Business Should Always Be Ethically and Socially Responsible

Corporate scandals in business world have been more and more common, which damages the interest and profits of stakeholders, employers, community or society. The corporate scandals pull the public to focus on the ethic of managers and the firm itself. Comparing to the past, customers are focusing more and more on the reputation of the firms and they prefer to select the brands that are environmentally friendly and socially responsible when they buy products or service.This change pushes firms to maintain their reputations with more efforts. Corporate social responsibility has been a hot topic in business world today, which is an important part of building brand image while brand image is a value for firms. This essay holds the statement that business should always be ethically and socially responsible. Firstly, it gives the several definitions of business ethic and corporate social responsibility briefly. Subsequently, it outlines the pros and coins for addressing corporate social re sponsibility.Following this, it discusses the negative effects caused by corporate scandals with several real cases likeToyota, Bernard Madoff and Enron. Finally it discusses the benefits when business is ethically and socially responsible with the examples of Procter & Gamble and Li Ka-shing. Definitions of business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Ethics is the code of values and principles to govern people’s behaviours to verdict what is right or wrong. Business ethic is the application of personal moral in commercial enterprise.Comparing to the vague definition of business ethics, the definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is clearer. As stated by The World Business Council for Sustainable Development(2014), corporate social responsibility is the commitment of business to contribute to the economic development and the welfare of employees and the family, the community and the whole society. European Commission (2014) defines this concept as follow: the firms integrate concerns of social and environment with stakeholders in the economic decisions and actions voluntarily.The definitions of business ethics and corporate social responsibility state that business firms are acting ethically and socially responsible means in the economic operations they should consider the interests of stakeholders, environment and society and they should concern the welfare of employees and the family instead of concerning only the profits of firms and personal interest. The proponents of CSR include the moral obligation, license to operate, sustainability and reputation (Porter, 2004).According to Lahovnik (2008), there are three levels of corporate social responsibility. The first level is the obligation to meet the material for shareholders, employees, customers, creditorsand suppliers. The second level is the responsibility to benefit the human resource of community and avoid the damage to environment. The last one is the responsibility to the s ociety. Even though there is not clear definition how far firms should address the social responsibility, there is indeed a fact that firms should take the social responsibility in their economic operations.Against and For Corporate Social Responsibility There is a hot debating on whether firms should address their corporate social responsibility or not. For the objectors, business is just business that maximize profits is the economic responsibility of management instead of being the social role in society. The social problems should not be resolved by firms and firms are not designed to handle these issues. Corporate social responsibility could be an important tool wielded by firms.Stated by The Wall Street Journal, the addressing of CSR may be anillusion and a dangerous one because when there is a conflict between private profit and social interest; firms tend to select the former one (Karnani,2010). Even though the firms say they are doing the projects with charity purposes, the investment or cost of these projects may be owned by other ways, which may harm the interest of environment or society. Different from the objectors, there are a variety of reasons to support the idea that firms should address the corporate social responsibility and be ethical.The first reason is that the human and social problems are largely led by industrialization and business firms own the social resource that business has the obligation to reduce and solve these issues. Firms have been important parts of the society and they own a huge resource, which means they also carry the obligation to solve the problems in the society especially these problems led by their economic operations. The second reason is that business firms can get benefits from addressing corporate social responsibility.CSR directly benefits the financial bottom line and improve the competitiveness of firms. CSR can enhance reputation and brand image of firms. The survey of PWC 2002 showed that 90% of responde nts said that corporate social responsibility can enhance the corporate reputation. The 2002 Cone Corporate Citizenship Study also showed that 84 percent of American would change brands to those with good reputation in the similar price and quality (Kotler and Lee 2005).When companies address corporate social responsibility, it will bring positive impacts on retention, recruitment and motivations of employees for the firms. For example, Timberland is always encouraging its employees to offer community service called Path of Service, which has been ranked by Fortune and Timberland is named as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For (Provictus, 2012). The third reason is the social benefits brought by business firms when they address corporate social responsibility and act ethically.When business firms act ethically, the firms can reduce the negative impacts on stakeholders, employees, customers and the society, which will be discussed below with real cases. When business firms perf ormance well in CSR, they can bring huge benefits to the investors, stakeholders, customers, community and society, which will be discussed below with examples as well. Negative Effects of Corporate Scandals When business firms or managers of firms act unethically and ignore their corporate social responsibility, the negative effects can outburst internally and externally.The negative effects of corporate scandals can influence the reputation of firms, the interests of stakeholders, employees, customers, environment and society. In 2009, Toyota recalled over 9 million cars over the world in two separate recalls because of the quality issue, which led to billions of dollars in operating losses andcharges. The reputation of top quality in car industry faced a heavy hit globally. Even though Toyota would not collapse completely, the reputation was threatened, which has been built through decades (Connor, 2010).The share price dropped down and customers distrusted Toyota in quality. The unethical action of Toyota to produce unsafe cars pulled Toyota in a dangerous place that it brought side effects on the reputation globally, which definitely reduced its market share and sales globally. In June 2009, the unethical behavior of Bernard Madoff damaged the interest of investors by using the Ponzi scheme. The similar case with Bernard Madoff exist more in business world, which brings huge side effects to investors. As a top audit firm, Enron met the corporate scandal.Enron lied about the profits and the success of Enron was brought by creative accounting. In 2013, the building collapse of Rana Plaza killed more than 1,100 people and this event involved many famous clothes brands into corporate scandals. Wal-Mart is one of them because it received clothes from Banned Bangladesh Factories, which has been defined as unethical operation (Grabell, 2013). The unethical behaviours of Wal-Mart damaged the interest of workers in Banned Bangladesh Factories. Meanwhile, Wal-Martà ¢â‚¬â„¢s brand image has been affected because Wal-Mart is treated as a firm with social responsibility.In 2010, BAE Systems plc (BAES) pleaded guilty for overseas corruption (The United States Department of Justice, 2010). The real cases that business firms or managers act unethically without corporate social responsibility are more than these mentioned above over the world. The side effects of these corporate scandals are widely spread. The corporate scandals can hurt the reputation of firms, the interests of investors and stakeholders, welfare of employees, the life damage or property losses of customers and the damage of environment.The side effects are so great that the society urges that the business should always be ethically and socially responsible. Positive Effects of Acting Ethically and Socially Responsible The positive effects of acting ethically and socially responsible support the statement that business should always be ethically and socially responsible. Just like t his essay stated above, there are various benefits firms and the whole society can get when firms address the corporate social responsibility and act ethically.Procter & Gamble is an excellent case of multinational firms that address corporate social responsibility well. There are few corporate scandals of Procter & Gamble in business world. Instead, there are many pieces of news on how Procter & Gamble is an excellent citizen in business world that addresses corporate social responsibility well. For example, Procter & Gamble provides PUR technology to purify dirty water for people in Africa and helps kids to live and get education (Procter &Gamble, 2013).Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW) has reached over 70 countries to save tens of thousands of lives (Procter & Gamble, 2014a). Apart from this;Procter & Gamble (2013) donated money and encouraged employees to help the poor kids to get education in China. To protect environment, Procter & Gamble(2014b) is committed to design recycled products with innovation. Procter & Gamble (2014c) is also trying to make zero waste a reality from manufacturing and designing. There is no report on how Procter & Gamble benefit from addressing its corporate social responsibility.However, Procter & Gamble build its great reputation in business world globally. The reputation enhances the brand image of Procter & Gamble and meanwhile it increases the sales of Procter & Gamble the cohesion of employees in the firm. The investors may tend to join in Procter & Gamble because Procter & Gamblehas great corporate citizenship. In addition to Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola, Pepsi and other multinational firms are doing greatly in addressing the corporate social responsibility and get benefits from it even though it takes some cost.The money used in corporate social responsibility is another form of investment, which will come out profits with intangible asset. In China, there is a famous rich person called Li Ka-shing, who is always acting ethically and socially responsible. Because of his ethical business behavior and good morality, Li Ka-shing built his reputation and the reputation of his firm in business world, which has contributed a lot to his success. Meanwhile, the ethical behavior of Li Ka-shing avoided the side effects on the stakeholders, employees, customers and society.From the real case of Procter & Gamble and Li Ka-shing, it shows that when business firms or businessmen act ethically and socially responsible, they get payback with good reputation and brand image, which will be switched to products sales and intangible asset. This supports the idea that why business should always be ethically and socially responsible. Conclusion In conclusion, business should always be ethically and socially responsible because the negative efforts of corporate scandals can hurt the interest of society while the impact of acting ethically and socially responsible can be positive to the society.The essay provides the definition of business ethics and corporate social responsibility to outline how firms and managers are acting ethically and socially responsible. Subsequently, it offers two sides for the argument whether firms should address corporate social responsibility to support the thesis of this essay. The real cases of corporate scandals show the results and side effects when firms behave unethically in economic operations to urge the need to be ethically and socially responsible.Meanwhile, the real cases of Procter & Gamble and Li Ka-shing show that when firms or businessmen behave ethically and socially responsible, they can get payback in economy as well and the address corporate society will benefit the investors, employees, community, customers and environment. The negative impacts of acting unethically and the positive impacts of firms’ acting ethically and socially responsible to the firms, community and environment finally support the idea that business should a lways be ethically and socially responsible.

How I Learned to Drive Analysis Essay

In Paula Vogel’s â€Å"How I Learned to Drive†, we follow our protagonist nicknamed â€Å"Lil Bit† on a gut wrenching, and downright disturbing journey through her adolescence, told as a series of narrations, monologues, and flashbacks with the occasional interjection of a PSA like voice over. The play recounts the physical and emotional abuse Lil Bit encountered from the ages of eleven to eighteen at the hands of her uncle Peck, while he teaches her to drive. The main flaw I saw in Lil Bit was that she is too smart for her own good. You see this characteristic throughout the play as she manipulates Peck. For example, it was most obvious for me when their roles of adult and child are reversed, and Peck is explaining to Lil Bit what a good boy he has been for not drinking. Knowing how much Peck lusts after her she offers him a reward for his good behavior in the form of undoing her bra. Another great example is when prior to her and peck going on a road trip and Lil Bit’s mother indicates that she has a sense of what Peck has on his mind, she responds by saying â€Å"I can take care of myself. And I can certainly handle uncle Peck.† At this point in the story she is only eleven. It’s hard to imagine a child of that age so grown up emotionally. Overall, most of the characters had likeable qualities, with the exception of the grandmother. I didn’t really like the way she meddled in the Parenting of Lil Bit. I liked â€Å"Big Papa† the best. He’s a crabby old timer who speaks anything that comes into his head with reckless abandon. It brought me some levity in an otherwise melancholy play. The climax of the play occurs on Lil Bit’s eighteenth birthday. She and Peck are in a hotel room, and she’s been ignoring peck for some time leading up to this meeting as he’s been sending her cards counting down to her birthday. Lil Bit is obviously conflicted about their relationship now that she has gotten older, but Peck is looking forward to a time when it’s not illegal for them to be together. This is creepy enough on its own, but when Peck drops the marriage bomb, the creep factor skyrockets. I was honestly disgusted at the idea of a man leaving his wife to be with his niece whom he  has known since birth, blood related or not. Prior to the climax, one major event occurs and that is in the monologue that Aunt Mary delivers indicating that she knows what’s going on between Peck and Lil bit. The words used during this monologue, indicate to me a couple of key points about this character. First of all she is very intelligent. Her thoughts are well put together and the words she uses indicates to me that she has some sort of education. She is also very intuitive, she picks up on the subtle, non-verbal signals that peck gives off when he’s got something on his mind and presumably when he’s around Lil Bit. Also, the words used by Lil Bit in her different flashbacks have a direct correlation to her age. It’s obvious as you read them, that during the later ones she is forming more complex thoughts and emotions, which is indicative of growth. For the music in this play, Paula Vogel suggested period correct music spanning two generations. She mentions Motown several times, as well as Roy Orbison and the Beach Boys. Most of this music is romantic and happy with little hints of sexuality and sometimes-pedophilic references. For some weird reason the voice of the announcer in my head was played by the Moviephone guy. The car in the play was described as a Buick Riviera, but in my mind it was more like a Camaro or GTO. The main reason for this is the obvious relationship between Peck and his car. The way he describes the way the aggressive way men are taught to drive and the feeling of a cars’ response to your touch, just makes me think of those fast nimble sports cars. Taking place in the 1960’s, the costumes in my mind were bell-bottoms and flowered shirts, polyester leisure suits, and fringes all over the place. This was your typical 1960’s attire. I believe the overall theme of this play is about the effect of time on relationships. The relationship between Peck and Lil Bit starts out strong, for her and fragile for him. She has a strong male figure giving her attention while he is nurturing a relationship that he knows is illegal and  immoral. As time progresses, the roles ultimately reverse leaving Peck with much confidence in the relationship while Lil Bit comes to realize the truth about it which leads to its demise. It just goes to show that time will always change relationships, jus not always in the way you imagined.

Be a Small Light in a Dark Room

Miep Gies said, â€Å"Everyone is capable of providing a small light in a dark room. † How is this true for me? Ever since a child is young, parents tend to instill in them high aspirations and goals for the future. The desire to make a difference in the world is the primary theme in doing well in school. When I was little, my grandfather used to say to me that â€Å"The world has too many problems that you, my dear, are meant to fix. At that time, I believed that it was his indirect way of saying that he wanted me to have a good job so I could be wealthy and live well. On the day of September 11, 2001, the terrorists attacked the United States and shook the world to it’s core. At that time I was living in Albania and I did not understand what was going on and how it could affect me. I kept thinking back to what my grandfather had told me and I could not see how one person alone could make a difference. I was not powerful enough to change the course of events or prevent tragedies from happening; I was one person who most people did not know existed. As I soon learned, the world was not a place of fairytales and dreams but in a way a dark room. Deception, sadness, emptiness, and greed were influential factors in the lives of many. In a materialistic society, everyone strove for their own ambitions ignoring those suffering. Miep Gies said, â€Å"Everyone is capable of providing a small light in a dark room† and I believe wholeheartedly in this concept. As I matured into an educated young lady, I understood that if one person had the courage to stand up to injustices, it would give voice to those who are afraid to do it themselves. Have I been â€Å"a small light in a dark room† in my life? I do not think I have been so far because I have not had that opportunity to make a difference in somebody’s life. In the future, I plan to study international affairs and make a powerful impact in the life of those people who live in fear and terror, or as Miep describes it â€Å"a dark room. By standing up to injustices and protecting people, I would be â€Å"the small light† that guides them to a life where their human dignity is respected. I will be their hope of a better future and I will try to make a positive impact in many lives. In Afghanistan, many young women are not allowed to leave their homes because of the fear that they might be killed. In Kosovo, young children are murdered by Serbian patriots and their rema ins are scattered throughout their villages. In Somalia, many people are kidnapped by the Somalian pirates and tortured until a ransom is paid. There are many other examples of â€Å"dark rooms† throughout the world and it takes just one person to start a revolution for a positive change. Anyone can be that â€Å"small light† if they have the passion and determination to make a difference in the world. Only God knows where the journey of life will take me but I know I am strong enough to overcome any obstacle in order to make a difference in the world. I will be that â€Å"small light in a dark room† and I will encourage others to follow their dreams because anything is possible.

How you helped another person and realized that you benefited as well Essay

How you helped another person and realized that you benefited as well - Essay Example Martha was sitting on a chair, wearing a new track suite and her sports shoes, her hair neatly collected with a matching blue ribbon, seeming a bit reluctant and hesitant. I signaled Martha to join me and she followed me like a cat being taken for a bath. We walked our way to the nearby public park. I told Martha that we will have a swift walk for the next 30 minutes. Both of us started with a slow and steady pace and Martha seemed to be doing fine, until I fastened my pace. I soon realized that Martha was way behind me and though she tried hard to catch up with me, she seemed to be tired and fatigued. Somehow we finished our 30 minute walk, followed by some stretching exercises. We continued with this routine for the next 3 days, until that fateful Monday came. As usual, when I entered the Butler household that morning, I saw a distressed Mrs. Butler, trying to console a weeping and sobbing Martha. I was a bit confused and perplexed. Mrs. Butler told me that somehow Martha was not willing to join me for her daily walk. She said she was feeling unwell, and excused me. I came back home, felling a bit bad. I talked about the issue with my mother. When I told her about our experiences in the past 3 days, she listened to me with an understanding smile. She told me that I simply cannot help Martha until I learn to see things from her perspective. She told me that Martha was badly overweight and was not used to an active way of life, not to mention the health problems she faced. For a fit person like me, a 30 minute walk and some exercise may be a piece of cake, but, for Martha it was a big challenge. To help Martha, I need to get into her shoes and think like her. The next morning I went to collect Martha. She was looking at me apprehensively. I greeted her with a big smile and pat her shoulders. We went to the park and I told her that today there will be no exercises. Instead we will just walk around, enjoying that beautiful morning. I

Choose one of the two question on counter terrorism policy Essay

Choose one of the two question on counter terrorism policy - Essay Example Counter terrorism strategy has four main pillars with a framework for a comprehensive response to terrorism at an international level. The pillars are preventing individuals from becoming terrorists, protecting civilians and infrastructure by ensuring there is reduced vulnerability to attacks, disrupting support networks for terrorists, managing and minimizing the consequences that may arise in case of a terror attack. Therefore, this strategy requires working at an international level and despite the fact that these measures are a step forward in combating terrorism, countering terrorism still remains a problem due to lack of clearly defined policies. Public Policy Perspective of Counterterrorism Much counterterrorism policies are expressed in prevention terms and not as a precautionary measure.2 Moreover, counter terrorism efforts will constitute all the necessary actions taken by a government in trying to hinder attacks; hence, its formulated policies should try to reflect the goa ls and missions of the government. Therefore, having a future measure can consist of actions such as the distinguishing of practices that involve counter terrorism. There are three main aims that governments have during the outlining of a government’s goal in trying to counter the terrorist attacks, which include preventing the escalation of terror attacks, eliminating terrorism and minimizing the damages that might be caused in case of a terror attack. Eliminating terrorist involves destruction of terrorist organizations while actions involved in minimizing damage that may occur in case of an attack include trying to reduce possible future attacks or preventing suicide bombings. The acts of avoiding the spread of both scope of terror attacks and conflicts are key prevention measures for terrorism. In enhancing these policies, most governments preclude organizations from being able to gain certain political achievements such as receiving support from a foreign country. The ne w legislations that we rely on have legal solutions that rely on judgment placed on judges’ hands.3 The policies should be made based on actions that are accepted in the society. This error requires overspecialization of counterterrorism officers in order to diminish impaired judgments against them.4 One of the democratic measures that a government can take is understanding the various factors that motivate and process radicalization; hence, it is important to acknowledge the fact that acknowledging the difficulty of eliminating a threat is the first step in developing strategies for combating terrorism. International Relation Perspective of Counterterrorism grand Strategy The states have a variety of ways in which they can tackle terrorism on an international system. For instance, EU member states have tried to put measures that will combat terrorism in their EU level. Moreover, governments face a number of challenges within the strategies they use for combating terrorism. T he EU coordinators have a setback, which are unable to coordinate complex areas of counterterrorism due to diverse structures.5 For instance, Europe had a surge in the national terrorism when it combined with other groups such as IRA from

Analys Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Analys - Essay Example Joe has taken a loan of $5000 which is not being put into any use since cash of $14,444 is lying idle. The high profitability and strong liquidity of indicates that the overall financial position Joe’s firm is quite strong. However, Joe should better utilize the resources to generate more revenue and expand his business. C) The inventory costing method that a firm uses does affect the level of profit in the income statement of a company. If the closing inventory is overstated, the cost of goods sold decrease, since the closing inventory is deducted when calculating cost of goods sold, and when cost of goods sold decrease, net profit increase. The reason is that the units that remain in the closing inventory are not sold and hence they should not be included in the cost of goods sold. For example, if a company has a revenue of $2000, opening inventory of $300, purchases of $700 and closing inventory of $175 using Average Cost method and $200 using FIFO method then its profit will be as

World War One. Gravess Good Bye to All That Essay

World War One. Gravess Good Bye to All That - Essay Example In his autobiographical novel â€Å"Goodbye to all that†, Graves aims to overcome his traumatic war experience and close that chapter of his life, resolving â€Å"never to make England my home again† (Graves 1960: 279). The author criticizes the British class system and, consequently, his economic class, his education, family religious upbringing, his military leaders and British government as he finds all of them responsible for the tragedy of war and cruel, senseless death of millions of young men. Graves says goodbye to the old class system of Britain as his war experience taught him that, despite coming from different social backgrounds, all people share the same values and identities. As the author?s parents educated him through a strict social code, which treated the lower classes as morally inferior to the bourgeoisie, the author had been aware of class distinctions since childhood. Yet as a four year old boy, when Graves was staying in hospital with scarlet feve r, he discovered that some children, also himself, received deferential and preferential treatment. His interest in different social classes continued through adulthood, when he used to ask his acquaintances â€Å"at what point in childhood or adulthood they have become class-conscious, but never have been given a satisfactory answer (Graves 1960: 24). However, during the war Graves found himself impressed with natural intelligence of poor, uneducated men and, thus, learned to respect people from lower social classes. Graves commanded a platoon of forty men coming from low social backgrounds, who joined the war for money. While at first he called them â€Å"most marginal elements of the society†, with time he came to appreciate their intelligence, courage, and ability to stay calm in the battlefield. Furthermore, at the war all soldiers, no matter their social status, had to face the same conditions, danger, fear, and in many cases severe wounds and death. As a result, Grave s admitted that twenty years after his first experience with the separation of different social classes he â€Å" had refused it† (Graves 1960: 25). After the war, when struggling to maintain his family only with his family, Graves opened a small shop; an activity that was typical of lower-class people and, thus, despised by people from Grave’s background. In this way, he demonstrates that he does not care about class distinctions anymore. The First World War has changed British social classes irreversibly. First, lower class citizens had a chance to earn money when fighting in the war and, thus, raise their standard of living. Furthermore, such factors as rationing and the control of essential for everybody contributed to the decrease in extreme poverty by the end of the war. On the contrary, due to the rationing and lack of many goods in the market, the living standards of the middle and upper class significantly deteriorated. Moreover, many families affected by the rise in tax land had to sell their land holdings. It is estimated that 25% of properties in England were sold between 1917 and 1921. The living conditions of higher class families also deteriorated due to the deaths of the men, who used to be the main financial supporters. As a result of that, higher class women had to take jobs, which changed not only the class structure, but also the position of women in the society (Bourke 2003). At that time, it was a widespread view that the First World War enabled women to advance

ABU DHABI ISLAMIC BANK - CASE STUDY Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

ABU DHABI ISLAMIC BANK - - Case Study Example Islamic banking became popular in Arab countries by 2003 and also in Malaysia. The number of banks increased to 450 during 2009; moreover about 300 conventional banks are observed to offer to Islamic banking products and services to the customers. In the last five years, Islamic banks had witnessed rapid growth in assets, which have doubled during the period (ADIB, 2014a). The Islamic bank is referred to the bank that follows the Shari’a principles with regard to financing, investment and banking. These banks are controlled and supervised by the Central Banks. The banks meet the requirement of the customers by following the Shari’a principles (Siraj, and Pillai, 2012). It provides with a number of options that helps the customers to safe guard their investments and finance. These options are Musharakah (joint venture), Ijarah (leasing), letter of credit, Murahaba (Cost plus) and covered cards. The banks have Shari’a boards, which comprise Islamic jurists, who consult and control the different aspects of the new banking transactions (ADIB, 2014a). During the global financial crisis, it is observed that the banks were affected severely; however, it hardly made any impact on the Islamic banks. Mortgage crisis was regarded as the main cause of the situation in the US. The stability in Islamic banks originates from its nature of business as the financing method is based on Shari’a principle, which dictates Musharakah, Ijarah and Mudarabah (ADIB, 2014a). In light of the above principles and practices that are followed by Islamic banks, the following case analyses the operation of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB). The case highlights the financial condition of the bank post and pre-financial crisis. ADIB was founded in 1980 and presently it has become the largest financial institution operating under Shari’a principle in Egypt. It has received the highest market standards. It employs around 2000 employers who form a dynamic

A Career in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

A Career in Business - Essay Example The international trade that is essential for the growth of Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd has assisted me in my capability to be tolerant to diverse cultures and understand the effect of different cultural backgrounds in business. Further, the placement has assisted me in developing a number of life skills that include communication skills, interaction skills, and information technology (IT) skills. By working in Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd, I managed to get valuable experience that is essential for my future job searches and my experience in work places. The organization that I served under placement was Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd company. The organization is extremely busy serving an array of different categories of customers and so learning was somehow difficult especially in financial department, information systems department and marketing department. In order to get the much required skills in different business related subjects, I had to undertake a negotia ted learning initiative. Negotiated learning can be defined as the process in which the instructor or the employer allows the student to propose a structure that fits him or her in all elements of the process of learning that involves instruction, content, evaluation and assessment. In some cases, it may involve logistics elements such as transportation. The outcome of my negotiated learning can be equated as excellent or I can grant it an academic grade of A. After understanding that the organization had much work and it would be difficult for me to study by myself, I negotiated with my employee on how I was to handle the placement especially on matter involving learning new practical skills. The areas that I emphasized during the negotiations are instruction while working, assessment and evaluation. As such, I was assigned to staff in each department to take me through a number of practical aspects in international trade. The major departments that I concentrated on are marketing, customer care, information technology and financial departments. The assigned staff was also responsible for my assessments. However, the placement time for instructions and assessment had to differ from the original fixed plan of one hour for each department to flexible time frame because of the busy schedule. For instance, there were cases where instruction took only 20 minutes especially during week days , but during weekends, the instruction would take 2 hours. Other changes that took place involved a shift from the original plan where assessment was to be conducted in form of writing to simple verbal assessment in order to evaluate the newly acquired skills (Wolff,1999,p.71). Although there were some reservations among workers who had been assigned to instruct and evaluate me, my good communication skills , my ability to engage in positive discussion and my willingness to obey orders even when performing the tasks that were not in my placement plan enabled me to create positiv e relationship with my co workers. As such, my co workers were willing to assist me in attaining my placement goals (Wolff,1999,p.79). Evaluation of work-Based learning My placement was based in an aluminum processing company, Â  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd. Â  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd is one of the largest aluminum processing companies in china. It employs hundreds of employees from different parts of the world. Â  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd engages in precision machining, CNC lathes, die casting machines, Zeiss CMM, special equipment and supporting test equipment. The organization has a centralized managerial structure although it has several