Final Project Plan for IBM Company Research Paper

Final Project Plan for IBM Company - Research Paper Example In November 2014 they announced a global partnership with Twitter. These organizations had different but functional information systems that must be integrated into the IBM system. An effective integration of the information systems at the company must be done based on an implementation plan that will ensure support for an enterprise wide business process integration and standardization. ERP systems can be complex and difficult to implement, but a structured and disciplined approach can greatly facilitate the implementation. The IBM Company is a huge company that has several branches all over the world, communication and maintenance of autonomy is one of the major factors that must be considered in implementing the integration of information systems. Additionally, IBM is one of the largest suppliers of technology hence there must be accuracy in the inventory and all transaction activities in all the branches and affiliates of the company. Finally, the company always ships all the purchases to different destinations in the worl hence the need for accuracy and follow up in shipping of all products from the company. Tis report is an implementation plan for the integration of the new information systems at IBM. The works include the overview of existing system and subsequent identification of the applications and resources needed for implementation of the integration plan. It also includes the identification of the tasks, responsibilities and the time frame for completion of the tasks. The project involves an assessment of the current enterprise integration in the company. The identified integration plan is laid out and the steps are clearly elaborated. The different responsibilities are assigned and the resources and time schedules are allocated to the different tasks and activities. Upon completion of the project the results expected include the improvement of service provision at all IBM branches,

English And Vietnamese Prepositions Contrastive Analysis Cultural Studies Essay

English And Vietnamese Prepositions Contrastive Analysis Cultural Studies Essay Prepositions are words used to connect nouns or noun structures to other structures in a sentence. They exist in both English and Vietnamese language systems. However, prepositions have different characteristics and usage in each language. The use of prepositions may cause lots of trouble for Vietnamese people when learning English and vice versa. Therefore, this paper aims at analyzing English and Vietnamese prepositions in a contrastive view, especially in showing direction and location so that leaners can find it easier to learn them. This paper also supplies some implications for teaching prepositions which can be useful for those who teaching English or Vietnamese. Through these implications, I hope that they can help teachers know how to help students use prepositions correctly and appropriately. Literature Review Prepositions in English Definition According to Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary, a preposition is a word or group of words used before a noun or pronoun to show place, position, time or method. Another definition is that a preposition may be defined as connecting word showing the relation of a noun or a noun substitute to some other words in the sentence (the squirrel in the tree; the preposition in shows the relationship between the squirrel and the tree.) (Prepositions: definition and usage, n.d). From these definitions, we can come to a conclusion about the function of a preposition which is it is used to connect nouns and noun structures with other structures in a sentence. Prepositions that we often use in everyday life are: with, at, by, to, in, for, from, of, on. It is estimated that these prepositions make up for ninety percent of preposition usage. The part following a preposition is called its object. The object of a preposition can be a noun, a pronoun, a gerund or a noun clause. For example, we have: a noun: We gave a present to our  secretaries. a  pronoun: We gave a present to  them. a  gerund: We thought about  giving  a present to them. a  noun clause: We thought about giving a present  to whoever worked for us. (Lougheed, n.d) Form Prepositions are often in one-word form; however, there are also other prepositions with more than one word. They are made up with two or three words. For example, we have on behalf of, in front of, in accordance with, in line with, in relation to and so on. Another form is called prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases are groups of words that begin with a preposition and end with a noun or pronoun. Some phrases are used commonly and in a number of situations such as acting as an adjective  or an  adverb, locating something in time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened. (Prepositions: Locator in time and place, n.d). Examples of these prepositional phrases are out of work, at any rate, by means of, in person, under orders, from now on and so forth. Besides, there are some called marginal prepositions which are verbal in forms, such as concerning, considering, including, pending and more. Usage Prepositions are used with a lot of functions including time, location, manner, means, quantity, purpose, and state or condition. Regarding to prepositions of time, there are some prepositions like at, on, in, from, since, for, during, to, till/until, after, afterwards, by.before and so forth. For example, we have: at six oclock, on Monday or in the evening. Another usage of prepositions is to show location. Some belong to this category are in,at,on,next to,beside, behind,in front of,opposite,near,on top of,under,above and so on. For example, Jone  lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham, She lives in Durham or Mary is sitting next to me. Prepositions of movement include: from,to,at,into,out of,towards,on,onto,across,through,around,along,up. For instance, he ran out of the room or Mary run towards the walls. Other usages are listed below. Means or agent: by: He was hit by a ball. from: His success results from careful planning . in: He takes pleasure in it. on: They live on bread and water. with: He chased the mongoose with a stick. Manner: by: By doing it yourself in: He left in confusion. like: He looks like a hero. on: I swear it on my word of honor. with: He ate it with a fork. State or condition: at: My friend is at work. by: They are by themselves in: He is in a state of confusion on: He is on duty (scheduled to work). for: I mistook you for someone else. as: I see her as a good person . Quantity or mesure: for: We drove for twenty miles. by: We bought them by the kilo Purpose: for: He bought it for an emergency. She went to the city for sightseeing. He loved her for her thoughtfulness. (Prepositions: definition and usage, n.d) Vietnamese Prepositions Definition Like English, Vietnamese also has a category of word which is similar to prepositions. We may call this category Vietnamese equivalent of English preposition. To make it simple, some people prefer to use the name preposition. Nevertheless, the notion preposition in Vietnamese is a quite complicated issue because some linguists have claimed that prepositions do not exist in Vietnamese. Yet, according to Tuc (2003), although the distinction between prepositions and serial verbs in Vietnamese is not always clear-cut, Vietnamese prepositions do exist (p.69). In his book, he also gave many examples to prove his opinion. Moreover, nowadays, in many books of teaching Vietnamese for foreigners, the name preposition is often used. Therefore, to be convenient, the name Vietnamese preposition is used for equivalent of English preposition in Vietnamese in this paper. Types of prepositions in Vietnamese According to Tran (2007) there are two main types of preposition in Vietnamese: prepositions of time and location. In addition, there are some other prepositions called miscellaneous ones. Prepositions of time are và  o (in, on, at), trong or suà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœt (during), trÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºc (before), sau (after), kà ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™ tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ « khi (since) and cho tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi khi (until). In terms of prepositions of location, there are trà ªn (on, above, over), trong (in, inside), chung quanh (around), bà ªn phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £i (on the right of), cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡nh (next to) and so on. Finally, miscellaneous prepositions conclude cho (for), và ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi (with), và ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  (about), nhà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  (thanks to), bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸i (by) and so forth. Here are some examples about how these prepositions are used in sentences. Their usage in Vietnamese is similar to in English. Time: Tà ´i thÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng dà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­y và  o sà ¡u già ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  sà ¡ng (I usually get up at six am) Trong bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯a tià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡c cà ´ à ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥y khà ´ng nà ³i gà ¬ cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £. (She said nothing during the party) Location: Bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡n tà ´i sà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœng à ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸ Sà  i Gà ²n (My friend lives in Saigon) Vià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡n bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £o tà  ng nà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ±m bà ªn phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £i tià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡m sà ¡ch cÃ…Â © (The museum is located on the right of the used bookstore) Miscellaneous: Là ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡i Ä‘Ã ¢y ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"i và ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi tà ´i! (Come and sit with me) Nhà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ º mua hoa cho tà ´i nhà ©. (Remember to buy flowers for me, OK?) Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi và ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi tà ´i, chuyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡n Ä‘Ã ³ khà ´ng quan trà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng (That issue doesnt matter to me) (Tran, 2007) Contrast between English and Vietnamese prepositions The notion preposition is quite an interesting issue. There may be so many things to say if we compare prepositions in English with those in Vietnamese in a large scale. Nonetheless, within this paper, I only make a contrast between English and Vietnamese prepositions in two aspects: prepositions of movement with directional verbs and locative prepositions because they often cause problems for Vietnamese people when learning English and vice versa. Prepositions of movement with directional verbs The first difference between English and Vietnamese prepositions is related to directional verbs. In English, directional verbs like come, go and arrive cannot take direct objects. This means they must have a preposition (or a prepositional phrase), bare particle or deictic verbial (bare noun phrase adverb). Since prepositions are being discussed in this paper, the examples with bare particle and deictic verbial are not mentioned. Here are the examples of directional verbs with prepositions Sally has gone  to  New York. Catrin will come  to  Sheffield next month. They arrived at the airport. (Vietnamese online grammar,n.d) In Vietnamese, by contrast, there is no need to use prepositions with these directional verbs because these verbs can take direct objects by themselves. We have these examples: Tuà ¡Ã‚ ºn trÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºc cà ´ Ä‘i Luà ¢n Ä Ãƒ ´n (Last week she went to London) Bao già ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  cà ´ à ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥y Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹nh sang Vià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡t Nam? (When does she intend to come to Vietnam?) Mà ¡y.bay xuà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœng phi-trà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ «Ãƒâ€ Ã‚ ¡ng Lià ªn-khang. (The plane landed at Lien khang airport) (Vietnamese online grammar,n.d) Actually, in Vietnamese, there is no preposition which is similar to preposition to in English. The verb Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿n (reach, arrive at) is used instead as the following examples: Tà ´i khà ´ng cà ³ thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ i già ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  Ä‘i (Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿n) bÆ °u Ä‘ià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡n I dont have time to go to the post-office Locative prepositions In English, space prepositions state the location of an object without paying attention to the position of the speakers. For example, English people often say: the plane is in the sky, the child is playing in the kitchen, cars run in the street. (McCarty, Pà ©rez, Torres-Guzman,  To, Watahomigie, 2004, p. 150). On the contrary, in Vietnamese, people tend to consider the position of the speakers. They say: mà ¡y bay à ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸ trà ªn trà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ i (the plane is above him or her), Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©a trà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ » Ä‘ang chÆ ¡i trong nhà   bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿p (the child is inside the kitchen), nhà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ng chià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿c xe hÆ ¡i chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡y ngoà  i Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng (cars are outside). Therefore, preposition in can be translated three ways into Vietnamese with three different meanings: trà ªn, trong, ngoà  i. In addition, Tran (2010) mentioned several differences between English and Vietnamese prepositions in terms of semantics and pragmatics. First, when describing the higher position, they take the contact meaning between trajector (Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi tÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £ng Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹nh và ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹) and landmark (Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi tÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £ng qui chià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿u) into consideration.For example, they distinguish the meaning of on, above and over. Meanwhile, Vietnamese people almost do not pay attention to this aspect. They just use the only word trà ªn. Second, when talking about the relation between above (trà ªn) and under (dÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi), English people are always aware of whether or not trajector (Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi tÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £ng Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹nh và ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹) is in the vertical reference (và ¹ng quy chià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿u thà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ³ng Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©ng) of the land marks (Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi tÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £ng qui chià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿u) area. That is the reason why they have these words: above / over / on and under / below / beneath. In contrast, Vietnamese people only devide the space into two part above/under (trà ªn/dÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi).To indicate the middle position, English has in the middle of / between (for 2 objects) and among (for 3 objects and more) while Vietnamese use the word già ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯a for all these cases. Examples of this kind are summarized in the table below. Notion English prepositions Vietnamese prepositions TRONG in, inside trong NGOÀI out, outside, out of ngoà  i TRÊN on, upon,above,on top of, over,atop Trà ªn DÆ ¯Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¡I under, underneath, beneath, below dÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi TRÆ ¯Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¡C before,in front of, ahead of, preceding trÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºc SAU behind, following, at the back of (br), in the back of (ame) Sau BÊN by, near, next to, close to, beside, alongside, to the right/left bà ªn, cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡nh, sà ¡t, gà ¡Ã‚ ºn, kà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ , bà ªn phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £i, bà ªn trà ¡i GIà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ®A within, among, between, in the middle of, in the midst of già ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯a (Tran, 2010) Implications for teaching After having contrasted English and Vietnamese prepositions in two aspects as above, I would like to mention the implications for teaching English at high school in our country. Since learners tend to translate everything into their mother tongue, teachers should be very careful when teaching English, especially prepositions. They need to realize that there is no exact one-to-one translation from English to Vietnamese and vice versa. Referring to the discussion prepositions with directional verbs, we know that when translating a sentence from English to Vietnamese or Vietnamese to English, sometimes we may add or omit the prepositions. For instance, we may not use preposition to with directional verbs in Vietnamese. Moreover, as discussed in the section Locative prepositions above, we can realize that a Vietnamese preposition may have several prepositions which are equivalent to them in English. Therefore, teachers should ask learners to take notice of this issue and know when to use the most appropriate preposition. In sum, to make sure the exact preposition is used, learners should observe how a preposition is used in a certain context. They should not tra nslate directly using prepositions in their language since prepositions can be used differently in different language. Moreover, the difference between Vietnamese and English prepositions is mainly due to semantics and the notion of reference (quan nià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡m quy chià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿u), so it is vital that teachers have enough knowledge of these fields to explain to students completely. Culture difference and the habit of using prepositions in each language are also the things that teachers should bear in mind. If teachers are very careful about these things, students may reduce making mistakes when using prepositions. Conclusion In conclusion, preposition is an interesting category in linguistics. There are so many things to discuss about preposition. However, sometimes learners may feel confused about how to use prepositions correctly, especially when Vietnamese prepositions have something different from English prepositions. That is the reason why learners often make mistakes when dealing with prepositions. A contrastive analysis in this area is necessary and important because it shows difference between English and Vietnamese prepositions in relation to direction and location. Directional and locative prepositions are the ones that often causes trouble to students more than other types. After having contrasted them, we can see that English prepositions are more complex than those in Vietnamese. Moreover, the research also suggest some implications for teaching prepositions in Vietnamese high school, so I hope that this research paper will be a piece of useful referent material for those who are interested in teaching a language aspect, particularly preposition.

Human Resource Management Essay -- Business, International Human Resou

Human resources are considered to be a potential source for competitive advantage. It is seen as the accumulation stock of knowledge; skills and abilities that individual possess which the firm has built over years through identifiable expertise (Cappelli and Singh, 1992). The success of firms can be measured from the ability to synthesise the firm’s HR with strategic objectives of the organisation. According to Klein et al. (1991:11), ‘If expertise manifestation behaviour is consistent on the formation of skills, it becomes a basis for competitive advantage’. The scholar further argues that a dedicated skill comes from employees’ continuous application of skills to a particular tasks, product and project. Through learning and strategic combinations of dedicated skills, skills are then transforms to core skills which then can promote new product and new market (). These resource capabilities are indeed helpful for MNC exploiting developing market to gain co mpetitive advantage and hereby increasing market share. However, there have been various strategic plans by MNC to successfully gain competitive advantage in developing market taking into account theoretical frameworks and issues emanating from parent company and host county-specific. The field of international human resources management has been characterised by three broad approaches which gives an insight on cross-cultural management issues (Laurent, 1986), comparative HRM research (Brewster, 1998; Hendry, 2003), and international HRM in multinational corporations. The latter is commonly recognised as international HRM which involves diverse complexities due to diversity of national contexts and different national categories of employees (Dowling and Welch, 2004). An impor... ...n et at. (1991), specifically and critically view IHR strategic relationship between the parent company and its subsidiaries. This relationship can be viewed in two ‘fits’. The first fit is the external-outside organisational fit which encompasses the level of fit between the subsidiaries IHR undertakings and the cross-national and cross-cultural environment that is operating in which includes across it boundaries. On the other hand, internal-outside fit is viewed as IHR activities of the subsidiary and the IHR activities across other MNC within its boundaries. In summary, this business strategy possess that a subsidiary needs to put into consideration its roles and standing within the MNC and well as its place amongst the local, national and global environment when developing IHR strategies. This business strategy consideration is illustrated on Figure 2.

Culture and People Essay

Does culture have an impact on who we are? Have you ever notice that what is the main difference between people around the world? People eat different foods, wear variant clothes, believe in various things, and have different appearances but the main difference is how people behave and this difference comes from their culture. Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them. Culture means the series of norms and values that the public believe in and behave accordingly. These beliefs comes from parents and goes from one generation to another and influence people’s behavior. Culture has an impact on people’s life because it affects people’s life, their society, and the world. Parents are the first teachers that kids learn lot of things from their fathers and mothers. The environment of a family that a child grow up in is the most important thing that influences h er/his behavior because children learn how to live like their parents and parents try to teach their children the culture that their society has. People are influenced by their culture and sometimes more than one culture can be influencing a person, such as Native Tribes living in a modern society. If people from different Countries were raised in the same society then those people would have the same culture and those people would believe in the same things. Traditions help people to show their beliefs, for example Halloween is a holiday that is showing what American people celebrate, it represents as a symbol for American culture. Most people would agree that their own has been important to their shaping and development, enriched their lives and often, led to their life decisions but their culture is the products of human action which is inherited independently of the biological genes. The way that one person think not only affects people around that person but it also affects that Society. The difference between cultures will never end because it is hard to change what people believe In. People may learn lot of things from their friends but when a person wants to make a decision he/she will always compare it with her/his culture. For example personal zone is one of the traditions that most of the American people do. In the personal zone, the conversation gets more direct, and this is a good distance for two people who are talking in earnest about something. Society has always been impacted by technology. Each invention has affected how people relate to one another and how cultures have expanded or ended. Technology impacts how cities grow, where people live, and who owns what. Technologies are the reason a few people are very rich, that people are more social, and that teaching and learning is changing. People in the 21st century are at a crucial time in history where as educators can make a difference in how students interact with one another and make a place in society. People developed a language so they could communicate and invented tools for agriculture, to build homes, and to create weapons for hunting and protection. Over time many people have been influenced by other cultures and that is where different cultures meet each other. So this is the cultural evolution which people affect other cultures and cultures affect people as well. For example when a person moves to another country he/she gets influenced by that country’s culture and also that person can affect her/his society too. People’s culture influences their belief system which affects the way that people see the world . Although culture is integrated with sociology, anthropology, psychology, religions , and other aspects however this paper focuses on people’s behavior, globalism, and the cultural evolution. Culture makes societies unique, making it an essential element in influencing people’s everyday lives. It is also important to be able to recognize and respect other cultures, and not believe ones own culture is more valuable or superior than the rest. Hope that one day there would be peace all around the world and all people would speak the same language.

McDonald’s Company Essay

Today McDonald’s have more than 32,000 local restaurants serving and more than 60 million customers in 117 countries each days. McDonald operation begin in 1940 when Dick and Mac opened McDonald’s Bar-B-Que restaurant in San Bernardino, California. In 1948, Dick and Mac close the operation for the renovation and reopened after three month later with the most popular item. In 1954, Ray Kroc, as multimode, was attraction and operation and learnt that the McDonald brother had desired to franchise their operation. Besides that, McDonald also into international market and continue to expend around the globe. For the management of McDonald, the main aspect to entire the business are ethical, truthful, and dependable . McDonald was conduct by their Board of Director that insure their act in the best interest. Apart from that, takes a proactive approach to enforcing their global food service. For the Global Perspective, McDonald has developed a strategy for operating their fast food enterprise. First, McDonald is not rely merely on its brand success in Unite State. Second, McDonald should attune their brand and also understand what the local cultures and develop a strategy that suitable with the local customer base. Based on the past experience, the future of McDonald is looking bright. 2. WHAT TYPES OF MANAGERIAL LEVELS DO YOU THINK EXIST WITHIN THE McDONALD’S CORPORATION? HOW WOULD THESE LEVELS INTERACT TO ACCOMPLOSH THE GOALS OF THE ORGANISATION? The types of managerial levels that exist within the McDonald’s corporation are Board of Director. A Board of Director is the higher level in the business McDonald’s Corporation that elected by stockholders to represent their ownership interest. A role of Board of Director is to ensure all the business activity being run right and at the same time to ensure their business activity will archived their objective, mission, and vision. An objective is important to the business activity same like McDonald’s corporation because it guide marketing action and at the same time used to make sure how well plan is working along the business activity. There are many interact to accomplish the goals of the organization by the  levels. First, they must act in the best interests of, and fulfil their fiduciary obligations to, McDonald’s shareholders. It means that, McDonald Corporation needs make sure their profit increase by years to years with expand their business along the world to gain the trust of the shareholder to invest in the McDonald business activity. For example, Kroc was opened the first McDonald’s in Desplaines, lllinois and follow by international market on 1967 in Canada and Puerto Rico. Second, the main basic of business activity in McDonald’s is they must act honestly, fairly, ethically, and with integrity especially between the employees. So the level must avoid their self from bribery, carry out business with terrorist group, and received the laundering money. Third, conduct them in professional, courteous and respectful manner. For example, the Board of Director McDonald’s Corporation must have a good relationship between employees in the business activity where they come see the work done by their employee. Then, the level also must act in a method to increase and maintain the reputation of McDonald’s business activity where these level perform in an effectiveness and efficiency such as from the management process is planning, organization, leading, and controlling is using to achieve their goals. Besides that, a Board of Director must respect their confidentiality of information that related about the business activity except they get an authorized or legally required to disclose such information, because all the business activity have their own networking for the short and long period and plays as their secret of corporation to develop their business same like McDonald’s business activity. Finally, these levels mus t not use secret information about the company such as their planning, organizing, leading, and controlling for their personal advantage. 3 . HOW WILL McDONALD’S BE ABLE TO DEVELOP MANAGERIAL SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES NECESSARY TO CONTINUE THEIR SUCCESS IN THE FUTURE? Introduction The learning focus in McDonald’s management is on developing skills and competencies to deal with the trickiness of human behaviour and problem solving in organization. McDonald’s very famous among us because it known as popular fast food. Even though, it has achieved success around the globe, but not without overcoming a pair of challenges in its pursuit of the title â€Å"King of Fast Food†. So that skill is important to McDonald’s to translate knowledge into action that result in desired performance. Skill of management based on three categories and they are technical, human and conceptual for management success and their relative importance varies by level of managerial responsibility. Managerial skills A technical skill is the ability to use a special proficiency or expertise to perform particular tasks. For example, McDonald’s should knowing how to write a business plan, use statistics to analyze data from a market survey, prepare visual aids and deliver a persuasive oral presentation and find useful information on the internet. McDonald’s could not very merely on its brand success in the United States and simply run their international locations as they had in the US. They needed to attune their brand to the needs and wants of the local customers in each of the markets they are entered. McDonald’s also would need to understand the local cultures and develop a strategy that would match up with the expectations of the local customer base. For example, the first step McDonald’s to treading at Malaysia, marketers should be aware of the cultural and societal the resident. When they analysis, they know the majority of the resident in Malaysia is Islam so that they take the best way to make sure their objection will fulfil is they apply logo Halal to Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) to certified their product. Now, they can carry on their legal business at the Malaysia. A human skill or interpersonal skills is the ability to work well in cooperation with other people. This is very important because they are demonstrated in the workplace as a capacity to communicate, to collaborate and network and to engage others through interpersonal relationships with a spirit of trust, enthusiasm, positive engagement and a capacity to understand or empathize with the feeling of others. Manager of McDonald’s should encouraged the good relationship among the employer and employee because it can gives many benefits to company. The one of the benefits is it can encouraged the brainstorming from each other. Employer should cannot critic idea and accept idea who can develop the  company. The secret of McDonald’s success is its willingness to innovate, even while striving to achieve consistency in the operation of its many outlets and tried to appeal to wider range of customer. A conceptual skill is the ability to think critically and analytically to diagnose and solve complex problems. The â€Å"critical thinking† is a diagnostic skill based on cognitive intelligence who means a competency to think systematically, identify causes and effects links and recognize patterns in events and data. The one of the challenges was faced by McDonald’s it was gathering flak from the environmentalists who decried all the litter and solid waste its restaurants generated each day. To counter some of the critism, McDonald’s partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to explore new ways to make its operations more friendly to the environment. In addition, it is also pays off in the bottom line by reducing shipping costs for supplies as well a garbage removal fees. Even though they faced many challenges but they should think properly how to handle and solve their problems and it will makes their success in the future.

How to Use RAND and RANDBETWEEN Functions in Excel

How to Use RAND and RANDBETWEEN Functions in Excel There are times when we wish to simulate randomness without actually performing a random process. For example, suppose we wanted to analyze a specific instance of 1,000,000 tosses of a fair coin. We could toss the coin one million times and record the results, but this would take awhile. One alternative is to use the random number functions in Microsoft’s Excel. The functions RAND and RANDBETWEEN both provide ways to simulate random behavior. The RAND Function We will begin by considering the RAND function. This function is utilized by typing the following into a cell in Excel: RAND() The function takes no arguments in the parentheses. It returns a random real number between 0 and 1. Here this interval of real numbers is considered a uniform sample space, so any number from 0 to 1 is equally likely to be returned when using this function. The RAND function can be used to simulate a random process. For example, if we wished to use this to simulate the tossing of a coin, we would only need to use the IF function. When our random number is less than 0.5, then we could have the function return H for heads. When the number is greater than or equal to 0.5, then we could have the function return T for tails. The RANDBETWEEN Function A second Excel function that deals with randomness is called RANDBETWEEN. This function is utilized by typing the following into an empty cell in Excel. RANDBETWEEN([lower bound], [upper bound]) Here the bracketed text is to be replaced by two different numbers. The function will return an integer that has been randomly chosen between the two arguments of the function. Again, a uniform sample space is assumed, meaning that each integer is equally likely to be chosen. For example, evaluating RANDBETWEEN(1,3) five times could result in 2, 1, 3, 3, 3. This example reveals an important use of the word â€Å"between† in Excel. This is to be interpreted in an inclusive sense to include the upper and lower bounds as well (as long as they are integers). Again, with the use of the IF function we could very easy simulate the tossing of any number of coins. All we would need to do is use the function RANDBETWEEN(1, 2) down a column of cells. In another column, we could use an IF function that returns H if a 1 has been returned from our RANDBETWEEN function, and a T otherwise. Of course, there are other possibilities of ways to use the RANDBETWEEN function. It would be a straightforward application to simulate the rolling of a die. Here we would need RANDBETWEEN(1, 6). Each number from 1 to 6 inclusive represents one of the six sides of a die. Recalculation Cautions These functions dealing with randomness will return a different value upon each recalculation. This means that every time that a function is evaluated in a different cell, the random numbers will be replaced by updated random numbers. For this reason, if a particular set of random numbers is to be studied later, it would be worthwhile to copy these values, and then paste these values into another part of the worksheet. Truly Random We must be careful when using these functions because they are black boxes. We do not know the process Excel is using to generate its random numbers. For this reason, it is difficult to know for certain that we are obtaining random numbers.

John Kay essays

John Kay essays John Kay was born about the year of 1704. He was the twelfth child born to a farmer. He later took charge of his fathers woolen mill. He made advancements to a lot of machinery. What Kay did was make handloom weaving dramatically faster, and easier. He called his invention the Flying Shuttle. This is said to be one of the most important inventions in textile history, and also said to jumpstart the industrial revolution more than any other of the inventions of its time did. Before this invention, handloom weaving was based on a shuttle having yarn being slowly and difficulty moved from one hand to the other hand. He patented his invention in 1733. How he made it was he placed shuttle boxes on both sides of the loom and connected them with a long board. This is better known has a shuttle race. Cords attached to a picking peg making a single weaver, using one hand, could make the shuttle go back and forth across the loom from one shuttle box Someone using this invention could make more cloth in a faster period of time. The first factories to use it were Yorkshire woolen factories. After the started to others did as well. Some manufacturers used his invention. Some were very reluctant to pay the royalties that Kay deserved. Most of the time Kay had to go to court for this money. The winnings and usually plus some were taken as a cost which made Kay poorer than before In 1753 Kays house was ransacked by a group of textile workers who thought Kays invention would ruin their way of making a living as weavers. A very depressed Kay left England to go to France. In France he was believed to die in 1764 a very poor man. Even after his death his invention was still being used in factories. People realized that his invention had changed the world of textiles forever. The factories found out that ...

The Roman Festival of Floralia

The Roman Festival of Floralia Although the ancient Roman holiday of Floralia began in April, the Roman month of the love goddess Venus, it was really an ancient May Day celebration. Flora, the Roman goddess in whose honor the festival was held, was a goddess of flowers, which generally begin to bloom in the spring. The holiday for Flora (as officially determined by Julius Caesar when he fixed the Roman calendar) ran from April 28 to May 3. Festival Games Romans celebrated Floralia with the set of games and theatrical presentations known as the Ludi Florales. Classical scholar Lily Ross Taylor notes that the Ludi Floralia, Apollinares, Ceriales, and Megalenses all had days of ludi scaenici (literally, scenic games, including plays) followed by a final day devoted to circus games. Financing Roman Ludi (Games) Roman public games (ludi) were financed by minor public magistrates known as aediles. The curule aediles produced the Ludi Florales. The position of curule aedile was originally (365 B.C.) limited to patricians, but was later opened up to plebeians. The ludi could be very expensive for the aediles, who used the games as a socially accepted way of winning the affection and votes of the people. In this way, the aediles hoped to ensure victory in future elections for higher office after they had finished their year as aediles. Cicero mentions that as aedile in 69 B.C., he was responsible for the Floralia (Orationes Verrinae ii, 5, 36-7). Floralia History The Floralia festival began in Rome in 240 or 238 B.C., when the temple to Flora was dedicated, to please the goddess Flora into protecting the blossoms. The Floralia fell out of favor and was discontinued until 173 B.C., when the Senate, concerned with wind, hail, and other damage to the flowers, ordered Floras celebration reinstated as the Ludi Florales. Floralia and Prostitutes The Ludi Florales included theatrical entertainment, including mimes, naked actresses, and prostitutes. In the Renaissance, some writers thought that Flora had been a human prostitute who was turned into a goddess, possibly because of the licentiousness of the Ludi Florales or because, according to David Lupher, Flora was a common name for prostitutes in ancient Rome. Floralia Symbolism and May Day The celebration in honor of Flora included floral wreaths worn in the hair much like modern participants in May Day celebrations. After the theatrical performances, the celebration continued in the Circus Maximus, where animals were set free and beans scattered to ensure fertility. Sources The Opportunities for Dramatic Performances in the Time of Plautus and Terence, by Lily Ross Taylor. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 68, (1937), pp. 284-304.Ciceros Aedileship, by Lily Ross Taylor. The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 60, No. 2 (1939), pp. 194-202.Floralia, Florales Ludi Festival ... - University of Chicago. penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Floralia.html.

Final reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final reflection - Essay Example As while attending this class, I was literally flushed with images and visual representations of the surrounding culture, this class really redefined and reshaped the visual literacy I possess. It endowed me with the ability to interpret the physicality of things and brought me to the realization that a work of art not only happens to be a conveyor of information in a wide variety of manners, but also helped me understand the fact that a visual approach towards things imbues the consciousness with multiple meanings that are hitherto oblivious to the human perception (Leppert 178). It also helped me get a hold over the varied nuances associated with the mediums that are used to contrive art. The impact of this class had been so intense that now when I approach a work of art, I am not only enamored by the physicality of it, but have also discovered that my art appreciation abilities have been immensely enhanced by attending this class (Davies 156). Now I have come to respect the raw po wer inherent in the works of art and their capacity and ability to facilitate a complex physical and sensual experience. The onus of drafting discussion board posts on a regular basis matured and refined my capacity to analyze and criticize the works of art. This class has bolstered my visual literacy in the sense that it has enhanced my capacity to think and furthered my talent for creating and communicating graphically. I must acknowledge that hitherto my attitude towards art was not that mature and well contrived. My basic understanding of the role of art in life was limited and constrained. In that aspect this class has expanded my overall vision towards art. It has helped me understand that art not only stands to be an all embracing notion, but it has also played a pivotal and important role in the advancement of the mankind (Bennett 92). I have come to know that art tends to have multiple functions and that it is literally impossible to overestimate the relevance of art in lif e. Art has and will continue to play an important role in the enhancement of human consciousness (Bennett 92). Art not only helps an individual make a sense of the world surrounding one, but also much helps answering eternal questions pertaining to the nature of beauty and love. I have realized that not only the language of art happens to be universal, but art also pivotally helps in shaping the human notions of harmony and beauty. Art stands to be utterly important in the sense that it helps in linking human lives, ideals, values and interests. It goes without saying that commensurate with the refining of my innate capacity for art appreciation and my enhanced respect for the visual phenomenon, I experienced many breakthrough moments. I experienced many moments when I simply stood back and experienced many new things in the works of art that were hitherto familiar to me (Carroll 151). For instance only a few decades back I was looking at the black and white photographs by Ansel Ada ms. Earlier I looked at these photographs as just being merely black and white pictures. However, courtesy this class, when I look at these photographs now I am not only able to decipher the meanings hidden in the dark and light variations, but I am also able to appreciate the varied interplay of tones and texture contrived at by the artist in these pictures. Thereby now I have more of ‘wow’ moments when I look at a work of art. My approach towards art

Leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 15

Leadership - Assignment Example This led to constant bickering and lack of consensus about direction. This conflict was borne of her inferior emotional intelligence. In fact, she proclaimed that Star Jones was evil, illustrating her poor leadership characteristics. Marlee Matlin, the deaf star contestant in 2011, was an individual with superior leadership skills. Matlin observed many disputes occurring between her colleagues, but simply chose to distance herself from it and bring it to her superior’s attention: Donald Trump. A quality leader understands chain of command and does not overstep their authority or fuel even further conflict. Matlin was very courteous to her team members throughout the entire season, often using soft language to inspire others to achieve their greatest potential. This is another trademark of a very competent leader to be able to use charisma and inspirational dialogue to gain loyalty. Marlee Matlin also publicly praised her most fierce competitor, John Rich, which illustrated the necessary respect for others common in quality leaders. At the same time, Matlin always tried to help others, showing that she thought their opinions and talents were valuable to the

American Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Identity - Essay Example Since long, United States has been the looked up to by the activists of the entire world as the nation that has optimum respect for the individual rights and liberty. The identity of the United States basically is restored upon the various principles that the country has followed like that of tolerance and individual freedom. Among other pillars of the nation, the equality for all irrespective of ones caste, creed or colour and the success of democracy are noteworthy. It is perceived that in the United States, individuals have the opportunity to create ones own fortune in one field or the other. In this amazing nation, the colour of one’s skin is never a hindrance or advantage to any to excel in any of the arenas. It is the quality with in the professionals that matters. It is probably possible only in the United States where many of the college drop outs start working in their family garage with the hopes of making some thing big like Microsoft or Google or Apple. It is only in America, where athletes like Carl Lewis and Maurice Green could excel their potentials and create world records. It is only in America where despite the war against terrorism, one can voice his reservations against the mal-treatments by the armed forces in the name of peace keeping. It is possible only in America where a minority by religion gets elected at the highest constitutional position by record vote in these trying times. The United States was one of the initiating countries to prohibit slavery under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln. Another prominent leader of the United States, Martin Luther King Jr., took several measures so that the black men and other disadvantaged citizens get compensated for historical wrongs. The American identity can also be recognised with the great American dream. As James Adams observed, it was â€Å"better, richer and happier life†. The essence of the American dream can also be documented with the Declaration of Independence, which says,

The Terror of War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Terror of War - Essay Example These arguments sound convincing and appear to be more dramatic. However, times have changed now. In this new century, we do not face an enemy who appears to have no face; nor cares of human, moral and ethical standards; nor is respecting any human social values. Such people use violence to force their hateful ideology. For them, violence, killing, terrorism are the only way to bring about their ideology. Al-Qaeda and its terrorist groups around the world have a dangerous and inhumane agenda. Al-Qaeda contributes insurgencies, rebellions and local brands of terrorism (Coolsaet, 2005; pp.100). Under this agenda, they subscribe to a particular doctrine. And, that doctrine dictates them to enforce the tenets of such doctrine around the world. For that, they can challenge any government policies and writ of the government anywhere in the world. They legitimize killing police, army and other law enforcing personals. Interestingly, they are not limited to one particular country rather they have spread in different countries. Al-Qaeda declared its war over the sovereign nations by attacking the United States of America in September 2001. In which more than 3,000 innocent ordinary American was killed (Curtis, 2010; pp. 628). They not only targeted the Pentagon but also hit the airplanes with the World Trade Centre. (Herbst, 2003; pp.138). Even if they had a military agenda to target military installations, they why did they choose to hit Twin Towers? That was not a military target. This proves that terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and its associated groups do not care while launching their attacks. They do not differentiate between military and civilian target. In front of them, both-military and civilians- are deserved to be targeted. So, those who argue that war must not be taken and it must be avoided. They must give some serious thought over the latest inhumane form of terrorism. There are certain critics who criticize the U.S. government over its actions in Afgha nistan and other parts of the world. But, it is reminded to them, initially, the U.S. government and other governments did give some time and asked the Afghan government to hand over the Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. Instead of going directly into the war, the Government of the United States of America did try to avoid the war option.

Creating conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Creating conflict - Essay Example He gives up and lights his cigarette. Leah stands to walk away escaping the toxic fumes of the cigarette. Jack feels sorry for her but this is a smoking zone he points out a notice on a nearby stand written in capital, ‘SMOKING ZONE’. Lost in his thoughts he hears a commotion and a loud scream. Leah has just been robed her bad and pushed to the ground. The thief is running towards the Jack with Leah’s back in his hands. Subconsciously jack trips the thief by putting his feet across his path. He falls down in a loud thud. Nearby park police officers who heard the commotion reach on time to grab the thief. Leah is now on her feet and is smiling at Jack. She offers her had to greet him. Maybe this was the ice breaker that Jack needed. He offers her a Cigarette again which she accepts without hesitation. John stealthily sneaks into the back door escaping the eagle eye of his manager. He had refused to grant him an early leave to attend Maya’s birthday he was getting late and he had ten more minutes to go. He opens the find the door is locked. He looks up and sees the old window open. He climbs up and squeezes through the tiny window tearing his pants in the process. He falls in a loud thud on the basement behind the restaurant and sprains his ankle. Battered and torn, he is determined not to disappoint the love of his life. He quickly looks through his pockets for his wallet. Unfortunately he has left it on his locker room together with the necklace he had bought for the gift. He is distraught but he can not disappoint Maya as he had done before when he failed to remember her birth day. He decides to trek to James home to get assistance. He takes a short cut through a dark early. He sees two men approach him. He is scared he starts to run back but he is too slow due to the injury. They catch up to him and rough him up. They do not find anything to steal. One of the men gives him a punch on the stomach that knocks him

Lyndon Baines Johnson Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lyndon Baines Johnson - Thesis Example The era of 1950s marked the initiation of a decades-long war, namely the Cold War, between the capitalistic United States and the communist Soviet Union. The war was characterized by a conflict of ideologies that clashed to result in a war that was to change the world politics for quite a few decades ahead. By the time President John F. Kennedy was elected as the President, both countries, the US and the USSR had started forming blocs of their own – capitalist bloc and the communist bloc. A sort of domino effect followed where gradually but progressively, states in Eastern Europe and South East Asia overthrew their governments to replace with a communist regime. This clash between the two states, rather ideologies threatened the start of a nuclear war. After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon Baines Johnson, also known LBJ, became the president. Following the stance over the domino theory in the South East Asian region, the US believed that communism was a nece ssary evil that would spread from one country to another much as dominos fall one by one inline. Also, the Cuban Missile Crisis had also not proved to be favorable for the Americans thereby escalating the US need to intervene in the world stage. This intervention was seen in the light of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War following its communist takeover in South Vietnam by the Viet Cong. The event has been the most important one during the term of LBJ as the president, an incident for which he will be remembered for his failure at the war.

Creating conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Creating conflict - Essay Example He gives up and lights his cigarette. Leah stands to walk away escaping the toxic fumes of the cigarette. Jack feels sorry for her but this is a smoking zone he points out a notice on a nearby stand written in capital, ‘SMOKING ZONE’. Lost in his thoughts he hears a commotion and a loud scream. Leah has just been robed her bad and pushed to the ground. The thief is running towards the Jack with Leah’s back in his hands. Subconsciously jack trips the thief by putting his feet across his path. He falls down in a loud thud. Nearby park police officers who heard the commotion reach on time to grab the thief. Leah is now on her feet and is smiling at Jack. She offers her had to greet him. Maybe this was the ice breaker that Jack needed. He offers her a Cigarette again which she accepts without hesitation. John stealthily sneaks into the back door escaping the eagle eye of his manager. He had refused to grant him an early leave to attend Maya’s birthday he was getting late and he had ten more minutes to go. He opens the find the door is locked. He looks up and sees the old window open. He climbs up and squeezes through the tiny window tearing his pants in the process. He falls in a loud thud on the basement behind the restaurant and sprains his ankle. Battered and torn, he is determined not to disappoint the love of his life. He quickly looks through his pockets for his wallet. Unfortunately he has left it on his locker room together with the necklace he had bought for the gift. He is distraught but he can not disappoint Maya as he had done before when he failed to remember her birth day. He decides to trek to James home to get assistance. He takes a short cut through a dark early. He sees two men approach him. He is scared he starts to run back but he is too slow due to the injury. They catch up to him and rough him up. They do not find anything to steal. One of the men gives him a punch on the stomach that knocks him

MobilephonesPrinciples of Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MobilephonesPrinciples of Marketing - Essay Example The formal product in mobile phone is comprised of the brand, the product code which differentiates it from other phones, the design, the packaging, the batteries and headsets which are also included together with the other features and enhancements. Recognizing the other needs of individuals aside from communication which can be integrated into the mobile phone, manufacturers continue to innovate and enhance it with new features. Starting from the core use of as a telephone, mobile phones are now also integrated with cameras, televisions, videos, calculators, planners, alarm clocks, music composers, MP3 players, flashlights, and others. These augmented features add value to the customers allowing them to use this gadget in more ways than making and receiving calls. Also, the augmented product is now tailored in order to suit the lifestyle of an individual. Thus, a mobile phone which features a higher resolution camera can be marketed to a person who is fond of taking photographs. A music lover will want to have a mobile phone with MP3 player which allows him or her to listen to his/her favorite songs while on the go. The first advertisement for a mobile phone was launched by Centel in 1989 featuring the flexibility and convenience of having a mobile phone. The succeeding commercials went beyond Centel's slogan of "Where people connect" by highlighting the new features of mobile phone. Philips targets customers by stressing that mobile phone a way to "engage" one's senses. The fast obsolescence of technology in the mobile phone industry makes manufacturers very keen in bringing state of the art technology in the market before other competitor does. Thus, most of the advertisements are geared towards capturing customers by stressing that the newly launched product is most advanced. Companies also try to appeal to the lifestyle of customers through its commercials. The commercial of Sera phone emphasizes that users of their phone are beautiful and sexy. Still other commercials are geared towards capturing the culture of the customers to be family oriented like the ones used by Nokia in the Philippine market. Also, mobile phone companies are designing products which appeals to one target group. The age of a person becomes a determinant of the type of mobile phone that he or she needs. The capacity of a mobile phone to cater to two SIM cards is geared toward individuals who want to have a different number for business and personal purposes. Thus, mobile phone is also marketed as a way of managing the complicacies of work and family life as well as gives privacy to users. Advertisements are now also infused with humorous sentiment blending technology with the natural tendencies of man. As a user of mobile phone, I can say that almost all advertisements for mobile phones are appealing considering that manufacturers are now targeting buyers through different medium and tailoring the message according to their demographics and lifestyle. APPENDIX Advert 1. http://www.cellular-news.com/tv_commercials/#http://www.cellular-news.com/tv_commercials/videos/Romania_Zapp/zie_2004_god.swf Advert 2. http://www.youtube.com/watchv=ptbJZ9HBw2k Advert 3. http://www.youtube.com/watchv=G4iGrdYAG8w Advert 4. http://www.youtube.com/watchv=K3ye7Ok8dgc Advert 5. http://www.youtu

Politics Essays Advertisements Campaigns Voters

Politics Essays Advertisements Campaigns Voters Advertisements Campaigns Voters Political Advertisements reflecting Political Orientations This paper tries to argue, and somehow support, that political advertisements during electoral campaigns reflect the political orientation of the voters. The Philippines is known for its festive mood all year round done through fiestas and other celebrations showcasing the very Filipino among us. To bring this to home is to mention our annual celebration of the Sinulog. The Sinulog 2007 Magazine presents the colorful celebration of the whole country in honor of the child Jesus Senor Sto. Nino. This celebration along with the other celebrations all over the country signifies the dynamics of our culture and this had been passed from one generation to another. Making the young ones realize and appreciate its value and importance. But festivals are not the only colorful features of the Philippines, we are likewise known to have very festive conduct of elections. Yes, elections in the Philippines resemble the celebration of fiestas. In the very recently concluded May 14, 2007 Congressional and local elections the whole country have witnessed how politicians have used almost all forms of campaigning just to be properly known and eventually be voted by the electorates. In fact, as a result of campaign many of the politicians’ tarpaulin were left scattered prompting a businesswoman to convert them into bags, which were distributed to the fire victims somewhere in Metro Manila. The reason for this was the huge volume of tarpaulin spent for by the candidates all for their desire to vote. To add, flyers and sample ballots were voluminously reproduced for the same purpose. However, for those who have a broader financial base they took advantage of the mass media in airing (broadcast and print) their political advertisements. The patronage of politicians to the use of media is itself a statement of the wide reach of the latter as well as the extent of its possible impact on the decisions of the electorates. Most studies about the media try to look into how it operates in the â€Å"democratic† Philippines or how it influences the behavior of people, especially during elections. However, it is likewise interesting to explore what is reflected by the media as the society’s character, behavior and culture. Hence, this essay describes the electorates’ political orientation that is projected or reflected in the political advertisements of politicians. However, it is bounded by the following delimitations: only the political advertisements of the Mayoral and Vice-Mayoral candidates of Cebu City are considered, this is for purposes of a more focused analysis. Furthermore, I made use of only print ads from newspapers, this is due to limited access to television advertisements. These delimitations may in the end limit as well the conclusion of this essay, however this can also serve as an initial study for a broader consideration by other scholars. Culture, Politics and Media From the sociological point of view, Giddens (2002) defined culture broadly to be the way of life of the members of society or groups within a society. It is that â€Å"something† that unites a society together and that which stitches the relations of people and social structures. However, culture is by nature not easily definable due to the fact that it’s merely manifested, such as its tangible and intangible aspects. Many theorists have imparted their own share of conceptualization about culture. Worth mentioning in this essay are the contributions of Jules Henry (1980). Jules Henry postulated the anthropological idea that culture is preserved and perpetuated, and it is necessarily reproduced through the process of interaction among people in society. From here it can be deduced that culture is by its very nature transmissible therefore learned. Hence, the culture of a society is passed on to the next generations in a dynamic fashion of learning. The example highlighted by Henry is the cultural dreams turned nightmare of the Americans because of the highly consumeristic culture projected by the media. Jules Henry is decisive in prescribing the idea that the media is constructing a culture that is not reflective of the real needs of the public. From this contribution of Henry we can understand that the process of transmitting culture can be facilitated by a number of ways and means or agents. Socialization is a primary channel for the transmission of culture over time and generation. There had been a continued discourse on culture and many scholars were engaged in more cultural studies during the heights of the behavioral revolution and the participation explosion after World War II. The behavioral revolution did not exclusively affect the cultures of the world but also the functioning of polities. If in the past the study of politics was focused on the state, being the only institution which can authoritatively allocate the values to the society (Easton, 1953: 146) the behavioral revolution had inspired other political scientists to engage in scholarships involving politics and culture. Among them were Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba in their breakthrough study published in 1963. They studied about the Civic Culture of five countries by looking into the political attitudes as well as the practice of democracy in said five nations. In the study of political culture, culture must be understood as an individual’s psychological orientation toward social objects (Almond and Verba, 1963: 14). Almond further emphasized that political culture refers to the political system as internalized in the cognitions, feelings and evaluations of its population. From here, the specificity of culture as applied in understanding politics is clarified. Hence, political culture refers to the specifically political orientations attitudes toward the political system and its various parts, and attitudes towards the role of the self in the system (Almond and Verba, 963: 13). Verba also contributed his definition of political culture to consist of the system of empirical beliefs, expressive symbols, and values which defines the situation in which political action takes place (1965:513). The polity’s political culture is only one aspect of politics at the same time only an aspect of culture. From such definitions we can draw the different modes of political orientations referred to by Almond and Verba, which are considered of high relevance because these help us understand how an individual may potentially react to political stimulus. They are: 1) cognitive orientation; 2) affective orientation; and 3) evaluative orientation. Cognitive orientation refers to the knowledge of and belief about the political system. Ranney added that this include the information that an individual has about political affairs (1995:65). Moreover, other scholars look into the person’s level of awareness as a way of knowing his/her cognitive orientation. Example of this is whether a person is aware of the list of local officials in their local government. Or it could be an inquiry into the various political issues s/he is aware of. From here the level of a person’s cognitive orientation is defined. Therefore, if the kind of information presented before the public is more knowledge-based we can infer that the presumption is that the public still need to be fed with pertinent information to be aware. Affective orientation refers to the feelings an individual may have about the political system, its roles, personnel and performance. This orientation includes how individuals feel for a political phenomenon. For instance, how the people feel about the cheating issues posed against the Arroyo administration last 2004 elections. The emotions or the mood developed on the individual constitute his/her affective orientation. Hence, if the information presented for the public appeals more to the recipient’s emotion, it be could under the presumption that people already know the information and have developed shared emotion with the messenger. Lastly, Evaluative orientation, this refers to the judgments and opinions formulated by individuals as a response to political objects which involves the combination of value standards and criteria with information and feelings. This is considered to be the most important type of political orientation because it determines the type of political culture of the polity. Furthermore, public opinions, to be useful, must be translated to public judgment and the latter must be manifested through public action. There is a need for an individual to translate one’s judgment to action in order to substantially affect how political objects function. Good examples for this were EDSA 1 and 2. The people’s knowledge and feelings about the abuses of Marcos’ dictatorship were eventually translated to a public judgment of discontent hence, making possible the flooding of people in EDSA as a manifestation of their feeling of discontent and disappointment, very similar to the EDSA 2 circumstances. Therefore, if an information ignites action it presupposes that the people are already aware and have similar affect to a particular issue and would just need to share such sentiment to the rest. These three will be the basis in analyzing the campaign advertisements of the candidates for mayor and vice-mayor in Cebu City. I will look into the kind of messages they have and from there try to understand the orientation they believe the voters have. Both references did not only provide definitions of socialization but went on to say that this processes proceeds from an individual’s early stage in life up to one’s old age. This only means that this is continuous and dynamic. They also added that since this process is continuous there are various agents which help transmit the necessary political orientations. These agents are but not limited to the: Family; School; Peer Groups; Church; Mass Media; Government; and International Community (Ranney, 1995: 61-65; Almond and Powell, 2004: 58).On the other hand, understanding political culture with the general concept of culture would mean that political culture is also transmissible, and is best facilitated through political socialization. Almond and Powell defined socialization to be the way in which political values are formed and the political culture is transmitted from one generation to the next (2004: 52). Austin Ranney also gave his conception of political socializ ation to be the developmental process from which people acquire their political orientations and patterns of behavior (1995: 58). Each of these agents has their respective ways of influencing an individual about the political. Among the most popular of these are family and mass media. In fact, most literature describing the political culture of Filipinos propound the idea that it is governed by familism, kinship ties and patron-client relations (Lande, 1965; McCoy, 1994; Sidel, 1999). On the other hand, the next most popularly regarded to influence an individual’s political orientation is the mass media. In fact, scholars have concluded that the media really have social and political effects to the public. Furthermore, they contend that â€Å"every culture has means of preparing and conditioning its members to adopt expected social roles and activities and the mass media often times have an unrecognized role in this process.† Hence, the importance in looking into how the media influence or reflect the public is very much important. Most often the influences of these agents are best manifested every time an individual takes part in a democratic exercise such as elections. The paragraphs to follow will be devoted into discussing the relevance of the media in politics as well as the evolution of the conduct of elections in the Philippines. Media In general terms, understanding the media inevitably requires understanding of communication which, in its simplest context, is the act of sending ideas and attitudes from one person to another. Moreover, communication of people may either be intrapersonal, interpersonal, or through mass communication. Communicating within one person is intrapersonal communication. While, communicating with another person is interpersonal. Lastly, communication between a person or a group of persons to a larger audience through a transmitting device is mass communication. In mass communication there are important elements that need to be present: a) sender or the source who is responsible in putting in the message on the channel; b) channel, which is the medium that delivers the message to the receiver, an example of this would be the television, newspapers, magazine and the like; c) receiver, who is the intended (or unintended) audience of the message the public; and d) the feedback from the receiver, this occurs when the receiver responds to the message sent by the sender. Mass communication is best characterized by: a) the message is sent out using some form of mass media (newspaper or television); b) the message is delivered rapidly; and c) the message reaches large groups of different kinds of people simultaneously or within a short period of time. The idea of mass media really brings as much information to as wide an audience as possible, this makes the transmission of information easier and corollary to this would mean a more precise message. There is more to mass media than merely transmitting messages. Other theorists propounded that â€Å"a person who takes a steady diet of mass media messages may be conditioned to believe that the world presented by the media is an accurate reflection of reality.† This is very much related to the concept of Jules Henry wherein the media, through its various advertisements, create a â€Å"cultural dream† for the public as evidence by growing consumerism among the people (1980). This brings me to the book of Dan Nimmo and James Combs Mediated Political Realities (1983). The book centers on the public having mediated realities. Walter Lippman said that â€Å"people act on the basis of pictures they carry around in their heads, pictures of the way they think things are† furthermore, he added â€Å"these pictures are derived from and changed by one’s direct experiences as well as those which they don’t deal directly.† This only means that not all realities are experienced firsthand, rather, our realities are complemented by things we are made to believe to be realities this is facilitated by a medium which is the mass media. Hence, it becomes a valid inquiry of whether the realities we see reflected by the media are in fact real. The authors went on to postulate that â€Å"each of us forges our own reality† which means that what we may consider reality may not be conceived similarly by others. In addition, a situation may mean various realities to various people hence, there cannot be a universal reality because they are all mediated. The concept of mediated realities is brought by the influx of other means of communications, which is mass communications sometimes complementing and in competition with other means or agents (Nimmo and Combs, 1983: 5). The authors went on to say that â€Å"social reality is constituted, recognized, and celebrated with media.† Meaning that the media indeed has a huge role to play in the process of making and unmaking realities. This pushes us to another level of looking into realities, whether they are truly real or otherwise. From here, a caveat is better put in place, that what we see and experience through the media may simply be a construction we are made to believe or could be a reflection of what is truly real. The second postulation is taken adeptly by this essay for a number of reasons: a) the context of this essay is in the Philippines wherein a number of legislations are in place to govern the media; and b) such regulations highlight the importance of responsibly delivering the news to the public. Media in the Philippines As initially stated above, studies about media are often centered on its role/s in a society. For example, the role of the media during the time of Marcos it was noted that the media during the Martial Law years were either under the payroll of some politicians or were frankly against the reign of Marcos. Furthermore, Sussman also mentioned that there were over twenty journalists documented to have been killed during the time of Marcos for expressing disagreeable opinion against local warlords. The struggle for press freedom was also strong but was forcefully countered by a number of Presidential Decrees issued by Marcos to curtail any free expression through the press. Marcos even ordered the closure of media companies which were directly countering the mandates of his government, one of them was ABS-CBN of the Lopezes. However, the tides took a different turn on the eve of EDSA 1, the airwaves were useful when Cardinal Sin through Radio Veritas urged the people to pray and defend democracy. The remaining media strength who looked into the political situation in the Philippines were the foreigners as they covered most of the fraudulent activities, especially during the conduct of previous elections. Moreover, the change of government from dictatorial to democratic also paved way for a freer mass media. To further ensure its free exercise, the same is guaranteed in Sec. 4, Art. III of the 1987 Constitution Freedom of Speech and Expression and of the Press. The â€Å"press† specifically cover every sort of publications: newspapers, periodicals, magazines, books, handbills, leaflets, other written materials, television and radio broadcasting are also included. This only proves how much we regard, in terms of importance, the sector of the media in our country. Media and Philippine Elections The conduct of Philippine elections is likewise filled with a rich experience. The Documentary Eleksyong Pinoy is actually a very rich resource in terms of the evolution of our electoral exercise. To make it very comprehensive, the producers included personalities who have been actively engaged in the conduct of elections in the country such as former Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Commissioners Haydee Yorac, Christian Monsod; former National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) Chairperson Jose Conception; Philippine Center for Good Governance (PCGG) Chairperson; His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin (due to his role in EDSA 1); a UP History Professor and other significant personalities. In all the documentary showed how elections were so limited in the past. In fact, it presented that the elections during the later part of the Spanish colonial rule were exclusive only to those who have the stringent qualifications biased for the males, literacy, taxing capabilities, ownership of properties and others. Corollary, the chance to run for public office is also limited to those who have landholdings and were educated. But this limited access have been widened by the institutionalization of the democratic institutions by the American colonial rule as prepared by a number of US legislations. These organic acts essentially installed democratic ideals upon which people are given the chance to actively participate in the affairs of government, initially through elections. Proof to this was the right to vote granted to women in 1937 after a massive success reaped from a nationwide plebiscite on the matter. Philippine elections have long been open to the participation of the public, though there were interruptions as to how free it is during the Martial Law years. In fact, based on the well-researched documentary, elections during the time of Marcos were noted to be fraudulent ones due to massive cheating and anomalies. Elections according Mojares is a â€Å"collective rite of collective passage, with liminal phases, beginning with the preliminal period of ‘presubjectification’; the ‘limen’ of Election Day; and the postelection period of resubjectification during which results are validated, winners are proclaimed.† As for the progress of this essay, I will focus on the presubjectification period or the course of campaigns. It was noted that the way Filipinos conduct campaigns are actual replica of that of US. Luz Rimban, writing for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, stated that when US introduced elections in the Philippines it likewise included in the package its own style of campaigning, and this includes the use of mass media to somehow ‘manipulate public images’; the hiring of public relations and advertising professionals, and employing other sophisticated tools for campaign. The mass media had since then been useful in projecting the image of the Filipino politician the newspaper, radio and television were proven useful. The mass media exposure includes presentation of news coverage of the affairs of politicians. However, the use of mass media was strengthened by the passage of Republic Act 9006 otherwise known as the Fair Elections Act in February 2001. Section 3 of this legislation provides that: Lawful Election Propaganda. Election propaganda whether on television, cable television, radio, newspapers or any other medium is hereby allowed for all registered political parties, national, regional, sectoral parties or organizations participating under the party-list elections and for all bona fide candidates seeking national and local elective positions subject to the limitation on authorized expenses of candidates and political parties, observance of truth in advertising and to the supervision and regulation by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). This opened the doors for a free use of the mass media as a means of launching a politician’s campaign. The most common among these mass media is the television. In fact, aside from the television and newspapers, other politicians made use of new technologies such as mobile phones and launching ‘text brigrades’, while others used the world wide web to introduce and sell themselves to the voters, especially the younger ones. In fact, for this May 14 elections, many political parties and candidates used Friendster as a means of inviting potential voters. Hence, the old type campaigning buttressed by the new legislation truly expanded the campaigns of running politicians. Included in the list, and the focus of my paper, are newspapers. They are as well tapped by politicians to place their advertisements in. Therefore, we can really say that the media has a huge role to play in Philippine elections. It is then a challenge to look deeper into these campaign ads and determine what particular political orientation are projected about the Filipino, in particular Cebuano, voters. How to look into this? I will look into the used and the face value of the print advertisement and from there analyze themes or connotations that would somehow clearly define the political orientation of the voters as reflected by it. To call this process content analysis or semiology would be an overstatement. Rather, this analytical framework is simply innovated. Campaign Ads: Cebu City Elections The candidates for Cebu City mayoral and vice-mayoral posts are Tomas Osmena VS. Mary Ann delos Santos and Michael Rama VS. Raymond Alvin Garcia, respectively. Both Tomas Osmena and Michael Rama are incumbent Mayor and Vice-Mayor of the City. Mary Ann delos Santos, on the other hand, was the Barangay Captain of Lahug, while Raymond Alvin Garcia is the son of former Cebu City Mayor Alvin Garcia. Each camp had been organizing their respective campaigns: the use of streamers, tarpaulin, leaflets, mobile ads and print advertisements were taken advantage. Hence, for the latter I decided to look into one of the leading local newspapers in the islands: Sun-Star Newspaper. I was able to scan the consecutive issues of Sun-Star Newspaper from April 1 up to May 12, 2007. Among the 42 issues the following were the breakdown:

Humor and Criticism in Erasmuss Praise of Folly Essay -- essays papers

Humor and Criticism in Erasmuss Praise of Folly Humor and Criticism in Praise of Folly Erasmus’s Praise of Folly is a humor-filled satire of pretty much everything. It is filled with wit and sarcasm which make light of serious problems and blow insignificant issues out of proportion all the while bringing a smile to the reader’s face. It is not stinging humor at the expense of others (unless, of course, the shoe fits), rather it is directed towards everyone. Erasmus even includes himself in the joke, practically parodying himself in the first section (xvi). In Praise of Folly, Erasmus uses this humor to criticize without the harsh judgment of seriousness. His humor parallels the import of his subject. When Folly discusses the issues most significant to Erasmus, she loses her jocularity and ironic tone, whereas in her first voice, Folly laughs at those whose foolish ways are reason for criticism but not for scorn. This section finds great ironic humor in the folly of all types of conceit, pointing out that the most condescending of people have little reason for such egotism. Folly laughs at the conceit of â€Å"the general run of gentry and scholars† with their â€Å"distorted sense of modesty† (11) including â€Å"those who lay special claim to be called the personification of wisdom, even though they strut about ‘like apes in purple’ and ‘asses in lion-skins’† (13). Folly, of course, is guilty of this most of all in dedicating a whole book to praising herself, and she admits the great folly behind this when she asks, â€Å"What could be more fitting than for Folly to trumpet her own merits abroad and ‘sing her own praises’† (11). Erasmus jokes about this type of conceit because it is innocent and commonplace. His point is to en... ...art for any lack of seriousness. Here we see the culmination of Folly’s progression towards Erasmus’s most serious subject and away from humor. Erasmus demonstrates the value of humor by making fun of insignificant issues and teaching us how to laugh at ourselves. â€Å"Jokes of this kind . . . which aren’t lacking in learning and wit† (4) help us put the less significant aspects of life in perspective. They also aim to moderate the level of his criticism making it more constructive than insulting. For it is â€Å"the ridiculous rather than the squalid† (7) to which his humor applies. He reserves a more serious voice for more serious wrongdoing. We see this parallel between humor and subject clearly as Erasmus progresses from constructive criticism of insignificant folly to harsh indictment of religious pretension and most of all in his solemn praise of Christian folly.

Romeo And Juliet - Comparisson To West Side Story Essay -- essays rese

The play West Side Story, by Arthur Laurents, is based upon the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. Despite a few differences, both works, in essence, have the same plot. The source of violence in Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story is the ever-present hatred between families and between gangs, although, because of the "star-cross’d lovers" motif in Romeo and Juliet, the hatred plays a larger role in producing the ending of West Side Story than it does the ending of Romeo and Juliet. The tension and hatred between gangs in West Side Story has a drastic affect on Maria and Tony’s relationship as well as on the outcome of the play. Because of the hatred between their respective gangs, Tony and Maria are not able to meet or even talk in public - they must do it secretly. Also, Bernardo and Riff are strong focuses of hate. They cannot see past their blind hatred for each other. Because of this, both of them, as well as Tony, are killed in the "rumble." Anita’s hatred for the Jets is fueled by their treatment of her at Doc’s candy store. This influences her to tell them that Maria is dead, thus affecting the ending of the play. Chino is another source of hatred. When Tony kills Bernardo, Chino is driven by the need for revenge and he kills Tony. In order to fully understand the plot of West Side Story, one must have an understanding of the nature of gangs in the 1950’s and know the reasons for their actions. Between 1941 and 1956, more than 500,000 Puerto Ricans moved to major cities in the U.S. such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Cleveland. The majority of them lived in poor areas of their city. Puerto Rican gangs formed so that they could protect themselves from prejudiced Americans. Many people took advantage of the immigrants’ poor social status. For example, Bernardo says, "And Chino makes half what the Polack makes - the Polack is American!" (Laurents 165) Youth agencies and youth boards concluded that most gangs formed because of the poverty, disease, and racism present in the ghetto. Gangs, which were usually made up of teenagers, fought over girls, territory (otherwise known as "turf"), and racial matters. Italian, Jewish, and Irish gangs were worried that the Puerto Ricans were taking over their "turf". "Turf" could range... ...and Juliet, when they marry, must marry secretly because of the feud. However, Maria and Tony do not marry, although they do perform a mock wedding. Another example of a difference is that Anita purposely tells the Jets that Maria is dead because of her hatred for them. But when Balthasar tells Romeo that Juliet is dead, he does it without knowing that it isn’t true. The last major difference between the two works is the death of the heroine. Juliet kills herself because she knows that her Romeo is dead and she cannot live without him. However, Maria is left alive at the end of West Side Story. It is almost as though she does not die so that she can accuse society of its prejudicial attitude against the Puerto Ricans and reveal everyone’s role in her and Tony’s love story. As it is with any work that is based on something else, it is the differences as well as the similarities that make both the original and the inspired appealing. Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story continue to portray the common themes of hatred and violence. However, because Juliet and Romeo’s relationship is so altered by fate, they are less affected by the violence in their society than Tony and Maria are.

Audited Report of Tyson Food

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D. C. 20549 FORM 10-K [X] [] Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 For the fiscal year ended September 29, 2012 Transition Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 For the transition period from to 001-14704 (Commission File Number) ______________________________________________ (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) _____________________________________________ TYSON FOODS, INC. Delaware (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) 71-0225165 (I. R. S. Employer Identification No. ) 2200 Don Tyson Parkway, Springdale, Arkansas (Address of principal executive offices) 72762-6999 (Zip Code) Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of Each Class Class A Common Stock, Par Value $0. 0 (479) 290-4000 Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered New York Stock Exchange Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Not Applicable Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes [X] No [ ] Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.Yes [ ] No [X] Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes [X] No [ ] Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T ( §232. 05 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes [X] No [ ] Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ] Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of â€Å"large accelerated filer,† â€Å"accelerated filer† and â€Å"smaller reporting company† in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. Large accelerated filer [X] Non-accelerated filer [ ] (Do not check if a smaller reporting company) Accelerated filer [ ] Smaller reporting company [ ] Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).Yes [ ] No [X] On March 31, 2012, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s Class A Common Stock, $0. 10 par value (Class A stock), and Class B Common Stock, $0. 10 par value (Class B stock), held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $5,551,806,987 and $340,008, respectively. Class B stock is not publicly listed for trade on any exchange or market system. However, Class B stock is convertible into Class A stock on a share-for-share basis, so the market value was calculated based on the market price of Class A stock.On October 27, 2012, there were 288,751,385 shares of Class A stock and 70,015,755 shares of Class B stock outstanding. INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for the registrant’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held February 1, 2013, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE PART I Item 1. Item 1A. Item 1B. Item 2. Item 3. Item 4. PART II Item 5. Item 6. Item 7. Item 7A. Item 8. Item 9. Item 9A. Item 9B. PART III Item 10. Item 11. Item 12. Item 13. Item 14.PART IV Item 15. Business Risk Factors Unresolved Staff Comments Properties Legal Proceedings Mine Safety Disclosures 3 7 12 12 13 13 Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities Selected Financial Data Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk Financial Statements and Supplementary Data Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure Controls and Procedures Other Information 5 17 18 36 38 81 81 81 Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance Executive Compensation Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters Certain Relat ionships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence Principal Accounting Fees and Services 82 82 82 82 82 Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 83 2 PART I ITEM 1. BUSINESS GENERAL Founded in 1935, Tyson Foods, Inc. nd its subsidiaries (collectively, â€Å"Company,† â€Å"we,† â€Å"us† or â€Å"our†) are one of the world’s largest meat protein companies and the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 with one of the most recognized brand names in the food industry. We produce, distribute and market chicken, beef, pork, prepared foods and related allied products. Our operations are conducted in four segments: Chicken, Beef, Pork and Prepared Foods.Some of the key factors influencing our business are customer demand for our products; the ability to maintain and grow relationships with customers and introduce new and innovative products to the marketplace; accessibility of international markets; market prices for our prod ucts; the cost of live cattle and hogs, raw materials, grain and feed ingredients; and operating efficiencies of our facilities.We operate a fully vertically integrated poultry production process. Our integrated operations consist of breeding stock, contract growers, feed production, processing, further-processing, marketing and transportation of chicken and related allied products, including animal and pet food ingredients. Through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Cobb-Vantress, Inc. (Cobb), we are one of the leading poultry breeding stock suppliers in the world.Investing in breeding stock research and development allows us to breed into our flocks the characteristics found to be most desirable. We also process live fed cattle and hogs and fabricate dressed beef and pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts, case ready beef and pork and fully-cooked meats. In addition, we derive value from allied products such as hides and variety meats sold to further processors and others. We produce a wide range of fresh, value-added, frozen and refrigerated food products.Our products are marketed and sold primarily by our sales staff to grocery retailers, grocery wholesalers, meat distributors, warehouse club stores, military commissaries, industrial food processing companies, chain restaurants or their distributors, international export companies and domestic distributors who serve restaurants, foodservice operations such as plant and school cafeterias, convenience stores, hospitals and other vendors. Additionally, sales to the military and a portion of sales to international markets are made through independent brokers and trading companies.We have a 50/50 joint venture with Syntroleum Corporation, called Dynamic Fuels LLC (Dynamic Fuels), which produces renewable synthetic fuels. Construction of production facilities was completed in late fiscal 2010, and initial production began in October 2010. FINANCIAL INFORMATION OF SEGMENTS We operate in four segments: Chic ken, Beef, Pork and Prepared Foods. The contribution of each segment to net sales and operating income (loss), and the identifiable assets attributable to each segment, are set forth in Note 16: Segment Reporting of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.DESCRIPTION OF SEGMENTS Chicken: Chicken operations include breeding and raising chickens, as well as processing live chickens into fresh, frozen and valueadded chicken products and logistics operations to move products through the supply chain. Products are marketed domestically to food retailers, foodservice distributors, restaurant operators, hotel chains and noncommercial foodservice establishments such as schools, healthcare facilities, the military and other food processors, as well as to international markets. It also includes sales from allied products and our chicken breeding stock subsidiary.Beef: Beef operations include processing live fed cattle and fabricating dressed beef carcasses into primal and sub-primal me at cuts and case-ready products. This segment also includes sales from allied products such as hides and variety meats, as well as logistics operations to move products through the supply chain. Products are marketed domestically to food retailers, foodservice distributors, restaurant operators, hotel chains and noncommercial foodservice establishments such as schools, healthcare facilities, the military and other food processors, as well as to international markets.Pork: Pork operations include processing live market hogs and fabricating pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal cuts and caseready products. This segment also includes our live swine group, related allied product processing activities and logistics operations to move products through the supply chain. Products are marketed domestically to food retailers, foodservice distributors, restaurant operators, hotel chains and noncommercial foodservice establishments such as schools, healthcare acilities, the military and oth er food processors, as well as to international markets. 3 Prepared Foods: Prepared Foods operations include manufacturing and marketing frozen and refrigerated food products and logistics operations to move products through the supply chain. Products include pepperoni, bacon, beef and pork pizza toppings, pizza crusts, flour and corn tortilla products, appetizers, prepared meals, ethnic foods, soups, sauces, side dishes, meat dishes and processed meats.Products are marketed domestically to food retailers, foodservice distributors, restaurant operators, hotel chains and noncommercial foodservice establishments such as schools, healthcare facilities, the military and other food processors, as well as to international markets. The results from Dynamic Fuels are included in Other. RAW MATERIALS AND SOURCES OF SUPPLY Chicken: The primary raw materials used in our chicken operations are corn and soybean meal used as feed and live chickens raised primarily by independent contract growers. Our vertically-integrated chicken process begins with the grandparent breeder flocks and ends with broilers for processing. Breeder flocks (i. e. , grandparents) are raised to maturity in grandparent growing and laying farms where fertile eggs are produced. Fertile eggs are incubated at the grandparent hatchery and produce pullets (i. e. , parents). Pullets are sent to breeder houses, and the resulting eggs are sent to our hatcheries. Once chicks have hatched, they are sent to broiler farms.There, contract growers care for and raise the chicks according to our standards, with advice from our technical service personnel, until the broilers reach the desired processing weight. Adult chickens are transported to processing plants where they are slaughtered and converted into finished products, which are then sent to distribution centers and delivered to customers. We operate our own feed mills to produce scientifically-formulated feeds. In fiscal 2012, corn, soybean meal and other feed ingredients were major production costs, representing roughly 69% of our cost of growing a live chicken.In addition to feed ingredients to grow the chickens, we use cooking ingredients, packaging materials and cryogenic agents. We believe our sources of supply for these materials are adequate for our present needs, and we do not anticipate any difficulty in acquiring these materials in the future. While we produce nearly all our inventory of breeder chickens and live broilers, we also purchase live, ice-packed or deboned chicken to meet production and sales requirements. Beef: The primary raw materials used in our beef operations are live cattle.We do not have facilities of our own to raise cattle but employ cattle buyers located throughout cattle producing areas who visit independent feed yards and public auctions and buy live cattle on the open spot market. These buyers are trained to select high quality animals, and we continually measure their performance. We also enter into var ious risk-sharing and procurement arrangements with producers to secure a supply of livestock for our facilities. We believe the sources of supply of live cattle are adequate for our present needs. Pork: The primary raw materials used in our pork operations are live hogs.The majority of our live hog supply is obtained through various procurement relationships with independent producers. We employ buyers who make purchase agreements of various time durations as well as purchase hogs on a daily basis, generally a few days before the animals are processed. These buyers are trained to select high quality animals, and we continually measure their performance. We believe the sources of supply of live hogs are adequate for our present needs. Additionally, we raise a number of weanling swine to sell to independent finishers and supply a minimal amount of live swine for our own processing needs.Prepared Foods: The primary raw materials used in our prepared foods operations are commodity base d raw materials, including chicken, beef, pork, corn, flour and vegetables. Some of these raw materials are provided by our other segments, while others may be purchased from numerous suppliers and manufacturers. We believe the sources of supply of raw materials are adequate for our present needs. SEASONAL DEMAND Demand for chicken and beef products generally increases during the spring and summer months and generally decreases during the winter months.Pork and prepared foods products generally experience increased demand during the winter months, primarily due to the holiday season, while demand decreases during the spring and summer months. CUSTOMERS Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. accounted for 13. 8% of our fiscal 2012 consolidated sales. Sales to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. were included in the Chicken, Beef, Pork and Prepared Foods segments. Any extended discontinuance of sales to this customer could, if not replaced, have a material impact on our operations. No other single customer or custo mer group represented more than 10% of fiscal 2012 consolidated sales. COMPETITION Our food products compete with those of other food producers and processors and certain prepared food manufacturers. Additionally, our food products compete in markets around the world. We seek to achieve a leading market position for our products via our principal marketing and competitive strategy, which includes: †¢ †¢ †¢ identifying target markets for value-added products; concentrating production, sales and marketing efforts to appeal to and enhance demand from those markets; and utilizing our national distribution systems and customer support services.Past efforts indicate customer demand can be increased and sustained through application of our marketing strategy, as supported by our distribution systems. The principal competitive elements are price, product safety and quality, brand identification, breadth and depth of product offerings, availability of products, customer servic e and credit terms. INTERNATIONAL We sold products to approximately 130 countries in fiscal 2012. Major sales markets include Brazil, Canada, Central America, China, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, the Middle East, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Ukraine and Vietnam.We have the following international operations: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Tyson de Mexico, a Mexican subsidiary, is a vertically-integrated poultry production company; Cobb-Vantress, a chicken breeding stock subsidiary, has business interests in Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Venezuela; Tyson do Brazil, a Brazilian subsidiary, is a vertically-integrated poultry production company; Shandong Tyson, a Chinese subsidiary, is a vertically-integrated poultry production company; Tyson Dalong, a joint venture in China in which we have a majority interest, is a chicken further pr ocessing facility; Jiangsu-Tyson, a Chinese subsidiary, is a vertically-integrated poultry production company; and Godrej Tyson Foods, a joint venture in India in which we have a majority interest, is a poultry processing business. Our Tyson do Brazil, Shandong Tyson and Jiangsu-Tyson subsidiaries are currently in start-up phase. We continue to evaluate growth opportunities in foreign countries.Additional information regarding export sales, long-lived assets located in foreign countries and income (loss) from foreign operations is set forth in Note 16: Segment Reporting of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT We conduct continuous research and development activities to improve product development, to automate manual processes in our processing plants and growout operations, and to improve chicken breeding stock. Our Discovery Center includes 19 research kitchens and a USDA-inspected pilot plant. The Discovery Center enables us to bring new market- leading retail and foodservice products to the customer quickly and efficiently. Research and development costs totaled $43 million, $42 million, and $38 million in fiscal 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION AND FOOD SAFETY Our facilities for processing chicken, beef, pork and prepared foods, milling feed and housing live chickens and swine are subject to a variety of federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, which include provisions relating to the discharge of materials into the environment and generally provide for protection of the environment. We believe we are in substantial compliance with such applicable laws and regulations and are not aware of any violations of such laws and regulations likely to result in material penalties or material increases in compliance costs. The cost of compliance with such laws and regulations has not had a material adverse effect on our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position, and except a s described below, is not anticipated to have a material adverse effect in the future. Congress and the United States Environmental Protection Agency are considering various options to control greenhouse gas emissions.It is unclear at this time when or if such options will be finalized, or what the final form may be. Due to the uncertainty surrounding this issue, it is premature to speculate on the specific nature of impacts that imposition of greenhouse gas emission controls would have on us, and whether such impacts would have a material adverse effect. 5 We work to ensure our products meet high standards of food safety and quality. In addition to our own internal Food Safety and Quality Assurance oversight and review, our chicken, beef, pork and prepared foods products are subject to inspection prior to distribution, primarily by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).We are also participants in the United State s Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) program and are subject to the Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures and the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. EMPLOYEES AND LABOR RELATIONS As of September 29, 2012, we employed approximately 115,000 employees. Approximately 96,000 employees were employed in the United States and 19,000 employees were in foreign countries, primarily China, Mexico and Brazil. Approximately 29,000 employees in the United States were subject to collective bargaining agreements with various labor unions, with approximately 19% of those employees included under agreements expiring in fiscal 2013.The remaining agreements expire over the next several years. Approximately 8,000 employees in foreign countries were subject to collective bargaining agreements. We believe our overall relations with our workforce are good. MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION Our principal marketing objective is to be the primary provider of chicken, beef, pork and prepared foods products for our customers and consumers. As such, we utilize our national distribution system and customer support services to achieve the leading market position for our products. On an ongoing basis, we identify distinct markets and business opportunities through continuous consumer and market research.In addition to supporting strong regional brands across multiple protein lines, we build the Tyson brand and Tyson owned brands primarily through well-defined product-specific advertising and public relations efforts focused toward key consumer targets with specific needs. These efforts are designed to present key Tyson products as everyday solutions to relevant consumer problems thereby becoming part of regular eating routines. We have the ability to produce and ship fresh, frozen and refrigerated products worldwide. Domestically, our distribution system extends to a broad network of food distributors and is supported by our owned or leased c old storage warehouses, public cold storage facilities and our transportation system.Our distribution centers accumulate fresh and frozen products so we can fill and consolidate less-than-truckload orders into full truckloads, thereby decreasing shipping costs while increasing customer service. In addition, we provide our customers a wide selection of products that do not require large volume orders. Our distribution system enables us to supply large or small quantities of products to meet customer requirements anywhere in the continental United States. Internationally, we utilize both rail and truck refrigerated transportation to domestic ports, where consolidations take place to transport to foreign destinations. PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS We have filed a number of patents and trademarks relating to our processes and products that either have been approved or are in the process of application.Because we do a significant amount of brand name and product line advertising to promote our products, we consider the protection of our trademarks to be important to our marketing efforts. We also have developed non-public proprietary information regarding our production processes and other product-related matters. We utilize internal procedures and safeguards to protect the confidentiality of such information and, where appropriate, seek patent and/or trademark protection for the technology we utilize. INDUSTRY PRACTICES Our agreements with customers are generally short-term, primarily due to the nature of our products, industry practices and fluctuations in supply, demand and price for such products.In certain instances where we are selling further processed products to large customers, we may enter into written agreements whereby we will act as the exclusive or preferred supplier to the customer, with pricing terms that are either fixed or variable. AVAILABILITY OF SEC FILINGS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE DOCUMENTS ON INTERNET WEBSITE We maintain an internet website for inv estors at http://ir. tyson. com. On this website, we make available, free of charge, annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to any of those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such reports with, or furnish to, the Securities and Exchange Commission.Also available on the website for investors are the Corporate Governance Principles, Audit Committee charter, Compensation Committee charter, Governance Committee charter, Nominating Committee charter, Code of Conduct and Whistleblower Policy. Our corporate governance documents are available in print, free of charge to any shareholder who requests them. 6 CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS RELEVANT TO FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF â€Å"SAFE HARBOR† PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995 Certain information in this report constitutes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements incl ude, but are not limited to, current views and estimates of our outlook for fiscal 2013, other future economic circumstances, industry conditions in domestic and international markets, our performance and financial results (e. g. debt levels, return on invested capital, value-added product growth, capital expenditures, tax rates, access to foreign markets and dividend policy). These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause our actual results and experiences to differ materially from anticipated results and expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. We wish to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.Among the factors that may cause actual results and experiences to differ from anticipated results and exp ectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are the following: (i) the effect of, or changes in, general economic conditions; (ii) fluctuations in the cost and availability of inputs and raw materials, such as live cattle, live swine, feed grains (including corn and soybean meal) and energy; (iii) market conditions for finished products, including competition from other global and domestic food processors, supply and pricing of competing products and alternative proteins and demand for alternative proteins; (iv) successful rationalization of existing facilities and operating efficiencies of the facilities; (v) risks associated with our commodity purchasing activities; (vi) access to foreign markets together with foreign economic conditions, including currency fluctuations, import/export restrictions and foreign politics; (vii) outbreak of a livestock disease (such as avian influenza AI) or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)), which could have an adverse effect on live stock we own, the availability of livestock we purchase, consumer perception of certain protein products or our ability to access certain domestic and foreign markets; (viii) changes in availability and relative costs of labor and contract growers and our ability to maintain good relationships with employees, labor unions, contract growers and independent producers providing us livestock; (ix) issues related to food safety, including costs resulting from product recalls, regulatory compliance and any related claims or litigation; (x) changes in consumer preference and diets and our ability to identify and react to consumer trends; (xi) significant marketing plan changes by large customers or loss of one or more large customers; (xii) adverse results from litigation; (xiii) risks associated with leverage, including cost increases due to rising interest rates or changes in debt ratings or outlook; (xiv) compliance with and changes to regulations and laws (both domestic and foreign), i ncluding changes in accounting standards, tax laws, environmental laws, agricultural laws and occupational, health and safety laws; (xv) our ability to make effective acquisitions or joint ventures and successfully integrate newly acquired businesses into existing operations; (xvi) effectiveness of advertising and marketing programs; and (xvii) those factors listed under Item 1A. â€Å"Risk Factors. † ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS These risks, which should be considered carefully with the information provided elsewhere in this report, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Fluctuations in commodity prices and in the availability of raw materials, especially feed grains, live cattle, live swine and other inputs could negatively impac t our earnings.Our results of operations and financial condition are dependent upon the cost and supply of raw materials such as feed grains, live cattle, live swine, energy and ingredients, as well as the selling prices for our products, many of which are determined by constantly changing market forces of supply and demand over which we have limited or no control. Corn, soybean meal and other feed ingredients are major production costs for vertically-integrated poultry processors such as us, representing roughly 69% of our cost of growing a live chicken in fiscal 2012. As a result, fluctuations in prices for these feed ingredients, which include competing demand for corn and soybean meal for use in the manufacture of renewable energy, can adversely affect our earnings.Production of feed ingredients is affected by, among other things, weather patterns throughout the world, the global level of supply inventories and demand for grains and other feed ingredients, as well as agricultura l and energy policies of domestic and foreign governments. We have cattle under contract at feed yards owned by third parties; however, most of the cattle we process are purchased from independent producers. We have cattle buyers located throughout cattle producing areas who visit feed yards and buy live cattle on the open spot market. We also enter into various risk-sharing and procurement arrangements with producers who help secure a supply of livestock for daily start-up operations at our facilities.The majority of our live swine supply is obtained through procurement arrangements with independent producers. We also employ buyers who purchase hogs on a daily basis, generally a few days before the animals are required for processing. In addition, we raise live swine and sell feeder pigs to independent producers for feeding to processing weight and have contract growers feed a minimal amount of company-owned live swine for our own processing needs. Any decrease in the supply of cat tle or swine on the spot market could increase the price of these raw materials and further increase per head cost of production due to lower capacity utilization, which could adversely affect our financial results. 7Market supply and demand and the prices we receive for our products may fluctuate due to competition from other food producers and processors. We face competition from other food producers and processors. Some of the factors on which we compete and which may drive demand for our products include: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ price; product safety and quality; brand identification; breadth and depth of product offerings; availability of our products and competing products; customer service; and credit terms. Demand for our products also is affected by competitors’ promotional spending, the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing programs, and the availability or price of competing proteins.We attempt to obtain prices for our produ cts that reflect, in part, the price we must pay for the raw materials that go into our products. If we are not able to obtain higher prices for our products when the price we pay for raw materials increases, we may be unable to maintain positive margins. Outbreaks of livestock diseases can adversely impact our ability to conduct our operations and demand for our products. Demand for our products can be adversely impacted by outbreaks of livestock diseases, which can have a significant impact on our financial results. Efforts are taken to control disease risks by adherence to good production practices and extensive precautionary measures designed to ensure the health of livestock.However, outbreaks of disease and other events, which may be beyond our control, either in our own livestock or cattle and hogs owned by independent producers who sell livestock to us, could significantly affect demand for our products, consumer perceptions of certain protein products, the availability of l ivestock for purchase by us and our ability to conduct our operations. Moreover, the outbreak of livestock diseases, particularly in our Chicken segment, could have a significant effect on the livestock we own by requiring us to, among other things, destroy any affected livestock. Furthermore, an outbreak of disease could result in governmental restrictions on the import and export of our products to or from our suppliers, facilities or customers. This could also result in negative publicity that may have an adverse effect on our ability to market our products successfully and on our financial results.We are subject to risks associated with our international activities, which could negatively affect our sales to customers in foreign countries, as well as our operations and assets in such countries. In fiscal 2012, we sold products to approximately 130 countries. Major sales markets include Brazil, Canada, Central America, China, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, the Middle East, Ru ssia, South Korea, Taiwan, Ukraine and Vietnam. Our sales to customers in foreign countries for fiscal 2012 totaled $5. 5 billion, of which $4. 0 billion related to export sales from the United States. In addition, we had approximately $564 million of long-lived assets located in foreign ountries, primarily Brazil, China, Mexico and India, at the end of fiscal 2012. As a result, we are subject to various risks and uncertainties relating to international sales and operations, including: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ imposition of tariffs, quotas, trade barriers and other trade protection measures imposed by foreign countries regarding the importation of poultry, beef and pork products, in addition to import or export licensing requirements imposed by various foreign countries; closing of borders by foreign countries to the import of poultry, beef and pork products due to animal disease or other perceived health or safety issues; impact of cur rency exchange rate fluctuations between the U. S. ollar and foreign currencies, particularly the Brazilian real, the British pound sterling, the Canadian dollar, the Chinese renminbi, the European euro, and the Mexican peso; political and economic conditions; difficulties and costs associated in complying with, and enforcement of remedies under, a wide variety of complex domestic and international laws, treaties and regulations, including, without limitation, the United States’ Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and economic and trade sanctions enforced by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control; different regulatory structures and unexpected changes in regulatory environments; tax rates that may exceed those in the United States and earnings that may be subject to withholding requirements and incremental taxes upon repatriation; potentially negative consequences from changes in tax laws; and distribution costs, disruptions in shippi ng or reduced availability of freight transportation. 8 Negative consequences relating to these risks and uncertainties could jeopardize or limit our ability to transact business in one or more of those markets where we operate or in other developing markets and could adversely affect our financial results. We depend on the availability of, and good relations with, our employees. We have approximately 115,000 employees, approximately 37,000 of whom are covered by collective bargaining agreements or are members of labor unions. Our operations depend on the availability and relative costs of labor and maintaining good relations with employees and the labor unions.If we fail to maintain good relations with our employees or with the labor unions, we may experience labor strikes or work stoppages, which could adversely affect our financial results. We depend on contract growers and independent producers to supply us with livestock. We contract primarily with independent contract growers to raise the live chickens processed in our poultry operations. A majority of our cattle and hogs are purchased from independent producers who sell livestock to us under marketing contracts or on the open market. If we do not attract and maintain contracts with growers or maintain marketing and purchasing relationships with independent producers, our production operations could be negatively affected. If our products become contaminated, we may be subject to product liability claims and product recalls.Our products may be subject to contamination by disease-producing organisms or pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and E. coli. These organisms and pathogens are found generally in the environment; therefore, there is a risk that one or more, as a result of food processing, could be present in our products. These organisms and pathogens also can be introduced to our products as a result of improper handling at the further processing, foodservice or consumer level. Th ese risks may be controlled, but may not be eliminated, by adherence to good manufacturing practices and finished product testing. We have little, if any, control over handling procedures once our products have been shipped for distribution.Even an inadvertent shipment of contaminated products may be a violation of law and may lead to increased risk of exposure to product liability claims, product recalls (which may not entirely mitigate the risk of product liability claims), increased scrutiny and penalties, including injunctive relief and plant closings, by federal and state regulatory agencies, and adverse publicity, which could exacerbate the associated negative consumer reaction. Any of these occurrences may have an adverse effect on our financial results. Our operations are subject to general risks of litigation. We are involved on an on-going basis in litigation arising in the ordinary course of business or otherwise. Trends in litigation may include class actions involving c onsumers, shareholders, employees or injured persons, and claims relating to commercial, labor, employment, antitrust, securities or environmental matters.Litigation trends and the outcome of litigation cannot be predicted with certainty and adverse litigation trends and outcomes could adversely affect our financial results. Our level of indebtedness and the terms of our indebtedness could negatively impact our business and liquidity position. Our indebtedness, including borrowings under our revolving credit facility, may increase from time to time for various reasons, including fluctuations in operating results, working capital needs, capital expenditures and possible acquisitions, joint ventures or other significant initiatives. Our consolidated indebtedness level could adversely affect our business because: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ t may limit or impair our ability to obtain financing in the future; our credit ratings (or any decrease to our credit ratings) could r estrict or impede our ability to access capital markets at desired interest rates and increase our borrowing costs; it may reduce our flexibility to respond to changing business and economic conditions or to take advantage of business opportunities that may arise; a portion of our cash flow from operations must be dedicated to interest payments on our indebtedness and is not available for other purposes; and it may restrict our ability to pay dividends. Our revolving credit facility contains affirmative and negative covenants that, among other things, may limit or restrict our ability to: create liens and encumbrances; incur debt; merge, dissolve, liquidate or consolidate; dispose of or transfer assets; change the nature of our business; engage in certain transactions with affiliates; and enter into sale/leaseback or hedging transactions, in each case, subject to certain qualifications and exceptions.In addition, we are required to maintain minimum interest expense coverage and maxi mum debt to capitalization ratios. Our 4. 50% Senior notes due June 2022 also contain affirmative and negative covenants that, among other things, may limit or restrict our ability to: create liens; engage in certain sale/leaseback transactions; and engage in certain consolidations, mergers and sales of assets. 9 An impairment in the carrying value of goodwill could negatively impact our consolidated results of operations and net worth. Goodwill is initially recorded at fair value and is not amortized, but is reviewed for impairment at least annually or more frequently if impairment indicators are present.In assessing the carrying value of goodwill, we make estimates and assumptions about sales, operating margins, growth rates and discount rates based on budgets, business plans, economic projections, anticipated future cash flows and marketplace data. There are inherent uncertainties related to these factors and management’s judgment in applying these factors. Goodwill valuat ions have been calculated principally using an income approach based on the present value of future cash flows of each reporting unit and are believed to reflect market participant views which would exist in an exit transaction. Under the income approach, we are required to make various judgmental assumptions about appropriate discount rates.Disruptions in global credit and other financial markets and deterioration of economic conditions, could, among other things, cause us to increase the discount rate used in the goodwill valuations. We could be required to evaluate the recoverability of goodwill prior to the annual assessment if we experience disruptions to the business, unexpected significant declines in operating results, divestiture of a significant component of our business or sustained market capitalization declines. These types of events and the resulting analyses could result in goodwill impairment charges in the future, which could be substantial. As of September 29, 2012 , we had $1. 9 billion of goodwill, which represented approximately 16% of total assets. Domestic and international government regulations could impose material costs.Our operations are subject to extensive federal, state and foreign laws and regulations by authorities that oversee food safety standards and processing, packaging, storage, distribution, advertising, labeling and export of our products. Our facilities for processing chicken, beef, pork, prepared foods and milling feed and for housing live chickens and swine are subject to a variety of international, federal, state and local laws relating to the protection of the environment, including provisions relating to the discharge of materials into the environment, and to the health and safety of our employees. Our domestic chicken, beef and pork processing facilities are participants in the HACCP program and are subject to the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002.In addition, our produc ts are subject to inspection prior to distribution, primarily by the USDA and the FDA. Also, our livestock procurement and poultry growout activities are regulated by the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, which is part of USDA’s Marketing and Regulatory Programs. Loss of or failure to obtain necessary permits and registrations could delay or prevent us from meeting current product demand, introducing new products, building new facilities or acquiring new businesses and could adversely affect operating results. Additionally, we are routinely subject to new or modified laws, regulations and accounting standards.If we are found to be out of compliance with applicable laws and regulations in these or other areas, we could be subject to civil remedies, including fines, injunctions, recalls or asset seizures, as well as potential criminal sanctions, any of which could have an adverse effect on our financial results. A material acquisition, joint venture or ot her significant initiative could affect our operations and financial condition. We periodically evaluate potential acquisitions, joint ventures and other initiatives (collectively, â€Å"transactions†), and we may seek to expand our business through the acquisition of companies, processing plants, technologies, products and services, which could include material transactions.A material transaction may involve a number of risks, including: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the transaction; difficulty integrating acquired businesses, technologies, operations and personnel with our existing business; diversion of management attention in connection with negotiating transactions and integrating the businesses acquired; exposure to unforeseen or undisclosed liabilities of acquired companies; and the need to obtain additional debt or equity financing for any transaction. We may not be able to address these risks and successfully d evelop these acquired companies or businesses into profitable units. If we are unable to do this, such expansion could adversely affect our financial results.Market fluctuations could negatively impact our operating results as we hedge certain transactions. Our business is exposed to fluctuating market conditions. We use derivative financial instruments to reduce our exposure to various market risks including changes in commodity prices, interest rates and foreign exchange rates. We hold certain positions, primarily in grain and livestock futures, that do not qualify as hedges for financial reporting purposes. These positions are marked to fair value, and the unrealized gains and losses are reported in earnings at each reporting date. Therefore, losses on these contracts will adversely affect our reported operating results.While these contracts reduce our exposure to changes in prices for commodity products, the use of such instruments may ultimately limit our ability to benefit fro m favorable commodity prices. Deterioration of economic conditions could negatively impact our business. Our business may be adversely affected by changes in economic conditions, including inflation, interest rates, access to capital markets, consumer spending rates, energy availability and costs (including fuel surcharges) and the effects of governmental initiatives to manage economic conditions. Any such changes could adversely affect the demand for our products, or the cost and availability of our needed raw materials, cooking ingredients and packaging materials, thereby negatively affecting our financial results. 10Disruptions in global credit and other financial markets and deterioration of economic conditions, could, among other things: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ make it more difficult or costly for us to obtain financing for our operations or investments or to refinance our debt in the future; cause our lenders to depart from prior credit industry practice and make more difficult or expensive the granting of any amendment of, or waivers under, our credit agreement to the extent we may seek them in the future; impair the financial condition of some of our customers and suppliers thereby increasing customer bad debts or nonperformance by suppliers; negatively impact global demand for protein products, which could result in a reduction of sales, operating ncome and cash flows; decrease the value of our investments in equity and debt securities, including our marketable debt securities, company-owned life insurance and pension and other postretirement plan assets; negatively impact our commodity purchasing activities if we are required to record losses related to derivative financial instruments; or impair the financial viability of our insurers. Changes in consumer preference could negatively impact our business. The food industry in general is subject to changing consumer trends, demands and preferences. Trends within the food industry change often, and failure to identify and react to changes in these trends could lead to, among other things, reduced demand and price reductions for our products, and could have an adverse effect on our financial results. The loss of one or more of our largest customers could negatively impact our business.Our business could suffer significant setbacks in sales and operating income if our customers’ plans and/or markets change significantly or if we lost one or more of our largest customers, including, for example, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , which accounted for 13. 8% of our sales in fiscal 2012. Many of our agreements with our customers are short-term, primarily due to the nature of our products, industry practice and the fluctuation in demand and price for our products. The consolidation of customers could negatively impact our business. Our customers, such as supermarkets, warehouse clubs and food distributors, have consolidated in recent years, and consolidation i s expected to continue throughout the United States and in other major markets.These consolidations have produced large, sophisticated customers with increased buying power who are more capable of operating with reduced inventories, opposing price increases, and demanding lower pricing, increased promotional programs and specifically tailored products. These customers also may use shelf space currently used for our products for their own private label products. Because of these trends, our volume growth could slow or we may need to lower prices or increase promotional spending for our products, any of which would adversely affect our financial results. Extreme factors or forces beyond our control could negatively impact our business.Natural disasters, fire, bioterrorism, pandemic or extreme weather, including droughts, floods, excessive cold or heat, hurricanes or other storms, could impair the health or growth of livestock or interfere with our operations due to power outages, fuel shortages, damage to our production and processing facilities or disruption of transportation channels, among other things. Any of these factors, as well as disruptions in our information systems, could have an adverse effect on our financial results. Media campaigns related to food production present risks. Media outlets, including new social media platforms, provide the opportunity for individuals or organizations to publicize inappropriate or inaccurate stories or perceptions about our Company or the food production industry.Such practices have the ability to cause damage to our brands, the industry generally, or consumers' perceptions of our Company or the food production industry and may result in negative publicity and adversely affect our financial results. Our renewable energy ventures and other initiatives might not be successful. We have been exploring ways to convert animal fats and other by-products from our operations into value-added products. For example, our joint v enture Dynamic Fuels produces renewable synthetic fuels. We will continue to explore other ways to commercialize opportunities outside our core business, such as renewable energy and other technologically-advanced platforms.These initiatives might not be as financially successful as we initially announced or might expect due to factors that include, but are not limited to, availability of tax credits, competing energy prices, failure to operate at the volumes anticipated, abilities of our joint venture partners and our limited experience in some of these new areas. 11 Tyson Limited Partnership can exercise significant control. As of September 29, 2012, Tyson Limited Partnership (the TLP) owns 99. 977% of the outstanding shares of the Company's Class B Common Stock, $0. 10 par value (Class B stock) and the TLP and members of the Tyson family own, in the aggregate, 2. 53% of the outstanding shares of the Company's Class A Common Stock, $0. 10 par value (Class A stock), giving them, co llectively, control of approximately 71. 2% of the total voting power of the Company's outstanding voting stock. At this time, the TLP does not have a managing general partner, as such, the management rights of the managing general partner may be exercised by a majority of the percentage interests of the general partners. As of September 29, 2012, Mr. John Tyson, Chairman of the Board of Directors, has 33. 33% of the general partner percentage interests, and Ms. Barbara Tyson, a director of the Company, has 11. 115% general partner percentage interests (the remaining general partnership interests are held by the Tyson Partnership Interest Trust (44. 44%) and Harry C. Erwin, III (11. 15%)). As a result of these holdings, positions and directorships, the partners in the TLP have the ability to exert substantial influence or actual control over our management and affairs and over substantially all matters requiring action by our stockholders, including amendments to our restated certif icate of incorporation and by-laws, the election and removal of directors, any proposed merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets and other corporate transactions. This concentration of ownership may also delay or prevent a change in control otherwise favored by our other stockholders and could depress our stock price.Additionally, as a result of the Tyson family’s significant ownership of our outstanding voting stock, we are eligible for â€Å"controlled company† exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements of the New York Stock Exchange. ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS None ITEM 2. PROPERTIES We have production and distribution operations in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. We also have sales offices throughout the United States.Additionally, we, either directly or through our subsidiaries, have sales offices, facilities or participate in joint venture operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Venezuela. Owned Chicken Segment: Processing plants Rendering plants Blending mills Feed mills Broiler hatcheries Breeder houses Broiler farm houses Beef Segment Production Facilities Pork Segment Production Facilities Prepared Foods Segment Processing Plants Distribution Centers Cold Storage Facilities 59 15 39 63 593 758 12 9 22 10 67 Number of Facilities Leased 1 — — 2 9 760 1,089 — — 1 7 14 Capacity(1) per week at September 29, 2012 47 million head 174,000 head 448,000 head 46 million pounds Total 60 15 2 41 72 1,353 1,847 12 9 23 17 81 Fiscal 2012 Aver age Capacity Utilization 88% 76% 90% 85% Chicken Processing Plants Beef Production Facilities Pork Production Facilities Prepared Foods Processing Plants (1) Capacity based on a five day week for Chicken and Prepared Foods, while Beef and Pork are based on a six day week. 12 Chicken: Chicken processing plants include various phases of slaughtering, dressing, cutting, packaging, deboning and furtherprocessing.We also have 16 pet food operations, which are part of the Chicken processing plants. The blending mills, feed mills and broiler hatcheries have sufficient capacity to meet the needs of the chicken growout operations. Beef: Beef plants include various phases of slaughtering live cattle and fabricating beef products. Some also treat and tan hides. The Beef segment includes three case-ready operations that share facilities with the Pork segment. One of the beef facilities contains a tallow refinery. Carcass facilities reduce live cattle to dressed carcass form. Processing faciliti es conduct fabricating operations to produce boxed beef and allied products.Pork: Pork plants include various phases of slaughtering live hogs and fabricating pork products and allied products. The Pork segment includes three case-ready operations that share facilities with the Beef segment. Prepared Foods: Prepared Foods plants process fresh and frozen chicken, beef, pork and other raw materials into pizza toppings, branded and processed meats, appetizers, prepared meals, ethnic foods, soups, sauces, side dishes, pizza crusts, flour and corn tortilla products and meat dishes. Our Dynamic Fuels joint venture produces renewable synthetic fuels. Construction of production facilities was completed in late fiscal 2010, and initial production began in October 2010.Dynamic Fuels operates one plant with designed annual capacity of 75 million gallons. We believe our present facilities are generally adequate and suitable for our current purposes; however, seasonal fluctuations in inventories and production may occur as a reaction to market demands for certain products. We regularly engage in construction and other capital improvement projects intended to expand capacity and improve the efficiency of our processing and support facilities. We also consider the efficiencies of our operations and may from time to time consider changing the number or type of plants we operate to align with our capacity needs. ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS Refer to the description of certain legal proceedings pending against us under Part II, Item 8, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 19: Commitments and Contingencies, which discussion is incorporated herein by reference. Listed below are certain additional legal proceedings involving the Company and/or its subsidiaries. On October 23, 2001, a putative class action lawsuit styled R. Lynn Thompson, et al. vs. Tyson Foods, Inc. was filed in the District Court for Mayes County, Oklahoma by three property owners on behalf of all owners of lakefront property on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees. Simmons Foods, Inc. and Peterson Farms, Inc. also are defendants. The plaintiffs allege the defendants’ operations diminished the water quality in the lake thereby interfering with the plaintiffs’ use and enjoyment of their properties.The plaintiffs sought injunctive relief and an unspecified amount of compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. While the District Court certified a class, on October 4, 2005, the Court of Civil Appeals of the State of Oklahoma reversed, holding the plaintiffs’ claims were not suitable for disposition as a class action. This decision was upheld by the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the case was remanded to the District Court with instructions that the matter proceed only on behalf of the three named plaintiffs. Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief, restitution and compensatory and punitive damages in an unspecified amount in excess of $10,000.We an d the other defendants have denied liability and asserted various defenses. The defendants have requested a trial date, but the court has not yet scheduled the matter for trial. Since 2003, nine lawsuits have been brought against us and several other poultry companies by approximately 150 plaintiffs in Washington County, Arkansas Circuit Court (Green v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , et al. , Bible v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , Beal v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , et al. , McWhorter v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , et al. , McConnell v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , et al. , Carroll v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , et al. , Belew v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , et al. , Gonzalez v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , et al. , and Rasco v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , et al. alleging that the land application of poultry litter caused arsenic and pathogenic mold and fungi contamination of the air, soil and water in and around Prairie Grove, Arkansas and seeking recovery for several types of personal injuries, including several forms of cancer. On August 2, 2006, the Court g ranted summary judgment in favor of Tyson and the other poultry company defendants in the first case to go to trial, which the plaintiffs appealed, and the trial court stayed the remaining eight lawsuits pending the appeal. On May 8, 2008, the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed the summary judgment and remanded for a new trial. The remanded trial was held and the jury returned a verdict in our favor.The plaintiffs appealed this verdict to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which affirmed the verdict and denied the plaintiffs’ petition for rehearing. The second trial, originally scheduled for October 22, 2012, was canceled and no new trial date has been set. Other Matters: We currently have approximately 115,000 employees and, at any time, have various employment practices matters outstanding. In the aggregate, these matters are significant to the Company, and we devote significant resources to managing employment issues. Additionally, we are subject to other lawsuits, investigations an d claims (some of which involve substantial amounts) arising out of the conduct of our business.While the ultimate results of these matters cannot be determined, they are not expected to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations or financial position. ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES Not applicable. 13 EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE COMPANY Our officers serve one year terms from the date of their election, or until their successors are appointed and qualified. No family relationships exist among these officers. The name, title, age and year of initial election to executive office of our executive officers are listed below: Name Curt T. Calaway Kenneth J. Kimbro Donnie King Dennis Leatherby James V. Lochner Donnie Smith John Tyson David L.Van Bebber Noel White Title Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer Senior Group Vice President, Poultry and Prepared Foods Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Chief Operating Officer President and Chief Executive Officer Chairman of the Board of Directors Executive Vice President and General Counsel Senior Group Vice President, Fresh Meats Age 39 59 50 52 60 53 59 56 54 Year Elected Executive Officer 2012 2009 2009 1994 2005 2008 2011 2008 2009 Curt T. Calaway was appointed Senior Vice President, Con