Code of Ethics of Goldman Sachs’

Title:The effectiveness of Goldman Sachs’ code of ethics Date:17 October 2012 To:CEO, Lloyd C. Blankfein Introduction The code of ethics  is adopted by organizations to assist members in understanding the difference between ‘right' and ‘wrong' and in applying that understanding to their decisions. An effective code of ethics should also help to delineate the proper procedures to determine whether a violation of the code of ethics has occurred and, if so, what remedies should be imposed.After reviewing the company’s code of ethics, we found that it has well established the concept of business ethics and the company’s objective, and also several kinds of encouragement to promote the ethical business behavior effectively. The company’s code of ethics, however, is not practical enough for implementation as the content is too general and vague, and there are not enough guidelines and regulations to help the staff to detect or solve the ethical iss ues. What makes the Code of Ethics Effective: According to the code of ethics, the employees are encouraged to expose any misconducts or unethical issues in the company.The company has also established a certain department, the Global Compliance Division or Legal Department, as the platform for reporting any violation of the code, and it also helps the employees to identify and escalate potential ethical issues. Meanwhile, the company has also set up the Non-Retaliation Policy which strictly prohibits the retaliation against anyone who reports in good faith a possible violation of the Code. Under those policies and procedures, the employees will feel easy to voice out if they found something going in the wrong track.What makes the Code of Ethics Ineffective: The code of ethics of the company consists a large portion of text about the general code of ethics which is applied to every individual unit, but it emphasis less on the code for investment banking industry, such as insider dea ling, money laundering, outside business activities and relationship and other potential conflict of interest, and staff’s personal financial affairs. Without any detailed case illustration for each of the particular issues, employees may feel hard to follow the code.This imposes potential risks for employees to make unethical transactions unknowingly. Moreover, the code does not strictly restrict the actions of personal conflicts of interest but are allowed if approved by the firm that may violate the independence of professional. Audit firm prohibited any conflicts of interest which had been stated clearly on the statement. Auditors, for example, are prohibited to accept any favors which violate the professional. Another weakness of the code is that it omits the implementation and administration policies.There are no content how the company supervises the implementation of the code, what the company do if the code is found to be not effective, how long the company reviews t he code and so on. Also, the code illustrates that the company take a passive role on discovering the ethical issues. The code requires employees take their own initiatives to report any unethical issues. However, it is not guaranteed that all employees are going to follow the code. There is a risk of undisclosed misconduct by employees if the company does not investigate in it. Improvement The code of ethics specifically focuses on banking industry.Take Bank of America’s code as an example. Although it is impossible to define every action that could be reasonably interpreted as a conflict of interest, company also defines several potential conflicts of interest as examples with a brief description so that everyone can have an idea on conflict of interest. In addition, the code has stated employees should conduct their financial affairs responsibly and keep their business expenses in order. The bank is prohibited money laundering and economic sanctions which have also mention ed in the code. Those are helpful to provide a clear picture to staff on what they should conduct.It is good practice to have the way reporting the misconduct issue, but company is still played as passive role. And also it may be biases if the issue is examined by internal staff from other departments. To be independence, establishing Committees involved external individual or professional to monitor and investigate the misconducts and unethical issues, and the committees may directly notify the Board of Director. Company’s code of ethics can be introduced during the orientation. Each new employee may be requested to complete a set of ethical questions after the introduction to ensure everyone understand this code.The failure may be requested to attend another ethical course to recap the important sections. One of global investment bank, Greenhill & Co holds information and training sessions to promote compliance with the laws, rules and regulations that affect their business . Conclusion: It is appreciated that the company put effort on setting the code of ethics. The above suggestions are given to your kindly consideration as it is good for the company to review the code once again in order to maintain high standard of integrity.

Barbados

Barbados is a small country located in the Caribbean Sea. The capital is Bridgetown with a population of about 8,789. The head of state of Barbados is Queen Elizabeth II and she is represented by General Dame Nita Barrow. The total population of the country is around 252,000. The main language is English and the predominant religion is Christianity. Their date of independence was November 30, 1966. Plagiarism Detection >Barbados is the eastern most Caribbean Island. It is about 200 miles North-North East of Trinidad and about 100 miles East- South East of St. Lucia. It is the second smallest country in the Western Hemisphere. The major urban centers in the area include Bridgetown, Speightstown, Oistins, and Holetown. The land is mainly flat except for a series of ridges that rise up to about 1,000 feet and then falling towards the sea.The climate of the region consists of tropical temperatures influenced by the Northeast trade winds. The average annual temperature is approximately 77 degrees Fahrenheit. The daily temperatures rarely get above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The dry season is cool, while the wet season is slightly warmer. The main rains come during the months of July, August, September, October, and November. The annual average rainfall is 40 inches in the coastal areas and 90 inches in the central areas.The net migration into Barbados is 4.82 per 1000. The annual growth rate is 0.4%, which is one of the lowest in the world. The annual birthrate is 15.45 per 1000, and the annual deathrate is 8.27 per 1000. Barbados ranks fourth in the World in population density with the overall density being 1526 per square mile. The whole island is inhabited, leaving no sparsely populated areas. The main race is Negro, which is about 92% of the population. The remainder of the population is consists of Whites (3.8%), Mulattoes (3.8%), and East Indians (0.4%). About 70% of the population is Anglican. The other 30% belong to various denominations such as Moravian, Method ist, and Roman Catholic.Barbados was once under British control from 1624. Its House of Assembly, which began in 1639, is the third oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere. By the time Britain left in 1966, the island was completely English in culture. The British influence is still seen today in quaint pubs, cricket games on the village greens, and in the common law.Barbados government is British Parliament. The queen is the head of state and she is represented by the governor general. The governor general appoints an advisory council. The executive authority is the Prime Minister who is Owen Seymour Arthur which came into power on September 6, 1994. The Deputy Prime Minister is Billie Miller who also came into power on September 6, 1994. The democratic government works well in the country. They have had three general elections and one smooth transfer of power from the Democratic Labor Party to the Barbados Labor Party. Barbados carries on trade with other Caribbean natio ns and does have diplomatic relations with Cuba. Their closest relations are with the United Stated, and the United Kingdom. Barbados joined the United Nations is 1966.The economy of Barbados is one of the 35 upper middle-income countries of the world. They have a free-market economy, but the dominant sector is private. Their economy is based on sugar and tourism, but the government has encouraged a policy of diversification in order to achieve a more stable nation. They also depend on a light manufacturing industry. Their monetary unit is the Barbados dollar. The coins are made in 1, 5, 10, and 25 cents. The paper money is made in 1, 5, 10, 20, and 100 dollar bills. One U.S. dollar is equal to 2.01 Barbados dollar (1975).About 60% of the land is cropland. The agriculture industry employs 7.4% of the labor force and contributes about 8.7% to the Gross Domestic Product. Sugarcane makes up over half the acreage. Bananas are also grown, but only on a limited scale. Sea island cotton is also grown. All of the farmers are required by regulations to plant at least 12% of their arable land with some food crop.Barbados natural resources include petroleum, fishing, and natural gas. The fishing industry employs about 2,500 people and 500 small boats. Their are no natural forests in the country. Manufacturing contributes about 11.2% to the GDP. Manufacturing and mining employ about 18.9% of the labor force. The majority of the industrial establishments are engaged in some form of sugar processing. Sugar is the principal export. The principal imports include machinery, motor vehicles, lumber, and fuels. Barbados per capita income of $9,200 makes it one of the highest standards of living of all the small island states of the Eastern Caribbean. Barbados is also one of the many transshipment points for narcotics bound for the U.S. and Europe.Some of the current issues in the country consist of the pollution of coastal waters from the waste disposal ships, soil erosion, and i llegal solid waste disposal that threatens contamination of aquifers. Barbados is also plagued with natural disasters such as hurricanes and landslides. Their hurricane season is between the months of June and October, which is the same season as the U.S. Plagiarism Detection >SourcesThe World Factbook 1995. Central Intelligence Agency. 1995. The World in Figures. Showers, Victor. 1973. Library of Congress. Encyclopedia of the Third World. Kurian, George Thomas. 1987. Library of Congress. World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative Study of Churches and the Religions in the Modern World, AD 1900-2000. Caribbean Week. Barbados. Internet.

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Growth of Bacteria in Solutions - Essay Example According to Levinson (2015), the scientific findings imply that the growth of both Staphylococcus epidermises and Saccharomyces cerevisiae is favored by low concentrations of NaCl. At 1% NaCl, moderate and high growth rates were observed for Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Staphylococcus epidermises respectively. Therefore, it means that even at hypotonic solutions, the growth rate of Staphylococcus epidermises faster than that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A similarity in growth behavior of the two bacteria was noted in 1% NaCl whereby both solutions turned cloudy. As the concentration of NaCl continued to increase, the growth of both bacteria decreased. According to Queck and Otto (2014), the growth of Staphylococcus epidermis can be experienced in NaCl concentrations of up to 10% but no growth can be experienced in 15% NaCl. On the hand, Saccharomyces cerevisiae showed scant growth in 15% NaCl. Scientific findings on the ability of bacteria to grow in solutions of different concentrations provide facts about the growth of Staphylococcus epidermis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in 1%, 7% and 15% NaCl.It was noted that growth of the two bacteria decreased as the NaCl concentration increased.These findings support the argument that both Staphylococcus epidermis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae thrive in low concentrations of NaCl. The study showed that it was only Saccharomyces cerevisiae able to survive in 15% NaCl while the growth of Staphylococcus epidermis was limited to 10% NaCl.

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The color purple - Research Paper Example It'd kill your mammy" (1). What Celie is forbidden to articulate publicly is her repeated rape by the man she believes to be her father; this violation of both Celie's body and her voice speaks of an underlying socio-linguistic censorship that relegates the female subject to an objectified position, as passive, absent, and silent. In this paradigm the maternal must be sacrificed if the subject is to speak. The relationship between Celie and Alphonso illustrates this phenomenon, as the paternal interdiction relies upon the premise that if Celie speaks, she is forsaking her "mammy" (1). Celie comes to represent this forced contract between a woman and the Law of the Father, where a female's body, spirit, and speech are sacrificed in an act of socio-symbolic rape; however, as Celie's subversive authorship suggests, it is a sacrifice she is unwilling to make. In her article "Women's Time," Julia Kristeva speaks of the role language plays in violating female subjectivity; she states, "a n ew generation of women is showing that its major social concern has become the socio-symbolic contract as a sacrificial contract, †¦that they are forced to experience this sacrificial contract against their will" (Kristeva’ ‘Women’s Time’ 25). ... e, identification with the sacrificial logic of separation and syntactical sequence at the foundation of language and the social code leads to the rejection of the symbolic--lived as the rejection of the paternal function and ultimately generating psychoses" (Kristeva’ ‘Women’s Time’ 25). The psychoses that Kristeva identifies can be seen as reflecting hysterical discontent, as a conflict of gender that is realized through linguistic disruption. Kristeva posits two possible strategies to counter the exclusion and silence experienced by women: the first, to attempt to possess the symbolic by adopting the dominant ideology; the second, to approach language as a "personal affect experienced when facing it as subject and as a woman" (Kristeva’ ‘Women’s Time’ 24). Such an approach suggests a need to "break the code, to shatter language, to find a specific discourse closer to the body and emotions, to the unnamable repressed by the soci al contract" (Kristeva’ ‘Women’s Time’ 24-25). Kristeva's perspective of language posits a revolt against the exclusion of the symbolic contract. In About Chinese Women, Kristeva identifies women as able "to give a name" to the repressed, as able to restore the body back to a place of significance (Kristeva ‘About Chinese Women’ 30-35). In this context, the body becomes intertwined with Kristeva's notion of the semiotic, as a sort of expression that exists outside of the symbolic, preceding language while simultaneously existing within language, albeit in a repressed form. Semiotic discourse moves beyond the symbolic by opposing structures of exclusion. The mother-child bond becomes the definitive relationship of semiotic discourse, as it exists beyond binary differences of gender and sexuality. When viewed in this

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AIC - Case Study Example In contrast, AIC systems total volume is lower than Taiwanese rivals elite group Company systems, MSI, and ASUS. However, the companies’ relentless effort on the management of costs enables it to scale high as it labels as a competitive source. Consequently, by the year 2000, AIC structures had evolved into original design manufacturer (ODM). Based on ODM, the company took the vigorous role by innovating and developing new generation components. Additionally, the company participated in house design and development work, which advanced its operations to foster more exclusively establishing long-term relationships with its customers across the planet. In the year, 2007, AIC embarked on a new strategy, diversifying its products portfolio with the inclusion of consumer electronics focusing on mobile technology. Based on the development of technology and AIC company advancement, most hardware has become a commodity with mobile technology taking several forms including ultra-portable laptops called netbooks, mobile phone Laden that have variable arrays and traditional laptops(Wheelwright & Yong 2). The assembly line of QuiN design required refinement, and this made initial orders unpredictable. Wheelwright & Yong (4) argue that the development of full-scale production of the QuiN 816 was frantic. Moreover, promotion of QuiN netbook generated significant publicity as it created an unexpected spike in the production demands. This created lumpy orders of the QuiN netbook and later developed the little need and received an unexpected order for numerous thousand units within a short notice. However, the solution needs to focus on getting new assembly line that is operational. Additionally, QuiN 816 needs to review its operations and identify ways of improving the productivity of the existing capacity. Chen focused on assembling line process for QuiN 816 network. Moreover, by working closely with

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Internationalisation in Marketing - Essay Example The Uppsala model is one of the most well known models of internationalization. The Uppsala model is a four staged model that argues that firms pass through four stages in order to go international. From absence of regular exports to overseas production firms go through all these stages according to the Uppsala model. The model is based on how firms learn and how they incorporate what they learn in their investment decisions in foreign markets (Johanson & Vahlne, 1977). Through the stages of model the firm gains more and more knowledge about the foreign markets and their market commitment, all assets of a firm in a particular geographical market, increase gradually as their experience increases. Knowledge and learning is the main component of the Uppsala model. Model also suggests that initially firms invest in countries that are culturally close to the firm’s native country. The model is of great importance to the marketers as it provides a great framework for them to initiate operations in foreign markets. The emphasis of the model is on learning and knowledge and this is a very objective approach. The importance of foreign knowledge and culture is very important for marketers in order to prosper in the foreign markets. Uppsala model also identifies the differences that exist between and local and foreign environment. These differences are important for marketers as one strategy in a local setting may bear great benefit but the same strategy can lead to a disaster.

Explain and evaluate Bebe's teleological argument for the existence of Essay

Explain and evaluate Bebe's teleological argument for the existence of God - Essay Example He was one of the proponents of intelligent design supporting the existence of God, Behe initially supported the scientific theory, however after studying Evolution by Michael Denton changed his mind and started to question the evolution theory. He later came to believe the availability of evidence at biomedical level. He believed there were system irreducibly complex. He argued that such system could not even by any rule, have evolved by natural selection as proposed by Charles Darwin. He believed that very intelligent designer must have created such systems. He believed that only intelligent designer could give the only possible explanations for the complicated structures. His logic was similar with other proponents such as the William Paley of 1802 who gave the proof of the existence of the divine creator. He defended his argument through opening the direct experimental rebuttal. He made his thought clear by giving illustration by bacterial flagellum which he claimed to be irreduc ibly complex therefore required an intelligent designer. His other side is that the flagellum cannot be produced through natural selection operating on random mutation or other unclear process. To falsify his claim he demanded a scientist to go to the laboratory and place a bacterial species without flagellum under selective pressure to grow for ten thousand generation and watch if the flagellum produced. He further said if that could happen then he be neatly be disapproved. To obtain the triumph enjoyed by Darwinism he brought out many observational facts into the coherent framework appealing to people view of the surrounding. He used the illustrations of how people see through the eye organ. He argued that in 19 century, the anatomy of the eye was well known, and all the complicated ways the eye employ to function by delivering accurate picture. Therefore, to lose the eye was so serious. It known that the eye could only function