Deep Sea Vents: Origin of Life Theory

Deep Sea Vents: Origin of Life Theory Assess one hypothesis of the origin of life:  Life may have emerged from deep sea vents Introduction Fossil evidence confirms that life on Earth existed at least 3.5 billion years ago (Orgel 1998). This rapid appearance of life is considered to be a remarkable event after the late heavy bombardment 100 million years before, which had the potential to destroy any possible habitats suited to living organisms (Abramov Mojzsis 2009). All life today can be phylogenetically linked to a last universal common ancestor (LUCA) whose closest known relatives are present day hyperthermophiles (Abramov Mojzsis 2009, Glansdorff Labedan 2008). This suggests that the earliest form of life on Earth may have originated from a single cell which emerged spontaneously in a high temperature environment. It is assumed that the development of the first living protocell occurred through a stepwise accumulation of necessary components (Mirazo et al. 2014). Experiments have shown that the simple prebiotic molecules required can be made under various conditions independent of a biological system (Orgel 1998, Mirazo et al. 2014) and it is often hypothesised that these reactions could have occurred near hydrothermal vents (Huber Wachtershauser 2006, Dai 2012, Budin et al. 2009). The ways in which these prebiotic molecules assembled into a self-sustaining cell have not yet been elucidated. This has led to some ambiguity regarding which prebiotic materials and chemical processes are required for the initiation of life (Mirazo et al. 2014). Assessing the ways in which life may have originated could provide insight into the possible locations of extraterrestrial life in our solar system (Spiegel Turner 2011). While current research aims to identify a single origin of life, it is important to observe multiple possibilities to ensure continued progress. Defining life – the cell To determine the point at which life first emerged, it is important to identify the features which separate living biological entities from non-living chemical building blocks. This paper will therefore conform to the assumptions that the universal unit of life is the cell (Palmer 2013) and that all living organisms are autonomous and self-replicating (Bich Damiano 2012). With these definitions in mind, it can be seen that all life on Earth shares three major cellular properties: a genetic code for information storage and replication, metabolism for the acquisition of energy and nutrients, as well as selectively permeable membranes that separate them from the surrounding environment (Mirazo et al. 2014). These components are made up of complex organic molecules that are commonly synthesised from within the cell itself. Life today uses nucleic acids for their genetic code, amino acids make up metabolic proteins and lipids form cell membranes (Mirazo et al. 2014). If we assume that th e first living cell from which all life ascended also consisted of these types of molecules, we must consider how they formed independently under early Earth conditions. Starting materials and chemical evolution Similar to how multicellular organisms emerged through increasing complexity and natural selection from the environment, the building blocks for life are thought to have developed through a process of chemical evolution. The Miller-Urey experiment in 1953 showed that amino acids can be formed quite readily from simple materials such as hydrogen, methane and ammonia when subject to an electric charge (Orgel 1998, Mirazo et al. 2014). While is it commonly suggested that the strongly reducing conditions used in the experiment may not have been analogous to the true early Earth conditions, it was the first of its kind to prove that complex organic molecules can be made without the help of a living system (Mirazo et al. 2014). Many experiments since then have shown similar abilities of simple molecules to reach prebiotic complexity under a variety of different conditions (Keller et al. 2014, Longo et al. 2012, Novikov Copley 2013). Research in 2006 showed the possibility of producing ÃŽ ±-hydroxy and ÃŽ ±-amino acids from simple molecules under high pressure and temperature with nickel and iron catalysis (Huber Wachtershauser 2006). These conditions and reactants were likely to be present in concentration and temperature gradients at volcanoes or hydrothermal vents in the early acidic ocean (Huber Wachtershauser 2006). Later simulation experiments have also shown that polynucleotides have the potential to be produced near alkaline deep sea vents and that protocell-like vesicles can form in thermal diffusion columns (Dai 2012, Budin et al. 2009). The typical materials used in these experiments are likely to have been present on Earth before the emergence of life and are listed by Mirazo, Briones and Escosura (2014): The main starting materials in prebiotic chemistry are one-, two-, and three-carbon atom molecules, such as hydrogen cyanide, cyanate, cyanogen, formaldehyde, formamide, formic acid, ammonium formate, ammonium cyanide, urea, acetaldehyde, cyanoacetylene, and cyanoacetaldehyde (p. 289). These molecules can be produced from gaseous mixtures of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, nitrogen, ammonia and water through UV radiation, shock waves or spark discharge (Mirazo et al. 2014). Given appropriate conditions, the resulting materials can then combine further through redox, photochemical or hydrolytic reactions (Mirazo et al. 2014). The origins of prebiotic monomers are often debated (Orgel 1998, Mirazo et al. 2014). It is proposed that the required quantities of starting materials were not being produced in the vast oceans of the early Earth. It is therefore speculated that they were unable to achieve sufficient concentrations for further synthesis (Mirazo et al. 2014). An alternative source of starting materials to their formation on the early Earth is their possible delivery from space during the late heavy bombardment (Mirazo et al. 2014, Orgel 1998). Meteorite analyses show that they can contain a wide variety of organic materials, including those which are used by living organisms (see table 1). The amount of organic matter deposited during this period is estimated to be two to four orders of magnitude higher than the current mass of the biosphere. It is therefore possible that a significant portion of the staring materials on Earth were of extraterrestrial origin (Mirazo et al. 2014, Orgel 1998). This als o suggests that organic synthesis is a universal process (Longo et al. 2012). Source: Mirazo, Briones and Escosura 2014 p. 289. Genes, metabolism and membranes The origin of more complex prebiotic structures such as membranes, polypeptides and genes are significantly less distinct. The agreement that living organisms require the ability to replicate imposes that the first form of life probably emerged from an RNA world (Vasas et al. 2009). However, the abiotic production of RNA has been shown to be remarkably difficult. While a metabolism first model addresses this issue (Novikov Copley 2013), it is uncertain if the process adheres to the definition of life (Vasas et al. 2009). Huber and Wà ¤chtershà ¤user (2006) theorise that life emerged stepwise from a â€Å"pioneer metabolism† to a fully functioning organism. Whereas Budin et al. (2009) suggest that the spontaneous formation of amphiphilic membranes in rock microchannels of deep sea vents may have provided suitable housings for the initial polymerisation of nucleotides. An all-encompassing view is held by Mirazo, Briones and Escosura (2014), stating that: When these various difficulties are considered, it is unlikely that scientists will ever know which exact synthetic itinerary led to the first forms of life. A nonhistorical point of view might be more fruitful, the target of research turning to be the general physicochemical processes that could trigger the transition from a nonliving chemical system into a protoliving one and, finally, into a living organism (p. 287). Nonetheless, there is a significant absence of evidence suggesting that any collection of chemical processes will lead to a living entity (Spiegel Turner 2012). To reject the discrete steps that may have led to the emergence of a cell could limit our understanding of how life is formed. Why hydrothermal vents? Hydrothermal vents currently support dense and diverse communities of organisms, indicating that their wide-ranging chemical and physical gradients have a remarkable capacity for supporting life (Novikov Copley 2013) (see figure 1). Their internal and nearby structures have the potential to provide microenvironments for concentrating organic materials and catalytic minerals. They can provide both high and low temperatures which can assist in the production of high activation energy and low thermal stability materials, respectively (Novikov Copley 2013). Hyperthermophilic microorganisms have been reported to exist in temperatures between 80 °C and 100 °C and many species are the closest living relatives to the last universal common ancestor (Glansdorff Labedan 2008). It is speculated that the thermotolerance of the early descendants of LUCA was an adaptive deviation from the original protocell (Glansdorff Labedan 2008). Nonetheless, evidence suggests that LUCA was moderate the rmophilic (40 °C to 80 °C) to mesophilic (20 °C to 45 °C), possibly signifying a broad preferred temperature range (Glansdorff Labedan 2008). If life originally emerged from a hydrothermal environment, it can be expected that it would require a potential for adaptability to survive in such varying conditions. Figure 1. Diagram of the chemical and physical interactions that occur in and around hydrothermal vents. A wide variety of temperatures and chemical products exist in the vicinity of a deep sea vent. Source: Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory 2013. Issues and important considerations As previously mentioned, there is currently no experimental evidence of a transition from prebiotic organic material to a fully replicating autonomous system. It is therefore possible that the conditions applied in simulation experiments still do not replicate those of the early Earth. The first life on Earth may have been introduced from elsewhere during the late heavy bombardment (Abramov Mojzsis 2009) and may therefore have been in conditions that are completely unlike those considered in the literature. Additionally, the earliest organisms may have been incomparable to the life that exists today. Alternatively, the models which are applied to define life may be inhibitory to our understanding of its origin. Vlaardingerbroek (2012) suggests that the separation between biological and chemical evolution and a specific origin of life is problematic, advising instead to observe the emergence of life as a gradual and detailed process absent of a single impartial event. Conclusions and future possibilities Although the theory of life emerging from hydrothermal vents is convincing, we should maintain a broad perspective on the possibilities of the origin of life until more information is acquired. Many of the current hypotheses are plausible – the abiotic production of building blocks has been proven in a multitude of different instances. However, evidence that can confirm the possibility of making a cell abiotically from these building blocks is needed to reinforce this idea. If abiogenesis is found to be common and rapid given appropriate conditions, it is likely that it is occurring on many other locations in space (Spiegel Turner 2011). Such possibilities would lead to a plethora of exciting research opportunities into the discovery of extraterrestrial life. References Abramov, O., Mojzsis, S. J. (2009) Microbial habitability of the Hadean Earth during the late heavy bombardment, Nature, 459(7245): 419–422. Bich, L., Damiano, L. (2012) Life, Autonomy and Cognition: An Organizational Approach to the Definition of the Universal Properties of Life, Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, 42(5): 389–397. Budin, I., Bruckner, R. J., Szostak, J. W. (2009) Formation of Protocell-like Vesicles in a Thermal Diffusion Column, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131(28): 9628–9629. Dai, J. (2012) Novel molecular fossils of bacteria: Insights into hydrothermal origin of life, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 310: 249–256. Glansdorff, N., Xu, Y., Labedan, B. (2008) The Last Universal Common Ancestor: emergence, constitution and genetic legacy of an elusive forerunner, Biology Direct, 3(1): 29. Huber, C., Wachtershauser, G. (2006) ÃŽ ±-Hydroxy and ÃŽ ±-Amino Acids Under Possible Hadean, Volcanic Origin-of-Life Conditions, Science, 314(5799): 630–632. Keller, M. A., Turchyn, A. V., Ralser, M. (2014) Non-enzymatic glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathway-like reactions in a plausible Archean ocean, Molecular Systems Biology, 10(725): 1–12. Lal, A. K. (2008) Origin of Life, Astrophysics and Space Science, 317(3-4): 267–278. Longo, L. M., Lee, J., Blaber, M. (2013) Simplified protein design biased for prebiotic amino acids yields a foldable, halophilic protein, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(6): 2135–2139. Novikov, Y., Copley, S. D. (2013) Reactivity landscape of pyruvate under simulated hydrothermal vent conditions, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(33): 13283–13288. Orgel, L. E. (1998) The origin of life – a review of facts and speculations, Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 4(98): 491–495. Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (2013) Vent Fluid Chemistry. Retrieved from http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/eoi/chemistry/fluid.html Palmer, B. S. (2012) A review on the spontaneous formation of the building blocks of life and the generation of a set of hypotheses governing universal abiogenesis, International Journal of Astrobiology, 12(01): 39–44. Ruiz-Mirazo, K., Briones, C., de la Escosura, A. (2014) Prebiotic Systems Chemistry: New Perspectives for the Origins of Life, Chemical Reviews, 114(1): 285–366. Spiegel, D. S., Turner, E. L. (2011) Bayesian analysis of the astrobiological implications of life’s early emergence on Earth, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(2): 395–400. Vasas, V., Szathmary, E., Santos, M. (2010) Lack of evolvability in self-sustaining autocatalytic networks constraints metabolism-first scenarios for the origin of life, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(4): 1470–1475. Vlaardingerbroek, B. (2012) The Sorites Paradox, ‘Life,’ and Abiogenesis, Evolution: Education and Outreach, 5(3): 399–401. Barco NV Analysis: SWOT, Position and Product Life Cycle Barco NV Analysis: SWOT, Position and Product Life Cycle Barco NV is one of the top three global manufacturer, focused on expensive, high-quality products in a niche market. It focuses on the graphic projector, projector market has the greatest growth and income. Barcos market share of 4%, a video projector, 23% and 55% of the data projector graphics projector. Barcos main competitors, Sony, Electrohome and NEC. In my opinion, scrap the BD700 and star new high-end projector is the smarter choice. His strongest competitor, Sony develops a new product 1270 super data projector and trade show in the Boston. It is a high-performance graphics applications and low price. From the Table A Product Segment Growth, 1988, we can find that Graphics predicted annual growth, 1989-1994 were 40.2% from 1988 4% units. Data only grows 12.3% from 1988 33% units. Its mean graphics market growth is more than Datas market growth. The BD700 is BarcoData700. Datas market is growing slowly. That means new product BD700 is fail product and fail in the market. Thats why I agree scrap the BD700. I will show more analyze in my product life cycle. And BG400 (BarcoGraphics400) is old model. If 1270 go in the market, BG400 will be kick-off from the market, because BG400 is the high price and low benefit product when 1270 come in. To star new high-end projector it is the smarter choice. Barco can develop new-product like as BG800 or upgrading BG700. In the Niche marketing, Barco need to keep pursuing top of the line in the high-end niche market and declining the prices, and Barco can win back the competitive edgy. Mission Statement High quality, high technology, popular, and five stars customers service, are all in ours product. Three levels of product Projector is popular in the world, especially graphics projector. Projector is used in the class by the professors and very important in multimedia instruction. Thats the core customer value. Its customers needs. And in these customers, when they chose the projectors they are care about the brand name, features, quality level, packaging, and design, its customers wants, these are actual product. And most customers are actually care about the band name, features, quality level, packaging, and design, and these are actual product. The features are the points Barcos new high-end projectors positioning, and also it is customer wants. In the Actual product, I will focus on the features, Barcos BG800 projector is new scanning frequency and new tubes than the 1270 the BG800 with at least 90kHz of scanning frequency and new tubes (p 249). Barco is famous brand name in the worldwide. Sony, it is not a profession projector brand. Customers will choose the professional brand-Barco. However, in the augmented product, customers want a good after-sale service and product support. In that part, Sony has good after-sale service and product support. That also is a good point for Barcos customer future cost, and collect customers information for the new-products. Also, it will become the point that customers care about when they chose the company. Barco need to improve that part, because thats customer wants. And its customer future cost, and researcher can collect customer information and wants from the new-products in the test marketing. Barco and Sonys strengths and weaknesses. First, Barcos products have a better scan speed is higher than the Sony. Barco dealer for 20% of the box distributors and 80% of the dealers and the dealer of Sony were 50%, tank dealers, and 50% of the system dealer. And we clearly can see customer needs and wants of three levels of product. Positioning is important part of customer wants. Positioning New high-end products are very important for Barco, its positioning on the high-performance graphics applications and middle high price like as BG800. Because Barcos strong competitor, Sonys 1270 is high-performance graphics applications and low price. Keeping high technology, appropriate price cut, and doing market research are the good way for the new-products. The BG800 in type of consumer product is classified the shopping products. Customer would like to compare these product, features, design, brand name, quality level, and packaging. The BG800 is the one Barco develop and position for the high-end products. Product life cycle In the product life cycle, BD700 are almost developed. But BD700 is the fail product like what I said in the beginning. But Barco already paid for the BD700 development fee and that was the sink cost. And Barco cannot take this money back. In the product life cycle, if BD700 is the right product, it can run like the curve, keeping to spent money for introduction. But the problem is BD700 is the fail product, its wrong product. In the development, its the sink cost. Sony is in the product development area, and they can stop and decline the loss, but Barco. Right now Sonys product 1270 is passed the product development area and they will keep to following the product life cycle curve, introduction, growth, maturity, and Decline. The profits will between the end of introduction and the end of decline. Barco can start to develop BG800 and also follow the curve, because BG800 is the right product right now. Possible Value Propositions From the upper, we can find that BG400 is in the more prices and more benefits area. But when 1270 are come in the market. BG400 will go down to the more prices and less benefits. And the 1270 will go to the less prices and more benefits area. Its very bad for BG400. Because no one want to buy a expensive and less benefits product. Barco will lose that market. From the positioning, BG800 will go in to the more prices and more benefits area. Thats good to fight with 1270 in the market. Customers really need the less prices and more benefits product, but some customers want more of the product, like they want and compare different brand name, features, and after-sale service. So they will choose BG800. The New-Product Development Process In the idea generation, Barco has many ideas. I will talk about three ideas from Barco; finish the BD700, scrap the BD700 and start new high-end projector, and improve BD700. In the idea screening, I suggest Barco scrap the BD700 and start new high-end projector. If that idea is passed, Barco will continue the next part-concept development and testing. BG800 is show up in the concept development and testing of the new-product development process. And then, Barco can do the marketing strategy development and business analysis. In the marketing strategy development, Barco can follow the Niche market to find what they fit. Following the Niche marketing, Barco can position the BG800 to the high-performance graphics applications and middle high price. So their marketing strategy will fit at high-performance and high price or middle high price. In the Business analysis, Barco need to do more market research and collect more information from the customers, price, needs, and wants. The third step will go in to the product development like as the graph of product life cycle, beginning the product development and products introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The test marketing is beginning on the products growth. That means in the test marketing, it is beginning on the products growth and test the new product whether or not fit in the market growth and market share. And the last part, it will star the commercialization. SWOT Analyzing the Barcos superiority from the case, its show that Barco has two big markets: the United States and Western Europe. From the Table B Geographic Segment Growth, Barco has 50% units in the United States and 36% units in the Western Europe 1988 and the predicted annual growth of each are 9% and 11.5% from 1989 to 1994. And the weakness part is the relationship with dealer. Barco hasnt the system dealer who know-how of integrate and install equipment packages. From the Table D BPSs Pricing Index, BPS has 41% direct cost and 59% gross margin, and this is the high margin. Existing dealers liked to sell BPSs products. But BPSs product is complexity. In 1989, few dealers could survive without the Sony volume; an estimated 80% to 90% of professional audiovisual dealers worldwide Sony products because of reliability and low price among dealers (p. 244). Sony has a lot of dealers and good for his product selling. The opportunity of Barcos products are high technology and famous brand in the worldwide of projectors. Barco can develop high-end product BG800 or upgrading BG700. The threat is Barco need to scrap BD700 production. It means they lose a lot of money and need more time for the new high-end product development. And they will lose a lot of market share from their competitors. If the BG800 are not fit in the market, Barco will lose and never come back. Line stretching and Line filling Barco need to fill in the gap of Sony. Keeping the high quality and dropping the price, its the good way to fill the line of product line decisions. Right now Barco is in the high quality and high prices. And Sony is in the low prices and low quality. Sony keeps the low price and develops high quality product, 1270. If Barco develops BD700, the low price and low quality, will lose the market. If Barco scarp the BD700 and develops the high-end product BG800, it would be keep their high quality. Barco havent low price product, so he has no line filling. Barco have high price and high quality product. Barco will have line filling when he drop the price and keep high quality. Finding the gap of Sony is the good way to win the battle. Summary Surviving in the competitive market is not easy. To scrap BD700 and start a new high-end product, BG800, is the smarter choice. From the analysis, Barco need to find their new product whether or not fit in the market. Finding the customers needs and wants, its very important. Barco need to redefine its target market from collecting customers feedback and competitors strategic. To position new-product, its still important for Barcos line filling. Positioning also use to the Possible Value Propositions, to find where the area is and where is the competitors. Understanding the product life cycle is good for losing money and scraping the fail products. The right product will follow the product life cycle curves. Understanding the SWOT, Barco has two big markets: the United States and Western Europe. the weakness part is the relationship with dealer. The opportunity of Barcos products are high technology and famous brand in the worldwide of projectors. Barco can develop high-end product B G800 or upgrading BG700. The threat is Barco need to scrap BD700 production. In the line stretching and line filling part, Barco need to find his line, high prices and high quality, dropping the prices and keeping high quality are go way to filling the line of product line decisions.

Modernism and Modernist Literature

Christina Ortega March 30, 2013 Modernism and Modernist Literature Modernism is the movement in visual arts, music, literature, and drama which rejected the old Victorian standards of how art should be made, consumed, and what it should mean. The concept was what is reality? It used art and literature to replicate reality, and traditions cultivated in Romanticism and Victorianism. It was against all traditions. The Modernist Period in English Literature occupied the years from shortly after the beginning of the twentieth century through roughly 1965.The period was marked by sudden and unexpected breaks with traditional ways of viewing and interacting with the world. Experimentation and individualism became virtues, where in the past they were often completely discouraged. In the world of art, generally speaking, Modernism was the beginning of the distinction between â€Å"high† art and â€Å"low† art. Still, the most effective poets and novelists did manage to make deep statements that were absorbed by the whole of society and not just the writer’s inner circles.In Modernist literature, it was the poets who took fullest advantage of the new spirit of the times, and stretched the possibilities of their craft to lengths not previously imagined. In general, there was a disregard for most of the literary making of the last century. The following are characteristics of Modernism: †¢ Marked by a strong and intended break with tradition. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views. †¢ Belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is. There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative. †¢ No connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of alienation, loss, and despair. †¢ Life is unordered. †¢ Concerned with the sub-conscious. Ambrose Bierce, turn of the century California's one of th e most notorious writers. Ambrose was known as Bitter Bierce and his motto was â€Å"Nothing Matters†. Although; Bierce's devastating short stories about the War Between the States–most particularly â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge†.The first page and a half during which the condemned, Peyton Farquhar, is yet unnamed offers a clear description of a military hanging: how it is done, who stands where and who gives the orders, how gentlemen are not excused from the noose. Farquhar, after his escape, his senses supernaturally alert, notices something that would have been commented upon in the camps of the Civil War: the gray eyes of a sharpshooter. He remembers that he'd heard all of the most famous sharp-shooters have gray eyes.Then it turns out to be a mere dream of thought for Peyton. It was a sudden flash of what he would have wanted to happen. With the end of this story resulting in him seeing his wife at one last glance before the reality of his death. This story was written is a way that I the reader hadn’t quite was able to even distinguish that it was merely a dream of thought till the sudden death. The story was very vivid in detail and descriptive. Portrayed a sense of reality giving aspects of what could have happened.Gave me the reader a moment of shock when figuring out it wasn’t real and he had actually been executed. In conclusion the entire story was a great example of a modernist story. Gave me a great example of how he wrote a short store making me determine the true reality of it. This modernist literature definitely made a social statement. Made you realize how we as people do this all the time. I’ve been in many situations where I can imagine another outcome yet, reality strikes and I realize its happening. Works Cited 1.Lewis, Pericles. The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. Print. 2. Lorcher, Trent. â€Å"Modernism in Literature: What Are Characteristics of M odernism in Writing? † Bright Hub Education. Bright Hub Education, 2 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. 3. Rahn, Josh. â€Å"Modernism. † – Literature Periods & Movements. The Literature Network, 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. 4. Stern, Jewel, Kevin W. Tucker, and Charles L. Venable. Modernism in American Silver: 20th-century Design. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 2005. Print.

The Coca-Cola Company Struggles with Ethical Crises - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3251 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Cause and effect essay Did you like this example? Coca-Cola has the most valuable brand name in the world and, as one of the most visible companies worldwide, has a tremendous opportunity to excel in all dimensions of business performance (Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2008). However, as proven in this case study, Coke has a lot on their plate as the biggest brand name in the world. Ethical issues throughout different aspects of the company, and with multiple leadership changes in the last ten years, Coke has some catching up to do. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Coca-Cola Company Struggles with Ethical Crises" essay for you Create order The company has been involved in racial discrimination, misrepresenting market tests, manipulating earning and disrupting long-term contractual arrangements with distributors. Neville Isdell, the new president of Coke is currently working to improve their reputation cause by some of the problems presented next. The Coca-Cola Company Struggles with Ethical Crises Coca-Cola History Coca-Cola is the worlds largest beverage company that operates the largest distribution system in the world. This allows Coca-Cola companies to serve more than 1 billion of its products to customers each day. The marketing strategy for Coca-Cola promotes products from four out of the five top selling soft drinks to earn sales such as Coke, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. This process builds strong customer relationships, which gives the opportunity for these businesses to be identified and satisfied. With that being said, customers will be more willing to help Coca-Cola produce and grow. Pepsi and Coca-Cola, between them, hold the dominant share of the world market (soft drink market 2008). Even though Coca-Cola produces and sells big across the United States, in order for the company to expand and grow, they had to build their global soft drink market by selling to customers internationally. For example, both companies continued to target international markets focusing on traditio nal soft drinks, new-age drinks and expanding into the snack-food businesses. With these new changes, Pepsi has 60% of the U.S. Snack-food market while Coca-Cola contributes 85% of its sales outside of the United States. According to the late Roberto Goizueta, Coca-Cola used to be an American company with a large international business. Now we are a large international company with a sizable American business (Ferrell, 2008). Increasing market share is one of the most vital goals for a business such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Competitions between other soft drink companies, false market share reports and other business conducts can cause certain obstacles if the top selling companies allow them too. However, Coca Colas strategy, from the early and late 1800s, of achieving goals such as the international mergers, big market shares, snack food production and overall performance allowed them to strive then and continue to succeed today. Today, most of coke sales are spread throughout t he world in the 2004 Annual Report, Coca Cola had gallon sales distributed as follows: 28% in the United States, 26% in Mexico, Brazil, Japan and ChinaÂÂ  and 46% in spread throughout the world (Coca cola, 2007). This means that Coca Cola makes 70% of its profits from other countries. Coca-Cola must remain vigilant to keep their brand untarnished and their ethical issues to a minimum; their brand is their main key to success. Discussion Coca-Colas Reputation Coca-Cola is admired and known for its strength of brand. It is the most well recognized logo and brand across the world. Coca-Cola retains a commitment and plan to attract, satisfy, and keep customers for the long run. The company has a reputation of having the most loyal customers of the industry. It is this reason that has made Coca-Cola the market leader in the beverage industry year after year. Coca-Cola is extremely active in all aspects of society and environmental issues. Coca-Cola has made numerous steps to prevent harm to the environment in its production of products. Some of these steps include eco friendly facilities and equipment. Coke has been a leader when it comes to environmental issues throughout the years with a major goal of being water neutral, which means every drop of water used by the company will be replenished by 2020. Coca Cola also has a commitment to helping the local aspect by collaborating with different groups and organizations to help with many l ocal and health issues. An example of this would be Coca Colas collaborating with UNAIDS to help with the HIV/Aids epidemic throughout the world. Coca Cola has also had a vast impact on improving education. They have had many programs over the years, which include a scholarship program that has given out over 22 million dollars in grants. Coca-Colas strong emphasis on reputation they have created loyalty, trust among their customers, and the strongest brand recognition of all time. Coca-Cola continues to earn numerous awards including Responsible CEO of the year (2010), most socially responsible company (2008), Worlds most accountable companies (2007), and top 50 most admired companies (2010). Coca-Cola has sought not only to be the worlds largest beverage company but also to improve the quality of life of the communities they serve. Social Responsibility Focus Many companies do not realize the importance of having a connection with the community and to be seen in their eyes as a very strong ethical company. Coca-Cola has taken up a few different social projects that have given them a good amount of support from the public. For example, they have done a philanthropy known as Education On Wheels, in which children are placed into a classroom that history is brought to life, giving them a very rich learning environment. They do different activities that really get the children thinking and force them to develop critical thinking methods. This is a huge thing for Coca-Cola and in our opinion for companies as a whole. The first thing that you must engage in a customer is their emotions, the strongest buying point that people act on. If people start recognizing that a company is doing community based activities for children, they are going to be very prone and likely to want to support and buy the products from the company. The second thing that Coca-Cola has done is setup multiple scholarship funds available for high-school seniors as they make their way into college and the real world. In addition to grants, Coca-Cola provides scholarships to more than 170 colleges, and this number is expected to grow to 287 over the next four years (Ricci, 2010). Coca-Cola was very smart when they went about setting up these different funds for students. There is a huge market with kids graduating high school and those who are currently in college, appealing to these kids will grow a strong interest in their company and will build up their brand image more than ever. It states in the book that it is beneficial to the shareholders by doing this. This is so true with every company because shareholders and people who are invested in the company want to make sure that they are involved in a company that is making ethical decisions and who are giving back to the community in some way, shape or form. As long as Coca-Cola keeps being p ersistent with how they give back into the community and monitor what they are doing on an ethical standpoint, they will keep their customers and stakeholders happy. Crisis Situations Coca-Cola has not always been a squeaky-clean company that never had problems. The stock price of the company is the same price as it was 10 years ago, and this is due to the ethical and legal issues that were associated with the company. A small problem occurred in Belgium in 1999 when a few children fell ill after drinking a product with the Coca-Cola brand on it. They had a recall on the product there in Belgium, but soon after, every item Coca-Cola made was pulled off the shelves in every store. This caused a loss of reputation, which, in turn, made people lose respect for the company and investors started selling their stocks in Coca-Cola. Neighboring countries, such as Luxembourg and the Netherlands, soon followed suit and recalled all products throughout both countries. After Coca-Cola found the root of the problem, that being a bad batch of carbon dioxide, they made an announcement regarding the situation. Being a few days after all this happened was a little too slow fo r the media, and they ate up the story making Coca-Cola look worse than what was said about them. However, this was not the only occurrence. France supposedly had about one hundred people become sick due to mold in the products they consumed. Every single product was banned throughout France until the problem was resolved, but Coca-Cola had yet another slow response to the problem and their reputation was further diminished. During this crisis, Coca-Cola started to run into different problems with their marketing in European countries with anti-trust laws. They wanted to create a merger with themselves and Orangina, a French company, but their overaggressive style turned off the other companies in the deal, which became a problem. Their strong-arm tactics proved to be too much for the foreign countries, and creating a competitive advantage seemed to cross the line of the anti-trust laws in which they were sued for the by the country of Italy. Italy won the court-case, which cause d investigations of the companys competitive practices, which is never a good thing for business. Racial Discrimination Allegations Coca-Cola faced a lawsuit in the spring of 1999. Fifteen hundred African American employees sued Coca-Cola for racial discrimination. Later, the number grew to 2,000 current and former employees. The company was being charged because they put African Americans at the bottom of the pay scale. An African American could have the same job as a Caucasian, but the African American would make $26,000 less each year. This is a huge difference in pay especially if it is only based on the color of a persons skin. In the lawsuit, it states that the top management of Coca-Cola knew about the discrimination for four years and did nothing to stop it. The company denied the accusations, but the public had strong reactions to the case. To rebuild their image, Coca-Cola created a diversity council and paid $193 million to settle the racial discrimination lawsuit. Problems with the Burger King Market Test Just three years after the racial discrimination lawsuit, Coca-Cola found themselves in another allegation. Matthew Whitley, a mid-level Coca-Cola executive filed a whistle-blowing suit. Whitley revealed fraud in a market study that Coca-Cola did on behalf of Burger King. In 2002, Coca-Cola wanted to increase sales so they paired up with Burger King to launch a frozen Coke as a childs snack. Before launching nationally, Burger King wanted to test the product out in the market. Burger King launched a three-week trial run in Richmond, Virginia to see if it was worth the investment. Customers received a coupon for a free frozen Coke when they purchased a Value Meal. When the test first started, sales of the frozen Coke were not looking good. Therefore, Coca-Cola decided to pay at least one individual $10,000 to take hundreds of children to Burger King to purchase Value Meals including the frozen Coke. U.S. attorney general for the North District of Georgia discovered and investigated the fraud. Coca-Cola had to pay Burger King $21 million, the whistle-blower $540,000, and a $9 million pretax write off had to be taken. Coca-Cola disputed the claim; however, it was extremely costly for the company. Not only did they lose millions of dollars, but also the case attracted a lot of negative publicity. In addition, it ruined any relationship that they had with Burger King. Inflated Earnings Related to Channel Stuffing Along with the other ethical dilemmas Coca-Cola was faced with, the company was accused of practicing channel stuffing. According to the textbook, Business Ethics, channel stuffing is the practice of shipping extra inventory to wholesalers and retailers at an excessive rate, typically before the end of a quarter (Ferrell, 2008). The use of channel stuffing is deceptive and a company utilizes it to inflate their sales and earnings figures. When a company ships out their product to a distributor, it is counted as a sale. However, when a company participates in channel stuffing, they count the sale and usually the product is returned or it remains in a warehouse. The company sends their retailers more than they can sell, falsely demonstrating that there is a high demand for the product. It can also be used to hide when the demand of a product declines. The benefit the company would receive from channel stuffing is more earnings on their financial statements and misinforming their i nvestors. In Coca Colas situation, they were accused of sending extra concentrate to Japanese bottlers from 1997 to 1999 to dishonestly inflate their profits. Even though Coca-Cola settled the accusation, the Securities and Exchange Commission concluded that channel stuffing did occur. The company then pressured bottlers into purchasing extra concentrate in return for extended credit. Coca-Cola promised the SEC to avoid engaging in channel stuffing in the future. At this time, the company created an ethics and compliance office, who verifies each financial quarter that they have not altered the terms of payment or extended special credit. Coca-Cola agreed to try to reduce the amount of concentrate held by the international bottlers. Even though they settled the predicament with the SEC, Coca-Cola still faces a lawsuit with shareholders for channel stuffing in Japan, North America, Europe, and South Africa. Trouble with Distributors Coca-Cola also faced serious issues with their distributors beginning in 2006. The company had deliveries of Powerade sent to Wal-Mart in a small Texas test area. When they tried to expand the delivery of Powerade directly to Wal-Mart warehouses all over the US, fifty-four of their bottlers filed lawsuits. The textbook says that Coca-Cola had an agreement regarding Powerade bottlers and that it was a breach of the agreement to provide warehouse delivery to Wal-Mart, even with the use of a subsidiary agent for warehouse delivery. The subsidiary agent, CCE, and Coca-Cola claim that they were trying to meet a request from Wal-Mart for warehouse delivery, just how PepsiCo distributes Gatorade. CCE proposed making payments to some other bottlers in return for taking over the distribution of Powerade. The bottlers were concerned that the proposed arrangement would violate antitrust laws. In addition, they believed that moving forward with their warehouse delivery would deteriorate the va lue of the bottlers businesses. This dilemma had a serious impact on the reputation of the company. When one firm in a channel structure suffers, all the firms in the supply chain suffer in some way as well. Coca-Cola adopted a new enterprise resource system that made their classified information available to a group of partners. Since there is a lack of integrity between Coca-Cola and their partners, the partners assume a greater risk when forming a partnership with the company. These problems with their distributors took a toll on their partner companies, their stakeholders, and finally, their bottom lines. Problems with Unions and Coke Trade Secrets Amongst other international problems faced by Coca-Cola, they ran into trouble related to labor unions as well. The major cause of these problems occurred in Columbia where there were unfortunate deaths of Coca-Cola workers as well as forty-eight who went into hiding and another sixty-five who received death threats. The labor unions claimed that Coca-Cola chose to be involved with illegal dealings surrounding these deaths, death threats and disappearances. Coca-Cola denied any of the allegations and claimed that only one of the deaths was on the premises of the bottling plant that Coke worked with while the other ones were located off the premises where Coke had no involvement. Rather than take swift action Coca-Cola made itself look bad by not offering to help to any of the workers or their families. The further denial along with not providing any aid or action caused animosity with labor unions regarding the case and put another black mark on Coca-Colas currently sliding ethical reputation. Sure there may have been other circumstances behind the problems in Columbia but Coca-Cola did nothing to help anyone else or themselves in the situation. Another problem Coca-Cola faced came a little closer to home. Coca-Cola had three employees get arrested in 2006 for fraudulently and unlawfully stealing and selling trade secrets from Coca-Cola. One of the people accused in the case contacted Pepsi and told them he was a high level employee with Coca-Cola. He then offered them very confidential and detailed information regarding the Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola then received a letter from Pepsi about the offer and contacted the FBI. The FBI found out the informants name was Ibrahim Dimson from Bronx, NY. He provided the FBI with fourteen pages worth of confidential information marked classified as well as top secret products from the Coca-Cola company. Ibrahim got his information from Joya Williams who was an executive administrative assistant for Coca-Colas globa l brand in Atlanta . She had access to all of the information given to the FBI by Dimson who is known in the case as Dirk. This is a big problem for Coca-Cola because not only are the actions of employees a direct responsibility of the company but it also makes the company look bad if there is internal problems. Any company that has people who are willing to give trade secrets to the direct competition need to evaluate the people who are in charge and make a change if the employees feel that disloyal towards a company that is very well known and successful globally. The company should have a system in place to protect its secrets because otherwise any person on the street can go take the syrup formula from Coke and give it to its competitors. This is another ethical situation where the right leadership and system in place could have resolved the issue before it started. Because of poor leadership now Coca-Colas reputation is once again tarnished ethically and 3 company employees are being charged with serious crimes. Ethical Recovery? Even after all of these problems presents, the customers in Europe said that they still feel like coke would behave correctly during these times of crises. Even after all of this they are still ranked third in a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of the most respected companies in the world. Coke then donated $50 million to a foundation to support programs in minority programs, and hired an ombudsman who reports directly to the CEO in order to settle the racial discrimination lawsuit shown above. Coke is taking the initiative to fix their problems and the international community is seeing that. It seems that since they are taking these precautions to prevent further problems in the future, the European nations, in addition to the United States will be more trusting of Coke in their decisions in the future. Conclusion Coca-Cola is one of the most successful and recognized brand in the world. These ethical problems that have been presented in this paper were not just minor problems for the company, but it seems that they have been able to keep the Coke name relatively untarnished. Coke today strives to reduce their ethical issues to a minimum in order to focus on reaching all around the world. The issues presented to us were all problems that could be fixed and while we gave examples of how they could have handled the problem differently, Coke seems to have handled it in the way that they see fit, and their name still stands as one of the top companies in the world. A company this big has to be very careful with what they do in the public eye, one fatal mistake can be the end of a very successful business.

Over The Past Years, Most Public School Administrators

Over the past years, most public school administrators have been engaged in the heated debate over whether public school students should put on school uniforms or not. This important argument has drawn the attention of both liberal thinkers and conservatives. From one far end, a section of the society feels that public school students school have the freedom to put on their clothing of choice while the other section feels that there should be uniformity in the public-school attire. Based on such contradicting opinions, there is need to focus on the issue of school uniforms in public schools. This essay seeks to provide reasons as to why public school students should wear school uniforms. Moreover, it explores the arguments and†¦show more content†¦However, resources channeled to public schools are not fully utilized by the students since they tend to focus so much on their attire than their studies. In schools where students do not have school uniform, for instance, students tend to disregard the core reasons of going to schools. They instead concentrate on what they put on, their appearance, and the latest fashionable clothes. To ensure sanity is restored among the students, school uniforms must be introduced in all public schools. It will help in improving students’ concentration on their studies thus improving their performance (Altheide 428). Cases like inferiority complex and low self-esteem among students will reduce by significant percentage since students will not be worried about what their classmates say about them. In fact, school uniforms will be crucial when dealing with the issues of social classes and groupings among students. Using school uniforms in public schools, students will not categorize themselves or identify with certain social classes. 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