The Definition Of Downsizing Management Essay

The Definition Of Downsizing Management Essay Given the issues relating to this research field are introduced and research objectives are also be proposed carefully in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, the researcher would like to continuous introduces the concepts, definitions and theories relevant to the issues that already mentioned in Chapter 1, through that, Chapter 2 will provide and build research hypothesis for research. Basically, Chapter 2 includes the main parts as follows (1) The definition of downsizing, (2) The definition of Survivors Syndrome, (3) The research hypothesis (4) Chapter summary. Definition of Downsizing In the economic context of continuous competitive, developing, changing and unpredictable, organizations suffering severe downturns in their business or facing difficulties, downsizing strategy is being used by many organizations in every industries and sectors with different goals and visions. There is not a single downsizing definition accepted by all researchers (Davis, Savage, Steward Chapman, 2003). There are many different definitions or understanding about downsizing, for example Cameron, (1994:194) defines downsizing as a positive strategy which do as a purpose of organizations: a set of organizational activities undertaken on the part of management of an organization and designed to improve organizational efficiency, productivity, and/or competitiveness. In another the way, downsizing is not something just happen to the organization, it is something that the organization knows and act purposively. Downsizing is may be implemented as a defensive reaction to decline or as a pr oactive strategy to enhance organizational performance (Kim S Cameron, 1994). Many organizations for a long time that no longer considered downsizing as a situation solution in the hard time period, but they considered downsizing as an effective strategy to reduce costs, human focus, create job opportunities, increased job challenge and promotion. The expenditure cost can be cut effectively due to better decision making and effective human resource controlling if the organization can maintain the right sized of company. It develops a culture of work where employees can have opportunities for growth, they can easily participate and involvement in making decision. Moreover, employees easily feel be part of organization that they should better participate with more collaboration, fidelity, and accuracy. According to Mishra and Spreitzer (1998) defines downsizing has become the strategy favored by many organizations attempting to cope with fundamental, structural changes in the world ec onomy. Downsizing as a deliberate reduction in size or complexity of a firms activities intended to improve the profitability, productivity, and/or competitiveness of the firms continuing operations(Legatski II, 1998). But in conclusion, most researches have defined downsizing as any reduction in the size of the organization (e.g. Budros, 1999; Cascio, 1993; Freeman Cameron, 1993; Kozlowski, Chao, Smith Hedlund, 1993). Downsizing, in general, refers to the reduction of work for certain organization. For employees, downsizing is considered as a management weapon to enforce greater control over the workforce. To management, it is a strategic measure to bring optimized operation efficiency and productivity in organization. Cameron and colleagues (e.g. Cameron et all., 1991, 1993; Cameron, 1994b) have identified three organizational strategies to achieve downsizing: workforce reduction strategy, work redesign and systematic change. The first strategy is workforce reduction is typi cally a short-term strategy, which simply focuses on reducing organizations headcount. In a confirmatory study, Mishra and Mishra (1994) found that such strategy might lead to loss in valued organizational competency or negative outcome of those who remains. Human resource is essential and is a factor that makes the decision for the development of organizations. Lack of human resource will increase workload, anxiety about losing their jobs at any time, and these feeling leads to insecurity psychological, these are reasons that cause labor productivity reduced. Work reduction is applied by organizations through some programs such as attrition, early retirement or voluntary severance packages, layoffs and terminations. The second and third strategies are work redesign and systematic change strategies. While work reductions resulted is lead to reduction, rather than improvement, the work redesign and systematic change are positively related to organizational performance in term of both cost reduction and quality improvement (Cameron et all.,1993; Mishra and Mishra, 1994) and to survivors (people who remains) of downsizing having a positive learning orientation (Farrell and Mavando, 2004). Many previous researches indicated that the use of workforce reduction is increasing and become popular despite the harmful impacts may arise for organization. Workforce reduction or simply called workforce downsizing is becoming the most popular strategy and a plethora of workforce reduction strategies for downsizing of employees has been proposed (e.g. Greenhalgh et al., 1988; Gutchess, 1985; Leana Feldman, 1992; Price, 1990). Whenever reduce equipments, machinesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ organizations can find out the outcome and its impact through simple calculations, but in workforce downsizing, the emotions, loyalty, and human effort cannot simply calculate. In an organizational context, employees not only contribute their individual skills and knowledge, they also collaborate and integrate their separate skills toward creating firm capabilities. As such, both human and social capital-and therefore the commitment and the loyalty of employees-play an important role in dictating a firms ca pacity to create competitive advantage. Reducing headcount may lead to immediate labor cost savings, but it can also seriously erode employee commitment and loyalty, with negative consequences for firm competitiveness and performance. So the questions are what the impacts of workforce downsizing to organizations are, how it effects, and what the advantage and disadvantage of the impact are? Some researches indicated the opinion that organizational downsizing may create better productivity or better performance for organization; while, others indicate downsizing may create negative impact or threat to human resource, break of existed organization culture. Downsizing has been defined as an attempt to increase organizational effectiveness(Kozlowsky, et. al. 1993). Freeman Cameron (1993) and Tomasco (1990) from their finding indicated that organization downsizing created some benefits to organization such as faster decision making, more flexibilities, and increase in productivity. Cascio (1993:97) suggested that proponents of downsizing generally expect the following benefits: lower overheads, less bureaucracy, faster decision making, smoother communications, greater entrepreneurship and increases in productivity. Dow nsizing can suggest to financial markets or government funding agencies that an organization is cutting costs and reducing waste, which may increase availability of capital for subsequent activities (Cascio, 1993; Dial Murphy, 1995; Palmon, Sun Tang, 1997. Downsizing for some individuals is also a chance to demonstrate the capacity himself, or an opportunity for career development. The people who still remain with organization will be the one who give the most effort for the development of organization, if they can prove themselves at this time, success may comes to their organization and will come to them as well. However, in contrast with the benefits that downsizing may bring, many other previous studies indicate their strongly disagree with those arguments. Downsizing may provide a decrease in operating expenses in the near term, but the long term impacts may not be so positive (Difrances, 2002). Downsizing can lead to a loss of knowledge and experience base because of some laid off will be the people who worked for a long time with organization, old people, who may not have a fast and efficient action in work like young people, but they have extensive knowledge, experiences that young people learn in short time, loss available mentors for existing and new employees, loss of corporate culture, and downsizing can have direct impaction to the customers such as loss of established customer service and contacts. Therefore, whenever workforce downsizing is chosen by organizations in hard time or peaceful time, there is definite and obvious impact good or bad on organizations. But in all the affected elements, the human factor is probably the most affected element. Human capital (i.e., the knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees) is one of the primary factors a business can rely on to differentiate their products or services and build a competitive advantage (Hargis Bradley, 2011). Human resource is one of the 5Ms (Man, Money, Machine, Method, and Material) of management process of production; they are five input resources for any businesses. (http://www.setpointusa.com/blog/lean-manufacturing-5-ms/). Even when the world economy is continuous developing, many modern machines are developed and can somehow a part replace human resource, but no organization can flourish without human resource. Human resource is a decisive factor that can determine the working of remaining four factors, peo ple is the one who ensure flexible operation of machine, the reasonable use of material as well as appropriate use of money and method, all these actions will help the organization achieve their goals. During crisis situation as well as in the peaceful time, man or human resource is the only factor that helps businesses overcome or limit the adverse impact of crisis. Man is the most important Ms among five Ms, the right and stable number of human resource in appropriate jobs will enable the success beyond imagination of the organization. They are staffs of organization, they dedicated their soul to the development of organization, they are people who be laid off or people who lucky enough to keep their job. The individuals who lose their jobs (called victims) are obviously the most affected by downsizing. Numerous researchers have focused on the impact of downsizing on workers whose employment is terminated due to reasons independent of job competence (Cappelli, 1992). These individ uals are often known as the victims of downsizing due to research that documents the devastation of job loss, focusing on negative consequences in terms of psychological and physical well-being (e.g., Bennett, Martin, Bies, Brockner, 1995; Cappeili, 1992; Fallick, 1996; Leana Feldman, 1992). The real pains of downsizing cannot be minimized. Careers change, families struggle, and downsized victims suffer loss of prestige, income and security. While a few downsized individuals may be victims of their own past inefficiency, the vast number are those who have performed well and played by the rules but have become the victims of a changing economic environment. However, several researchers have analyzed those who remain in the downsized organization called survivors (e.g., Allen, Freeman, Russell, Reizenstein, Rentz, 2001; Appelbaum Donia, 2001; Brockner, 1988a; 1992; 1995; Brockner, Grover, OMalley, Reed, Glynn, 1993; Cascio, 1993; Mollica Gray, 2001; Noer, 1993; ONeill Lenn, 1995; Shah, 2000). The survivors of downsizing are not the happy campers, grateful to have their jobs, but rather that surviving is so difficult that continuing employees experience higher levels of stress than displaced employees (Collins-Nakai, Devine, Stainton Reay, 2003). The existent psychological contract between employees and their managers within the organization may be affected by the downsizing. Many researchers reported that it would create feeling of anxiety, uncertainty, distrust and decrease in productivity. The fear and anxiety of survivors who still remain with the organization is increasing due to the increasing feeling of uncertainty, instabili ty and insecurity that downsizing may brings. This is called as survivors syndrome. Definition of survivor syndrome The literature suggests a condition referred to as survivor syndrome, or a set of attitudes, feelings and perceptions that occur in employees who remain in organizational systems following involuntary employee reductions (Collins-Nakai, Devine, Stainton Reay, 2003 p.109-110). Survivor syndrome is defined by some human resource professionals as being the mixed bag of behaviors and emotions often exhibited by remaining employees following an organizational downsizing (Appelbaum, Close Klasa, 1999 p.424-436). Survivor syndrome has become known as the emotional and attitudinal characteristics of those who have survived from a downsizing (Mossholder et al., 2000; Iverson and Pullman, 2000; Allen et al., 2001). The emotional responses of each survivor are different. There are not many previous researches confirmed the positive response for survivor when downsizing occurs, some note that concentrating on core operational competencies can reduce unnecessary management layers and increase the speed of decision-making (DeWitt, 1993; Tomasko, 1989), some researches even suggest that fear of termination may increase individual effort among employees who wish to retain their jobs (Kraft, 1991). A few active survivors feel themselves so lucky because they still have their job, survivors may work more hours without compensation to help the organization through the transition. They believe that they quite understand the difficulties as well as the main reasons why organizations choose to apply downsizing strategy, they are willing to stick with organization for a long time and continue add their efforts to the development of organizations. Contrary to a few positive responses, a lot of previous researches have provided many evidences to prove the harmful impacts of downsizing may bring for survivors such as lower morale (Armstrong-Stassen, 1993), increase stress (Leana and Feldman, 1992), and anger, envy, and guilt (Noer, 1993). According to Collins-Nakai, Devine, Stainton Reay (2003) consistent with the terminology of a syndrome, this collection of symptoms includes anger, depression, fear, distrust, and guilt, or Baruch and Hind (2000) indicates that survivors exhibit a plethora of problems, such as de motivation, cynicism, insecurity, demoralization and a significant decline in organizational commitment. Termination of co-workers may lead to perceptions of organizational injustice and distrust of top management (e.g. Brockner Greenberg, 1990; Mishra Spreitzer, 1998; Noer, 1998). Kinnie, Hutchinson and Purcell (1998) indicated the survivors syndrome include increased levels of stress, absenteeism, distrust as well as decreased levels of work quality, morale and productivity. Lecky (1998) identified the survivor syndrome will le ad to decrease employee commitment, increase concern about job security. A lot of research shows that in case of downsizing, the organization breaks the existed psychological contract between employees and their managers, which is the relationship that make employees get along to their organization or their manager, feel commitment to work, trying their best to the development of the organization. It is a loyalty, commitment with organization. But its consequences may brought by downsizing can create the dependent psychological within employees, they did not want to try, to give their effort because of their worried, uncertain and the loyal feeling may be replaced by a sense of betrayal. Downsizing survivors often curious about management and spend their times to observe the intention of management after downsizing occurs; they have greater concern on their future with the organization. It creates stress among employees in the organization; it affects their next attempt and the willing to stay with the organizations. With survivors, organization may think s they are lucky, but in the reality of many people, their emotions are anger, loneliness, feel lost in broken team work because of missing their colleagues, they do not feel confident enough for work due to their wondering about their job. Downsizing occurs that means organization is left with fewer employees who are expected to put in their best effort in a manner that enhances organizational productivity (Kets de Vries Balazs 1997). They are the ones who organization put their faith in; expect long term commitment, but with few people, it may lead to workload, role conflict, and role ambiguity tend to be high among the remaining staff after downsizing (Hellgren et al. 2005; Parker et al. 1997; Tombaugh White 1990). Workload reflects the perception of having too much work to do in the time available (Beehr, Walsh Taber 1976). Workgroup membership changes also may be associated with the loss of important organizational knowledge (Fisher White, 2000). Role conflict concerns the experience of having to deal with conflicting terms, instructions, and demands in the work environment (Rizzo, House Lirtzman 1970). Role ambiguity relates to the individuals experience of not knowing what is expected of her at work (Caplan 1971). Besides that, survivors may view downsizing as a threat to their job security, an indication of poor organizational performance, or a symptom of unfair management behavior. Survivors may also develop negative feelings toward the organization, as well as perceiving that organizational goals are difficult to achieve. According to Isabella (1989) has noted that while organizations are usually take care of the needs of those being laid off, they are often forget and unprepared for the changing emotions, lower morale and productivity often experienced and expressed by survivors. Managers may expect survivors not only to be grateful they were spared and to forgive what happened to their friends, but also to put their feelings aside and work har der. But the reality is not that, a bag of survivor behaviors or called survivors syndrome has always existed, it is like a contract between employees and organizations, the contract gives survivors psychological control over their work environment, which lets them freely invest themselves in caring for customers. Trust Granovetter (1985) and Lewis and Weigert (1985) define trust as a willingness to be vulnerable to others, based on the prior belief that those others are trustworthy. Another definition of trust is offered by Mayer, Davis and Schoorman (1995), who proposed that trust is the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party. Or according to Mishra Spreitzer (1998) trust is related to psychological contracts since trust is the expectation of a future action based on the action in the past by observing the rules of behaviors in relationships. If these expectations are not met, the expectation becomes hopeless, frustrated and will lose confidence, distrust will appear instead of trust (Robinson, Kraatz Rousseau, 1994). The trust is an essential part of managing people and building a high performance, productivity organization. Trust is the foundation of all relationship from top to bottom in the organization. If employees believe in their manager, their organization, this relationship will always help to create good working conditions, employees are willing to stand up for their organization at any situations, they will naturally want to do a good things, contribute their best effort for the success of their organization. Conversely, if there is no trust between employees and managers, employees will have negative actions, will not devote their energy to the development of their organization, the relationship is broken. Downsizing organizations appear to suffer a deterioration of trust (Buch Aldridge, 1991; Cascio, 1993) and an increase in fear (Buch et al., 1991). The occurring of downsizing makes employees feel uncertain about organization, stress à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the responses tends to score lower in problem solving, creativity and the ability to learn new skills, uncertainty and anxiety reduces the focus of work. Trust between employees and organization also reduced because downsizing is usually a headache thought of managers, they need a long time for making the decision, but with employees, downsizing is just a sudden result, sometimes they do not have a chance to prepare or may not believe that they will be the one who be laid off. According to ONeill Lenn (1995), survivors who believe that management is competent and reliable, may view downsizing as less threatening because they believe that the managers will keep their promise, be honest and open for what is going on with their employees. Trust is instrumental in overcoming resistance to change, for it shapes how individuals interpret the implementation process (Kotter Schlesinger, 1979). If they have trust, survivors are willing think that all the things that organization do, have a reason, it is a good thing for them, for organization, downsizing just helps organization stand in difficult time as well as creating opportunities for employees in the future. In other words, trust in top management minimizes the categorization of threat by helping survivors to understand and believe in managements intentions and expected behavior. If they do not have trust, survivors will have negative thinking such as the decision of manager is wrong, or managers put their personal interests above the interests of employees. Without trust, employees are likely to feel threatened by downsizing, leading to resistance and retaliation, rather than the constructive cooperation that is necessary to facilitate deep change (Quinn, 1996). Commitment There are a lot of definitions about employee commitment such as A force that stabilizes individual behavior under circumstances where the individual would otherwise be tempted to change that behavior (Brickman, 1987), or The relative strength of an individuals identification with and involvement in a particular organization (Mowday et al, 1979) or simply A psychological state that binds the individual to the organization (Allen Meyer, 1990). Commitment is loyalty to the organization. A loyal employee identifies with an organization and is involved in being an employee of that organization (Price Mueller, 1986). Committed employees feel that there is a tight string between them and the organization, which, in the positive form, makes them more willing to perform their job. Organizational commitment is the driving force behind an organizations performance (Suliman and Iles, 2000, p. 408). The multidimensional approach poses that organization commitment is influenced by three constru cts: emotional attachment (affective commitment), perceived costs (continuance commitment) and moral obligation (normative commitment) (Allen and Meyer, 1990). Affective commitment is mean that employees stay with organization because they want to, they believes in organization and feel it like their home. Normative commitment is mean that employees stay with organization because they feel obligated to continue to work for many different reasons and purposes. Continuance commitment is mean that employees stay with the organization because cost of giving up the job is too high for them. (European Motivation-Index.com). It has also been proposed that different types of commitment can have different effects on behaviors and attitudes (Iles et al., 1990). For example, continuance commitment can have detrimental effects on job satisfaction compared to the beneficial effects of affective commitment (Suliman and Iles, 2000). Affective commitment has been shown to be the best predictor of i ntention to leave (Stallworth, 2004) and found to be more important than job satisfaction in determining service quality of customer-contact employees (Malhotra and Mukherjee, 2004). It can be seen that in human resource management process, organizations should pay attention to the affect commitment group because these people will add value, increase productivity and quality to the organization, but they also be the most affected by downsizing, or in other word maintaining a high level of employees affective commitment to the organization is assumed to be a critical factor for successful downsizing, but downsizing tends to reduce employees affective commitment to the organization (Lee Jaewon, 2002). According to many research about employee commitment, in downsizing context, employees commitment to an organization is challenged. Moreover, commitment has been shown to positively influence other variables related to survivor syndrome, such as job satisfaction (Liou, 1995; Fletcher and Williams, 1996; Mowday et al., 1974; Wong et al., 1995; Vandenberg and Lance, 1992), performance (Hartmann and Bambacas, 2000) and perceived organizational support (Eisenberger et al. , 2001). A negative relationship has been shown for absenteeism (Iverson and Deery, 2001; Metcalfe and Dick, 2000) and turnover intention (Schnake and Dumler, 2000) Stress According to Casico Wynn (2004) stated that the downsizing create a breach of an unwritten rules that constitute the psychological contract between employer and employee leads to a rise in stress and a decrease in satisfaction, commitment, intention to stay and perceptions of an organizations trustworthiness, honesty, and caring about its employees. Stress has been defined as a stimulus, a response, or the result of an interaction between the two, with the interaction described in terms of some imbalance between the person and the environment (Cooper, Dewe ODriscoll, 2001). When downsizing occurs, like the victims, the survivors often lose control over their employment status and work situation. Survivors often feel angry and overwhelmed by the sudden disruption of the workplace, similar to people who be laid off, survivors also have feelings of betrayal and fury when downsizing occurs. Research also indicates that other stressful characteristics tend to emerge when work has to be carried out by fewer employees (Hellgren Sverke 2001; Hopkins Weathington 2006; Pfeffer 1998). The lack of people to work become overwhelmed, constant anxiety because of imbalance as well as job losses can be happened anytime that creates stress to survivors. Employee stress can take many forms and significant impact on both employees and organizations; it can manifest as anxiety, irritability, dependency, depression and it results in reduced productivity, employee burnout, absenteeism (Valueoption.com). It has been suggested that the stress of the survivor may be great or even greater than the stress of those who has been laid off (Kaufman 1982). Job insecurity Job insecurity is the exact opposite of job security, is defined as the perceived powerlessness to maintain desired continuity in a threatened job situation by Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt (1984). Job insecurity represents one of the most frequently investigated stressors in the context of organizational change and downsizing (e.g., De Witte 1999; Sverke/Hellgren 2002). The string sticks employees with organization is job, in other word, any organization keeps their employees by proper job with many opportunities to learn, to develop, and above all of them, the job has to be durable and security. When downsizing occurs, survivors feel like the promise of organization has broken down, they see their colleagues lose their job and they fear of losing their jobs at anytime, fear of instability of income, loss of status or self esteem. They believe that their work will no longer be safe, if the organization was willing to let the employees go in the past, they would be willing to do it again in the future. Job insecurity leads to dissatisfaction, people intent to leave the organization and come to a safer place; it also leads to greater absenteeism, higher turnovers and disability claims (Boroson and Burgess, 1992; Koco. 1996; Mishra and Spreitzer. 1998; Tombaugh and White. 1990). Previous studies such as Moore, Grunberg Greenberg (2006); Ashford, Lee Bobko (1989); Brockner et al. (1992) or Hellgren Sverke (2003) have concluded that job insecurity are related with organizational downsizing both in short and long term perspective and the worried about future job loss is associated with impaired work attitudes and well-being. Theorists have emphasized that job insecurity is a multidimensional phenomenon (Ashford, Lee Bobko, 1989; Greenhalgh Rosenblatt, 1984; Jacobson, 1991). The first dimension, called severity of threat, consists of the range of work features at risk, the valence of these features, probabilities of losing each feature, and the number of sources of threat. The second dimension is perceived powerlessness, or ones ability to respond to risks. Job insecurity can also be thought of in terms of expectancy (i.e. probability of loss) and valence (i.e. value of job features) from expectancy theory (Jacobson, 1991). Job insecurity is a broad concept , including threats to any desired work features including opportunities for career development or wages. Perceptions of job insecurity also can be considered as stress inducing, so reports of worry and stress are sometimes used as proxies for perception of job insecurity. Results showed that perceived job insecurity increased over time as layoffs unfolded but no new information arrived. Job insecurity was lowest among those employees who had no contact with workforce downsizing, with higher insecurity among those who had friends or co-workers laid off, and the highest insecurity among those who had been warned that they would be laid off or who had been laid off and then rehired. Hypotheses Many organization managers apply workforce downsizing strategy for their organization, often focus their attention and effort for those employees who be laid off and pay little attention to those who remain with organization As the large commercial bank in Vietnam, Techcombank is also applying workforce downsizing like many other organizations to overcome the current difficulties. Get to know the survivors syndrome is very important not only for Techcombank but also for many other organizations. Organizations that understand the causes of survivor syndrome at an early stage can a better chance to find an appropriate way to go. Based on the previous studies, in the scope of this research, researcher would like to find out the impact of workforce downsizing to the behavior such as trust, commitment, and stress and job insecurity of Techcombank staffs to see how they were affected by workforce downsizing and how trust, commitment, stress and job insecurity will be changed between before and after workforce downsizing is applied. Through this research, researcher hopes to put some help for Techcombank managers in order to have a better understanding about their employees so that they can looking for an appropriate direction as well as specific plan to minimize the harmful impacted that may arises from downsizing. Based on the above theory discussion, the Hypothesis is formulated as following: (H1) There is a significant difference in stress of respondents before and after workforce downsizing is applied (H2) There is a significant difference in stress of respondents before and after workforce downsizing is applied (H3) There is a significant difference in stress of respondents before and after workforce downsizing is applied (H4) There is a significant difference in stress of respondents before and after workforce downsizing is applied Chapter Summary Throughout the chapter, the researcher gives a deeper review of previous research on workforce downsizing and its impacted on survivors. There are many different opinions about the effects of workforce downsizing on organizations, some studies indicated

USA Today: Innovation and Evolution in a Troubled Industry

1) What Opportunities in the marketing environment did Gannett seize in launching USA Today? How did the company learn about and respond to the opportunities? Answer these same questions for USATODAY. COM On its debut in 1982, USA Today was reckoned as America’s first National general-interest daily newspaper. Being the global information juggernaut that he is, Gannett managed to identify a gap in the market that he identified as an opportunity for the leading to-be newspaper of the united States. The opportunity was the void gap in the market. Attention to the business traveler was the least attended to which gave Gannett the opportunity to target such a sector and be the leading supplier of such traveler needs in terms of information. The launch of USA Today was based on two perspectives; the increasingly short attention span as well as the continuous hunger for more information. With both perspectives in mind, the paper was positioned to be a source of information that delivered â€Å"more news in less time†. In response to their customer needs, and the opportunistic gap in the market, USA Today was designed to be a unique paper with easy access to articles and concern for their time-pressed readers through the introduction of columns and snippets that presented the most salient topics of the story. In addition to their colorful contemporary look, USA Today’s ability to be dependably consistent added great value to the paper that lead to a stuttering over-a-million circulation in just seven months. In an era when most of the major media outlets were suffering from a decline in readership, USA Today enjoyed continuous growth. To offset the rising distributional and promotional costs, USA today ventured in introducing spin offs to increase demand of the print sector. USA. com was one of Gannett’s spin-offs of responding to the information market in relativity to the greater global market. When everyone considered the Internet boom to be the start of an end to the newspaper industry, Gannett managed to transform that threat into an opportunity. Due to an increase in the newsprint cost, associated with a decrease in the readership rates, USA online was a way to increase readership by offering more ways of satisfying the reader base and ensuring that the mission of USA Today was to be maintained. It capitalized and tried to keep pace with communication and technological breakthroughs to maintain its element of dependable consistency. In response to their commitment of â€Å"getting news and information into the hands of consumers faster than ever before†, USA. om endorsed blogs and podcasts to keep customers engaged as well as introducing I-phone, Blackberry and Kindle applications to keep up with the emerging trend of portable technology. 2) How has a continuous strategy of marketing innovation proved successful for USA today and USA. COM? Do you believe that USA today is well-positioned for the future? Explain Since USA Today’s launch, it has ensured the continuous consistency and dependability of the nature o f the material, as well as a commitment to continuous innovation. Ever since its start, USA today has been engaged in continuous improvement and betterment in what they offer to their readers. One of their main focus in their cycle of innovation was keeping the customer engaged in the reading process as well as listening and hearing for their demands. Regarding product innovation, they managed to keep the paper exciting and indulging to the reader in many different ways. For starters, their major innovative design was reducing the size of the paper from 54 to 50 inches, which made the paper more satisfying in terms of size and mobility of use. There was also a shift in the quality of news from a soft-focused newspaper to a more serious hard-focused newspaper. This was a very important move to the paper as it ensured readers of the quality of news they’re reading and also responded to the critiques of reporters calling USA Today â€Å"Mc Paper† which could have negatively affected the readership rates for the way readers could have perceived themselves as targets of â€Å"junk food journalism†. Further methods of keeping readers attached to the paper included the introduction of the two hotlines that erved to the queries of readers. Regarding their promotional efforts, after ensuring the success of USA today on a State scale, they aimed at increasing the awareness scope of USA today not only on a National level, but on an international level as well. They introduced the Buscapade to increase awareness in other states, while the Jetcapade was introduced to increase awareness internationally. Both approac hes were the start of profitability for USA today, where readership rates increased as well as awareness on both a national and international level. One of their most successful promotional efforts was blue chip circulation, which not only reaped profits from hotels, airlines and restaurants, but ensured exposure to a greater part of the target market and a raise in the level of awareness. Another move was advertising at the front page. Since its start, USA Today was based on untraditional aspects. Although criticized by many, it nonetheless appealed to its target market that continued to grow. Advertising on the fist page, although sacredly non-valued, and could have imposed a threat on the paper; sabotaging its image of credibility and consistency. Yet again, it acted as a leverage that further increased the profits of the paper Distribution was also one of the factors that would make or break the paper’s mission of delivering timely news. One competitive advantage the paper had over competitors was its ability to offer more up-to-date news three to four hours before competitors. That was because they permitted later deadlines which was further implemented when production became totally digital which gave writers and publishers greater flexibility and later deadlines, and at the other hand readers enjoyed earlier delivery times. In a market with threatening competitors such as The New York Times and wall street journal, USA Today was bound to failure if it weren’t for its innovative excellence in its product and promotion along with its dedication to keep engaging the customers in the paper experience by trying to cater for as many needs as possible, and competing with an edge that sets it apart from its competitors. One of USA Today’s product innovations later on became not an just another additional co-asset, but a leading internet-based companion to the USA Today print version. A threat can only be transformed into an opportunity among a number of competitors when one takes a lead regarding how to deal with such threat. Once you get a lead start, you’re in better opportunistic shape than the competitors. As much as the internet boom imposed a threat at the paper industry, co-opting with the decline in sales and advertising revenue, USA Today used the threat and transformed it into an opportunity by introducing usatoday. com, which was an online version of the print, designed in the same colorful, appealing manner. It yet had to maintain the same mission and vision of the print version in terms of the quality of material and framework, and respond in the same dedication to customer interests and further engagement. Although different from the original print version, usatoday. com ensured its existence and profoundness in the new market through continuous updates and innovative ways to stimulate readership and cut distribution expenses. It employed blogs and podcasts to ensure the relevancy of news to readers, as well as categorizing and aggregating news on the Internet. It also allowed advertisers to expand their online space by using â€Å"PointRoll† which acted as a leverage that helped advertisers direct consumers to merchants. To further cater for the readers needs, usatoday. com capitalized on the emerging trend of portable technology by launching applications that serve I Phone, Blackberry and kindle users. They also catered for social media tools fanatics which as indicated by internal sources were drivers for page view increases such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. To further nourish the reader’s needs, they made room from readers to search for their unique interests and further bond with similar individuals. For example, they introduced â€Å"network journalism† which was a tool that allowed readers to comment and make recommendations. The previous example shows the necessity for an entity to continuously satisfy its customers and think of more innovative ways to help users develop attachment and brand loyalty. USA Today, being the entity that it is, is apparently well positioned for the current period. Ever since its debut, it has managed to maintain a proper and sturdy positioning among its competitors, with its competitive innovation and continuous responses to the evolving market. But at such point, when Internet has taken over the greater part of our lives, one has to ponder over the validity of the current positioning of USA Today. If it maintains the way its positioned for another five to ten years, it will be bound to close down for the trend is going further towards a digitally internet based era, where there will be no room for the traditional print version to compete. Its positioning should gradually and not instantly completely shift to an internet focus. The reason it should be done gradually is due to the fact that there still is a great part of readership that prefers the print. Instantly shifting to the internet would result in losing a great part of customers which USA Today wouldn’t want. The shift should be gradual to allow customers to accept the shift and not look for another product for if customers perceive that USA Today is lacking their interest, it would be crucial for its popularity and acceptance. ) What are the SWOT implications for USA Today as it looks toward the future? What strengths and opportunities can USA Today leverage as it looks for competitive advantage in the distribution of news and information? Strenghts: * America’s first National general interest daily newspaper. This will be an important factor that USA today should leverage and take advantage of the fact of its established name in the field, giving it more perceived establishment and stability rather than its competitors. Part of the Global information Juggernaut Gannett Co, which autonomously gives it more credibility and makes more room for excellence in the future as opposed to single-unit paper with no backing up from stronger, further well established players in the media marketplace. * Buscapade/Jetscapade lead to the overseas success of the paper and lead to an increase in demand, which lead to a start of profitability. * It gives room for later deadlines, which gives it a competitive advantage over its competitors in terms of the quality of news and how fast it reaches readers. This could be leveraged in the future as a reminder of how dedicated USA Today was and has been to its readers, implying its consistency and how its different from its competitors. * USA Today has already leveraged the internet boom into its benefit by introducing one-to-many spin offs, one of which I believe will take over USA Today operations in ten years time; usatoday. com. Excellence is derived from experience, and since usatoday. com has been thriving among a list of other sites is an indicator of how efficient the site is and how with the right innovative combination could dominate the market. Being the first to realize the business traveler gap in the market, it would be very hard for new entrants to enter and try to steal a part of USA Today’s market pie. * Continuous growth is also a great indicator of the paper for ever since its start, its audience has been constantly growing to topple over WSJ and NYT. Thus when USA Today looks at the future, it will have more reason to attract customers than its competitors. Weaknesses: * It took USA Today no less than five years to start entering into the profitability stage, which further reduced its ability to generate enough cash flow for future investments. The re cession, although affected everyone, caused a slump in tourism which affected the business traveler market, causing a decrease in flights, which automatically lead to a decrease in demand by airlines, hotels and restaurants. * Its reputation as a â€Å"Mc Junk† paper during its start could have unanimously affected the papers reputation and determined not only how readers perceive the quality of articles, but who reads it as well. * At one point in the cycle, WSJ reclaimed its position as number one paper, circulation wise. Opportunities: The Internet boom is considered to be double barreled. It will either make or break usatoday. So far, USA Today managed to straddle it by introducing usatoday. com along with its multiple applications and reader-friendly engagement processes. The internet is the most vital opportunity for is USA Today doesn’t manage it properly, with the right innovation and research, competitors will gain more market share, and readers will prefer the more up to date way of getting info. * Technological advancements will make room for greater breakthroughs and eaves room for innovation and further updating products. * The technological and portable technology trend should be taken as an advantage, in integrating USA Today in the lives of readers. * Social network sites being one of the drivers for page view increases should be properly utilized to maintain page views and further increase traffic on the site. * The ability to use recycled fiber will improve the environmental background of the company as well as decrease the cost of newsprint, making production more efficient. Threats: * ) Based on USA Today’s experiences with the print and online news, evaluate the long term potential of printed news and the newspaper publishing industry. Do you believe printed newspapers will continue to survive despite digital competition? So far, USA Today has managed to maintain and keep up with the technological trends that have been leading the market place for years now. As for the industry itself, it has already been threatened excessively by the internet boom showing declines in sales, readership and advertising revenue. And that’s just for now. Who knows how technologically driven customers will be five or ten years from now? Prints might compose part of the market share which has been undoubtedly decreasing over the past couple of years, for the mere fact that elderly, more traditionally oriented readers would not make the switch. That is not to imply that elders are the only readers of prints, but the ones that are unlikely to make the switch. People in their mid thirties and forties will be able to make the change gradually, more smoother than sixty and seventy year olds. The only way to maintain its survival despite digital competition is to cater for the needs of the emerging youth. The only way to ensure existence is by guaranteeing that they can target the youth for without them, USA Today loses hope of ever having the slightest of a susceptible target market. As for the prospects of the industry, it seems as if there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Internet has now taken over our lives in so many different ways; being a viable source that ensures acquiring information in much faster and more efficient way. The whole idea is how to craft an imposing threat into an opportunity. Usatoday. om was an example, but with the rate of change, and how the trend is diffusing more towards a digitally based environment, prospects for USA Today from the print perspective has no hope. The youth, being a massive factor in how products are produced and marketed, is a reason why prospects for the print industry seem unlikely. Being Internet focused as t hey are, they will remain to evolve and with their evolvement comes the evolvement of their wants and needs which will be technologically based. Hence, ten years from now, its seem less probable that the grown up youth will demand anything less that whats technologically available at the time.

On the Roles of Microfinance in Developing Countries

Much of the underdeveloped world grows and produces agricultural products. Because many of these underdeveloped nations have very little political clout with the rest of the world, and because farmers in wealthy nations have lots of political power, the goods from these poorer nations are tariffed and quota'd right out of the richer nation's markets. † -Keith Brown, Free Trade & Foreign Policy: The Independent Institute, May 1, 2000 IntroductionThe quote above provides a very nice generalization of exactly what we will discover in this chapter: the roles of microfinance in promoting economic growth, development, and sustainability. Microfinance can provide exactly what most of the underdeveloped world needs: capital to invest in themselves in order to reach themselves out of poverty, thus creating self sufficiency. However, as Mr. Brown stated, what microfinance has failed to do (albeit it was not designed to do) is make these poorer farmers globally competitive.They cannot be competitive due to larger ountries' inability to make the free market free for all nations, not Just those who control most of it. However, even without making major strides on the global market, microfinance has done most of exactly what it was designed to do. It has brought most of its participants out of a fruitless future, one full of deabilitating poverty. There are many statistics out on the books about microfinance's effect on the poor of the world. Throughout the chapter, we will go into further detail on how these statistics reflect the exact influence of microfinance on the world, poor and middle class.The statistics will reflect exactly what has been stated in past chapters: microfinance works. It isn't the end-all, be-all solution to the world's poverty, but it is a solid start to eradicate it. Another topic we will cover in detail is the paradox between economic growth and sustainability, and whether or not they are mutually exclusive. An article, brilliantly written by Dr. Karen Higgins of Claremont Graduate University in California suggests that â€Å"limitless economic growth counters sustainability'. If the economy grows too big, will we end up exhausting our resources, thus actually making the economy more hort lived?Furthermore, we will go in depth on the effects of microfinance on the world, and more specifically, developed and developing nations. There is a plethora of information on what impact microfinance has on the world, mostly in the form of a poor farmer receiving a loan to buy supplies in order to make more product, so that the farmer's family can actually live on as well as sell their stock. However, there are also stories in which an especially lucky person receives a loan, invests in a good product or business, and actually goes from abject poverty to middle class.Such As you read, keep in mind that, as stated earlier, microfinance will not solve poverty and all its ills. Whether you are a passionate skeptic or supporter of it after reading this book, know that there are many more obstacles in the way of a poverty free world, those obstacles including political corruption, power inequalities on a global scale, climate change, war and conflict, disease, education, and availability of resources. By no means does microfinance seek to save the world.It does not mean to take the place of charity and giving, nor does it mean to take the place of hard work and perseverance. However, it does hope to make it easier for those who struggle amidst hard work, perseverance, and charity. It means to give every child a chance to live and be educated. In a world where nanotechnology and outer space travel are taken for granted, why does three quarters of the world still live on less than a dollar day? While we know that there are many answers to that question, we also know for a fact that microfinance can solve some of those problems.What is Economic Growth, Development, and Sustainability? According to the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE), economic growth is defined as: â€Å"†¦. n increase in the production and consumption of goods and services. It entails increasing population and/or per capita consumption. It is indicated by increasing gross domestic product (GDP). † It goes on to say that â€Å"economic growth literally refers to an economy that is getting bigger, not necessarily one that is getting better†. According to BusinessDictionary. om, economic development is defined as progress in the economy, or a qualitative measure relating to it. It usually refers to the adoption of new technologies, the transition of agriculture-based to industry-based economy, and a general improvement in living tandards Finally, according to Wise Geek, economic sustainability is â€Å"the term used to identify various strategies that make it possible to use available resources to their best advantage†. So what do those definitions mean when we apply microf inance to them?Simply put, microfinance can be attributed to all three of these things. As has been proved since microfinance first stepped onto the economic scene, microfinance can cause economic growth in the simple fact that once a poor family receives a microloan, they can use it to invest in themselves or their children, thus making it possible for them o repay the loan, and in due time (in most cases) make a profit that will allow them to expand their propensity to consume. In terms of economic development, microfinance has also changed the face of businesses, small and large.Poor farmers in the third world can receive a microloan, and go from having to perform backbreaking labor to purchasing a machine to help them do it. Finally, as for economic sustainability, microfinance can assure that stocks are not going to waste, and in the case of poor farmers, they can actually sell their crops, instead of having to eat them to stay alive. Economic Growth, Development, & Sustainabil ity As much as we would all love a straight answer to the question that is poverty and scarce resources, we all are aware that such a big problem is rooted in more than one thing.However, we all know that complex problems also have complex solutions. Microfinance is one thing that contributes to economic growth, but sometimes, its effect can be negated and bolstered by factors out of the control of those who run microfinance firms. Gender and Sex Inequalities Women in America are considered to be independent. Most women work, have their own property, and in some cases, even are the heads of their households. The same goes for most of the developed world. The problem here is that in developing nations, women are still, with little hope of the contrary, subjugated to men.Women in developing nations have nowhere near the rights as their developed nation counterparts do. In most Middle Eastern countries, women are still expected to wear veils over their faces, in accordance with the Mus lim religion. Furthermore, they are also expected not to work, but to bear children and take care of home. In short, most of the world still has a very traditionalist point of view. This being said, when a oman's husband dies, or leaves her, what is she to do other than to starve? Her children come first, but she barely has enough to feed the eight of them that her husband gave her before his passing.Microfinance has helped women gain more equality to their husbands and to men in general, but the fact of the matter that only when these restricting views are abolished will the chains of poverty start to come off. Once women are allowed to make their own money, they will be able to feed their children, saving the from malnutrition. They will be able to pay for their education, thus setting the children up to make something of themselves. Once women become independent, no longer will they not be able to live with a man by their side.They will be able, all things considered, to sustain their standard of living without falling into the traps of poverty. Power Trip: Political Corruption This mainly pertains to Africa and it's long, dark history of warring nations. Ever since time began, tribes have been fighting in Africa over land, resources, and money, which could all be considered the same thing. While the heads of these tribes and regimes are eating plentifully, their followers still live in abject poverty, and are food insecure. Also, they are dying at an alarming rate. Yes, that's right.In some African nations, men, women, and children are brutally murdered in the name of politics and power. The shameful part is that microfinance can't stop a bullet. So how exactly do we counteract the chains of political corruption? A microloan may help a child get an education, but it means nothing if we cannot motivate them to do greater things. Just think about all of the potential Albert Einsteins, Barack Obamas, and Marie Curies out there, growing up in Africa. Now think about the fact that they were either too scared of the politics of government or killed too early to ven try and show off their potential.A main stay of the microfinance movement as well as economic development is to need to make their living situation better. What purpose do American doctors serve coming to Africa if the children they are healing never get the chance to be great like them? What purpose does a microloan serve when it pays for a child's education that will only end up dying at the age of 1 5 from a gunshot wound? These are the questions that skeptics of microfinance need to ask themselves. Without the proper learning environment, or the proper environment in general, a child cannot be uccessful by conventional means.That goes double for a child whose parents never had an education either. A Deadly Detriment to Economic Growth: Disease Yes, a few dollars can get you that cough medicine that you need to get rid of that dastardly common cold. A few more dollars, and yo u can get the vaccine for the flu. A doctor's visit is rarely too costly, but Just in case you're running a really high fever, a call to your insurance company can get you to the nearest hospital, where you can get quality care by trained doctors that rarely have too many patients that they can't attend to your needs. Such is the luxury of living in the developed world.At least for the lucky ones. However, if you're that special person who has to choose between your medicine or paying for college tuition, then this may mean something to you. A huge number of the Juvenile deaths in developing nations comes from disease, whether it be HIV, AIDS, malaria, malnutrition, birth defects, or even cancer. What's worse is that in most of these developing nations, they dont have the luxury to pay for, not to mention the convenience of even being close to a research hospital. Consequently, we are presented with the same problem I mentioned before.Children, full of potential and intelligence, de ad before their time. Microfinance can only do so much, but it can cause a domino effect. Say you aren't in reach of a hospital as a poor family in West Africa. You apply for a microloan, and invest in your children's education as well as your farm. In time, your children go from becoming potential HIV infected children to being able to work on a cure for it. Of course, that's an idealist's situation, but also a completely possible one. The point here is that disease, although completely natural, is responsible for much of the turmoil we see in the developing world.However, food inequality is a big part of this. Most people don't realize how countries like the United States suffer from obesity and heart disease while countries like Indonesia suffer from malnourishment and starvation, which leads into the next detriment from economic growth, development, and sustainability. Nominal FMF: Free Market Freedom Ever since the introduction of the free enterprise system, especially on a glo bal scale, the intelligent, innovative, and witty people of the world have amassed fortunes beyond the wildest dreams of even their middle class counterparts in the developed world.They have had the opportunity to be themselves and create something that will ultimately better the world, and make a decent fortune at the same time, with certain government regulations, but not too many as to limit creativity. Such is the same in all the developed world. People have made fortunes from Steve Jobses, Bill Gateses, or Mark Zuckerbergs come from the developing world. The answer to that dilemma is quite simple, and it was the first thing you read. Most businesses in the developing world are agriculture based instead of industry based.However, that is all that they have in terms of business. They grow food, and their economy depends on selling the food to prosper. The cruel irony is that they have been unceremoniously taken out of the free market economy to sell their goods to richer nations. Tariffs and quotas have done their Job well, making selling goods on the world market a process that makes pulling teeth look like the easiest thing in the world. The free market has been that way in name only. The reality is that only those who control most of the free market are actually free in it.Just think if an African country like Sierra Leone traded frequently with the I-JK? Sierra Leoneans would have more money than they could spend on a regular basis. However, the I-JK has so many trade barriers set up that Sierra Loeneans cannot afford to trade with them, thus forcing them to trade locally, and limiting their earning potential. Why would the US and their allies do something like this? Most sources say security. Trading with African nations, especially in the midst of political turmoil could lead to another world war.Also, African nations are not exactly household names. For example, you will usually buy a purse made of Italian leather instead of leather made in South Afr ica. The biggest motive is money, but what richer nations dont realize is that trading with African nations can actually alleviate some of the problems that they face. When you have an abundance of land and resources, you no longer have a need to fght, and conflicts can be solved diplomatically, more or less. Microfinance can't sway the decision of a country that has been doing something a certain way for over a century.But what it can do is provide a developing country with not only the money to be able to afford to trade, but the power to take control of their own lives, instead of being pushed back and forth into poverty based on the ecisions of a few, powerful nations. It All Starts Here: Education and Microfinance If you are reading this book, then you already know the value of a quality education. You know for a fact that without one, you can be stuck in a situation with no hope of getting out of it. Education, or better yet, and abundance of it, can only add to our economy.Un fortunately, not everyone has access to the same quality education. Even in developed nations, we can see that certain nations have an edge over others, and thus the more educated you are, the better standard of living you can enjoy. Take America, for example. A high school diploma is much more education than you can get in a developing nation, but in America, the mean salary for a high school graduate only is 38% less than the mean salary for a college graduate, from a study done by the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.Accordingly, based on a study done by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was an unemployment rate of 14. 4% among those with only a high school diploma. Among those with a college a degree, the unemployment rate was 7. 6%. The irony is that Sweden, and Japan in terms of education, and accordingly, we have a lower standard f living. The lower you go down the ladder, the worse the standard of living gets. Let's take a country lik e Ethiopia.Ethiopia is a third world country on the east coast of Africa, and it is needless to say that they are in need of a better educational system, but for the sake of proof, here are some facts. In the years 2007-2011, a study from UNICEF showed that 82. 5% of Ethiopian children who were of age attended primary school. In those same years, the same study showed only 16% of Ethiopian children of age attended secondary school. Translation: only 16% of Ethiopian children went past the sixth grade. The previous section was aimed at what we need to get rid of in order to promote economic growth, development, and sustainability.Now we focus on what drives those things. Education is the only one worth noting, because the others are only possible when things like disease and political corruption and nominal freedom are no more. While it is not equal among nations, it is to be noted that educational competition sparked outer space travel, one of man's greatest innovations, back when t he United Stated and the former USSR were in competition. Maybe that same fire with education will spark a race to end poverty once and for all.

Apush Sectionalism - 770 Words

Sectionalism: 1820-1850 Into what three regions was the US divided into during this time period? †¢ North: Consisted of two main pieces o The Northeast: New England and Mid-Atlantic states o The Old Northwest: Ohio to Minnesota †¢ South: States that permitted slavery †¢ West: West of the Mississippi, eventually stretching to California What do you need to know about the industrial northeast? †¢ Good transportation †¢ Plentiful manufacturing labor from immigration †¢ Economy based on commercial agriculture and manufacturing †¢ Highest population of the three regions †¢ Urban population o Grew from 5% of the population in 1800 to 15% of the economy in 1850 o†¦show more content†¦tion o Faster and cheaper transportation o Famine and revolution in Europe o Growing reputation of the US as a land of economic opportunity †¢ Immigration from Europe increased: 8,000 in 1820 to 428,000 in 1854 †¢ Many stayed in Northeast port cities †¢ Others moved to the Old Northwest †¢ Irish immigrants o Over 2 million by 1880 o Most were tenant farmers driven of land by the potato famine in the 1840s o Faced discrimination in the US for being Catholic o Came to US cities in search of manufacturing jobs o Tended to form Irish communities in cities were they landed (Boston, Philly, NY) o Irish immigrants organized themselves to control local Democratic party organizations o By the 1850’s the Irish controlled Tammy Hall, NY City’s Democratic Party organization †¢ Germans o Over 1 million by 1850 o Tended to come over with more money than Irish immigrants o Moved westward upon arrival in search of cheap, fertile land o Established prosperous settlements in the Old Northwest †¢ Nativists o Many â€Å"native-born† Americans disliked large number of immigrants ââ€" ª Competition for jobs ââ€" ª Fear of weakening American culture o Tended to be protestants who disliked Catholic immigration o The Supreme Order of the Star Spangled Banner: secret anti-foreign organizationShow MoreRelatedThe Missouri Compromise Essay1137 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿APUSH DBQ Although the aftereffects of the era of good feelings dominated the beginning of the time period and compromises were at first effective, sectionalism over national subjects, especially slavery, led to a crisis in which compromises often meant more increase in political tensions. (Doc F) Sectionalism abruptly increased in the 1820 and 1830s with The Missouri Compromise and the Tallmadge Amendment. Tallmadges radical proposition was that Missouri gradually emancipated its slaves andRead MoreThe Differences Between The North And South1199 Words   |  5 PagesDrew Quinto Mrs. Toneatti APUSH Period 3 December 5, 2014 After half a century of development and growth, Americans witnessed an inevitable issue that threatened the state of the Union. The nation was created on a number of compromises and agreements made between the founding fathers. Since the early days of the Union, compromises have been the solution to various disputes in the young nation. However as the time in the 1800s progressed, the increasing sectionalism primarily caused by slaveryRead MoreA Brief Note On The War Of 1812946 Words   |  4 PagesAuset Gibbs January 27, 2015 APUSH The War of 1812 According to Washington National Intelligencer, â€Å"The final step ought to be taken, and that step is WAR. By what course of measures we have reached the presents crisis, is not now a question for patriots and freeman to discuss. It exists: and it is by open mainly war only that we can get through it with honor and advantage to the country.† The War of 1812 was military a conflict between the United States of America, France, and Great BritainRead MoreThe Bill Of 1846 : The Greatest Achievement Of Totalitarian Rule1452 Words   |  6 PagesJulia Szurnicki APUSH December 1, 2014 Gelb Chapter 14 1. The bill of 1846, was most likely the greatest achievement of militaristic rule. However the Wilmot Proviso, giving millions of dollars for negotiating,is the encompassment of the U.S urge for bureaucratic and calm compromise lacking the call of war, the Wilmot Proviso had no place in the bill of 1846. The Proviso stated that any territory from Mexico should be a free state, and should have slavery banned. Unfortunately itRead MoreNative American Culture Before Columbus2672 Words   |  11 PagesAPUSH 1st Semester Final Exam Study Guide 1. Describe Native American culture before Columbus The Native Americans had built several large empires that thrived in South and Central America that we based off of farmers who stayed in one place so that larger numbers of people could gather in cities. There were mostly nomadic tribes and small groups roaming in North America and there were few large tribes that ruled anywhere near as much are as those in South America. 2. Importance of the Mayflower