 3,000. After the nation recovered from the shock, attempts were made to understand the reasons for this well-designed and cold-blooded crime. There were numerous investigations by the government authorities, scholars, and the public. Many people believe that 9/11 signified that the hatred of the Islamic extremists had reached its peak. Thus, the 9/11 Commission Report speaks of the attack as a shock, not a surprise, as Islamists have continuously issued warning that they had been planning massive killings of American citizens (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, 2004). After the 9/11 attack, the fight against terrorism was firmly put at the top of the government agenda. There were widespread fears that terrorists were planning subsequent attacks on the United States. After the Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden who was suspected of engineering the 9/11, the U.S. launched an operation in Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban government. Afghan Interim Authority with a six months mandate was established in 2001; it was succeeded by the Transitional Authority with a two year mandate. The new Constitution of Afghanistan was passed in early 2004; however, the government is still weak, and the insurgency continues. After the Afghanistan operation, Al Qaeda fighters were dispersed from their bases in mountains and relocated to urban Arab environment, where they could be more readily hidden and helped. Most Arabs who were in Afghanistan moved to Iraq. The treat of terrorism led to the U.S. operation aimed at toppling Saddam Hussein. As for the U.S.-Iraq relations before 9/11, the relation between two states deteriorated in 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. A year after the U.S. and coalition attacked Iraq from Saudi Arabia, leading to the Gulf War. The war almost toppled Saddam Hussein, but he managed to stay in power, to the dismay of American leaders. Iraq’s alleged possession of WMDs in defiance of United Nations resolutions was the most widely cited reason for the operation in the official documents. The reason for the beginning of the operation was associated with the allegations that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction, which could be subsequently used to attack the U.S. America decided it had sufficient proof of the existence of such weapons to commence the attack, since the CIA concluded that Iraq has went on developing its WMD programs failing to comply with restrictions placed by the UN. However, independent commission of weapon inspectors concluded that Iraq did not posses such weapons. As the Guardian (2004) reports, the Iraq Survey Group announced on October 6, 2004 that 15 months of searching have provided no proof that Saddam Hussein possessed significant weapons of mass destruction before the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Thomas E. Ricks (2006, p.23), the author of the book titled ‘Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq,’ writes that ‘Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD.’ Logical reasoning in support of the fact that there were no WMDs in Iraq suggests that if Saddam Hussein had possessed those weapons, he would have used them. Therefore, they claim that WMD was only an excuse caught at by the U.S. government. Yet even if the intelligence that led to the attack on Iraq was faulty, the U.S. has the obligation to stay the course. The Importance of Staying the Course in Iraq Pulling out from Iraq at the moment will have dangerous long-term consequences. The country is unstable and suffers from sectarian violence, and the U.S. pulling out forces will leave Iraq in a complete devastation. The country may then be left to insurgent terrorist groups or even fall apart. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said two years ago that ‘Iraq is heading toward disintegration, raising fears of a wider regional conflict’ (Daily Times, 2005, para.1). The duty of Americans as a nation is to oversee the final settlement of the issue with Iraq. The U.S. is the only superpower left after the collapse of the Soviet Union, therefore the present system of international relations is essentially unipolar. In this context, Anthony A. Loh (1999) from Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Harvard University introduces the theory of ‘benign hegemony’ under which the stable nature of the global balance of power does not allow any open conflict to break out. Robert Kagan (1998, p.27), senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggests the ‘the benevolent hegemony exercised by the United States is good for a vast portion of the world’s population.’ For this reason, the U.S. should live up to the expectations of the world community and stay the course in Iraq till the situation in the region is stabilized and imminent terrorist threat is eliminated. References Ahmed, Nafeez Mosaddeq. Afghanistan, the Taliban and the United States. May 2, 2001. http://www.mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq2.html#1 Daily Times. ‘Saudi Arabia says Iraq faces disintegration.’ September 24, 2005. November 8, 2007. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_24-9-2005_pg4_1 Gasper, Phil. Afghanistan, the CIA, bin Laden, and the Taliban. International Socialist Review. November-December, 2001. November 8, 2007. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Afghanistan/Afghanistan_CIA_Taliban.html Guardian. Iraq had no WMD – Inspectors. October 6, 2004. November 8, 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1321386,00.html Kagan, Robert. Benevolent Empire. Foreign Policy 111 (1998): 24-35. Karon, Tony. The Taliban and Afghanistan. The Time. September 18, 2001. November 8, 2007. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,175372,00.html Katzman, Kenneth. Al Qaeda: Profile and Threat Assessment. Congressional Research Service. August 17, 2005. November 8, 2007. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RL33038.pdf Loh, Anthony A. A Stripped–Down Conception of Hegemony. August 1999. November 8, 2007. http://www.ciaonet.org/wps/loa01 National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Baton Rouge, LA: Claitors Law Books and Publishing Division, 2004. Power, Jonathan. Anti-Soviet jihad cause of present terrors. December 23, 2005. November 8, 2007. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005%5C12%5C23%5Cstory_23-12-2005_pg3_4 Ricks, Thomas E. Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. New York: Penguin Press, 2006. U.S. Department of State. Patterns of Global Terrorism: Appendix B. 2003. November 8, 2007. http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2003/31711.htm nbsp;

Costco case Analysis Essay Essay Example

Costco case Analysis Essay Essay Example Costco case Analysis Essay Paper Costco case Analysis Essay Paper 1. What is Costco’s concern theoretical account? Is the company’s concern theoretical account appealing? Why or why non? Costco’s concern theoretical account is focused on bring forthing high gross revenues volumes and rapid stock list turnover by offering members low monetary values on a limited choice of national name trade names and choice private-label merchandises in a broad scope assortment. Costco is focused in low-priced scheme is concentrated on a narrow bargain section and out viing challengers by holding lower costs. hence being able serve a niche consumers at a lower monetary value. ( Gamble. John and Thompson. Arthur ( 2009 ) . Costco’s concern theoretical account is appealing because they are able to continually sell to a niche market. This niche market has one-year income which ranges from $ 75. 000 to $ 100. 000 or more a twelvemonth. By offering the best merchandises possible at lower monetary value. they are able to hold these members return. Soon there are 47. 679. 000 card holders which include Executive members. Business member. Primary cardholders and Add-on cardhold ers. Whereas Costco has offered the most popular merchandises in order to hold a rapid turn-over. Costco has proven that there concern scheme has worked by continually bring forthing higher net sale. 2. What are the main elements of Costco’s scheme? How good is the scheme? Scheme is the organization’s pre selected that means to accomplish its ends or aims. while maintaining in position current and future external conditions. Costco’s strategy’s elements are low monetary values. limited merchandise lines and choice and hoarded wealth Hunt shopping environment. Costco’s is following cost leading scheme which is good because on this base they can vie with their rivals. By limited merchandise lines and limited choice they are offering limited 4000 points which are less as compared to its rivals. Costco’s is adopted market development scheme by capturing new markets for bing merchandises. Besides it provides such merchandise at low monetary values to its members which they believe will non be available in following visit. This works as an inducement and members try to take maximal advantage and hence Costco’s gross revenues volume additions. At Costco’s warehouse merchandises are non offered in every size. Th e scheme they followed is that by offering every size their efficiency will diminish therefore it is said intelligent loss of gross revenues. 3. Make you believe Jim Sinegal has been an effectual Chief executive officer? What grades would you give him in taking the procedure of crafting and put to deathing Costco’s scheme? What support can you offer for these classs? Refer to calculate 2. 1 in Chapter in developing your replies. Jim Sinegal is an effectual Chief executive officer after gone through the instance survey. There are assorted grounds which show that Mr. Jim Sinegal was responsible to take the way of scheme efficaciously. First. Jim Sinegal had made a transparent and good defined planned way for the Costco to follow. He was the lone individual in the company for the readying of concern theoretical account and appreciated over the growing of the scheme of the company. He had cognize how accomplishments and created an environment to offer hoarded wealth Hunt in the shops and maintain low monetary values and helps in advancing big volume of shop traffic that helped in edifice speedy turnover of stock list. He was responsible for driving the ability of the company to accomplish annual gross revenues about to $ 130 million per shop. Harmonizing to the instance survey Sinegal had performed first-class occupation in the executing of the scheme procedure at Costco. He performed three maps in the company as manufacturer. knowing critic and manager. He went to shops for probe for look intoing out the public presentation of shop directors and asked assorted inquiries from them. about the public presentation of shops and told them to make more work on their weak countries. In this instance. when Sinegal found replies to his inquiries less than expected than he told shop directors to make more research and come back with sufficient information. 4. What nucleus values or concern rule has Jim Sinegal stressed at Costco? The chief concern rule activity of Costco is to supply high value to users by offering planetary and local ticket merchandises at low monetary values. besides it integrates its employees in a really nicely manner. Jim Sinegal wanted to state that these two principal activities reflected in working environment of Costco which makes them profitable throughout the universe as compared to other conventional jobbers and merchants. 5. ( in the event you have covered Chapter 3 ) What is competition like in the North America sweeping nine industry? Which of the five competitory forces is strongest and why? Use the information in Figures 3. 4. 3. 5. 3. 6. 3. 7. and 3. 8 ( and the related treatments in Chapter 3 ) to make a complete five-forces analysis of competition in the North American wholesale nine industry. The sweeping nine industry has evolved into a common oligopoly merely as other major industries have. The â€Å"big three† of this industry are Costco. Sam’s Club. and BJ’s. A five forces analysis will be examined in respects to the sweeping nine industry. Force one. barriers to entry ; the three companies are at an advantage because of the trouble of new houses come ining the industry. They accomplish economic systems of graduated table and range due to the size and volume of their gross revenues by purchasing and selling more goods on a larger graduated table with lower costs. It would take a considerable sum of clip for a new entrant to accomplish the benefits of economic systems of graduated table. The capital demands are big due to the building of edif ices and acquisition of land and licences. Merely companies with an established distribution web would hold a just opportunity of come ining the industry. Force two. the menace of replacements. is non a factor because the service they offer is non offered by other outside rivals. Force three. the dickering power of purchasers. is the strongest force working in the favour of the industry. This is so because purchasers can non negociate the monetary value. The chief ground clients come to sweeping nines is they are attracted by the already low monetary values and value of purchasing in majority. Force four. the dickering power of providers could come into drama if a more favourable chance nowadayss itself in the general retail industry. Sweeping nine offer merely a per centum of the merchandises that a general retail merchant does. A cardinal scheme of Costco is aimed forthrightly at selling high-grade ware at monetary values systematically below what other jobbers or retail merchants charge. Force fifth. competition among bing participants. is non a major factor. Costco. the runaway leader soon. offers the â€Å"treasure hunt† trades where extreme deals are offered for short. unheralded periods of clip. This creates bombilation amongst clients by luring them to return on a consistent footing to research what â€Å"treasures† are available. BJ’s sets itself apart by being the lone nine among the three to accept manufacturer’s vouchers. They besides are the lone nine to accept all four major recognition cards. MasterCard. Visa. Discover. and American Express. at all locations. They besides offer a broader mixture of points as compared to Sam’s and Costco. 6. Base on the information in instance Exhibits 1 and 4. is Costco’s fiscal public presentation higher-up to that at Sam’s Club and BJ’s wholesale? 7. Does the information in instance Exhibit Exhibit 2 indicate that Costco’s enlargement outside the U. S. is financially successful? Why or why non? 8. How good is Costco executing from a strategic position? Does Costco bask a competitory advantage over Sam’s Club? Over BJ’S Whole sale? If so. what is the nature of its competitory advantage? Does Costco hold a winning scheme? Why or why non? Costco has been playing really successful in the wholesaling industry as it can be seen from its concern schemes. First of all. for the intent of back uping the Costco’s concern theoretical account of bring forthing high gross revenues volumes and rapid stock list turnover. Costco members are given a limited choice of nationally branded and choice private label merchandises in a broad scope of ware classs. Then Costco unite its rapid stock list turnover with the operating efficiencies to run the concern productively at important lower gross borders than traditional wholesales. mass merchants. supermarkets and supercenters. As a consequence. Costco takes advantages of its high gross revenues volume and rapid stock list turnover to obtain the benefits of early payment price reductions from ware sellers due to the high gross revenues volume and rapid stock list turnover allow Costco to bring forth adequate hard currency in history. Second. the pricing scheme of Costco is cardinal factors to back up the low monetary value concern scheme which is to crest the borders on branded name ware at 14 per centum so that its members can purchase with low monetary value. Third. Costco focal point to offer limited choice that is about 4000 points with fast merchandising theoretical accounts. sizes and colourss. and aim the little concerns for its commercial and professional theoretical accounts selling. Furthermore. advertisement and gross revenues runs are non being used often by Costco for the selling scheme and the company merely launches runs for new warehouse gaps. In add-on. Costco besides use direct mail to prospective new members on occasion and direct mail plans advancing selected ware to members on a regular basis. Opening more new warehouses. constructing an of all time larger and ferociously loyal rank base and using good executed trading techniques to promote members to shopping more often with large trip are the chief cardinal growing scheme of Costco. Furthermore. online shopping is another option that Costco offered to members so as to do their shopping more convenient instead than exchange to rivals. In add-on. Majority of ware is owned by Costco. and the company besides builds direct purchasing relationships with many manufacturers of national trade name name ware and makers and this consequence in the available of flexible options of providers for Costco in anytime to hold sufficient of stocked ware. Besides. Costco’s rank base and member demographics contains powerful purchasing ability as it chiefly aim the single clients with minimal income of $ 75000 and 30 per centum of the targeted clients earn more than $ 100000 yearly. For the intent of put to deathing Costco’s scheme successfully. the company offer semiannual fillips and full spectrum of benefits for its employees. More of import. the advancing chances will see the insiders foremost based on the company policy. Other factors that determine the success of Costco besides include the concern doctrine. values and codification of moralss such as obey the jurisprudence and governmental ordinances. take of members. take of employees. regard providers and concern spouses. and honor the stockholders. Costco is crushing both Sam’s Club and BJ’s sweeping in net gross revenues and market portion. However. Sam’s Club has launched an aggressive run to increase its market portion. 9. Are Costco’s monetary values excessively low? Why or why non? Yes. because the gross net income border falls into the normal scope for this industry. However. it should be swerving upward and as you can see it is really diminishing somewhat. If this tendency continues. stairss will necessitate to be taken to rectify the job. Another chance index. return on shareholder equity indicates that the company has a job. Average returns are about 12 % . which Costco was approaching in 2004 and 2005. In2006. the company experienced a crisp diminution which is doing for concern. Investigate this diminution. It could be due to low net incomes after revenue enhancements. If the pricing is excessively low. this can go on. Currently. Sinegal. true. attempts to sell merchandises at the lowest monetary value possible for length of service. However. if the investors in the house are non doing appropriate returns for the hazard. they will put elsewhere. The current ratio figure is in the mean scope but on the diminution. The debt to equity shows a strong balance sheet and low degrees of debt. It is swerving downward. The stock list turnover rate is somewhat higher than norm. bespeaking that Costco is surpassing rivals in traveling merchandise. Besides cause for concern is the fact that the on the job capital is shriveling. This might bespeak the inability to spread out without a loan. 10. What do you believe of Costco’s compensation patterns? Does it surprise you that Costco employees seemingly are instead well-compensated? Costco’s compensation and benefits are higher than those at walmart. Salaried employees in Costco warehouses could gain anyplace from $ 30000 to $ 125000 anually. Costco employees enjoyed a benefit bundle that included the undermentioned points. Health and dental attention programs. A dependent attention reimbursement program.Confidential professional guidance services.Company paid long term disablement coverage equal to 60 % . of gaining for workers that were out for more than 180 yearss on a non-worker’s compensationleave of absence. Generous life insurance and inadvertent decease and taking apart coverage. An employee stock purchase program. 11. What recommendations would you do to Costco top direction sing how best to prolong the company’s growing and better its fiscal public presentation? Costco is a company that have some unfavorable judgment. such as people has to wait for a long clip to pay their merchandises. However costco Department of Energy non hold large jobs that urgently need to be fixed. So it should stand in the same class utilizing the present scheme. I think Costco has the capacity to go on puting in new shops and turn gross revenues. It can besides spread out gross revenues by presenting new merchandises line. like furniture. The company has the fiscal resources to maintain turning its concern and open more warehouse locations

Knowledge management assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Knowledge management - Assignment Example The evaluation is the basis upon which the status of the system finds establishment. The policy will then be drafted on the basis of the findings. The strengths and weaknesses of the policy will then be tested for effectiveness in management of the university’s information and knowledge resources. The Information Technology department is an indispensable department in any organization. It manages the technological resources for the university. Management of the information system focuses on the technology used to gather information and data which is essential to run the university. The information should be safe and retrievable. Data collection methods collect the relevant information. A survey is one of the methods used to assess satisfaction the users of the information system get from its utilization. An online survey (Shapiro, 2004) can be used to collect the feedback on IT functionalities. It will gauge the strengths and weaknesses of the system. It will also be used to measure trends and attitudes toward new information technology. The IT survey design examines the use of information technology such as computers and programs. The survey should be close ended. It collects quantitative data. The information collected will help the university decide what information technology is available to support, plan, implement and evaluate new programs. It will enumerate and describe the programs available for the different groups of staff and students of the university. It will gather data on suggestions as to which programs and equipment could ameliorate the efficiency of the information management system. A survey is affordable and efficient. However, it lacks the flexibility required to capture certain qualitative information. It finds its application in lieu with interviews. Interviews can obtain in depth information on topics. Interviews capture qualitative information. They gather this

EXAM PREPARATION (MARKETING RESEARCH) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

EXAM PREPARATION (MARKETING RESEARCH) - Essay Example Another example of categorical data is the use of geography and demographic data to predict behaviour of the consumer. In demography and geography survey, the consumers respond to their state of residence or the city, or the country of origin (Texas, California, and Chicago). However, the study should limit the states or the cities from where it operates from or have subsidiaries. To assess the specific geographic market segmentation, business composition, growth patterns, and the demand difference among the zones or areas of operation, one should also use categorical data. These data can be collected using three criteria. The common approach is the use of open-ended questionnaire that would require coding after data collection (respond allowed to write their thought). Another example involves the use of lists of items in a form to enable the respondent select the options. The categorical data allows the use of multiple response questions (respondent selects). The questions must be c oded to make the selection and subsequent analysis easy. The reason for assigning numbers to labels facilitates data analysis. Analysis is possible through the assessment of modal frequencies and percentages. The nominal data are not suitable for studies that seek to establish the comparison and to rank between products in different geographical and demographic zones. Besides, one cannot use these data in studies that require averages and comparison. Studies seeking to establish ranking or ordering of products and other business variables use ordinal data. In simple terms, the ordinal data determines natural order hence referred to as the rating scale. One can rate (excellent, good, fair, unsatisfactory, and poor) services or products. Such data is useful when one seeks to leverage on the respondent willingness to rank or make their preferred list of items through their selection strategies. Unlike categorical data, which

The Potential Unreliability Of Eyewitness Criminology Essay

The Potential Unreliability Of Eyewitness Criminology Essay The potential unreliability of eyewitness testimony poses one of the most serious problems in the administration of criminal justice. Eyewitness testimony is very important for legal decisions. Eyewitnesses are central to most court cases (Kebbell Milne, 1999) and eyewitnesses accounts are the most common and significant testimonies that can potentially serve as the primary forms of evidence against a defendant. Moreover research shows that jurors exaggeratedly believe the testimony of eyewitnesses and this, can lead to possible miscarriages of justice (Cutler et al. 1990). The aim of this essay is to investigate, based on the literature, the reasons that may influence the memory process of eyewitnesses and also what can be done in order to ensure that eyewitnesses testimony worth the value. Eyewitness testimony is a legal term and it refers to an account given by a bystander in the courtroom, who describes what happened during a specific incident under investigation. This is the principal way in which the guilt of the accused is established through verbal witness evidence in court. It is considered to be a reliable accepted form that provides evidence and jurors tend to pay close attention to it. Recently forensics and psychologists declare that memories and individual perceptions are unreliable, can being easily manipulated and biased . As a result, inaccurate eyewitnesses identifications can have serious consequences leading to wrong convictions of innocent people (Wells et al., 1998). When scientific psychology was in its first steps, articles about mistaken eyewitness identifications started to appear in the field (Munsterberg, 1908). However, eyewitness evidence has made people to think if eyewitnesses testimonies are reliable or not. It would be said though that all people have the knowledge that they do not remember everything, and therefore they know that memory can be weak. On the other hand it is difficult to deny the importance of eyewitnesses testimony. Research has shown that people probably feel better about convicting an alleged criminal when an eyewitness claims I saw him do it than when there is no such claim. The hypothesis that inaccurate eyewitness identifications can lead to the conviction of innocent people is also accepted by Canadian legal professionals (Brooks, 1983). DNA testing in the United States has shown that mistaken eyewitness identifications are the reason for more false convictions than all other causes combined (Connors et al. 1996 ). Moreover, this statement about eyewitness misidentifications that is one of the most common causes of wrongful convictions ( Rattner, Sagarin, 1986). Borchard reported that eyewitness error occurred in 45% of 65 cases of wrongful convictions. Huff (1986) found eyewitness errors in nearly 60% of 500 wrongful convictions and Ruttner (1986) concluded that eyewitness error occurred in 52% of 205 wrongful convictions. All these wrongful convictions studies were conducted before the invention of DNA testing. In 1996 a study which analysed of the application of DNA technology to forensic issues in the United States, has revealed some significant facts (Connors, et al., 1996). More specifically 28 men who were found guilty for various criminal acts were exonerated through the analysis of DNA typing. Eyewitness identification was the single most common factor accounting for these erroneous convictions. Furthermore, Wells, et al., (1998) added some more cases to the list of DNA-related wi th false identifications. These cases revealed that one to up to five eyewitnesses made false identifications of innocent suspects. Nevertheless, the eyewitness evidence was presented by well-meaning and confident citizens it was highly persuasive but, at the same time it was at least partially responsible for the majority of wrongful convictions. More recently, The Innocence Project reported some significant facts. The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organisation dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The findings of this project show that about 66% of 138 cases in which DNA could exonerate the accused, wrongfully eyewitness identification was involved (Wells, 2004). As eyewitness concerns the memory process it is undeniable that some memory trace exists and this could have important consequences for the course of justice (Wells, 1993). Few people would doubt that human memory is fallible. According to Haber (2000), people tend to believe that memories are like video recorders that faithfully record the things that people do and replay them back perfectly later. The fact is that sensory and perceptual experiences of an incident are not recorded in memory in a similar way to a videotape recorder (Yarmey, 1980). Human memory is constructed and reconstructed from stored bits and pieces of acquired information of what actually happened and what a person intuits, discovers from others, or infers must have happened'(Graham, 2008). Following the reconstructive view, memory can be divided into three stages: (1) acquisition or encoding of information; (2) retention or storage of information over time; and (3) retrieval of stored information through recal l and recognition. A lot of problems may occur in each of these three stages. Loftus (1979, 1996) has focused a lot in these three stages of memory in order to understand the problems that may occur and lead to false convictions. Thus in the first stage which is encoding, the information first goes into the memories. More specifically, if not enough attention is paid to what is going on the encoding stage, then events may not be encoded properly. For example the length of time an eyewitness is able to see the perpetrator, will affect the accuracy of his/her memory. That is, the longer an eyewitness can see the perpetrator, the more will be able to encode and retrieve later on the identification task. Thus, exposure time is a very important variable that can affects the accuracy of eyewitness identification ( Laugherty et al., 1971). Furthermore other problems that may influence the encoding stage are the event salience and the prior expectations of the eyewitness. Usually eyewitnesses pay more attention to some details than others and also recall expectation n ot necessarily the truth. As a result they give wrong identifications (Loftus, 1974). During the second stage which is storage, people keep the information in their memories to recall later. In this stage the factors that may influence the eyewitnesses testimony are the length of time or the exposure to new information. For example witnesses might read a new report about the incident, which can affect their original memory, or if the information is stored for a long time the natural processes of forgetting could further degrade the memory. For this reason, some witnesses are more susceptible than other to false memories. However, people appear more susceptible to post-event information if it occurs later in the interval before formal retrieval (Loftus, 2005). Moreover research suggests that witnesses from each end of the age spectrum may be less reliable on average than those in between. For example, elderly witnesses and young children were found to be poorer at identifying strange rs accurately than other age groups (Ceci Bruck, 1993). Moreover, according to Loftus (1974) another reason that may lead to false memories is the stress that might experiment different eyewitnesses. High levels of stress have been suggested to have a negative effect on a witnesss ability to encode and retrieve information (Kassin et al., 2001). Finally the retrieval stage which is when the information is released in peoples memories, perhaps as a response to questioning, it can create further changes. For example the way questions are asked can distort the original memory or the stressful circumstance may prevent accurate recall. Psychologists distinguish two types of retrieval, recall and recognition. Recognition is where, for example, a eyewitness may take part in a line-up and asked if they have seen it before. The recall equivalent of these tasks would be to ask the eyewitness to describe the suspects appearance or what they were wearing. Recall is usually considered to be mor e difficult because it involves more stages of processing, not only verification but also retrieval (Kebbell Wagstaff, 1999). Other factors that can lead to wrongful evidence are the confidence that eyewitnesses may have the different type of questioning and problems with line-ups. First of all confidence should always be taken into account when assessing the risk of misidentification. Research has shown that lawyers in general accept that confident witnesses are accurate (Leippe, Manion Romanczyk, 1992; Wells et al., 2000). It is suggested that people tend to be more confident when they are forced to choose answers which can cause difficulties in the criminal proceeding (Bornstein Zickafoose, 1999). Moreover badly worded questions, complex sentences and difficult vocabulary are all potentially problematic for witnesses (Kebell Johnson, 2000). Finally according to Busey and Loftus (2007) there are some problems with line-ups. These problems might be inadequate matched fillers, which means that the foils do not match the descriptions of the offender provided by eyewitnesses, bias and unconscious transfere nce which happens when the witness has seen the suspect before but not realise this. Eyewitness testimony is a topic that has a lot of limitations and need for further research is essential. The majority of studies designed to assess the validity of eyewitness have been conducted in laboratory and have used videotapes or live simulations of crime events. Only a minority of these researches have been field studies involving genuine victims and eyewitnesses of real crimes (Brigham et al., 1982; Krafka Penrod, 1985; Pigott, Brigham, Bothwell, 1990; Penrod Cutler, 1997). Of course, eyewitness identifications are made under all sorts of the adequate conditions, but these studies were based on conditions that made witnesses feel more comfortable. For example in several studies there was no psychological pressure for identifying the perpetrator, because in a laboratory study there is not any real risk of the defendant to be sentenced to forensic settings. Furthermore another factor that makes these studies inaccurate consists of the fact that witnesses were asked to iden tify photos rather than real people and there was no arousal for a lot of studies at the time of the encoding. Finally another element to take into consideration is the confidence of the witnesses. In some cases it has been shown to have a significant effect while other studies have shown that it does not. A factor that may increase the credibility of the eyewitness testimony is the expert testimony about eyewitness identification. Such expert testimony has already been allowed in numerous countries around the world (Fishman Loftus, 1978). Expert testimony is designed to provide scientific information. According to Loftus (1978), an expert psychologist can describe to the jurors the studies that have been conducted and the results from the experiments on peoples ability. Furthermore expert testimony about eyewitness behaviour takes part when a professional psychologist is admitted by the judge as an expert authority on eyewitness testimony who is presented in the court and informs the jurors about scientific studies related in memory and the variables that are known to influence memory and memory report (Vidmar Schuller, 1989). Research has shown that expert testimony is the only legal safeguard about the factors that affect the reliability of eyewitnesses accounts to perceive and re call complex events (Cutler Penrod, 1995). Thus the jurors can have enough information on which to evaluate the identification evidence correctly. However expert testimony is not always useful (Cutler Penrod, 1995), expensive time -consuming and there are limited number of experts (Wells, 1993). To summarise, eyewitness testimony is very important in the determination of various legal decisions and also eyewitness accounts are essential because they serve strong evidence against a defendant. However researches have shown that inaccurate eyewitness identifications can have serious consequences leading to wrong convictions of innocent people. The reasons which provoke these erroneous convictions may be problems in the three stages of memory or some types of physical features such as the age and the race of the witness, the behaviour of other witnesses, the presence or absence of expert testimony and the confidence of eyewitnesses. Moreover researches have revealed numerous limitations. The fact that research is mostly based on laboratories studies can be problematic when it comes to apply to real-life situations with precision. In addition a not well organised structure of the line-ups and the inappropriate questioning techniques can contribute to witnesses making mistakes. Ne vertheless, eyewitness testimony continues and will continue to have value because it is considered to be one of the most important factors of evidence in the court which provides vivid and virtual evidence of an incident. On the other hand witnesses are not automatically unreliable. There is much that can be done to promote good evidence both by the police and the courts. It is the forensic psychologists role to investigate further issues which lead to accurate as well as inaccurate accounts and to assist the criminal justice system in interpreting research findings for the benefit of all parties. New studies may help increase the value of the eyewitness testimony by enhancing judges and jurors knowledge of this type of testimony and this can reduce wrongful convictions. Judges and jurors will be more aware of the dangers of erroneous eyewitness testimony and more willing to permit legal safeguards, including expert testimony which informs them about the limitations that they have to be aware of and not to discount a testimony entirely in these limitations. Moreover increasing judges and jurors knowledge of eyewitness testimony is also essential because expert testimony is not a panacea for erroneous identifications. Finally, a dialogue between judges and researchers who specialise in eyewitness studies would be useful in increasing the value of the testimony. Reducing wrongful convictions is vital because the continual discovery of false convictions undermines the reliability of the legal system.

Cell Phones in School

Reynna Thomas Mrs. Arroyo English 10 HL 14 November 2012 Cell Phones in School Would you prefer cell phone usage in school, or cell phones banned in school? Most students and parents prefer to have the usage of cell phones in school. Cell phones should be allowed to be in school for various reasons. The use of cell phones in school can be beneficial to both students and parents. A lot of times there is school emergencies, family emergencies or even work emergencies. A child can contact their parents to let them know what is going on if there is an emergency in school.Also, the parent can contact their child if there is something happening in the family. If something goes wrong at work and someone’s hours need to be changed, then the boss can contact their employee which may also be a student, by texting them and letting them know. If students were not allowed to use phones during school, they would not have any idea of what is going on if there is an emergency. Apps and instan t internet access are great advantages for most students with smart phones. Apps can help students get to things quicker, and they can also help save things that cannot be saved on the internet.Having instant internet access can make it easier to search things in a short period of time. They can both also be quicker to get to then a computer. Ever hear of calendars and organizers? Well that is another good reason for students to use cell phones in school. Since most students mark their important dates in their calendars on their phone, they can have access to it in school if something comes up. They can also use their calendar to see or mark when something is due. Organizers can be helpful while doing a project, or even for homework that they have that day.Students may forget what they had to do something and look back at their organizer. Most students with phones have voice notes or a recorder. Both of the two can be beneficial and a good reason for students to use their phones in class. Voice note or the recorder can be used to record something that was important, or if they do not have time to take down notes they can record what the teacher is saying. For example, if the teacher is teaching a new lesson and a student does not have enough time to write notes, or if someone cannot write fast enough they can just pull out their phone and record.Using their phones to take pictures in class is another reason students should be allowed to have access to cell phones in school. They can take pictures of experiments that were used in class that they can’t take home with them to use. If there props or other things that can be used in their projects, and they can’t take it home they can also use their phones to take a picture of that. Say you came into class late and you weren’t there for notes, you can use your phone to take a picture of the notes you missed. What if a project is due and their partner isn’t in school that day?Well, if stu dents were allowed to uses cell phones in school then it would be possible for them to text their partner and ask them for information that they had. Also, they can text their partner and let them know what work they missed, or what information they need to add to their project. Foreign students’ usually have problems with understanding or even speaking another language besides their own. If they were able to have access to their phones throughout the day, they can contact their parents and ask them for a translation, or even Google translate.A lot of students’ have a stopwatch on their phone, or a timer. A stopwatch or timer can be used for students to time a lab that their doing in Science. It can also be used to time a project that is being done in a certain period of time, or classwork. Teachers and Administrators would save a lot more money on calculators if they allowed students to use their phones. Students can use their phones to use their calculator for differ ent activities. A lot of calculators on smartphones are most likely more upgraded then school calculators.Using calculators from their phone are also way easier for students. All they have to do is pull out their phone and the app is right there. In a lot of schools, there are situations where teachers have interactions with students. If a student is noticing something is going on with a student and teacher, they can use their phones as evidence. Most of the time the Administrators believe the teachers before they believe a student. With someone having evidence, the principal can’t deny that the student is telling the truth.Capturing a picture, or recording something is good enough evidence to prove something. It is understandable why Administrators do not allow cell phones in school, but not all students’ are going to abuse the policy. Most students actually need the advantage to use their phones in school. The majority of students would only use their phones when all owed or told to. On the other hand, there are a handful of students who would abuse the policy. Some students use their phones throughout lesson, which distract themselves and also others.Other students use their phones to cheat on assignments, tests, quizzes etc. Those students are the reason why cell phones are banned in most schools. All in all, there are good reasons why cell phones should be allowed in school, and why cell phones should be banned. Just because a few select students cannot follow directions does not mean it should be required to all students’. If Administrators allow cell phone usage then students and parents would be much happier. Also, students would concentrate more and have all their needs met. Cell Phones in School Reynna Thomas Mrs. Arroyo English 10 HL 14 November 2012 Cell Phones in School Would you prefer cell phone usage in school, or cell phones banned in school? Most students and parents prefer to have the usage of cell phones in school. Cell phones should be allowed to be in school for various reasons. The use of cell phones in school can be beneficial to both students and parents. A lot of times there is school emergencies, family emergencies or even work emergencies. A child can contact their parents to let them know what is going on if there is an emergency in school.Also, the parent can contact their child if there is something happening in the family. If something goes wrong at work and someone’s hours need to be changed, then the boss can contact their employee which may also be a student, by texting them and letting them know. If students were not allowed to use phones during school, they would not have any idea of what is going on if there is an emergency. Apps and instan t internet access are great advantages for most students with smart phones. Apps can help students get to things quicker, and they can also help save things that cannot be saved on the internet.Having instant internet access can make it easier to search things in a short period of time. They can both also be quicker to get to then a computer. Ever hear of calendars and organizers? Well that is another good reason for students to use cell phones in school. Since most students mark their important dates in their calendars on their phone, they can have access to it in school if something comes up. They can also use their calendar to see or mark when something is due. Organizers can be helpful while doing a project, or even for homework that they have that day.Students may forget what they had to do something and look back at their organizer. Most students with phones have voice notes or a recorder. Both of the two can be beneficial and a good reason for students to use their phones in class. Voice note or the recorder can be used to record something that was important, or if they do not have time to take down notes they can record what the teacher is saying. For example, if the teacher is teaching a new lesson and a student does not have enough time to write notes, or if someone cannot write fast enough they can just pull out their phone and record.Using their phones to take pictures in class is another reason students should be allowed to have access to cell phones in school. They can take pictures of experiments that were used in class that they can’t take home with them to use. If there props or other things that can be used in their projects, and they can’t take it home they can also use their phones to take a picture of that. Say you came into class late and you weren’t there for notes, you can use your phone to take a picture of the notes you missed. What if a project is due and their partner isn’t in school that day?Well, if stu dents were allowed to uses cell phones in school then it would be possible for them to text their partner and ask them for information that they had. Also, they can text their partner and let them know what work they missed, or what information they need to add to their project. Foreign students’ usually have problems with understanding or even speaking another language besides their own. If they were able to have access to their phones throughout the day, they can contact their parents and ask them for a translation, or even Google translate.A lot of students’ have a stopwatch on their phone, or a timer. A stopwatch or timer can be used for students to time a lab that their doing in Science. It can also be used to time a project that is being done in a certain period of time, or classwork. Teachers and Administrators would save a lot more money on calculators if they allowed students to use their phones. Students can use their phones to use their calculator for differ ent activities. A lot of calculators on smartphones are most likely more upgraded then school calculators.Using calculators from their phone are also way easier for students. All they have to do is pull out their phone and the app is right there. In a lot of schools, there are situations where teachers have interactions with students. If a student is noticing something is going on with a student and teacher, they can use their phones as evidence. Most of the time the Administrators believe the teachers before they believe a student. With someone having evidence, the principal can’t deny that the student is telling the truth.Capturing a picture, or recording something is good enough evidence to prove something. It is understandable why Administrators do not allow cell phones in school, but not all students’ are going to abuse the policy. Most students actually need the advantage to use their phones in school. The majority of students would only use their phones when all owed or told to. On the other hand, there are a handful of students who would abuse the policy. Some students use their phones throughout lesson, which distract themselves and also others.Other students use their phones to cheat on assignments, tests, quizzes etc. Those students are the reason why cell phones are banned in most schools. All in all, there are good reasons why cell phones should be allowed in school, and why cell phones should be banned. Just because a few select students cannot follow directions does not mean it should be required to all students’. If Administrators allow cell phone usage then students and parents would be much happier. Also, students would concentrate more and have all their needs met.

Articles of Confederation vs Constitution Essay

The Articles of Confederation and United States Constitution are two documents that shaped the U.S. government into what it is today. The Articles of Confederation (AOC) was the first Constitution of the United States. Americans soon realized that this document had to be substantially modified because the U.S. needed a stronger government. The AOC was thought of as an ineffective national government document, although there were some strong points. The AOC was ratified in 1781, and replaced by an improved document known as the United States Constitution in 1789. An unknown person once said, â€Å"Perhaps the greatest service rendered by the Articles of Confederation was the impetus its shortcomings gave to those who favored a strong central government.† This is an analytical essay supporting this quote by comparing the strengths, weaknesses, and achievements of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. The AOC gave Congress many powers which included: the right to declare war, develop foreign policy, regulate Native American activity in the territories, coin money, run post offices, borrow money, and appoint military officers. Although the AOC seemed to have a lot of power, there were also several underlying weaknesses and problems that were not initially addressed. As a result the United States Constitution came into action. This document essentially addressed all the underlying problems of the AOC. The AOC did not allow Congress to levy taxes on individuals which the Constitution addressed. The AOC had no federal court system so the Constitution had a dynamic court system in place which was created to deal with issues between citizens and the states. The AOC offered no regulation of trade between states and interstate commerce. The Constitution gave Congress the right to regulate trade between states and control interstate commerce. The AOC had no executive power; the president of the United States simply presided over Congress until the ratification of the Constitution which created the Executive branch. This was designed to give the president a more powerful role in the government. The Executive branch gave the president power to choose his Cabinet members and checks on the power of the judicial and legislative branches. The AOC offered little hope if Congress or the states needed to amend any documents as it called for 100% (13/13) of participants  to agree. The Constitution made it to where a 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress, plus a 3/4 vote of state legislatures or national convention could amend a document. In the AOC the representation of states was flawed as it said each state were to receive 1 vote regardless of siz e. The Constitution in turn fixed this by making the upper house (Senate)give each state 2 votes and the lower house (House of Representatives) is based on population. The AOC did not allow Congress to recruit military troops, but was dependent on states to contribute forces. The Constitution allows for Congress to raise an army when needed in military situations. The AOC had a complicated system of arbitration in effect and the Constitution issued federal courts the right to handle disputes. Sovereignty was an issue while the AOC were in place as it resided in the states whereas the Constitution created the supreme law of the land. When passing law the AOC required 9/13 to approve legislation and the Constitution made it majority vote in both houses plus the signature of the President. The AOC faced many challenges and did not maintain order as the United States needed. It essentially did not work for the United States which is why the ratification of it is such a historical outcome of the United States. All these ratifications of the AOC did not come so simple to the United States. There was a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787 to solve the problems of the AOC. It was at this convention that many plans were proposed, and compromises were reached. The weaknesses of the AOC had to be addressed. The first plan introduced by Governor Edmund Randolph, was the Virginia Plan, better known as the Large State Plan, called for a strong national government with bicameral legislation apportioned by population. This plan also called for the lower house to be elected directly by the people and the upper house to be elected by the lower house. This plan as well called for a Chief Executive and a Federal Court system, and it gave Congress the power to tax and regulate interstate commerce. The Large State Plan gave the national government the power to legislate, and gave a proposed national Council of Revision a veto power over state legislatures. The delegates loved the sound of this fundamental reform plan. The Virginia Plan struck opposition among delegates from the smaller states and thus a competing plan, presented by William Patterson, known as the New Jersey  Plan, or Small State Plan, came into action. This plan kept federal powers rather limited and created no new Congress. Instead, the plan enlarged some of the supremacies then held by the Continental Congress. It also called for a plural executive branch and a federal court system like the Virginia Plan. This plan was not as highly sought out as the Virginia Plan, so in turn was rejected which caused the supporters of the Virginia Plan to make amends to the smaller states. This in turn resulted in members of the Senate being elected by the state legislatures. After the Virginia and New Jersey Plan delegate s worked out a series of compromises between these competing plans. The first was The Great Compromise, or the Connecticut Compromise, which resulted in a bicameral legislature: House of Representatives (lower house), which was representation based on population, and the Senate (upper house), which was based on equal representation where each state would have 2 senators selected by the state legislatures. Another compromise reached was The Three-fifths Compromise. This was proposed over the â€Å"counting† of slaves and it determined that slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a vote for both purposes of taxation, and purposes of representation in the House of Representatives. On September 17, 1787, a majority of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention approved the documents over which they had labored since May. To ratify the Constitution it was determined that 9 of the 13 states had to agree to the ratification in order for the new Constitution to go into effect. Although 9 states is all the government needed to ratify the new document, Congress knew it was important to get the support of the large states, New York and Virginia, in order for the new government to be effective. Delaware was the first state to ratify and soon after 4 more states joined in on the ratification. There were those who favored ratification, better known as the Federalists, and those who opposed the ratification, known as Anti-federalists. The Federalists fought back and convinced the states that rejection of the Constitution would result in anarchy and civil strife. The Anti-federalists argued against the ratification that the delegates in Philadelphia had exceeded their congressional authority by replacing the AOC with an illegal new document. Others protested that the delegates in Philadelphia represent only the noble few, and thus hand crafted a document that saved their special interests and set aside the franchise for the propertied classes. The Anti-federalists  also argued that the Constitution would give too much power to the central government at the expense of the states, and that a representative government could not manage a republic as large as the United States. The biggest objection by the Anti-federalists was the Constitutional Convention had failed to adopt a Bill of Rights. The Federalists believed that the Constitution was so constrained that it posed no threat to the rights of citizens. It was clear in order to get the remainder of the states on the ratification side that the government had to put a Bill of Rights in place. The Federalist assured the public that the first step of the new government would adopt a Bill of Rights. Soon after, The Federalist Papers were written by John Jay and Alexander Hamilton of New York, and James Madison of Virginia. This document encouraged the ratification of the Constitution. These papers circulated through New York and other states and soon after ratification passed in the New York and Virginia state conventions. The last and final state to ratify the Constitution was Rhode Island. After it was faced with threatened treatment as a foreign government, it passed ratification of May 29, 1790.