Authoritarian Rule in Latin America Essay Example for Free

Authoritarian Rule in Latin America Essay â€Å"Latin American politics since independence have been characterized by instability, authoritarianism, and violence. In a three page essay please discuss the role of the military in creating such problems using the chapter in the course reader entitled â€Å"The Good Sailor. † Also, discuss whether or not the Argentinean case is typical or unique to Latin America. Provide explanations and analysis from â€Å"The Good Sailor,† lecture, and the textbook. An â€Å"A† paper will use all three. Use size 12 Times New Roman font. The paper must be typed (or word-processed) on standard size paper (8 ? y 11) and double spaced with appropriate margins. Use MLA format with parenthetical citations-i. e. (Rosenberg, 84). † Violence in Latin America is a significant part because so much of it is political: planned, deliberate, and carried out by organized groups of society. It is used to make a point. The above quote supports that the violence and military is interrelated and it is used as tool by the military to instill fear and dominate people of the Latin America. Ranked as the third most unstable region in the world in the post-war era, political instability has been a pervasive problem in Latin America. Whether it is a caudillo, a charismatic boss with an armed following, or a general leading a golpe de estado or an authoritarian institution, Latin America is conceived as an authoritarian region always ruled by either military or civilian leaders. Only three Latin American countries were consistently democratic over the thirty year period from 1935 to 1964: Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela. During this time, there were 56 changes of government by military coups in 20 Latin American nations. In sum, political instability is a persistent and pernicious problem in the region. The question arises how military insurrection remained instrument of ruling in Latin America. It might be because since the time of caudillos, violence when used as a method to rule has brought desired results and authority. So it has become a used and proven instrument in the ruler’s toolbox. Also, it might be possible that the institutional inertia of the violent politics as inherited from predecessor’s success is deep rooted in the psychic of the rulers. Brazil was the first of these Institutional dictatorships. When military rule began in 1964 after the overthrow of Joan Goulart, it was not a long project but hard liners in military demanded more and more until soft liners came into action in 1974 to loosen up the political rein. This military regime was institutionalized and created two political parties to channel political activity [Skidmore, Thomas Pg 358-360]. While in Chile, you will see the example to an institutional regime changing into personalistic one with emerging of a dictator Augustus Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1989. Pinochet staged a very bloody coup in which probably 2,000 people were killed in the coup and in the years immediately afterwards. Most Chileans supported some sort of army intervention, in part ironically because of their democratic history. They felt, It cant happen here. Our military isnt like the other militaries. They meant that the Chilean military cannot be as brutal as Argentinean military was. Our military will come in and restore order and clean house for six months and then leave. Seventeen years later, the military left after carrying on one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in Latin America and becoming a symbol of state terrorism. Argentina presents one of the most acute cases in the period after 1955. In this country during this period there occurred 12 military coups. While Colombias violence had its roots because of the lack of social order and the Government’s inability to place rules on a most chaotic society, in Argentina, the junta that came in power in military created exactly the opposite situation. When the military coup came into power in 1976; it suffocated Argentina with social order. It took over the educational institutions, changed the life style of people even their appearance. [Article â€Å"The Good Sailor† Pg. 13] Alfredo Astiz, a lieutenant general for the Navy who was active in it from 1970 to 1995. [Article â€Å"The Good Sailor† Pg. 24] Astiz was in Task Force 3. 2. 2 which killed more people during the Dirty War than any other group. The Dirty War lasted from 1976 until 1983 and involved people getting disappeared. The term disappeared describes those who vanished during this period and were probably killed by the military before being tortured in inhumanely ways. It is these trocities and the new and brutally creative ways to torture people that made the Argentinean military different from the other regimes in Latin America. The term Dirty War originates in the military junta itself, which claimed that a war, albeit with different methods was necessary to maintain social order and eradicate political subversives. Although the junta claimed its objective to be the eradication of guerrilla activity, the repression struck mostly the general population, and specifically all political opposition, trade unionists (half of the victims), students, and other civilians. Many others were forced to go into exile, and many remain in exile today. When the Dirty War was a year and a half old, it had disappeared more than 6,500 Argentines. [Article â€Å"The Good Sailor† Pg. 12. ] Even though the military knew in 1978 that 90% of the left was eradicated, they kept on fighting against imaginary subversives for 5 more years. Human rights were not important to the Argentines. Despite contrary opinion from the military, the article â€Å"The Good Sailor† by Tina Rosenberg proves that excessive torture occurred. It is evident from testimonies in the article and the experience of Vilerinos. Article â€Å"The Good Sailor† Pg. 15, 16. ] He talked about a torture chamber with an electric shock machine, torturing instruments and sand bags to hit people so no marks would show up. The military General and even the low rank officers believed that they have godlike powers instilled in them and it is their duty to clear all the dirt from the society by killing people they see fit. They had no shame in executing horrendous tortures instead they took pride and enjoyed the process. As compared to Argentina, Mexico had one part rule (PRI ruled since 1929 to 2000) rather than military wars but still there was colossal bloodshed. It is not that only military intervention brings in political instability and violence as Mexico is a live example of both. However, after the study of the article â€Å"The Good Sailor† and reading the book â€Å"Modern Latin America† it seems to me that the extent of atrocities military regimes brought is incomparable to civil dictatorship. It is their hunger for power and vehemence to rule that make them feel they are god and have right to â€Å"punish† people. â€Å"Here we are the only gods† said by a torturer in a chamber after brutally torturing a 52 year old women.

Business communication Essay Example for Free

Business communication Essay SNC-Lavalin is one of the largest engineering companies in Canada, and one of the largest all around the world, however, failed to effectually communicate and face communication problem. This analysis report contains communication problems and influences on company. Additional information related to causes and symptoms of communication problem. Likewise, communicate with stakeholder groups result in concerns, and SNC-Lavalin use different communication model to deal with each group. The main communication problem is bypassing and different frames of reference. In communication process, bypassing can result in miscommunication, because the CEO and employee do not have the same symbolic meanings and bring own biases in any communication. Due to the longer lines of communication between CEO and employee, the message could be distorted. This problem impact on company fund missing and mystery payment, also, SNC-Lavalin’s stock decline a lot. The reason of problem happens because lack trust, lack communication skills competition for status and rewards. It is easy to cause communication problem if no trust between communicationï ¼Å'through the long over time, the mistakes will become seriously and many mistakes are due to lack communication skills. Meanwhile, personal status and rewards will cause bypassing, lack organization concept, to the extent that different people pay more attention on their own profit rather than the common goal. SNC-Lavalin shows several symptoms due to communication problem. First, agents help company win a contract by paid bribes, but can’t follow the appropriate routines. Second, after $56 million dollars missing, Gwyn Morgan, the company chairman, denied that there is no responsibility for  superior officers, and resign suddenly after stated. Third, Cynthia Vanier help Muammar Gaddafi’s son smuggle and do illegal trading, as well as denied the charge. Employees and shareholders are the key stakeholder groups, however, different group has different concern. To specific, employees concern about their job and incomeï ¼Å'because it is close related to employees’ life quality. Meanwhile, shareholders concern about their profit, because it means stock rights will be influenced, in other word, shareholders profit could losing. SNC-Lavalin follows the communication models with each stakeholder group. As for communicate with employees; the first step is having idea. After organize idea, use encode like transfer language and write down or typewriting. After that, delivered by announcement or email. In order to overcome misunderstanding, improve the flow of message in company. Sign on the paper one by one after employees receive, if have problem mark it clearly. SNC-Lavalin have to give an effectively communication to shareholders. When idea formation by SNC-Lavalin, convert an idea into words that include meaning. It is necessary for general meeting of shareholders every year, in the meeting; shareholders understand the meaning stand for decodes the message successfully. Finally, ask question come up with feedback, and descriptive is the best choice. In conclusion, it is important for SNC-Lavalin communication effectively. This case analysis points out the main communication problem refer to SNC-Lavalin, at the same time, detail analysis about influence on company, moreover, discuss reason and manifestation about communication problem. After that, analyze the two key stakeholder groups, and each of them has different concern. Last but not least, SNC-Lavalin use communication model to deal the relationship with each stakeholder group.

Rhetorical Analysis Of I Want A Wife English Literature Essay

Rhetorical Analysis Of I Want A Wife English Literature Essay The second wave of the feminist movement in the United States began during early 1960s and lasted throughout late 1970s. The purpose of the feminist movement was to have a right to vote and have the same equal rights as male citizens. Judy Bradys essay I Want A Wife first appeared in the Ms. Magazines inaugural issue in 1971. The genre of the article is a classic piece of feminist humor and is depicted as satirical prose. In this essay Brady aims to convince her readers to look objectively at a mans viewpoints and expectations of what he thinks a wife is and what she should be. Brady skillfully uses clear arguments, repetition of key words and stylish language to make her essay strong and convincing. Exigence: Judy Brady writes in her essay about the demands that are required from wife. She emphasizes the point that the roles of wife are unfair to the role of husband, and that there is an obvious difference, inequality, between the roles of husband and wife. Exhausted by disparities in the household work and by the fact that the work done by wife goes unnoticed, she boldly expresses her feelings. Brady demonstrates her point by giving examples of some household chores that are commonly performed by wife. I want a wife who will have the house clean, keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it . After listing all this numerous outrageous tasks, she concludes the article with an emotional statement, My God, who wouldnt want a wife? Audience: Clearly Judy Brady is writing to married men and women. This can be inferred because the article is about expectations of a wife in a marriage. But not only does she write for married couples, she also writes to men and women in general. The fact that person is married or not doesnt matter in this article. The audience is expected to know a little bit about divorce and marriage life. The audience is also presumed at least to have a high school level of reading and basic understanding of words such as adherence, monogamy, and nurturance. She is trying to get out to the public that these expectations and these stereotypes of roles of women, should stop. This goes back to her exigence, which is the unfairness of roles of women. Purpose: Why should people read and act upon her statements? With her arguments, she is trying to say, All women stop! You dont have to act this way. She wants women to stop immediately acting as slaves. Her constant phrase I want a wife to rattles up emotions of readers, which in turn, might encourage people to take action. The reason she wants people to read it is because she wants people to understand that the roles of women is demoralizing to them. Brady classifies what a wife is through husbands eyes. Brady connects wit and sarcasm, effective use of language, and rhetoric to make a very strong piece of influential writing with the purpose to show how men see their wives. This piece of rhetoric ultimately implies the husbands selfishness and laziness, and his want to be left free. This article was made to make the audience to think and ponder. Brady effectively uses the Greek umbrella term, Rhetoric, which is clearly organized and very well thought out. Rhetoric means the art of using language to communicate effectively and images to affect an audience. Brady uses Rhetoric throughout her essay involving three audience appeals: Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Ethos: She establishes her credibility in the first couple of paragraphs of her argument. I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am A Wife, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother. Not only does her being a wife make her creditable, she also seems to have a lot of knowledge and this gives the audience to know that she really knows something about her subject. And all that knowledge of what the wife roles are does not come from anywhere. She must have experienced it herself to know what the roles of women are. She lists numerous jobs that are expected of a wife and her language sounds that of a fed up and annoyed wife. In addition, her article was printed in the spring 1972 issue of Ms. Magazine which sets her credibility for the article. Moreover, she was an activist for the feminist movement. Pathos: When reading her article, she wants people to take action. She wants people to get angry at the topic. She also wants the men who expect this from women to feel jealous. She does this by first stating who she is. I belong to that classification of people known as wives. She addresses the stresses of everyday life and exaggerated expectations of a man from their wives. Then she goes on by listing the jobs required by women. After couple pages of jobs she says, My God, who wouldnt want a wife? This conclusion is very emotional towards the argument, and the presence of irony in it clearly indicates that women are under too much stress. Brady demonstrates how men treat their wives unfairly and demand too much from them. She wants to discourage men from abusing their wives. Brady also encourages women who are unaware of such abuses to step up and take some actions. Many women are also unaware of what things they are doing wrong. By reading this essay, women can assess their life a nd find out if their husbands demand too much from them in terms of wives duties. Logos: Judy Bradys article contains clear arguments. One of her arguments is that women are expected to do too much. She doesnt deliver this message directly, but refers to it by listing the role of women. Another argument identified in her essay is the inequality of men and women. In her article she writes that she is a man that wants to go to school and be supported financially. She needs a wife to fulfill her needs such as taking care of the house, children, bills, regular health check-ups of family members, and social life. She argues that husbands require too much from their wives and points out that it should be avoided. Her arguments are effectively structured. She attracts the readers by her credibility. And by showing the tasks of women, one by one; she involves her readers in her strong arguments. She uses simple words which are very effective in expressing her views.

Essay on the Mysterious Pearl in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Lett

The Mysterious Pearl in The Scarlet Letter A few moments before Reverend Dimmsdale professes his sin to the crowd of onlookers, Hester's hopes of escape are dashed by the knowledge that Roger Chillingworth also booked a passage on the departing ship†¹a ship that she prayed would give her and her beloved freedom from the curse of the Scarlet Letter. Little Pearl, however, relays the message to her mother that her trip has been spoilt by the addition of the evil Chillingworth. A well-meaning sailor tells Pearl, "So let thy mother take no thought, save for herself and thee. Wilt thou tell her this, thou witch-baby?" (224), implying that an additional passenger will be aboard the ship come departure. Hester, paling after hearing the news, watches her utopian plans fall to ruins as the minister breathes his last breath and she is once again left alone with Pearl, without escape from her bondage. The term "witch-baby," though never r... ...tive connotation†¹rather, she seems steeped in another reality that is inaccessible by the puritans of Boston. The little girl tends to exist even outside the sphere of her outcast mother; Hawthorne, to prove the point of Pearl's mysterious identity, associates her with the sprites, elves and imps of a world that no human knows intimately. His constant use of "witchery" language gives Pearl a certain character sense that implies her fate as a unknown resident of another land.

The American Diet :: essays research papers fc

"You are what you eat", goes a famous saying. And if that is truly the case, then a lot of Americans would appear to be unhealthy, chemically treated, commercially raised slabs of animal flesh. And while that is not a particularly pleasant thought, it is nonetheless an description of the typical American omnivore who survives on the consumption of Big Macs and steak fajitas.But there are individuals who do not follow this American norm and have altered their diets so that they do not consume any meat. These people are vegetarians, and they are the new breed of healthy Americans who refuse to poison themselves with fats, cholesterol, and the other harmful additives that come from meat. And while once thought to be a movement that would never gain much momentum, it has nonetheless moved itself to the forefront of Americans' healthy diets.The word vegetarian, used to describe the diets of people who do not consume animal flesh, was not used until around the mid-1800s. The concept of ve getarianism, however, dates back much further. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras, considered by many to be the father of vegetarianism, encouraged a non-meat diet among his followers as a diet that was the most natural and healthful (Messina 3).A vegetarian diet excludes the consumption of meat, and can be exercised by people for a number of reasons. The largest majority of individuals chose vegetarianism for health related reasons. For example, someone with an ulcer might be prescribed a strict diet of vegetables in order to promote the healing process. Or someone with a dangerously high level of cholesterol might be advised to follow a vegetarian diet to lower his or her fat and cholesterol intake.The immorality of consuming animal flesh is another argument touted by a smaller group of vegetarians. R.G. Frey describes this moral argument for vegetarianism and the effect that meat eating might have on the character of humans:Some people have come to believe and fear that, in the suffering and killing which occurs in commercial farming, we demean ourselves, coarsen our sensitivities, dull our feelings of sympathy with our fellow creatures, and so begin the descent down the slippery slope of torture and death, to a point where it becomes easier for us to contemplate and carry out the torture and killing of human beings. (20)This moral argument for vegetarianism is also noted by John Robbins who states that "the suffering these animals undergo has become so extreme that to partake of food from these creatures is to partake unknowingly of the abject misery that has been their lives"(14).

Technology And Your Right To Privacy :: essays research papers

Technology and the invasion of privacy and its effects onthe criminal justice system over the last 100 years Will searching the internet for more than 5 hours on this topic I found a quote that is very appropriate it says; Subtler and more far-reaching means of invading privacy have become available to the government. Discovery and invention have made it possible for the government, by means far more effective than stretching upon the rack, to obtain disclosure in court of what is whispered in the closet. US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandies, 1928 If Justice Brandeis could see the advances in technology, he would realize just how prophetic his statement is. He would also be appalled by the new surveillance technologies that go far beyond his wildest dreams. Now that the cold war is over, bureaucracy has little do but track us from the cradle to the grave, from your bank accounts to the bedroom. Several of the technologies created by the defense dept. have begun to creep into law enforcement, various civilian agencies and private companies. The laws on the books are old in comparison and unable to protect us from violation of our rights. I the old west there was no system to keep track of criminals. If someone was wanted he picture was posted with a reward. If convicted he was sentenced to what the judge felt was appropriate. In the early 60's surveillance and tracking was a slow tidious process of manual and/or clerical work. To trace a person's activities you had to physically follow them, or search through volumes of card files. It was necessary to contact every one your suspect came in contact with. to learn his habits. Electronic surveillance was on a one to one basis if your dept was lucky enough to have it. As an example, it took 500,000 east German secret informers and 10,000 transcribers just to listen in on it's citizens conversations. Computers capable of storing large amounts of data have revolutionized the world of surveillance. The law enforcement benefits are enormous, and government bureaucracies have been able to expand their reach and efficiency. Will technology was expanding private business was also researching it's uses. Huge companies offering credit cards, telephone service, banking and many other consumer services began to use computers with massive storage capacity. In this day and age information on every person in the developed world is computerized and stored in several if not hundreds of computers. Your information is collected, analyzed and disseminated to..... With computer net works, the net and links, it is possible now to track everyone with a single identification number, your social security number. With your specific identifier everything about you can be instantly available. Because medical, dental, financial and general information is stored in the data

Bristol Myers Squibb

Bristol Myers Squibb was formed in 1887 when McLaren Bristol and John Ripley Myers bought the Clinton pharmaceutical Company in Clinton New York. In 1900 Bristol-Myers broke through into the black — it has remained there ever since. In 1924, gross profits topped $1 million for the first time in Bristol-Myers’ history. The company’s products were then sold in 26 countries. At this point, the shares held by John Myers’s heirs became available for sale, triggering a series of moves that in 1929 turned Bristol-Myers into a publicly held company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.The postwar depression prompted Bristol-Myers to jettison its pharmaceutical business and devote itself entirely to its specialties: Sal Hepatica and Ipana, its two big winners, and a dozen or so assorted toiletries, antiseptics and cough syrups. By the end of the war, it was clear that penicillin and other antibiotics represented an immense opportunity for Bristol-Myers. In 1921 t he Squibb Company coined its slogan: â€Å"The priceless ingredient in every product is the honor and integrity of its maker†, which is now the corporate slogan of Bristol Myers Squibb.In 1989 Bristol-Myers merged with Squibb, creating a global leader in the health care industry. The merger created what was then the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical enterprise. BMS is now ranked #8 in the pharma sector. Current Drugs, Issues and Interests The Company operates in three segments: Pharmaceuticals, Nutritionals and Other Healthcare. The Pharmaceuticals segment is made up of the global pharmaceutical and international consumer medicines business. The Nutritionals segment consists of Mead Johnson Nutritionals (Mead Johnson), primarily an infant formula and children's nutritional business.The Other Healthcare segment consists of ConvaTec, Medical Imaging and Consumer Medicines (United States and Canada) businesses. In 1991, the company received U. S. Food and Drug Adminis tration (FDA) approval in the U. S. for Videx ® (didanosine) also known as ddI, making it the second medicine available for treating HIV infection (the other being AZT). Other approvals that year included an antibiotic, Cefzil ® (cefprozil); two cardiovascular agents, Pravachol ® (pravastatin sodium) Tablets and Monopril ® (fosinopril sodium) Tablets; and a central nervous system drug, Stadol NS ® (butorphanol tartrate) C-IV.In that same year, the companies signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the National Cancer Institute to research and develop a new compound for treating certain types of cancer. This compound, TAXOL ® (paclitaxel) Injection, immediately was established as the company’s top research priority. Bristol-Myers Squibb invested hundreds of millions of dollars to supply TAXOL in sufficient quantities for clinical trials, to prepare data for regulatory submission and to develop alternative sources of TAXOL (which originally was d erived from the bark of an endangered tree, the Pacific Yew).TAXOL launched in 1993 and quickly became one of the world’s most widely used cancer treatments. For a few years BMS held the exclusive rights to harvest the bark of the endangered yew trees on US soil, the tree’s bark is used in making TAXOL. By the end of 1995, the company had over 60 product lines with $50 million or more in annual sales worldwide. At the beginning of 1998, the FDA granted clearance to market Excedrin ® Migraine for the relief of migraine headache pain and associated symptoms. Excedrin Migraine became the first migraine headache medication available to consumers without a prescription.In 1999, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced SECURE THE FUTUREâ„ ¢, a $100 million commitment to advance HIV/AIDS research and community outreach programs in five southern African countries: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. And in 2000, Bristol-Myers Squibb, together with four other pha rmaceutical companies and international agencies, joined the UNAIDS Drug ACCESS Initiative. The ACCESS program aims to make antiretroviral medicines and therapies to treat opportunistic infections more widely available in African countries that have developed a coherent national AIDS strategy.As part of the program, the company offered to lower the prices of HIV/AIDS medicines in those countries by 90 percent. More recently, Bristol-Myers Squibb took its access efforts a step further, offering HIV/AIDS drugs below cost in Africa and committing an additional $15 million for extending SECURE THE FUTURE to four Western African countries — Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal. The company is also ensuring that its patents do not prevent inexpensive HIV/AIDS therapy in Africa.The patent for Zerit, rights to which are owned by Yale University and Bristol-Myers Squibb, is now available at no cost to treat AIDS in southern Africa. However, issues like losing patents l ike this and a few more in South Africa has caused many problems for drug companies and BMS is not immune to them. In September 2000, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced a new strategy that includes a sharpened focus on medicines and an aggressive external development program. As part of this new strategy, the company announced its intention to divest its Clairol and Zimmer businesses.The company announced in June 2001 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company for $7. 8 billion; an acquisition intended to further strengthen Bristol-Myers Squibb’s medicines business. With the DuPont acquisition, Bristol-Myers Squibb added Sustiva ® (efavirenz) Capsules to its HIV portfolio and also gained products such as Coumadin ® (warfarin sodium tablets, USP) Crystalline, the U. S. leading prescribed anti-coagulant and Cardiolite ® (Kit for the preparation of Technetium Tc99m Sestamibi for Injection), a medical imaging agent.In November 2002, the FDA approved Abilify ® (aripiprazole) for the treatment of schizophrenia. In 2003, the company teamed up with cancer survivor and Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to sponsor the Bristol-Myers Squibb TOUR OF HOPEâ„ ¢, an unprecedented week-long coast-to-coast cycling event. En route, the 26-member team of cancer survivors, caregivers, physicians, nurses and researchers raised awareness of cancer research and the importance of clinical trials in developing new treatments.Reyataz ® (atazanavir sulfate), the first protease inhibitor for the treatment of HIV/AIDS with once-a-day dosing, was introduced in the U. S. in July 2003 and approved for marketing in Europe in March 2004. On March 29, 2005, the FDA approved Baraclude ® (entecavir). Baraclude, discovered by Bristol-Myers Squibb scientists, is indicated for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection. Bristol-Myers Squibb announced the FDA approval of Orencia ® (abatacept) for the treatment of rheumatoi d arthritis on December 23, 2005. Orencia is the first in a new class of medications for this disease.On February 28, 2006, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Somerset Pharmaceuticals announced FDA approval of EMSAM ® (selegiline trasdermal system), the first transdermal patch for the treatment of major depressive disorder. SPRYCEL ® (dasatinib), discovered by Bristol-Myers Squibb scientists, was approved by the FDA on June 28, 2006, for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences announced the FDA approval of ATRIPLAâ„ ¢ (efavirenz 600 mg/ emtricitabine 200 mg/ tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) on July 12, 2006. ATRIPLA is the first-ever once-daily single tablet regimen for HIV.As a strategy they are focusing on ten diseases, these are affective (psychiatric) disorders, Alzheimer’s/dementia, atherosclerosis/thrombosis, diabetes, hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, obesity, oncology, rheumatoid arthritis and related diseases, and solid organ transpla nt. Current Financials The current financial information of the company from MSN Central is as below. The revenues have not been growing in spite of all the successful products that have been launched and that is an area for change. The company needs to improve its revenues and have a positive trend in profits too.The profits are almost 16%, however, that looks pale when compared to GSK and Merck – both in the 20- 22% range (Fortune 500 list). In fact at 15%, the company is ranked 10 out of 12 in the pharma sector and the revenues are 8 out of 12. That for a company that is going to be 120 years in 2007 is poor. As discussed in the current drugs, issues and interests section, the company is focusing on some key diseases and getting some fantastic drugs in the market. However, all this is somehow not improving the revenue. In fact in the last 5 years, revenue has grown at less than 2% year on year.On the current price ($24), the share gives a 6% return on investment (EPS is $1 . 43). Currently, they are benefiting from the effects of letting go of their CEO Peter Dolan and the company is touted as a takeover target. Their major problem is the failure to prevent Apotex from manufacturing Plavix. Although BMS tried to stop Apotex by getting into a deal that would give Apotex $40 million for not manufacturing the drug, the US State Attorney Generals however didn’t let the deal go through and instead the company got into an investigation because of the whole mess that the deal created.From the BMS perspective, they were doing the right thing; Plavix generates revenues of $5. 9 Billion. $3. 8 Billion are BMS and the rest is Sanofi-Aventis. $3. 8Billion is almost 20% of BMS’s revenue and Plavix gives approximately 40% of the profits in their US business. All this has a big impact on the dividend given by the company and most analysts have suggested that the dividend payout will have to be cut by almost 30-40 cents; it was $1. 12 the previous year. BMS has a good line up of drugs that are in the pipeline and would be a good takeover for any pharma company that has strong cash flow but weak pipeline. These are rumors but looking at the current scenario, it is a good possibility. The interim CEO James Cornelius headed Guidant and helped its sell-off. Vision, Mission and Goals The current vision mission and goals of BMS are referred as a pledge. The pledges are to different stakeholders and are as follows: The BMS Pledge Our company’s mission is to extend and enhance human life by providing the highest-quality pharmaceutical and related health care products.We pledge — to our patients and customers, to our employees and partners, to our shareholders and neighbors, and to the world we serve — to act on our belief that the priceless ingredient of every product is the honor and integrity of its maker. To Customers We pledge excellence in everything we make and market, providing the safest, most effective and hig hest-quality medicines and health care products. We promise to continually improve our products through innovation, diligent research and development, and an unyielding commitment to be the very best. To ShareholdersWe pledge our dedication to responsibly increasing the shareholder value of your company based upon continued growth, strong finances, productive collaborations and innovation in research and development. To Communities We pledge conscientious citizenship, a helping hand for worthwhile causes and constructive action that supports a clean and healthy environment. We pledge Bristol-Myers Squibb to the highest standard of moral and ethical behavior and to policies and practices that fully embody the responsibility, integrity and decency required of free enterprise if it is to merit and maintain the confidence of our society.The new era for BMS must ensure that the pledge to the shareholders is held more firmly than it has been in the last few years. The company must improve revenues and margins. The stagnant revenues and profits are a cause for worry in the longer run. All pharma companies are fighting against smaller companies that want to make generics and Pfizer itself has been fighting for the patent of Lipitor, the world’s best selling drug with $12. 9 Billion in revenues. BMS needs to ensure that the scandals that have been hitting it in the last 5 years never happen again and the company needs to have a higher standard of governance.Shareholder value erodes very quickly for many reasons, but off the last 3-5 years, corporate governance has been a major issue. Companies with tens of billions of dollars of revenue have disappeared and stockholders have suddenly seen their investment disappear with them. BMS has serious corporate governance issues. The company was hit by financial scandals when it was caught pushing inventories and showing them as sales. They have a court appointed overseer because of showing higher revenues and now with th e Plavix issue they are in an even bigger mess as far as corporate governance goes.Apart from that, according to IMS health, a pharmaceutical information and consulting company, sales of prescription medicines worldwide rose 7% to $602 billion,. The United States still accounts for the lion's share of that, with $252 billion in annual sales, but sales in it and the other nine biggest markets grew by only 5. 7%. But emerging markets such as China, Russia, South Korea and Mexico outpaced those markets, growing a whopping 81%. However, when we look at the overall picture 10 -20 years from now we see that the population of the developed world is going to fall and there will be more and more people who will be retired.This also means there will be more medicines required. I do not see myself dying at the age of 70 in the year 2040; medical technology will be so advanced in the next 30 years that it will probably keep me alive till I reach 80 or 90. This is great news for the pharma compa nies. However, the question beckons that the people who can afford expensive medicines for diseases that BMS is targeting are only in the developed countries where the growth has stagnated or is less than 10%. The growth is in the developing world, but the diseases that BMS is targeting are all that need lots of medicines and very expensive medicines.Taxol for example, is used for cancer patients. The medicine is now made by other companies too, and yet the prices for Taxol in the developing world are really high and people find it hard to afford Taxol. In my opinion, BMS has to handle 2 issues: First is Corporate Governance and the second is to crack the developing markets and increase market share in those countries, this will automatically increase its stagnant revenues and breathe some life into its ailing business. The markets are stagnant in the developed world.New Vision Statement I am making a few changes to the current pledges that BMS has to customers and shareholders. The changes reflect what the company needs to do in order to transform itself. To Customers We pledge excellence in everything we make and market, providing the safest, most effective, and cost effective and highest-quality medicines and health care products. We promise to continually improve our products through innovation, diligent research and development, and an unyielding commitment to be the very best. To ShareholdersWe pledge our dedication to responsibly increasing the shareholder value of your company based upon continued growth, strong finances, productive collaborations and innovation in research and development. We pledge to be extremely careful in all governance issues and not succumb to the pressures of the market. We pledge to conduct our business with utmost fairness. Key Change Issues Lack of Corporate Governance is something that no company will admit, but that is the major problem facing BMS right now. Having an overseer is a bad indicator. The key change issues that we will face while changing the attitude towards corporate governance are:1. The first issue is to change the behavior of bosses who force employees to act in ways that will be against any corporate governance policy. 2. The second change will be to create an atmosphere where an employee can raise an integrity or corporate governance concern. This is critical right now as it seems that over the last few years many things were not raised. 3. The third change will be in terms of managing the markets and expectations of all stakeholders, ultimately it is the expectations of the markets or other stakeholders that push the employees to cover up things or show a bright picture when there is none.It is important to manage the expectations. The next key change after corporate governance is to ensure that we can capture the growing markets. To capture the new markets, we will have to make a couple of changes in the way we do business. These changes are likely to be as follows: 1. Lower the cost of drugs – most of the money goes into research. The drugs that conquer markets cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make. So the cost of developing drugs has to be lowered, once this cost is lowered, the cost of the drug per se can also be lowered accordingly.2. Come with products that cater to the growing segments there – it is likely that the people in the developing countries will be using medicines that are generic. For a branded product to conquer that market, the companies have to give an added value to their product. This might mean, reworking some of the old compounds and coming up with ‘extra strong versions’ or other versions that would differentiate the medicines BMS could come up with a line of medication aimed at women with PMS or aimed at people over 70.This might be the normal medicines, but with a different potency or properties so that they would be ‘better suited’ to a different age group. 3. Newer gene types  œ this might mean that there will be opportunities as people from different races might have different problems or might need different treatments. It is possible that the genes or body types in different races might respond differently to different molecules and thus would require modifications to the current molecules. Depending on the cost of doing this modification, BMS can decide to modify certain molecules to better suit different races.How will these areas be changed? What are the broad sets of proposals for change? The Critical Change requirement is Corporate Governance. Corporate Governance is something that every company talks and boasts about but as we can see in case of BMS, this has failed grossly. The company actively needs to change the situation within its departments and especially in the higher ranks to improve the Corporate Governance scenario and educate people about the problems that are caused because of bad governance.Before I dwell into how to combat corporat e governance, I would like to talk about why officials higher up in the ranks and even some in the lower ranks resort to concealing information that might be damaging to the company. The first reason is to ensure that their jobs are secure. If a person conceals information it is because they feel that the particular piece of information will be damaging to their job, their department or their interest. This is the basic level and it is very individualistic. However, it is this same thing that drives even the bigger corporate information scandals.The second reason for concealing information or reporting wrong figures is to ensure that the company meets its goals. To take an example from an IT company, it is one thing to not report a data theft because it might compromise the jobs of the IT security personnel, but quite another not to report the bugs that might exist in the new software that a company is making. Different projects have different timelines and it is critical for compan ies to meet those timelines as revenues and profits are based on the sales of that new product.If we take windows Vista for example, vista has been delayed numerous times and because of that many partners of Microsoft are suffering, especially Intel. Microsoft has in public announced about the delays; however a smaller company might choose to not mention a delay in their quarterly update. For the officials in the company it is something that protects the shareholders and other partners from the value perspective, but what they fail to see is the long term damage that their actions are causing.Concealing information today will have its repercussions in the next two quarters and eventually if someone finds out the true picture, the stock market will kill the script and the valuation will suffer enormously. However, a public announcement about the delay will cause temporary drop in the stock valuation (till the product is back on track or launched in the market) but on a personal level , it will affect the persons’ bonus (for sure) and the growth prospects of the higher ranks who were responsible for not delivering the results.The cost of revealing the truth means jobs and immediate losses in the stock markets. Many of the higher ranking officials have stock options and this makes it even more lucrative from a personal perspective to ensure that the company is shown in good light and seen as an entity that meets its goals and beats the market predictions. The corporate governance scenario gets worse because of the stock options but it can be much better if every one looked at the picture from a long term perspective. In the longer term, the company will deliver the products and make the profits.What every individual must realize is that a company will survive beyond every employee and every leader. One employee or a leader cannot make the company, there is always a team. However, a leader can easily break the company and corporate governance is one way of d oing it with much ease. Coming to ways on how BMS can change the corporate governance culture within the organization; I would recommend the following 3 changes: 1. Top down pressure to conceal information 2. Protective climate for whistle blowers 3. Managing the expectations of the stock market and other stakeholdersTop down pressure to conceal information Driving the first one seems to be the toughest one, but this is where the board members have to set the rules and deal facts with an iron hand. All directors and Country Heads must be responsible towards Corporate Governance and the Finance people especially should run their reports through the board. The board must appoint an independent third party evaluator and auditor to ensure that the reports being presented are correct and any discrepancy must be dealt by terminating the country head and seizing all stock options that the person may have.Termination with seizure of stock options at all levels will mean that the lure of a h igh stock price will not be a motivating factor in concealing information and we can expect people to take a long term view of the situation instead of a short term view based on when their stock options might be due. With a personal lure of money gone, the top management would be forced to look at share value in the longer term and hence won’t be pushing their direct reports to fudge information.In addition to this, I recommend that one board member be assigned the task of being an auditor and also the point of contact for all kind of tip-offs or corporate governance whistle blowers. This will give the employees all over the company more faith in the system. The biggest problem for whistle blowers or people who have issues with corporate governance is that they fear for their jobs and they fear that if they still have their jobs, they will be treated will disgust in the office for going against what might be termed as ‘normal practice’ in that division.The prese nce of a board member as a person who can look into corporate governance issues ensures that people can raise concerns in confidence without the fear or being outcastes at their jobs. This board member of course needs to have a team of people who will investigate the issues that are raised. At the middle management level or at the level where people head departments at country levels, the country head must tighten the leash and implement all corporate policies.The country heads must have audits from outside parties to ensure the authenticity of the financial statements and the systems within the company. At the lower management levels the managers should be responsible for their business. However; the ultimate responsibility would be with the middle management. The board member however, should be contactable by everyone within the organization. The organization change needed is to re-align the salary packages of the people who have stock options.This would entail the compensation an d benefits team to look at the packages again and set up a new corporate policy about rewarding and retaining employees. The major change is only for the upper management to ensure that they don’t abuse their power to increase the value of their shares. The stock option change will also weed out the people who do not have a longing for working with BMS. It is very important for a company to ensure that their top management is a group of people who take the company close to their heart, and of course these people are there for the long term.Protective climate for whistle blowers The next issue we need to cover is about protecting the whistle blowers. The appointment of a board member to look after the corporate governance issues should quell any fears that a person might have about corporate governance. In addition to this, a very small step that might go a long way is to bring up issues with a pseudo identity, where people can write in and give information without being oblig ated to divulge their identity even to the board member.The whistle blowers biggest fear is that their job and career gets jeopardized if it is found out that they were the ones who raised concerns that brought down the whole unit and the jobs of several people. People take it against them and they are outcaste. I also recommend that these people have help from outside sources such as counseling etc that may be needed as they grapple with the effects of being whistle blowers or as they continue to live without talking to anyone about being the whistle blowers.In addition to this, the company should actually owe these people an incentive for doing the company a favor by helping it exposing thing internally and managing the fall out and taking corrective actions. Such revelations by outsiders can be far more damaging and bring the company into disrepute apart from all the lawsuits and the hassles of the law. The board is always responsible for ensuring that things are going on smoothl y within the company and ultimate beneficiary of having an internal system that exposes the corporate governance problems within the company actually helps the board save the company and their own reputations.