Three Day Food Intake Paper Essay Example for Free

Three Day Food Intake Paper Essay The proper nutrition plays a major role in having good health. Without the proper nutrients the body cannot function proper and can open the body up to any number of disease like heart disease, some cancers, diabetes, obesity, anemia, and high blood pressure. During this three day intake this writer has learn about her eating habits and ways to improve them. Proteins The Daily Recommended Intake Report states this writer should be getting 102 to 356 grams of protein a day in her diet, but she is only getting 82 grams a day which is below the recommended range. This can be a problem if she does not get the recommended amounts her body needs. According, to the Office of Women’s Health (2008). Women need protein to help break down food for energy and breaking down toxins in the body. She can increase the amount of protein she gets by eating more red meats, eggs, nuts, peanut butter, beans, lentils, milk, and soy products. Carbohydrates The Daily Recommended Intake Report states this person should be getting 458 to 661 grams of carbohydrates a day in her diet. She is only getting 308 grams which is well below the The recommended amount for her body. Carbohydrates provides energy the cells in her brain, nervous system, and blood. It also, supplies her muscles while she exercise. Without carbohydrates her body will not have the energy it needs to proform properly. She can increase the carbohydrates she needs by eating more complex carbs like- salads and pastas. Also, staying away from the simple carbs like sugar. Lipids and Fiber The Daily Recommended Intake Report states this person should be getting less than 30 grams of fat in her diet a day. She is now getting 41. 3 grams of fat in a day. The American Heart Association (2013) recommends that a person should not eat more that 25 to 35 % of fat in their diet a day and of this amount no more than 7 percent of it should be saturated fats. This writer can reduce she total daily intake of fats by consuming more food that are low in saturated fats. Also, she can cook her foods with oils like corn oil, canola oil, and olive oil. We needed some fats in our diet to help provide a source of energy. It is also, used by the body to absorb certain vitamins from food we eat. This writer should be getting 25 grams of fiber a day in her diet (K. Zelman, 2011). Right now she is only getting 12 grams which is only 48. 2 % of the daily recommended amount. By not having the right amount of fiber in her diet can lead to constipation, higher LDL levels, and high blood sugar levels. In turn this can lead to colon cancer and diabetes. She can reduce her chances of these diseases by eating more dark green leafy vegetables, corn, nuts, whole wheat products, beans, and fruits. Dietary Modifications This writer has identify many patterns in her diet that need to be change in order to lose the extra weight that has put her at risk. She needs to eat more regularly and the right types of foods for her nutritional needs. She needs to get moving more and not just sit around the house doing nothing. She needs to add more fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water to her diet. She needs to stay away from the simple carbs and go for the more complex carbs that will help to give her the fuel that her body needs. According to Mary Fetzer (2012), â€Å"Fiber helps to keep you feeling full and satisfied and more in control of your appetite and weight. † This writer can help herself to achieve her goal of a healthy weight and body by making some modifications to her diet and life style. By eating more of the foods that help her to get all the vitamins, minerals, and water that her body need she can help herself to prevent heart disease, some cancers, diabetes , high blood pressure, kidney disease, high cholesterol (especially the levels of LDL the bad cholesterol). If she follow her plan to change her eating habits she can change her health for the better.

Different Types of UK Airport

Different Types of UK Airport LO 3:   Understand the different types of UK airport, their ownership and characteristics Title: UK airports Map of major airports in the UK For P5:  Ã‚   Describe different types of UK airports and their ownership. Regional These have short haul scheduled international services, and long haul, charter and domestics services is available as well. Eg Liverpool john Lennon (LPL) Operate/ owner: the peel group, group Major International airports Provide a verity if international services. both long and short haul also have chart and domestic services. Eg. Manchester (MAN) Operator/owner : Manchester airport group (MAG) private Local Some domestic services, sometimes short-haul services as well as charter and general aviation services Eg, Blackpool Owner: Balfour Beatty, public Operator: squires gate airport operation Ltd. 3. For P6:  Ã‚   Compare the operating characteristics of different types of airports. Regional airports Liverpool john Lennon (LPL) route network long and short haul, point to point, domestic service number and type of airlines 8 airlines which offers low cost scheduled service, charter number of passengers 4 million passengers in 2014 cargo tones 40,000 tones in 2015 (Airportwatch.org.uk, 2016) passenger facilities and services, e.g. car parks, shops, restaurants, executive lounges, hotels have a variety of parking service only available through pre-booking restaurants, shops, and lounges are also at the airport to suite everyone needs, terminal passenger 4,458,500 operational facilities and services runway 7,497 ft of asphalt run way with two handlers (Liverpool John Lennon Airport, 2016). Major International airports Manchester (MAN) route network long haul, short haul number and type of airlines approximately 70 airlines, low cost scheduled, full service, charter, cargo number of passengers approximately 23 million passengers cargo tons 250,000 tones by 2015 passenger facilities and services offers adequate parkin foe either short stay or long stay, shops restaurant hotels, lounges are available to meet every passengers need operational facilities and services two runways and three terminals, three handling agents (En.wikipedia.org, 2016) Local airport Blackpool airport route network short haul, domestic number and type of airlines one airline for passengers and a helicopter service to oil platforms low cost airline, domestic, chartered service number of passengers 33,494 passenger facilities and services one new lounges no hotels car rental is available from the air port operational facilities and services two terminals and must give a 24-hour notice for handling scale and location of general aviation operations two training schools located between the British Army camps and Squires Gate and at Weeton and Kirkham. Offers helicopter operations and also the center of private clubs (Anon, 2016) For M2:  Ã‚   Discuss why an airline might base its operation from a particular airport. EasyJet bases its operation from Manchester airport (MAN) because this airport offers   a vast range of services and have connection to major cities and holiday destination. Also the airport facilities example the three terminals is another factor of why EasyJet uses this airport (En.wikipedia.org,2016).Due to the fact that Manchester airport is very popular   and it have won different award siding with this airport is good for business because when the airport grows EasyJet will somewhat benefits from this. (Manchesterairport.co.uk ,2016) References Airportwatch.org.uk. (2016). AirportWatch | Liverpool Airport. [online] Available at: http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/uk-airports/liverpool-airport/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. Anon, (2016). Home. [online] Available at: http://blackpoolairport.com/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. En.wikipedia.org. (2016). Domestic airport. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_airport#Regional_airport [Accessed 20 Dec. 2016]. En.wikipedia.org. (2016). Manchester Airport. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Airport [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. Liverpool John Lennon Airport. (2016). Cite a Website Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://www.liverpoolairport.com/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. Manchesterairport.co.uk. (2016). About Us | Manchester Airport. [online] Available at: http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/about-us/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016].

Anti-trust Law Case Study

Anti-trust Law Case Study Landmark: Antitrust Case Study Question 1: Write a 100- word abstract of the case, including the date of the case The essay gives a brief analysis and review of a case in which the government of the United States led to the U.S. Supreme Court. This is the defense of the claim appeal 384 U.S. competition 270 presented by the U.S. government against VON Grocery Co. (Von) in 1966 in the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of California No. 303. Duration was March 22, 1966 and the delivery of a verdict was the May 31, 1966. It was in favor of the defendant. This just reminded demand, government regulators were ignoring situations that occur within its jurisdiction. It was despite his knowledge of the changing developments in market structures that controlled processes. Government regulators failed to switch to a relaxed mood compared to previous legislative procedures necessary reacted to the threats and opportunities of his time. As a result, this led to the prevention of unfair trade practices or disposal of similar economic activities of small-scale business. Key words: VONS GROCERY CO, 384 U.S. 270, Shopping Bag Food Stores and 7 of the Clayton Act. Question 2: Describe the provision of the US Antirust Law invoked to judge the presence of anti-competitive behavior or potential of for moving the industry in that direction. The 1960 merger of Von Grocery Company with competitor Shopping Bag Food Stores (Shopping Bag) whose locations are in Los Angeles, California violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act (n. P Thomson Reuter). Its amendment in 1950 regulates the reasonable termination through the prohibition of mergers and acquisitions, which decreased competition. Even after a new amendment in 1980, remains the main reference point for antitrust law mergers that threatened the United States (Fox Fox). Question 3: Describe the basis for the ruling and action that pertain to all OR some of the following factors: The extent and trend in competition and expected in the future: Industry Structure and trend and projection for the future [based on the past, mostly]; CR4, CR8 and HHI, specially in cases of mergers. The claim of the United States had other modifications as support for their arguments. They were the 1950 amendment to Section 7 of the Celler-Kefauver and Congress sought to preserve competition for small businesses. Was also intended to help companies focus. The court was the agent that was against large companies that use concentrations in markets with increasing centralization of business. He succeeded in divesting after United States v. Philadelphia National. . Bank, 374 U.S. 321 Celler-Kefauver 362 Anti-Merger Act 1950 as amended provides relevant information: That no company engaged in commerce shall acquire all or part of the assets of another company also engaged in commerce, where in any line of commerce in any part of the country, the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly. Question 4: Describe the â€Å"conduct† in question that has been considered â€Å"anticompetitive:†Determine if the defendant had used an anticompetitive Price Strategy and explain how. Likewise, describe any Non-price Strategies the defendant had used and describe how. In investing 233 F. Supp. 976 Richard A. Posner was counsel for the United States. Your tips help were Attorney General Marshall, Assistant Attorney General Turner, Robert B. Hummel, James J. Coyle and John F. Hughes. The defense attorney was William W. Alsup. Your tips help Warren M. Christopher and were William W. Vaughn. As an interested party, the National Association of Retail Grocers of the United States Attorney Bison was Henry J., Jr., as amicus curiae, urging affirmance. MR. JUSTICE BLACK was the judge in the case and give judgment. The date of the original application was March 25, 1960. March 28, 1960, the District Court did not grant the motion of the Government for a restraining order against Von Grocery Company. The latter wanted to acquire tangible capital around the Shopping Bag Food Stores, and the ruling was that not violate the terms of demand. It was a backdoor way of recognizing the merger and showing favoritism to the accused prior to final judgment. The main argument of the defense was that a company was protecting the other from the state of collapse. They merged to protect a stronger competitor. 374 U.S. 321, 362 was the claim that prohibiting such mergers. There were bank loans may have had access and filing for bankruptcy as a financial coverage. The company achieved this when it was about to collapse. He managed to regroup with the help of government agencies and private financial consultants. Question 5: Describe the effect of the defendant’s â€Å"conduct† on other firms (or the main rival) in the industry. Von was the third largest grocery market in the retail area Los Angeles on sales while the shopping bag of food was number six in 1958. Their 1960 joint sales rose 7.5% an annual output of two and a half million. Your Los Angeles market seemed too small part of their market to the government to fight. However, if the top ten companies had double combined, their total market share could have been about a third of the retail market of Los Angeles. To be fair to these stores, which had begun as the outgoing neighborhood store many Americans of his generation knew. Ten of the previous twelve years to the merger, the number of stores has increased to a little more than twice their number. The other positive numbers include increased sales and market share. Its merger positioned the number two supermarket chains in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the discovery of individual owners tennis shops in Los Angeles dropped by nearly two-fifths. In 1963, the numbers continued to decline. The government witnesses lacked a thorough analysis of the facts and figures that the defense had in its possession. For example, from 1949 until 1958, nine of the top 20 competitors chains came into possession of 126 stores smaller rivals. An important defense witness gave details of previous acquisitions and mergers from 1954 to 1961. Apparently they were in the top 10 stores in Los Angeles. You might consider this as an ordinary person and discriminatory legal action. They should also have ground The nine competitors target rivals for smaller parties to legal action. However, the union of the two powers of financial market was a threat to government control in the area of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Los Angeles. The government reported data in its reply, the Federal Trade Commission prepared. Question 6: Describe the initial legal action taken against or in-favor of the defendant. The initial legal action taken against the defendant is that the US government accused Von’s Grocery Company of violating Section 7 of the Clayton Act because it was an attempting to create a monopoly. The company appealed and the District Court ruled in its favour. Also, it is important to mention that the government made accusations against the company because it wanted to purchase a smaller competitor in the retail grocery market that was called Shopping Bag Food Stores. Question 7: Describe any subsequent legal action in the case (such as the Supreme Court), if any. Once the case was resolved there was no subsequent action taken. The decision on the case was repealed by the District Court and it was possible for Von’s Grocery Company to merge with, and subsequently absorb, Shopping Bag Food Stores. Question 8: Carefully describe how the model of Structure-Conduct-Performance has been applied in the case under consideration. [The weight for this question is 40% of the grade.] The history of the struggle against mergers in the United States began in 1890. At that time, Congress passed the Sherman Act to prevent monopolies. Distrust of Americans back to the founding of the country. Unfortunately, did not protect the smaller companies businessman larger monopolistic pressures. In 1897, the Court ruled that the U.S. government against Trans-Missouri Freight Assn., 166 U.S. 290, 323. In [384 U.S. 270, 275], the Sherman Act did not protect the small businessman. Congressional approval in 1914, 7 of the Clayton Act allowed the merger of corporations through the purchase of shares of its competitors. By contrast, business people find a loophole and bought his opponents assets. A blow to the fight against the Clayton Act device came with the endorsement of Judge Brandeis, Taft chief justice and judges Holmes and Stone in 1926. As a result, there was a reduction in the number of large companies. The action was in 1950 Congress adopted the Celler-Kefauver Anti-Merger Act. Representative Celler and Senator Kefauver main reference was 384 U.S. lawmakers 270, 276 for the period 1940-1947. They used the Brown Shoe Co. v United States, 370 U.S. 294, 315 to argue their points. They and other members of Congress had the same concerns. In contrast, 7 of the Clayton Act had stamps in their lagoon and extending its coverage using 384 U.S. 270, 277. Evacuation This involved mergers between competitors and stop all instances of mergers. The U.S. v National Philadelphia. Banking, led to Amendment 7 to cancel the anti-competitive tendencies. 384 U.S. 270, 279 is another case of reference that allowed the passage of the Celler-Kefauver Act. In United States v. El Paso Gas Co., 376 U.S. 651, 662 defendants El Paso Gas Co. were notified of antitrust charges and declined to postpone divestment from the beginning. Moreover, these two other similar cases of United States v. du Pont Co., 366 U.S. 316; United States v. Alcoa, 377 U.S. 271, 281 are pre-trial demand 384 U.S. 270, 303 which was subjected to analysis. Decisions of typos with the figures presented in court said the government ran a presentation to meet with any person or body quirks. The government regulator requires constant awareness of the impact of legislative developments and industry trends and ongoing. There is the need for external consultants to give their objective on huge demands especially in unknown actions reviews. In such cases, the now useless but necessary demand requires more in-depth research, planning, analysis and the reality of how to fight cases misunderstood use laws. This implies compulsory receive expert help to train the executors. This paper has emphasized that the demands of the past are benchmarks for current and future cases and judgments. Upon focusing on how the SCP paradigm was applied in the case being considered, the first thing to note is that during the 1950s and 1960s, the grocery retail industry was characterized by ownership concentration. In other words, fewer and fewer owners started to own more and more stores (which they would go and absorb from smaller competitors). The structure and conduct of the market was going in the direction of fewer competitors of larger sizes. In the particular case of Von’s Grocery Company, it may be seen that its sales, when combined with the sales of Shopping Bag Food Stores, represented 7.5% of the total dollar amount of retail groceries sold per year in Los Angeles. Combining this fact by the fact that between the late 1940s and the late 1950s both businesses involved with the merger had doubled in size (measured by the amount of retail stores owned by each), and that the trend was going in the direction of larger (and fewer) competitors, it was decided that there wa s no violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act. In sum, it was decided that there was no attempt of creating a monopoly, but rather a strategic decision imposed by the market. Works Cited Fox, Byron E. Fox, Eleanor M. Chapter Summary, ABSTRACT TEXT:. LexisNexis Group. 2014. . Web. 21 June 2014. Thomson Reuters. U.S. Supreme Court. Thomson Reuters, 2014. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=USvol=384invol=270>. Web. 20 June 2014.

Discover The Adventure of a Lifetime in South Dakota Essay -- Tourism

Named for the Dakota branch of the Sioux Indian Nation, the State of South Dakota is a state that tells the story of America's westward expansion in a way that just can't be found elsewhere in the country. From gold strikes to battles with the Indians, South Dakota is one state that fulfills the typical Hollywood image of the Old West. However, visitors to this fascinating state will find that the story of South Dakota is much more interesting than any Hollywood western that they have ever seen. All in all, South Dakota offers visitors the adventure of a lifetime. South Dakota's Natural Attractions One of South Dakota's finest natural attractions is Badlands National Park near Rapid City. This national park comprises 244,000 acres of protected land that features wildlife like bison and antelope. In addition to this, there are numerous fossils that are found within the park that provide an interesting look into this land's geological past. With hundreds of miles of hiking trails and numerous other activities for visitors, Badlands National Park is one natural attraction that nature lovers will definitely enjoy. Another fantastic natural attraction in South Dakota is the Black Hills National Forest near Deadwood. This magnificent forest covers an area of 125 miles long and 65 miles wide and features some of the most majestic rock formations and canyons found anywhere in the United States. In addition to its rock formations, this forest offers some of the finest biking and hiking trails found anywhere in the United States. All in all, visitors to Black Hills National Forest leave with a deeper appreciation for the gorgeous natural beauty found in this region. South Dakota's Cultural Attractions Besides having numerous ... ...uth Dakota an adventure to remember for the rest of your life. Sources â€Å"Top 10 Vacation Attractions in South Dakota,† Choice Hotels http://centralus.choicehotels.com/south-dakota-hotels/top10attractions â€Å"Most Popular Attractions,† South Dakota.com http://www.southdakota.com/most-popular-attractions/328 â€Å"South Dakota,† Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota â€Å"Badlands National Park,† National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/badl/index.htm â€Å"Black Hills National Forest,† South Dakota.com http://www.southdakota.com/black-hills-national-forest/103 â€Å"Black Hills National Forest,† US Forest Service http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-ibL4Cz7AvIJ:fs.usda.gov/blackhills+black+hills+national+forest&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a â€Å"Wall Drug,† South Dakota.com http://www.southdakota.com/wall-drug/282

Fetal Cell Transplants :: essays research papers

Transplanting fetal cells is an issue that is considered by some as a like saver, and at the same time considered murder by others. It is a very controversial subject, which can be looked at in different ways. Once researched, people make their own personal opinion on the subject. Many who develop their own â€Å"views† have no background knowledge of it, which should not be done. After reading, â€Å"Difficult Decisions: Fetal Cell Transplants,† I have developed my own opinion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In certain situations, it is almost the right thing to do, in my mind. Many children are the result of an â€Å"accident†. A portion of those fetuses are aborted. By donating, you can help save a life. In the United States alone, 1.5 million fetuses are aborted each year. Why not put then to use?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I think that the choice should be available if the mother decides to do so. If someone very close to you, or even you were dying, and the doctor said, â€Å"Because of a previous fetus donation, we may be able to save you.† Would your decision about the transplants change? I’m sure anyone would go against their beliefs to save the life of someone close to them; it’s almost like a reflex.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are certain cases where I have an opposite opinion. For example, when someone uses it to decrease aging, it really wasn’t needed, and it probably could have been put to better use for someone who needed it. God made everyone to age and eventually die, so that process should go on as it is. Just because you may disagree with the idea, doesn’t mean it can’t be an option for others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sometimes pregnancies weren’t meant to happen, like if somebody was raped. The child is either going to be put up for adoption, where there is a chance that life could be miserable, or it would be aborted. The child is not actually developed enough to consider it murder although some may think differently. Dr. Lister, Orthopedics, says, â€Å" Abortions are something that take place regardless, professionally or not. The possibility of donating a newly conceived fetus to help save another should be open.

Ikea Children Labour

KEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) In May 1995, Marianne Barner faced a tough decision. After just two years with IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, and less than a year into her job as business area manager for carpets, she was faced with the decision of cutting off one of the company’s major suppliers of Indian rugs. While such a move would disrupt supply and affect sales, she found the reasons to do so quite compelling.A German TV station had just broadcast an investigative report naming the supplier as one that used child labor in the production of rugs made for IKEA. What frustrated Barner was that, like all other IKEA suppliers, this large, well-regarded company had recently signed an addendum to its supply contract explicitly forbidding the use of child labor on pain of termination. Even more difficult than this short-term decision was the long-term action Barner knew IKEA must take on this issue. On one hand, she w as being urged to sign up to an industry-wide response to growing concerns about the use of child labor in the Indian carpet industry.A recently formed partnership of manufacturers, importers, retailers, and Indian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) was proposing to issue and monitor the use of â€Å"Rugmark,† a label to be put on carpets certifying that they were made without child labor. Simultaneously, Barner had been conversing with people at the Swedish Save the Children organization who were urging IKEA to ensure that its response to the situation was â€Å"in the best interest of the child†Ã¢â‚¬â€whatever that might imply. Finally, there were some who wondered if IKEA should not just leave this hornet’s nest.Indian rugs accounted for a tiny part of IKEA’s turnover, and to these observers, the time, cost, and reputation risk posed by continuing this product line seemed not worth the profit potential. The Birth and Maturing of a Global Company1 To understand IKEA’s operations, one had to understand the philosophy and beliefs of its 70year-old founder, Ingvar Kamprad. Despite stepping down as CEO in 1986, almost a decade later, Kamprad retained the title of honorary chairman and was still very involved in the company’s activities.Yet perhaps even more powerful than his ongoing presence were his strongly held values and beliefs, which long ago had been deeply embedded in IKEA’s culture. Kamprad was 17 years old when he started the mail-order company he called IKEA, a name that combined his initials with those of his family farm, Elmtaryd, and parish, Agunnaryd, located in the ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Professor Christopher A.Bartlett, Executive Director of the HBS Europe Research Center Vincent Dessain, and Research Associate Anders Sjoman prepared this case. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discuss ion. Certain details have been disguised. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. Copyright  © 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www. bsp. harvard. edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School. 906-414 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) forests of southern Sweden. Working out of the family kitchen, he sold goods such as fountain pens, cigarette lighters, and binders he purchased from low-priced sources and then advertised in a newsletter to local shopkeepers.Wh en Kamprad matched his competitors by adding furniture to his newsletter in 1948, the immediate success of the new line led him to give up the small items. In 1951, to reduce product returns, he opened a display store in nearby Almhult village to allow customers to inspect products before buying. It was an immediate success, with customers traveling seven hours from the capital Stockholm by train to visit. Based on the store’s success, IKEA stopped accepting mail orders. Later Kamprad reflected, â€Å"The basis of the modern IKEA concept was created [at this time] and in principle it still applies.First and foremost, we use a catalog to tempt people to visit an exhibition, which today is our store. . . . Then, catalog in hand, customers can see simple interiors for themselves, touch the furniture they want to buy and then write out an order. †2 As Kamprad developed and refined his furniture retailing business model he became increasingly frustrated with the way a tight ly knit cartel of furniture manufacturers controlled the Swedish industry to keep prices high. He began to view the situation not just as a business opportunity but also as an unacceptable social problem that he wanted to correct.Foreshadowing a vision for IKEA that would later be articulated as â€Å"creating a better life for the many people,† he wrote: â€Å"A disproportionately large part of all resources is used to satisfy a small part of the population. . . . IKEA’s aim is to change this situation. We shall offer a wide range of home furnishing items of good design and function at prices so low that the majority of people can afford to buy them. . . . We have great ambitions. †3 The small newsletter soon expanded into a full catalog. The 1953 issue introduced what would become another key IKEA feature: self-assembled furniture.Instead of buying complete pieces of furniture, customers bought them in flat packages and put them together themselves at home. So on, the â€Å"knockdown† concept was fully systemized, saving transport and storage costs. In typical fashion, Kamprad turned the savings into still lower prices for his customers, gaining an even larger following among young postwar householders looking for well-designed but inexpensive furniture. Between 1953 and 1955, the company’s sales doubled from SEK 3 million to SEK 6 million. 4Managing Suppliers: Developing Sourcing Principles As its sales took off in the late 1950s, IKEA’s radically new concepts began to encounter stiff opposition from Sweden’s large furniture retailers. So threatened were they that when IKEA began exhibiting at trade fairs, they colluded to stop the company from taking orders at the fairs and eventually even from showing its prices. The cartel also pressured manufacturers not to sell to IKEA, and the few that continued to do so often made their deliveries at night in unmarked vans.Unable to meet demand with such constrained loc al supply, Kamprad was forced to look abroad for new sources. In 1961, he contracted with several furniture factories in Poland, a country still in the Communist eastern bloc. To assure quality output and reliable delivery, IKEA brought its knowhow, taught its processes, and even provided machinery to the new suppliers, revitalizing Poland’s furniture industry as it did so. Poland soon became IKEA’s largest source and, to Kamprad’s delight, at much lower costs—once again allowing him to reduce his prices.Following its success in Poland, IKEA adopted a general procurement principle that it should not own its means of production but should seek to develop close ties by supporting its suppliers in a 2 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) 906-414 long-term relationship. a Beyond supply contracts and technology transfer, the relationship led IKEA to make loans to its suppliers at reasonable rates, repayable through future sh ipments. â€Å"Our objective is to develop long-term business partners,† explained a senior purchasing manager. We commit to doing all we can to keep them competitive—as long as they remain equally committed to us. We are in this for the long run. † Although the relationship between IKEA and its suppliers was often described as one of mutual dependency, suppliers also knew that they had to remain competitive to keep their contract. From the outset they understood that if a more cost-effective alternative appeared, IKEA would try to help them respond, but if they could not do so, it would move production. In its constant quest to lower prices, the company developed an unusual way of identifying new sources.As a veteran IKEA manager explained: â€Å"We do not buy products from our suppliers. We buy unused production capacity. † It was a philosophy that often led its purchasing managers to seek out seasonal manufacturers with spare off-season capacity. There were many classic examples of how IKEA matched products to supplier capabilities: they had sail makers make seat cushions, window factories produce table frames, and ski manufacturers build chairs in their off-season. The manager added, â€Å"We’ve always worried more about finding the right management at our suppliers than finding high-tech facilities.We will always help good management to develop their capacity. † Growing Retail: Expanding Abroad Building on the success of his first store, Kamprad self-financed a store in Stockholm in 1965. Recognizing a growing use of automobiles in Sweden, he bucked the practice of having a downtown showroom and opted for a suburban location with ample parking space. When customers drove home with their furniture in flat packed boxes, they assumed two of the costliest parts of traditional furniture retailing—home delivery and assembly. In 1963, even before the Stockholm store had opened, IKEA had expanded into Oslo, Norway.A decade later, Switzerland became its first non-Scandinavian market, and in 1974 IKEA entered Germany, which soon became its largest market. (See Exhibit 1 for IKEA’s worldwide expansion. ) At each new store the same simple Scandinavian-design products were backed up with a catalog and offbeat advertising, presenting the company as â€Å"those impossible Swedes with strange ideas. † And reflecting the company’s conservative values, each new entry was financed by previous successes. b During this expansion, the IKEA concept evolved and became increasingly formalized. (Exhibit 2 summarizes important events in IKEA’s corporate history. It still built large, suburban stores with knockdown furniture in flat packages the customers brought home to assemble themselves. But as the concept was refined, the company required that each store follow a predetermined design, set up to maximize customers’ exposure to the product range. The concept mandated, for ins tance, that the living room interiors should follow immediately after the entrance. IKEA also serviced customers with features such as a playroom for children, a low-priced restaurant, and a â€Å"Sweden Shop† for groceries that had made IKEA Sweden’s leading food exporter. At the same time, the range gradually This policy was modified after a number of East European suppliers broke their contracts with IKEA after the fall of the Berlin Wall opened new markets for them. IKEA’s subsequent supply chain problems and loss of substantial investments led management to develop an internal production company, Swedwood, to ensure delivery stability. However, it was decided that only a limited amount of IKEA’s purchases (perhaps 10%) should be sourced from Swedwood. b By 2005, company lore had it that IKEA had only taken one bank loan in its corporate history—which it had paid back as soon as the cash flow allowed. 906-414 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Chall enge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) expanded beyond furniture to include a full line of home furnishing products such as textiles, kitchen utensils, flooring, rugs and carpets, lamps, and plants. The Emerging Culture and Values5 As Kamprad’s evolving business philosophy was formalized into the IKEA vision statement, â€Å"To create a better everyday life for the many people,† it became the foundation of the company’s strategy of selling affordable, good-quality furniture to mass-market consumers around the world.The cultural norms and values that developed to support the strategy’s implementation were also, in many ways, an extension of Kamprad’s personal beliefs and style. â€Å"The true IKEA spirit,† he remarked, â€Å"is founded on our enthusiasm, our constant will to renew, on our cost-consciousness, on our willingness to assume responsibility and to help, on our humbleness before the task, and on the simplicity of our behavior. † As well as a summary of his aspiration for the company’s behavioral norms, it was also a good statement of Kamprad’s own personal management style.Over the years a very distinct organizational culture and management style emerged in IKEA reflecting these values. For example, the company operated very informally as evidenced by the open-plan office landscape, where even the CEO did not have a separate office, and the familiar and personal way all employees addressed one another. But that informality often masked an intensity that derived from the organization’s high self-imposed standards. As one senior executive explained, â€Å"Because there is no security available behind status or closed doors, this environment actually puts pressure on people to perform. The IKEA management process also stressed simplicity and attention to detail. â€Å"Complicated rules paralyze! † said Kamprad. The company organized â€Å"anti-bureaucrat week† every year, requiring all managers to spend time working in a store to reestablish contact with the front line and the consumer. The workpace was such that executives joked that IKEA believed in â€Å"management by running around. † Cost consciousness was another strong part of the management culture. â€Å"Waste of resources,† said Kamprad, â€Å"is a mortal sin at IKEA. Expensive solutions are often signs of mediocrity, and an idea without a price tag is never acceptable. Although cost consciousness extended into all aspects of the operation, travel and entertainment expenses were particularly sensitive. â€Å"We do not set any price on time,† remarked an executive, recalling that he had once phoned Kamprad to get approval to fly first class. He explained that economy class was full and that he had an urgent appointment to keep. â€Å"There is no first class in IKEA,† Kamprad had replied. â€Å"Perhaps you should go by car. † The executive completed the 35 0-mile trip by taxi. The search for creative solutions was also highly prized with IKEA. Kamprad had written, â€Å"Only while sleeping one makes no mistakes.The fear of making mistakes is the root of bureaucracy and the enemy of all evolution. † Though planning for the future was encouraged, overanalysis was not. â€Å"Exaggerated planning can be fatal,† Kamprad advised his executives. â€Å"Let simplicity and common sense characterize your planning. † In 1976, Kamprad felt the need to commit to paper the values that had developed in IKEA during the previous decades. His thesis, Testament of a Furniture Dealer, became an important means for spreading the IKEA philosophy, particularly during its period of rapid international expansion. (Extracts of the Testament are given in Exhibit 3. Specially trained â€Å"IKEA ambassadors† were assigned to key positions in all units to spread the company’s philosophy and values by educating their subordinates a nd by acting as role models. 4 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) 906-414 In 1986, when Kamprad stepped down, Anders Moberg, a company veteran who had once been Kamprad’s personal assistant, took over as president and CEO. But Kamprad remained intimately involved as chairman, and his influence extended well beyond the ongoing daily operations: he was the self-appointed guardian of IKEA’s deeply embedded culture and values.Waking up to Environmental and Social Issues By the mid-1990s, IKEA was the world's largest specialized furniture retailer. Sales for the IKEA Group for the financial year ending August 1994 totaled SEK 35 billion (about $4. 5 billion). In the previous year, more than 116 million people had visited one of the 98 IKEA stores in 17 countries, most of them drawn there by the company’s product catalog, which was printed yearly in 72 million copies in 34 languages. The privately held company did not report profi t levels, but one estimate put its net margin at 8. 4% in 1994, yielding a net profit of SEK 2. billion (about $375 million). 6 After decades of seeking new sources, in the mid-1990s IKEA worked with almost 2,300 suppliers in 70 countries, sourcing a range of around 11,200 products. Its relationship with its suppliers was dominated by commercial issues, and its 24 trading service offices in 19 countries primarily monitored production, tested new product ideas, negotiated prices, and checked quality. (See Exhibit 4 for selected IKEA figures in 1994. ) That relationship began to change during the 1980s, however, when environmental problems emerged with some of its products.And it was even more severely challenged in the mid-1990s when accusations of IKEA suppliers using child labor surfaced. The Environmental Wake-Up: Formaldehyde In the early 1980s, Danish authorities passed regulations to define limits for formaldehyde emissions permissible in building products. The chemical compoun d was used as binding glue in materials such as plywood and particleboard and often seeped out as gas. At concentrations above 0. 1 mg/kg in air, it could cause watery eyes, headaches, a burning sensation in the throat, and difficulty breathing.With IKEA’s profile as a leading local furniture retailer using particleboard in many of its products, it became a prime target for regulators wanting to publicize the new standards. So when tests showed that some IKEA products emitted more formaldehyde than was allowed by legislation, the case was widely publicized and the company was fined. More significantly—and the real lesson for IKEA—was that due to the publicity, its sales dropped 20% in Denmark. In response to this situation, the company quickly established stringent requirements regarding formaldehyde emissions but soon found that suppliers were failing to meet its standards.The problem was that most of its suppliers bought from subsuppliers, who in turn bought t he binding materials from glue manufacturers. Eventually, IKEA decided it would have to work directly with the glue-producing chemical companies and, with the collaboration of companies such as ICI and BASF, soon found ways to reduce the formaldehyde off-gassing in its products. 7 A decade later, however, the formaldehyde problem returned. In 1992, an investigative team from a large German newspaper and TV company found that IKEA’s best-selling bookcase series, Billy, had emissions higher than German legislation allowed.This time, however, the source of the problem was not the glue but the lacquer on the bookshelves. In the wake of headlines describing â€Å"deadly poisoned bookshelves,† IKEA immediately stopped both the production and sales of Billy bookcases worldwide and corrected the problem before resuming distribution. Not counting the cost of lost sales and production or the damage to goodwill, the Billy incident was estimated to have cost IKEA $6 million to $7 million. 8 5 906-414 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A)These events prompted IKEA to address broader environmental concerns more directly. Since wood was the principal material in about half of all IKEA products, forestry became a natural starting point. Following discussions with both Greenpeace and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF, formerly World Wildlife Fund) and using standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council, IKEA established a forestry policy stating that IKEA would not accept any timber, veneer, plywood, or layer-glued wood from intact natural forests or from forests with a high conservation value.This meant that IKEA had to be willing to take on the task of tracing all wood used in IKEA products back to its source. 9 To monitor compliance, the company appointed forest managers to carry out random checks of wood suppliers and run projects on responsible forestry around the world. In addition to forestry, IKEA identified four other a reas where environmental criteria were to be applied to its business operations: adapting the product range; working with suppliers; transport and distribution; and ensuring environmentally conscious stores.For instance, in 1992, the company began using chlorine-free recycled paper in its catalogs; it redesigned the best-selling OGLA chair— originally manufactured from beech—so it could be made using waste material from yogurt cup production; and it redefined its packaging principles to eliminate any use of PVC. The company also maintained its partnership with WWF, resulting in numerous projects on global conservation, and funded a global forest watch program to map intact natural forests worldwide. In addition, it engaged in an ongoing dialogue with Greenpeace on forestry. 10 The Social Wake-Up: Child LaborIn 1994, as IKEA was still working to resolve the formaldehyde problems, a Swedish television documentary showed children in Pakistan working at weaving looms. Amon g the several Swedish companies mentioned in the film as importers of carpets from Pakistan, IKEA was the only highprofile name on the list. Just two months into her job as business area manager for carpets, Marianne Barner recalled the shockwaves that the TV program sent through the company: The use of child labor was not a high-profile public issue at the time. In fact, the U. N. Convention on the Rights of the Child had only been published in December 1989.So, media attention like this TV program had an important role to play in raising awareness on a topic not well known and understood—including at IKEA. . . . We were caught completely unaware. It was not something we had been paying attention to. For example, I had spent a couple of months in India learning about trading but got no exposure to child labor. Our buyers met suppliers in their city offices and rarely got out to where production took place. . . . Our immediate response to the program was to apologize for our ignorance and acknowledge that we were not in full control of this problem.But we also committed to do something about it. As part of its response, IKEA sent a legal team to Geneva to seek input and advice from the International Labor Organization (ILO) on how to deal with the problem. They learned that Convention 138, adopted by the ILO in 1973 and ratified by 120 countries, committed ratifying countries to working for the abolition of labor by children under 15 or the age of compulsory schooling in that country. India, Pakistan, and Nepal were not signatories to the convention. 1 Following these discussions with the ILO, IKEA added a clause to all supply contracts—a â€Å"black-andwhite† clause, as Barner put it—stating simply that if the supplier employed children under legal working age, the contract would be cancelled. To take the load off field trading managers and to provide some independence to the monitoring process, the company appointed a third-party agent to monitor child labor practices at its suppliers in India and Pakistan. Because this type of external monitoring was very unusual, IKEA had some difficulty locating a reputable and competent company to perform the task. Finally, they appointed a 6IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) 906-414 well-known Scandinavian company with extensive experience in providing external monitoring of companies’ quality assurance programs and gave them the mandate not only to investigate complaints but also to undertake random audits of child labor practices at suppliers’ factories. Early Lessons: A Deeply Embedded Problem With India being the biggest purchasing source for carpets and rugs, Barner contacted Swedish Save the Children, UNICEF, and the ILO to expand her understanding and to get advice about the issue of child labor, especially in South Asia.She soon found that hard data was often elusive. While estimates of child labor in India var ied from the government’s 1991 census figure of 11. 3 million children under 15 working12 to Human Rights Watch’s estimate of between 60 million and 115 million child laborers,13 it was clear that a very large number of Indian children as young as five years old worked in agriculture, mining, quarrying, and manufacturing, as well as acting as household servants, street vendors, or beggars.Of this total, an estimated 200,000 were employed in the carpet industry, working on looms in large factories, for small subcontractors, and in homes where whole families worked on looms to earn extra income. 14 Children could be bonded—essentially placed in servitude—in order to pay off debts incurred by their parents, typically in the range of 1,000 to 10,000 rupees ($30 to $300). But due to the astronomical interest rates and the very low wages offered to children, it could take years to pay off such loans. Indeed, some indentured child laborers eventually passed on t he debt to their own children.The Indian government stated that it was committed to the abolition of bonded labor, which had been illegal since the Children (Pledging of Labour) Act passed under British rule in 1933. The practice continued to be widespread, however, and to reinforce the earlier law, the government passed the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act in 1976. 15 But the government took a less absolute stand on unbonded child labor, which it characterized as â€Å"a socioeconomic phenomenon arising out of poverty and the lack of development. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 prohibited the use of child labor (applying to those under 14) in certain defined â€Å"hazardous industries† and regulated children’s hours and working conditions in others. But the government felt that the majority of child labor involved â€Å"children working alongside and under the supervision of their parents† in agriculture, cottage industries, and s ervice roles. Indeed, the law specifically permitted children to work in craft industries â€Å"in order not to outlaw the passage of specialized handicraft skills from generation to generation. 16 Critics charged that even with these laws on the books, exploitive child labor—including bonded labor—was widespread because laws were poorly enforced and prosecution rarely severe. 17 Action Required: New Issues, New Options In the fall of 1994, after managing the initial response to the crisis, Barner and her direct manager traveled to India, Nepal, and Pakistan to learn more. Barner recalled the trip: â€Å"We felt the need to educate ourselves, so we met with our suppliers. But we also met with unions, politicians, activists, NGOs, U. N. rganizations, and carpet export organizations. We even went out on unannounced carpet factory raids with local NGOs; we saw child labor, and we were thrown out of some places. † On the trip, Barner also learned of the formation o f the Rugmark Foundation, a recently initiated industry response to the child labor problem in the Indian carpet industry. Triggered by a consumer awareness program started by human rights organizations, consumer activists, and trade unions in Germany in the early 1990s, the Indo-German Export Promotion Council had joined up with key 906-414 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) Indian carpet manufacturers and exporters and some Indian NGOs to develop a label certifying that the hand-knotted carpets to which it was attached were made without the use of child labor. To implement this idea, the Rugmark Foundation was organized to supervise the use of the label. It expected to begin exporting rugs carrying a unique identifying number in early 1995.As a major purchaser of Indian rugs, IKEA was invited to sign up with Rugmark as a way of dealing with the ongoing potential for child labor problems on products sourced from India. On her return to Sweden, Barner again met frequently with the Swedish Save the Children’s expert on child labor. â€Å"The people there had a very forward-looking view on the issue and taught us a lot,† said Barner. â€Å"Above all, they emphasized the need to ensure you always do what is in the best interests of the child. † This was the principle set at the heart of the U. N.Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), a document with which Barner was now quite familiar. (See Exhibit 5 for Article 32 from the U. N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. ) The more Barner learned, the more complex the situation became. As a business area manager with full profit-and-loss responsibility for carpets, she knew she had to protect not only her business but also the IKEA brand and image. Yet she viewed her responsibility as broader than this: She felt the company should do something that would make a difference in the lives of the children she had seen.It was a view that was not universally held within IKEA, where many were concerned that a very proactive stand could put the business at a significant cost disadvantage to its competitors. A New Crisis Then, in the spring of 1995, a year after IKEA began to address this issue, a well-known German documentary maker notified the company that a film he had made was about to be broadcast on German television showing children working at looms at Rangan Exports, one of IKEA’s major suppliers.While refusing to let the company preview the video, the filmmaker produced still shots taken directly from the video. The producer then invited IKEA to send someone to take part in a live discussion during the airing of the program. Said Barner, â€Å"Compared to the Swedish program, which documented the use of child labor in Pakistan as a serious report about an important issue without targeting any single company, it was immediately clear that this German-produced program planned to take a confrontational and aggressive approac h aimed directly at IKEA and one of its suppliers. For Barner, the first question was whether to recommend that IKEA participate in the program or decline the invitation. Beyond the immediate public relations issue, she also had to decide how to deal with Rangan Exports’ apparent violation of the contractual commitment it had made not to use child labor. And finally, this crisis raised the issue of whether the overall approach IKEA had been taking to the issue of child labor was appropriate. Should the company continue to try to deal with the issue through its own relationships with its suppliers?Should it step back and allow Rugmark to monitor the use of child labor on its behalf? Or should it recognize that the problem was too deeply embedded in the culture of these countries for it to have any real impact and simply withdraw? 8 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) 906-414 Exhibit 1 IKEA Stores, Fiscal Year Ending August 1994 a. Historica l Store Growth 1954 Number of Stores 0 1964 2 1974 9 1984 52 1994 114 b. Country’s First StoreFirst Store (with city) Country Sweden Norway Denmark Switzerland Germany Australia Canada Austria Netherlands Singapore Spain Iceland France Saudi Arabia Belgium Kuwait United States United Kingdom Hong Kong Italy Hungary Poland Czech Republic United Arab Emirates Slovakia Taiwan Year 1958 1963 1969 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1978 1980 1981 1981 1983 1984 1984 1985 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1991 1991 1992 1994 City Almhult Oslo Copenhagen Zurich Munich Artamon Vancouver Vienna Rotterdam Singapore Gran Canaria Reykjavik Paris Jeddah Brussels Kuwait City Philadelphia Manchester Hong Kong Milan Budapest Platan Prague Dubai Bratislava TaipeiSource: IKEA website, http://franchisor. ikea. com/txtfacts. html, accessed October 15, 2004. 9 906-414 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) Exhibit 2 IKEA History: Selected Events Year 1943 1945 1948 1951 1955 1 956 1958 1961 1963 1965 1965 1973 1974 1978 1980 1980 1985 1985 1991 Event IKEA is founded. Ingvar Kamprad constructs the company name from his initials (Ingvar Kamprad), his home farm (Elmtaryd), and its parish (Agunnaryd). The first IKEA ad appears in press, advertising mail-order products. Furniture is introduced into the IKEA product range.Products are still only advertised through ads. The first IKEA catalogue is distributed. IKEA starts to design its own furniture. Self-assembly furniture in flat packs is introduced. The first IKEA store opens in Almhult, Sweden. Contract with Polish sources, IKEA’s first non-Scandinavian suppliers. First delivery is 20,000 chairs. The first IKEA store outside Sweden opens in Norway. IKEA opens in Stockholm, introducing the self-serve concept to furniture retailing. IKEA stores add a section called â€Å"The Cook Shop,† offering quality utensils at low prices.The first IKEA store outside Scandinavia opens in Spreitenbach, Switzer land. A plastic chair is developed at a supplier that usually makes buckets. The BILLY bookcase is introduced to the range, becoming an instant top seller. One of IKEA’s best-sellers, the KLIPPAN sofa with removable, washable covers, is introduced. Introduction of LACK coffee table, made from a strong, light material by an interior door factory. The first IKEA Group store opens in the U. S. MOMENT sofa with frame built by a supermarket trolley factory is introduced. Wins a design prize. IKEA establishes its own industrial group, Swedwood.Source: Adapted from IKEA Facts and Figures, 2003 and 2004 editions, and IKEA internal documents. 10 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) 906-414 Exhibit 3 â€Å"A Furniture Dealer’s Testament†Ã¢â‚¬â€A Summarized Overview In 1976, Ingvar Kamprad listed nine aspects of IKEA that he believed formed the basis of the IKEA culture together with the vision statement â€Å"To create a better everyd ay life for the many people. † These aspects are given to all new employees through a pamphlet titled â€Å"A Furniture Dealer’s Testament. † The following table summarizes the major points: Cornerstone 1.The Product Range—Our Identity 2. The IKEA Spirit—A Strong and Living Reality 3. Profit Gives Us Resources Summarize Description IKEA sells well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible can afford them. IKEA is about enthusiasm, renewal, thrift, responsibility, humbleness toward the task and simplicity. IKEA will achieve profit (which Kamprad describes as a â€Å"wonderful word†) through the lowest prices, good quality, economical development of products, improved purchasing processes and cost savings. â€Å"Waste is a deadly sin. † 4.Reaching Good Results with Small Means 5. Simplicity is a Virtue Complex regulations and exaggerated planning paralyze. IKEA people stay simple in st yle and habits as well as in their organizational approach. IKEA is run from a small village in the woods. IKEA asks shirt factories to make seat cushions and window factories to make table frames. IKEA discounts its umbrellas when it rains. IKEA does things differently. â€Å"We can never do everything everywhere, all at the same time. † At IKEA, you choose the most important thing to do and finish that before starting a new project. The fear of making mistakes is the root of bureaucracy. † Everyone has the right to make mistakes; in fact, everyone has an obligation to make mistakes. 6. Doing it a Different Way 7. Concentration—Important to Our Success 8. Taking Responsibility—A Privilege 9. Most Things Still Remain to be IKEA is only at the beginning of what it might become. 200 stores is Done. A Glorious Future! nothing. â€Å"We are still a small company at heart. † Source: Adapted by casewriters from IKEA’s â€Å"A Furniture Dealer†™s Testament†; Bertil Torekull, â€Å"Leading by Design: The IKEA Story† (New York: Harper Business, 1998, p. 12); and interviews. 11 906-414 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) Exhibit 4 a. Sales IKEA in Figures, 1993–1994 (fiscal year ending August 31, 1994) Country/region Germany Sweden Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Norway North America (U. S. and Canada) Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia Australia SEK billion 10. 4 3. 9 7. 7 7. 3 4. 9 0. 5 0. 4 35. 0 Percentage 29. 70% 11. 20% 21. 90% 20. 80% 13. 90% 1. 50% 1. 00% b. PurchasingCountry/region Nordic Countries East and Central Europe Rest of Europe Rest of the World Percentage 33. 4% 14. 3% 29. 6% 22. 7% Source: IKEA Facts and Figures, 1994. Exhibit 5 The U. N. Convention on the Rights of the Child: Article 32 1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development. . States Parties shall take legislative, administrative, social, and educational measures to ensure the implementation of the present article. To this end, and having regard to the relevant provisions of other international instruments, States Parties shall in particular: (a) (b) (c) Provide for a minimum age for admission to employment Provide for appropriate regulation of hours and conditions of employment Provide for appropriate or other sanctions to ensure the effective enforcement of the present article.

“A Secret Sorrow” by Karen van der Zee and “A Sorrowful Woman” Gail Godwin Essay

In both the excerpts from Karen van der Zee’s novel â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† and in Gail Godwin’s short story â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman,† the plots center on ideas of marriage and family. Conversely, marriage and family are presented in very different lights in the two stories. Karen van der Zee presents marriage with children as perfect and completely fulfilling; it is what Faye, the protagonist of â€Å"A Secret Sorrow†, wants and what is necessary to her happiness. For Godwin’s unnamed protagonist, marriage and family are almost the antithesis of happiness; her home life seems to suffocate hear and eventually leads her to death. â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† directly endorses and encourages marriage, whereas â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† indirectly questions and discourages it. Both of the female protagonists in the two stories experience a conflict. In â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† Faye’s conflict comes before the marriage. She is struck with misery and torment because she cannot have children and fears that this will prevent her from marrying the man she loves. Both she and her beloved, Kai, desire marriage with children, and van der Zee suggests that only with these things will they truly be happy. Faye feels that her inability to have children is a fatal flaw that cuts her off from Kai’s love. â€Å"Every time we see some pregnant woman, every time we’re with somebody else’s children I’ll feel I’ve failed you!† (Zee 35). Faye’s anxiety and fear are based on the thought of losing her beloved Kai, accompanied by never having children. In â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman,† however, the conflict comes after the marriage, when the woman has already secured her husband and child. Unlike Faye, who would be ecstatic in this woman’s situation, the protagonist of Godwin’s story is not. Oddly enough, her husband and son bring her such sorrow that eventually she is unable to see them at all, communicating only through notes stuck under her bedroom door. Godwin’s character has a loving husband and child, yet in spite of this, she is still filled with grief. This sense of defeat is unimaginable when compared to a Harlequin romance because it goes against the assumption that the rest is happily ever after. In â€Å"A Secret Sorrow†, marriage is portrayed as the resolution. Van der Zee works to present the reader with the idea that only with this aspect will Faye be fulfilled and happy; it is what the entire story, with all the plot  twists and romantic interludes, works toward. Marriage is also the end in â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† but not as expected: it is quite literally the end of the woman’s life. Though one doesn’t see what her life was like before her emotional crisis, there are hints of it. When she moves into a new bedroom, away from her husband, she mentions seeing the streets from a whole new perspective, which suggests the previous monotony of her daily life. In addition, when the woman bakes pies and bread and washes and folds the laundry, her son says, â€Å"She’s tired from doing all our things again,† (Godwin 42). This gives the reader the idea of what â€Å"our things† was and what the woman did with her time before her crisis. The monotony of marriage is absent in â€Å"A Secret Sorrow.† Faye’s inability to have children does not end Kai’s love for her, instead, the two go on to marry and adopt children. Faye’s married life is described in a very idyllic way: she raises her son and two daughters in a â€Å"white ranch house under the blue skies of Texas† (Zee 37). Once she is married and has children, there is no more anxiety because the plot leads one to the conclusion that marriage solves all problems and is a source of unending happiness. This greatly differs from Godwin’s tale, which takes place in winter and maintains a sense of cold. Whenever Godwin describes the family, it is in terms that suggest weight, guilt, or failure. The child’s trusting gaze makes the protagonist begin â€Å"yelping without tears† (Godwin 39). Any sign of life or love increases her sorrow and makes her want solitary. One case in point is when the hired girl brings her son to visit her with a grasshopper he’s found–something both alive and from the outside world; she gets very upset and forces her husband to fire the girl. It would appear that the girl is too much of an infringement on her space, too much of a reminder of what she can no longer be. The discrepancy between the two authors’ illustrations of marriage is most apparent when both women are viewing their families. Faye, sitting with her husband and watching her children play, feels that â€Å"life was good and filled with love† (Zee 37). Godwin’s protagonist, on the other hand, articulates, â€Å"The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again† (Godwin 38).When Kai, now her husband, embraces Faye, she feels,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"There was love in his embrace and love in his words and in her heart there was no room for doubt, no room for sorrow† (Zee 37). When Godwin’s heroine feels the loving touch of her husband’s arm and the kiss of her child, she cannot bear it any longer and cuts off all direct contact with them. The situation of her marriage forces her into a self-imposed imprisonment and indolence. She feels agonizingly poignant because she can no longer be who they want and need her to be. She avoids them not because she does not love them but rather because she loves them so much that it is too painful to see them and too troublesome for them to feel her failure. The axiom to Godwin’s story tells us that â€Å"Once upon a time there was a wife and a mother one too many times† (Godwin 38). The addition of â€Å"one too many times† to this traditional story opening forces the idea of repetition and monotony; it suggests that it is not the state of being a wife and mother that is innately dreadful but rather the fact that that is all Godwin’s character is. Day in and day out, too many times over, the woman is just a wife and a mother, and it isn’t enough for her. In van der Zee’s story there could be no such thing as too much motherhood or too much of being a wife. When Faye’s fears of losing Kai are assuaged, and she is happily married, it is as though a great weight has been lifted off her. Alternatively, Godwin’s character feels her marriage as a great weight pressing on her which results in her immobilization. When she leaves her room for a day and puts out freshly baked bread for her husband and son, they express their happiness in the notes they write to her that night, and â€Å"the force of the two joyful notes†¦pressed her into the corner of the little room; she hardly had space to breathe† (Godwin 42). Faye can be a traditional wife and mother, so her family is a source of joy. However, in Godwin’s character’s case, she can no longer be the traditional wife and mother, the representation of her own failure, which inevitably draws her guilt to push her further and further into herself un til she can retreat no further and ends her life. The closing stages of the two stories are powerful illustrations of the differences between them. In the end of â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† the author shows the reader Faye’s feelings â€Å"beautiful, complete, whole† (Zee 38) in her role  as a wife and mother. Godwin, on the other hand, leaves the audience with the protagonist dead on her bed. Godwin seems to give the reader hope by showing all that the woman has done when she says, â€Å"the house smelled redolently of renewal and spring† (Godwin 42). This makes the misfortune even harder when one discovers, along with the husband and child, the woman’s death. The ambiguous way the death of Godwin’s unnamed protagonist is dealt with reinforces the author’s negative tone towards marriage. It isn’t explicitly written as suicide; however, Godwin seems to encourage her readers to see it as the inevitable consequence of her marriage. Van der Zee creates a story full of emotional highs and lows, but one that leads up to and ends with marriage. After the marriage all of the plot twists and traumas come to a halt, replaced with peace and happiness. Faye is brought to new life by her marriage and children; she finds fulfillment of all of her desires in them. Godwin’s story, however, is full of post marital anguish and confusion. The character she creates is stifled and unquestionably unfulfilled by her marriage. A burst of creative energy right before her death produces, among other things, â€Å"a sheath of marvelous watercolor beasts accompanied by mad and fanciful stories nobody could ever make up again, and a tablet full of love sonnets addressed to the man† (Godwin 42). It is clear that the woman had talents and desires not met by the routine duties of her marital life. For Faye, the protagonist of â€Å"A Secret Sorrow†, marriage is the happily-ever-after ending she has wanted all of her life; for Godwin’s protagonist, marriage is just a monotonous and interminable ever after. In any case, humans cannot bear too much reality. Works Cited: Godwin, Gail. â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman.† 38-42. Van der Zee, Karen. â€Å"A Secret Sorrow.† 30-38. â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† by Karen van der Zee and â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† Gail Godwin Essay In both the excerpts from Karen van der Zee’s novel â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† and in Gail Godwin’s short story â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman,† the plots center on ideas of marriage and family. Conversely, marriage and family are presented in very different lights in the two stories. Karen van der Zee presents marriage with children as perfect and completely fulfilling; it is what Faye, the protagonist of â€Å"A Secret Sorrow†, wants and what is necessary to her happiness. For Godwin’s unnamed protagonist, marriage and family are almost the antithesis of happiness; her home life seems to suffocate hear and eventually leads her to death. â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† directly endorses and encourages marriage, whereas â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† indirectly questions and discourages it. Both of the female protagonists in the two stories experience a conflict. In â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† Faye’s conflict comes before the marriage. She is struck with misery and torment because she cannot have children and fears that this will prevent her from marrying the man she loves. Both she and her beloved, Kai, desire marriage with children, and van der Zee suggests that only with these things will they truly be happy. Faye feels that her inability to have children is a fatal flaw that cuts her off from Kai’s love. â€Å"Every time we see some pregnant woman, every time we’re with somebody else’s children I’ll feel I’ve failed you!† (Zee 35). Faye’s anxiety and fear are based on the thought of losing her beloved Kai, accompanied by never having children. In â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman,† however, the conflict comes after the marriage, when the woman has already secured her husband and child. Unlike Faye, who would be ecstatic in this woman’s situation, the protagonist of Godwin’s story is not. Oddly enough, her husband and son bring her such sorrow that eventually she is unable to see them at all, communicating only through notes stuck under her bedroom door. Godwin’s character has a loving husband and child, yet in spite of this, she is still filled with grief. This sense of defeat is unimaginable when compared to a Harlequin romance because it goes against the assumption that the rest is happily ever after. In â€Å"A Secret Sorrow†, marriage is portrayed as the resolution. Van der Zee works to present the reader with the idea that only with this aspect will Faye be fulfilled and happy; it is what the entire story, with all the plot  twists and romantic interludes, works toward. Marriage is also the end in â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† but not as expected: it is quite literally the end of the woman’s life. Though one doesn’t see what her life was like before her emotional crisis, there are hints of it. When she moves into a new bedroom, away from her husband, she mentions seeing the streets from a whole new perspective, which suggests the previous monotony of her daily life. In addition, when the woman bakes pies and bread and washes and folds the laundry, her son says, â€Å"She’s tired from doing all our things again,† (Godwin 42). This gives the reader the idea of what â€Å"our things† was and what the woman did with her time before her crisis. The monotony of marriage is absent in â€Å"A Secret Sorrow.† Faye’s inability to have children does not end Kai’s love for her, instead, the two go on to marry and adopt children. Faye’s married life is described in a very idyllic way: she raises her son and two daughters in a â€Å"white ranch house under the blue skies of Texas† (Zee 37). Once she is married and has children, there is no more anxiety because the plot leads one to the conclusion that marriage solves all problems and is a source of unending happiness. This greatly differs from Godwin’s tale, which takes place in winter and maintains a sense of cold. Whenever Godwin describes the family, it is in terms that suggest weight, guilt, or failure. The child’s trusting gaze makes the protagonist begin â€Å"yelping without tears† (Godwin 39). Any sign of life or love increases her sorrow and makes her want solitary. One case in point is when the hired girl brings her son to visit her with a grasshopper he’s found–something both alive and from the outside world; she gets very upset and forces her husband to fire the girl. It would appear that the girl is too much of an infringement on her space, too much of a reminder of what she can no longer be. The discrepancy between the two authors’ illustrations of marriage is most apparent when both women are viewing their families. Faye, sitting with her husband and watching her children play, feels that â€Å"life was good and filled with love† (Zee 37). Godwin’s protagonist, on the other hand, articulates, â€Å"The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again† (Godwin 38).When Kai, now her husband, embraces Faye, she feels,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"There was love in his embrace and love in his words and in her heart there was no room for doubt, no room for sorrow† (Zee 37). When Godwin’s heroine feels the loving touch of her husband’s arm and the kiss of her child, she cannot bear it any longer and cuts off all direct contact with them. The situation of her marriage forces her into a self-imposed imprisonment and indolence. She feels agonizingly poignant because she can no longer be who they want and need her to be. She avoids them not because she does not love them but rather because she loves them so much that it is too painful to see them and too troublesome for them to feel her failure. The axiom to Godwin’s story tells us that â€Å"Once upon a time there was a wife and a mother one too many times† (Godwin 38). The addition of â€Å"one too many times† to this traditional story opening forces the idea of repetition and monotony; it suggests that it is not the state of being a wife and mother that is innately dreadful but rather the fact that that is all Godwin’s character is. Day in and day out, too many times over, the woman is just a wife and a mother, and it isn’t enough for her. In van der Zee’s story there could be no such thing as too much motherhood or too much of being a wife. When Faye’s fears of losing Kai are assuaged, and she is happily married, it is as though a great weight has been lifted off her. Alternatively, Godwin’s character feels her marriage as a great weight pressing on her which results in her immobilization. When she leaves her room for a day and puts out freshly baked bread for her husband and son, they express their happiness in the notes they write to her that night, and â€Å"the force of the two joyful notes†¦pressed her into the corner of the little room; she hardly had space to breathe† (Godwin 42). Faye can be a traditional wife and mother, so her family is a source of joy. However, in Godwin’s character’s case, she can no longer be the traditional wife and mother, the representation of her own failure, which inevitably draws her guilt to push her further and further into herself un til she can retreat no further and ends her life. The closing stages of the two stories are powerful illustrations of the differences between them. In the end of â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† the author shows the reader Faye’s feelings â€Å"beautiful, complete, whole† (Zee 38) in her role  as a wife and mother. Godwin, on the other hand, leaves the audience with the protagonist dead on her bed. Godwin seems to give the reader hope by showing all that the woman has done when she says, â€Å"the house smelled redolently of renewal and spring† (Godwin 42). This makes the misfortune even harder when one discovers, along with the husband and child, the woman’s death. The ambiguous way the death of Godwin’s unnamed protagonist is dealt with reinforces the author’s negative tone towards marriage. It isn’t explicitly written as suicide; however, Godwin seems to encourage her readers to see it as the inevitable consequence of her marriage. Van der Zee creates a story full of emotional highs and lows, but one that leads up to and ends with marriage. After the marriage all of the plot twists and traumas come to a halt, replaced with peace and happiness. Faye is brought to new life by her marriage and children; she finds fulfillment of all of her desires in them. Godwin’s story, however, is full of post marital anguish and confusion. The character she creates is stifled and unquestionably unfulfilled by her marriage. A burst of creative energy right before her death produces, among other things, â€Å"a sheath of marvelous watercolor beasts accompanied by mad and fanciful stories nobody could ever make up again, and a tablet full of love sonnets addressed to the man† (Godwin 42). It is clear that the woman had talents and desires not met by the routine duties of her marital life. For Faye, the protagonist of â€Å"A Secret Sorrow†, marriage is the happily-ever-after ending she has wanted all of her life; for Godwin’s protagonist, marriage is just a monotonous and interminable ever after. In any case, humans cannot bear too much reality. Works Cited: Godwin, Gail. â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman.† 38-42. Van der Zee, Karen. â€Å"A Secret Sorrow.† 30-38.