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Challenges Facing County Governments
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Challenges Facing County Governments
Counties are facing many issues that are becoming more demanding by the day. One such issue is problems with structural finances. Property taxes are going down when the growing cost of services is increasing, and the infrastructure in place is aging. These warrant repairs and maintenance of infrastructure under local governments such as roadways, sidewalks, water and sewer lines as well as municipal facilities. The growth of metropolitan areas is also causing increasing stress on roadways meaning these part of infrastructure requires attention as well. On top of these, counties have to deal with the economic impacts of climate change that bring about water scarcity and extreme weather. Technology is also bringing about regulatory problems to local governments as vocal parties demand that these advanced technologies be bound by regulation in ways that ensure existing industries are protected.
Declining county funding is a very significant problem for county governments. In addition to this, state governments are limiting the counties’ capacity to raise revenue. Forty-five states have put some limitations on the abilities of counties to raise money through property tax. Counties are forced to cut funding from crucial areas such as public safety to cover the deficits. States are increasing mandates for counties to implement without providing the funding required to do so.
To deal with the fragmentation of programs and services, county governments should engage nonprofits an social enterprises to generate a hybrid model of public services and one driven by profit. The need for public trash collection, habilitation of people dependent on drugs, safe housing options, and so forth have been answered by private entities. Citizens are given some degree of power to resolve their own issues that would otherwise burden these governments. Citizen engagement is thus essential, and the use of technology can help further this initiative. Citizen engagement means collaborative work that aides in building on past developments and incorporating new services.
Differences Between Strong-Mayor, Weak-Mayor and Council-Manager
A weak mayor kind of government uses a mayor-council method where he/she is subordinate to the council in terms of the mandate for policymaking and administration powers. The council employs a city manager and appoints the mayor as opposed to being elected. The council-manager is appointed by the council in which the mayor is a member. The mayor is elected by the citizens. A strong mayor or the mayor-council form of government has the mayor as the chief executive officer of the city and does not employ as city manager, maybe an admin to help run daily affairs. The strong-mayor form of government is the most desirable for me because, as a mayor, one would like to do things his way. The issues one promised the electorate deal with once elected will be easily executed without needing approval and without including limitations.
Why Texas Democrats Trust the Supreme Court more than Other Government Branches
Despite the Supreme Court being the least understood branch of government, it is the most trusted. Democrats in Texas believe that supreme court judges follow the law and not political ideas when rendering their decisions on issues. Texas Democrats believe that Supreme Court judges base their decision solely on the law. There have been partisan battles recently over the highest court in the land. However, a majority of people, including Texas Democrats, believe that the court holds a moderate position in this liberal-conservative continuum. This opinion about the supreme court by Texas Democrats increases with more knowledge on the court and the decision of judges. In essence, the Supreme Court is specially capable of commanding respect, especially when compared against other government branches, and most of all, those citizens that are aware of the roles of justices under the constitution.
Why Republicans and Independents in Texas Trust Trump more than the Supreme Court
Trust in the executive, particularly Trump, is strongly related to party support. Almost all Republicans have trust in the president because he is, of course, conservative as they are. Republicans trust the Supreme court more than they distrust it but not as much as they trust the president. Some believe that the Supreme Court sometimes leans to the liberal side. A good example is a decision made by the supreme court in the last few terms. The decision to stop President Trump’s addition of work as an eligibility requirement for Medicaid is one that may be considered by liberals as to lean towards the liberal direction because it was President Obama who expanded this program. Independents do not support the Supreme court as much as they do the president because they believe that the Supreme Court may be leaning to one side of this partisan continuum. Unlike the president who has the right to have biased ideas, the Supreme Court should be strictly unbiased, and when a little biasness is perceived, independents would rather side with the side that is not selling out. Independents in Texas might have supported Trump despite them being on no side, which means they have trust in him.
Effects of voter ID laws on Turnout in Texas
The Texas voter ID laws require voters to have with them a government-issued ID such as an identification certificate, a driver’s license, a US passport or a military ID. Such requirements disenfranchise minority voters who face significant limitations when applying for these IDS. The laws accept a license to carry a gun but decline a government or school-issued ID, which is just absurd. It is known that white people in Texas are the minority with licenses to carry handguns. Minorities face huge barriers to obtain a gun license; that is why these laws can be perceived to be discriminatory. Other states permit various forms of ID that are excluded from Texas laws, which keep a lot of people from voting. These laws, according to Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos from the US District Court of Southern District of Texas, had a discriminatory effect. These laws affect voter turn out by targeting particular races and enacting restrictions that most certainly appear to keep them away from the ballot. These patterns of requirements under these laws cannot be explained by grounds other than race.
Barriers should not accompany the right to vote. The voter ID laws keep many away from the ballot, deprive them of their constitutional right to vote, and directly oppose the country’s progress towards including more Americans in the democratic process. Many Americans do not have access to the forms of identification included in these laws. These voters are disproportionally low-income, from racial minority groups, and other vulnerable demographics. These voters have a hard time obtaining ID because either they cannot afford to obtain the documents required to obtain a photo ID card issued by the government. A study by GAO indicates that voter ID laws reduce voter turn out by about 2 to 3 percentage points, which means tens of thousands of Texas residents cannot vote.
Why I oppose these laws
I oppose these laws because almost 11 percent of Americans do not have a government-issued photo ID (ACLU). Again, obtaining this ID requires money, an expense that low-income Americans cannot foot. This includes the combined cost of document fees, waiting time, and the cost incurred during travel. When these costs are combined, they come to between $75 to $175. The elderly and people with disabilities cannot be able to travel as well as those people coming from rural areas. People from Rural Texas travel up to 170 miles to the next ID office.
The discriminatory aspect of these laws mostly influences my stand against this law. Minority voters do not have the IDs required for voting as compared to white people. A quarter of African-Americans across the nation of voting age do not have photo IDs from the government in which is quite disproportional, considering only 8 percent of whites lack these photo IDs. Besides, allowing permits for handguns to vote and disallowing other forms of ID such as student IDs is straight-up discriminatory. Again, the majority of minorities do not have handgun permits, which are also hard to obtain when one is from either of these groups.
The Role of the Media in elections
The media is central to the proper function of a democratic nation. The media usually plays a watchful role. They conduct autonomous scrutiny and discuss the strengths and shortcomings of candidates, bodies that oversee elections, the government, and informs the public of the extent these agencies have carried out their mandate as required and join them in holding them accountable. The media also ensure public participation in elections by educating them on how to exercise this democratic right. They also provide reports on how the election is progressing. The media give candidates as well as their affiliated parties a platform to communicate with the electorate. It also allows the public to communicate their ideas, concerns and needs to the authorities and to people seeking to join the administration and provide a platform for them to interact on these issues.
The media so far has played most of its part as the backbone of this democratic nation. It has informed, criticized, and stimulated debate on various crucial occasions. The credibility of the media has, however, been in question. Its effectiveness is based on its responsibility to get its facts right, which I believe it has done. The media has dug deep, collected opinions from different people, and countercheck their facts thoroughly. It has not held back in rooting out deception and exposing liars, hypocrites, and the corrupt using counterchecked facts.
Where the media does not show much merit is avoiding to cause panic by exaggerating facts. It appears that the media these days is reliant on the information that cause havoc in order to draw public attention. The press is yet to lose the respect of the people and the nation at large, but there have been instances of irresponsibility, exaggeration, and mongering to influence sales.
Challenges that hinder minor party candidates from succeeding in statewide
Minority party candidates are a long way from ousting the Republican and Democratic hegemony that has characterized American politics for way over 150 years. Republicans and Democrats still reinforce archaic laws that ensure voters have only two choices at the ballot. When these two parties came to power during the early years, each with its turn, they created restrictions that bar outsiders from participating fully in the state as well as national elections.
In Arizona, for instance, Republicans and Democrats need to collect 6,000 valid signatures in order to be included in the ballot. However, this number is six times higher for independents who are required to bring them in the form of valid petitions. In reality, an independent would need to collect around 50,000 signature to make sure that they have 37,000 that are valid (Galen). Only candidates that are able to fund themselves or have independent notoriety can be able to make these targets. It is clear that these two dominant parties have no interest in entertaining further competition. Even if independents join the Green or Libertarian parties, which are considered traditional failures, they solve the ballot problem, but still, they suffer from the wasted-vote theory where voters see them as fringe groups with no likelihood of winning.
Works Cited
ACLU. “Oppose Voter ID Legislation – Fact Sheet.” American Civil Liberties Union, 2017, www.aclu.org/other/oppose-voter-id-legislation-fact-sheet.
Galen, R. “Opinion | Reed Galen: Here’s How to End America’s Ballot Box Duopoly.” NBC News, 17 Apr. 2018, www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/how-republicans-democrats-prevent-independent-candidates-getting-ballot-ncna866466.
Mount Everest-1996
Mount Everest-1996
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Why did this tragedy occur? What is the root cause of the disaster? Create a fishbone diagram to analyze possible root causes. Include an actual diagram.
As the group continued to climb the summit at 5: 30 am, Krakauer and Ang Dorje, realized that the ropes were missing for the remaining 500 meters climb. They wasted a lot of time affixing the rope so that they could reach the summit while they ran out of oxygen canisters. Since time was wasted in affixing the remaining ropes, the storm braving-sub zero temperatures caused death of the mountain climbers. The cause of the tragedy was the mistake by the Montenegrin expedition who wasted all the ropes up to 400 meters, wasting Hall’s and Fischer’s team a lot of time to finish climbing the remaining 8,500 meters up to the summit (Roberto & Carioggia, 2003).
What is your evaluation of Fischer and Hall as leaders? What were their strengths and weaknesses as leaders?
He was revealed authoritative type of leadership. He stuck to his goals no matter whether others were suffering or not. One of the strengths of Hall was a goal oriented person. He maintained his agility to finish up the expedition, without worrying about the dangers ahead. However, he was poor at capacity building and independent-minded; the team led by him complained of fatigue and illnesses at the first summit, yet he did not give them attention (Roberto & Carioggia, 2003).
Fischer used participatory type of leadership; he screened the interest and needs of everybody before starting the expedition and would not leave those injured behind. One of his strengths was team building; he put the needs of everyone first before his. However, he had a vulnerable at the expense of his life. For example, he risked climbing the Everest summit without using the supplementary oxygen (Roberto & Carioggia, 2003).
What is the culture of the group? How would you evaluate their interpersonal processes using concepts from the book?
Initially, the Fischer group expressed a clan culture in which everyone participated to assist where possible when they were climbing a mountain. On the other hand, the Hall’s group developed from competing culture in which people that joined the expedition was ambitious to satisfy their own needs. However, the two engaged into a competent culture when they scrambled for the supplement oxygen during the tragedy. The group suffered from tension whereby everyone was worried that something would go wrong; causing panic and their deterioration of health. During the tragedy, the groups had dynamic interpersonal relationship as team members struggled to get back to safety at the lower summit (Roberto & Carioggia, 2003).
Pick three of the group members and individually describe their motivation to be part of the group using theories from the book. You should have three answers, pick members that have different motivations.
During the tragedy, Boukreev character revealed that the incidence was a result of human error. He descended quickly to get warm at camp IV and when questioned, preferred to stay at the camp while monitoring the clients’ situation. He refused to help Fischer, who was dying from the cold temperatures. The theory of human error depicts that the deaths could have been avoided, such as in the case of Boukreev (Roberto & Carioggia, 2003).
Krakauer proved justified the competing theory by recognizing that mistakes could be done, and the natural factors were inevitable. Scholar of the competing theory argued that climbing Everest Mountain was always the risked, and not just, as a result, of the human factors.
Lastly, Harris showed attributes during the incidence ascertains the competing theory by desperately trying to rescue Hall, he climbed up the summit despite the cold temperatures. He focused on saving those who were suffering from the cold blazing weather (Roberto & Carioggia, 2003).
Pick two of the decisions made in this case and individually describe what kind of the decision process was used. You should have two answers
Fischer made strategic decisions from the beginning of the expedition. He noted that the confidence of the one individual could affect the welfare of the whole group; therefore, he planned carefully, considering the conditions and needs of his entire team before climbing the mountain. On the other hand, the two teams engaged in tactical decisions whereby they needed to make hard choices in the face of the dangerous cold weather. As a result of limited time, they had to make quick response decision to save the lives of those who were dying (Roberto & Carioggia, 2003).
What kind of lessons can be learned from this case for general managers in business? Create an organizational scenario that might benefit from this knowledge.
Most of the organizations lack teamwork and proactive decision making process. According to the Everest incidence, failure of the members to help one another whilst saving their own individual lives cost others to die. The managers in organizations should engage the employees in the implementation of projects which improve the overall performance of the business.
References
Roberto, M.A., Carioggia, G.M. (2003). Mount Everest. New York, NY: Harvard University Press
Advanced Strategic Management in Wal-Mart Inc.
Running Head: Advanced Strategic Management
Advanced Strategic Management in Wal-Mart Inc.Name
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Introduction
Being the successful multinational corporation it is, Wal-Mart Inc. has been subject to multiple case studies most of which focus on its strategies that have either contributed to its success or failure in different regions. Like any other business though, case studies have indicated that the exposure to the market is similar to other players in the industry. The difference lies majorly in the application of the VRIO framework which has in fact given the corporation an edge in the industry. Major questions asked revolve around the capability to work around their resources to take advantage of the available opportunities and to survive despite the many threats…
From the case study carried out, it is quite clear that the industry is set to favor the pricing by the companies. Thus, the industry structure is a major opportunity that WalMart has capitalized on. Among the strategies used by the company is the lower pricing compared to other industry players. The case study clearly outlines this giving the view that the company’s products are relatively more affordable due to the economies of scale.
Changing trends to adopt more healthy eating habits and a growing market are also viewed as great opportunities for Wal-Mart. From the case study, it is clear that the industry is directly dependent on the size of the market, where the more clients a company has, the more revenue they can generate. Given their brand, the large market base has allowed them to enjoy customer loyalty which also increases with the increase in the general market. Studies have shown that within a period of one year, the market has increased by 5% thus, growing their revenue as well Hayden, Lee, McMahon & Pereira (28). This has been backed by the euphoria to eat healthier which directly favors their products. It is therefore justifiable, to argue that the changing trends in eating habits and the increased market are great opportunities for Wal-Mart.
Among the threats that Wal-Mart has been exposed include entry of competitors to industry, rivalry and substitute products. Hayden, Lee, McMahon & Pereira (26) clearly indicate in the case study that the main products of the industry are readily available and with the right resources, any firm can start up. There is also the capability of variety to choose from that may split the market that is already loyal. However, the David W. Crain and Stan Abraham argue the ability to brand has largely shielded the firm from failure in most regions.
VRIO FRAMEWORK
The value of the company has been a major shield given that it is well capable of handling the challenges by properly employing their resources. Hayden, Lee, McMahon & Pereira (23) further in their analysis elaborate how the value of the firm is always a priority since it is a clear indication of their capability to handle the potential challenges and threats. Further, this has enabled the firm to take advantage of available opportunities which smaller and less valued companies find expensive and difficult to effectively capitalize on. The company also has a value of quality and customer services. These value propositions serve as the central focus to enhance its image and competitive advantage in the market.
Rarity is also a great form of competitive advantage that Wal-Mart has taken greatly factored in. studies have shown that among the many suppliers in the industry, the firm has acquired buying power with the influential players so as to be ahead of their competitors. However, benchmarking and performance metrics can be used to further push Wal-Mart ahead of its competitors. The main competitive edge for Wal-Mart’s logistics lies in its low priced shipping costs. Due to its wide distribution chain, benchmarking can be applied to leverage its shipment prices with upcoming competitors who are likely to pose a big challenge in the long run. Given that there are readily available resources for the firm, both capital and labor related, there is the rare ability to maintain suppliers and ensure consistency. This ensures loyalty which flows back to their clients who prefer their products over those of their competitors.
Wal-Mart has set up structures and frameworks in the industry that have not been easy to imitate. These include their distribution methods, low pricing and the management policies. The study accurately outlines these features that cost money to come up with and have overwhelmingly positive results. The uniqueness of these features has become unbeatable keeping competition at a distance and allowing growth.
Imitation has been linked to the well organization of the company which takes time to ensure that strategies are well placed. This also works around having proper management that puts in place the resources available in a manner that allows maximized operations at minimum cost possible. According to Hayden, Lee, McMahon & Pereira (30), Wal-Mart undoubtedly has the ability to achieve this. Organization is very critical for Wal mart . From the benchmarking of Wal-Mart’s logistical operations, it is apparent that the secret behind its efficiency over that of its competitors is the flexibility in its supply chain. Organization has been extended to other aspects of the supply chain like timely delivery of goods to customers. This can be done by looking at the timing of the delivery of products as compared to that of their major competitors. Their competitors are more efficient in terms of timely delivery of products, unique mechanisms for enhancing timely delivery of products can be developed.
Part of their marketing strategies includes factoring in donations from their revenue and available resources to nonprofit organizations. As a result, they are able to reach their brand and spread awareness of their products to a larger group in more than one way. The employment of the VRIO (Value, Rarity, Imitation and Organization) framework has largely allowed Wal-Mart to thrive in their business in more than one country.
Conclusion
From the case study, there is clarity on the basics that a firm should focus on to make an impact in their market. Marketing should be key. As realized with Wal-Mart, the threats are easily curbed and barely affect the business because of the strategies they have used. Putting up frameworks that give them competitive advantage in the industry has ensured they always lead and have a stable market.
Works Cited:
Hayden, Patrick, Lee Seung, McMahon Kate, & Pereira Mike. “Wal-Mart” Staying on Top of the Fortune 500 A Case Study on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 2002. Web. 8 February, 2014.
Crain, David & Abraham Stan. “Using Value-Chain Analysis to Discover Customers’ Strategic Needs.” Strategy and Leadership. 2008. Web. 8 February, 2014.