Argonatica

The epic poem highlights the hero Jason, and his quest for the Golden Fleece. According to the myth, Jason and fifty other renowned members of Greece set out for the fleece so that Jason could earn back his father's kingdom. Jason is a particularly interesting hero because he often displays qualities of an efficient leader. This is distinct compared to other heroes, such as Hercules, who are better known as warriors rather than leaders.Apollonius' epic would lay the groundwork for the works of Gaius Valerius Flaccus and Virgil. The Golden Fleece was the item which Jason, with the help of the Argonauts, was forced to retrieve. The origin of the Golden Fleece begins with Phrixus and Helle, the children of Athamus, and the goddess Nephele. When Athamas remarried, the children's stepmother, Ino, became Jealous of them and plotted to get rid of Phrixus and his sister. Ino persuaded two messengers to say that that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus to restore ertility to the fiel ds.Before Phrixus could be sacrificed, however, Nephele sent a golden ram which carried both children off through the air. Helle fell into the Hellespont, but Phrixus arrived safely at Colchis, where he married the daughter of King Aeetes. Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus, and gave its pelt (the Golden Fleece) to Aeetes. Aeetes placed the fleece in an oak tree, where it remained. Then Jason's Father Aeson, was driven from power and killed by his brother Pelias. Jason death is aked and the child is sent away to be taught by the centaur Chiron.Jason returns later to reclaim his throne. However, an oracle warns Pelias that he will die at the hands of one of his relatives and that he should be wary of a man wearing only one sandal. Pelias informs Jason that he would give up his throne if Jason would set out and retrieve the Golden Fleece. The Argonautica begins as Jason is assembling a crew for the Argo. The Argo was the boat which was built by Argos for the Journey. It was slightly l arger than most ships at the time. In many ways the author Apollonius does not highlight the true heroism of Jason.Jason, through the author's description, does not appear as heroic as he really was. The definition of a Greek tragic hero is a man who is neither a pure man nor one who receives his fate as a result of his wickedness, but because of some mistake. From this it can be derived that the tragic hero must be both mortal, and human, and one who receives his fate as a result of error rather than as retribution. In both these instances Jason is a tragic hero ecause he is neither a perfect man nor a terrible man and he dies as a result of mortal mistakes as opposed to retribution.In the case of Jason, his tragic flaw is being too dependent on others. Jason tragic end begins as a result of Medea, who kills Pelias and forces Jason to flee his father's former kingdom after the Journey. Medea then kills Jason's sons and flees after Jason married another woman. Apollonius does not me ntion this part of the myth in his epic. In this way the true entirety of the definition is not fulfilled by the epic. Argonatica By Ibeaulieu

NCMMOD2CA

The question of the respective interests of the two sides in the Hollywood conflict is ultimately a valid question in light of the article. However, perhaps before embarking on an exploration of what their respective interests might be, it would be wise to first clearly define what we are referring to when we reference the two sides of the debate. The clearest separation between the two sides shown in the article is that of the guilds versus the producers or movie houses. However, perhaps equally interesting is the gray area, which falls in between the two – for example, those members of a guild who are also producers. The point in this respect is to determine where those people lie on the scale of either being more biased toward the guild members (actors and writers) or toward the producers. If we take our two sides as defined, the producers versus the guild members then we are in a sufficient position to examine the respective interests of each side. It is immediately clear that this is a long-standing debate as we begin to examine the article, â€Å"On the morning of October 8, 1945, thousands of picketing film workers, some wearing white-painted civil defense helmets, were confronted by truckloads of scabs who attacked with lead pipes, monkey wrenches and nightsticks† (Cooper, 2001,  ¶ 1). From this inauspicious opening, we can already start to summon some idea of what the central debate might be. The principal concern of both sides of this debate is money – whether that money should be residual compensation for work performed on a completed product (for the actors and writers), or ongoing revenue from the marketing and sale of that product (for the producers).   While the article details the previous compensation rates for guild members, â€Å"When a consumer plops down $25 for a new DVD, for example, the credited screenwriter receives only 4 cents†   (Cooper, 2001,  ¶ 10) it also clearly indicates the desire of the guild members – for additional compensation in this regard. Therefore, we can clearly define the interest of the guild members as being that of what they might regard as adequate compensation for their work. However, this is not the only interest at work in the guild members, as we look deeper into the article and examine the strikes that have taken place previously. â€Å"After last year's costly six-month SAG-AFTRA walkout in the commercials sector, during which thousands of actors went without paychecks, there's little rank-and-file enthusiasm for another season without work† (Cooper, 2001,  ¶ 33). Clearly, given the fact that the previous strike had damaged lives and caused hardship to guild members, the guild members themselves would indicate among their interests the fastest possible resolution to any conflict between the guild and the producers. As mentioned in the article by one IATSE official, â€Å"You don't go on strike for six months to get what you could have gotten in the first week† (Cooper, 2001,  ¶ 15). Perhaps then, we have more than simply two sides at work in the conflict: the guilds, the guild members, and the producers. The producers, by contrast, clearly are eager to maintain the status quo. In one negotiation, specific figures are named, with the WGA scaling back its demands to a meager 25% increase, and being met with â€Å"an offer of a zero percent increase† (Cooper, 2001,  ¶ 13). It is worthwhile at this point to note that both sides have expressed interests and not positions. To clarify, the interest on the guild member’s side might be increased compensation, while a possible position for that interest would be the actual renegotiation of contractual agreements between the guilds and the producers. Similarly, on the producer’s side, the interest is maintaining the status quo, while the position would be the maintenance of existing contracts. To examine points, we should again discuss how those points affect both sides of the debate. The points are clear enough that they can be listed one by one. Due to the mild bias of the article toward the guilds, and guild members there are considerably more points presented from this side of the argument than the other. The first and simplest point is the sheer mass of guild members demanding better working conditions: â€Å"pent-up demand has reached a boiling point† (Cooper, 2001,  ¶ 5) mentions WGA vice president, Dan Petrie, Jr. Whether this demand and pressure is due to poor contracts with producers, or poor negotiations of the same is subject to debate, but is beyond the scope of this essay. Second, there are the many sides of the financial coin. Artists are concerned primarily with fair pay for the use of their work in both the original and recreated mediums. As mentioned in the articles, â€Å"artists are paid little or nothing in residuals for such reuse and resale of their work† (Cooper, 2001,  ¶ 9). This perhaps was less of a problem before the emergence of the Internet, and the growth of the International market. In fact, it is clearly stated that writers had previously accepted lower pay, however they â€Å"did so with the understanding that talent would eventually receive a fair share as those markets matured† (Cooper, 2001,  ¶ 10). According to the article, this is something, which has now happened. An additional aspect to the financial issues is the matter of what the article refers to as â€Å"transfer pricing† abuse – the maneuvering of intellectual property among subsidiary partners of a corporate owner at less than fair market value to reduce the required amount of residuals, which are eligible to be paid. Just as these points are the primary ones discussed in the article, there are none mentioned for the producers – other than their interest in maintaining the status quo, as discussed earlier in the essay. The primary conflict of money for the two sides is, according to the article, a major threat to the movie industry as a whole. As this conflict approaches resolution, the successful negotiation by the unions to a deal which will allow for substantial enough earnings to appease their member base while still allowing for enough profit for the producers, will prove to determine if the actor and writer guilds can escape their status â€Å"as pampered poodles.† (Cooper, 2001) References Cooper, M. (2001). Residual Anger. Retrieved February 11, 2007 from, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010402/cooper

Personal Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Personal Statement - Essay Example The invaluable information and observations I received at the hospital are common to medical centers, attending to the patients’ needs, providing daily care and other basic responsibilities of nurses. In addition to this, I am well aware that such a place presents great challenges so that I have trained myself to think critically on how to care for patients, understanding that they have multiple complex medical problems even to patients who are diagnosed with similar health conditions. Sometimes the setting and the pressures of the work can really drive an individual crazy however, I have resolved to myself to be the strong person I should be for me to be able to do my responsibilities not only to my patients but to my employer and myself as well. I guess my deep passion for the profession has always been a driving force that kept me going even through rough times which in return made me better, stronger, more able. I agree with what Donna Cardillo said, that nurses are the he art of the healthcare. My beliefs are strengthened with the careful attention I equally give to patients, not being affected by their individual differences and attitudes but concentrating more on what I should give than what I receive.

Interview a veteran using these questions (be descriptive) Assignment

Interview a veteran using these questions (be descriptive) - Assignment Example ved during a period of time when our Country was heavily involved in the Vietnam conflict, where he says that though death was a common occurrence, it was one that you never get used to; Ron did three tours in Vietnam, despite this. During times of peace Ron acted as a weapons instructor, training men on the firing range. â€Å"The hardest part of the military, initially, was basic training,† stated Ron, â€Å"later on it became the loss of human lives.† Basic training serves as a trial by fire proving ground for Marines, pushing them to their limits both physically and mentally. Ron’s time in the military allowed him the opportunity to travel and he spent time in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Germany. The whole experience was one of learning and Ron says he most enjoyed that fact, along with the travel. After the military Ron became a successful Deputy Sheriff on the Special Reaction Team where he recently retired with a full pension. Ron says his military experience taught him to view issues from all sides, though he does believe that the Government keeps soldiers to long in combat situations. He now takes the time to actually focus on what others are trying to communicate and also helps those Veterans who may not have been as fortunate as he. He says he has finally gotten more acclimated to a society that is anti-war and he see’s people in a different light, understanding that our differences are the very thing which unites each of

Urban Education Policy and School Improvement Essay

Urban Education Policy and School Improvement - Essay Example The educational system that is embedded in the current society tends to harness the growth of students by providing a curriculum that prepares them for their careers. However, the huge disparities between rich and poor district students are detrimental because it hinders the growth of students in the less fortunate neighborhoods.   One of the key aspects that creates this disparity can be categorized as â€Å"unavoidable circumstances† which consist of many elements.   Conducive studies conducted in this matter indicate that the major cause of achievement gap in New Jersey State is because of the socio-economic factors that have contributed to this grown problem.   Abbott’s struggle to advocate for equal funding of the education system can truly be a catalyst towards an extreme reform in the poor district. As a matter of fact, school administrators have suggested to a more useful approach of the tax money by allocating to the educational system. Undoubtedly, this will attract high-quality professors that can work with the school systems in order to meet the educations that are developed by the district.   Provision of equal funding and learning materials might not adequately close the existing achievement gap in the state as more effort needs to be instilled in order to solve this dilemma. As poverty greatly contributes to underdevelopment of students and minimizes their chances of achieving success in education, it is critical that the government should funnel funding into these poor areas.

Individual reflection and personal development plan Essay

Individual reflection and personal development plan - Essay Example In the New Year resolution, I sat down reflecting over my life I clearly came up with various goals which I have planned to achieve in different phases. Some of the key goals I need to achieve in my school and a professional life include getting a high score in my exams, becoming the best graduate in finance and accounting department, acquiring recommendation letter by the end of the semester and finally getting a job with one of the leading government developmental project. I decided to set these specific goals because they will be easier to achieve than vague ended goals (Lyons, 2010). I have realized that being focused on a path gives someone a logical set of actions to follow. So each and every accomplishment leads me one step closer to the final goal Getting a high score on my exams: since I joined this college, I have been strictly adhering to my reading time table and managing my time well. This has enabled me to score high marks in my first and second year. As I start my third year in this college, I plan to attend more group discussion as this will help me in carrying out my course projects (Smith,Rawling & Jones,2007).This will essentially help me to score high marks in my final exams. As a result, I will  achieve one of my key goals. Attaining a letter of recommendation: Concerning the letter of recommendation, I have contacted the department of finance and accounting through  accounting lecturer, who is also my mentor. The department has assured me that by the end of the semester, they will  issue recommendation letters to all third year students. So there is a high hope that by the end of the semester I will  acquire my recommendation letter, which will assist me in my attempt to securing a job. Being the best graduate in school of accounting and finance: earlier in the first year, I realized that to be the best graduate in any department does

Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Research Proposal Example Therefore, even those consumers who wished to purchase electronics faced restrictions in doing so since there was limited credit. This resulted in huge losses for electronics companies, including Blackberry, Motorola Mobility, and Nokia, evidencing the significant effects the recession was having on the electronics industry. The research paper will seek to evaluate the effects of the recession on behaviour of the consumer in the UK electronics industry, particularly with regards to the smartphone industry. Understanding the response of consumers to the economic downturn with regards to their buying behaviour is imperative for companies seeking to ensure future success (Chakrabarti, 2011: p56). While signs show that the UK economy is stabilizing, leading to questions about this research’s relevance, the changes to consumer behaviour by recessions tend to last for a long time. Therefore, even as economists signal the end of the recession and beginning of recovery, this is unlike ly to be reflected immediately by consumers in their buying behaviour. This literature review will seek to provide a strong foundation in order to understand various widely used consumer behaviour models, which is important in investigating current buying behaviour and decision-making process of consumers in the UK. Consumer behaviour accounts for every decision and action taken by individuals during the purchase of services and goods. According to Dees & Soares (2013: p5), studying the behaviour of consumers is important since for firms to be successful, they should understand the forces that drive consumers to make decisions about purchasing a product, while also helping determine why they choose one brand over another, how they come to these decisions, and how this information can be used for value creation. Foxall (2013: p99) defines consumer behaviour as the study of those processes through which groups or

Point of Dispensing During Disasters Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Point of Dispensing During Disasters - Assignment Example The smooth running of the POD requires planning and coordination with all the various people involved. This response is carried out in collaboration as well as in accordance to the emergency and disaster management plan set up by the state and local administration in case there is one. POD is important as it prevents any infectious diseases that may occur during the disaster from spreading to other people. It also assists in continuing the medication and treatment of the prior medical conditions of victims of the disaster such as asthma and even mental health problems. It also prevents medical stocks in the local public health department and hospitals from running out during the entire duration of the disaster. The PODs also make referrals to other hospitals outside the area or within the area for the more severe medical conditions that cannot be handled on the ground. With the chaos that follows the occurrence of a disaster, it is important to have medical assistance which is free and will cater for the temporary health care needs of the people which are what POD does. The operation of POD is not an easy task as it involves the coordination of many people and organizations. After the disaster is reported, the ICS takes control of the situation. It starts with the planning of the Incidence Control Center where the POD will be set up. This is followed by getting in touch with the local and state public health department to provide the medical staff and first responders. The community is called upon by their leaders to provide volunteers who will be needed for the various activities taking place in the POD. Depending on the magnitude of the disaster, multiple POD centers are set up which offer similar activities (Public Health, 2009). These locations are determined by their accessibility, security and appropriate layout. Drive through POD is also possible to ease congestion in the POD locations. This happens in high-class neighbourhoods and where suitable locations are difficult to manage and operate in.

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Research Paper Example It is an undeniable fact that the world is increasingly multicultural. Due to the integrations of business and the growing globalization that defines the entire world economy, business faces a fundamental question of how they should define multiculturalism within their respective departments. The crux of this matter must necessarily be contingent upon to key factors. The first of these is with regards to what can be defined as a race and the second with what can be defined as ethnicity and culture. Although these two terms are invariably misconstrued to be one in the same, and appropriate and applicable level of understanding with respect to each of these is necessary with regards to defining an understanding the characteristics of what a truly multicultural organization must engender. Firstly, it must be understood that one of the more nebulous of the concepts which has been discussed above is necessarily that of race. Ultimately, race has been used as means of categorizing humans b y cultural, genetic, geographic, anatomical, linguistic, social, religious, or historical means (Goby, 2007). As a function of this, the very definition of race is something that sociologists and anthropologists continue to argue about. Due to the many determinants of race that exist, is oftentimes been decided that since no working and firm definition of what defines one and what defines another can readily be agreed upon, ethnicity, or the means by which an individual is defined as a result of culture and geographic origin, is a far better identifier of people. Broadly speaking, race, and racial definitions is something that the stakeholder must integrate with; whether or not they are of the opinion that such a definition is ultimately helpful. Due to the fact that the stakeholder is responsible not only for integrating directly with the society but also with explicating and defining the means by which past history has taken place and continues impact upon the stakeholders within the workplace, race is not a topic that can merely be brushed aside and deemed as a prior an unsuccessful method of grouping individuals (Pinder, 2009). The fact of the matter is that even as academia and society as a whole differs upon an approach and appreciation for such a concept, it remains incumbent upon the manager/supervisor to continue to place a level and degree of focus upon the importance that race necessarily engenders. Having a diverse representation of race within the workplace allows for the firm to be able to integrate with the perspectives and needs of an increasingly diverse consumer base (Usry & White, 2000). Moreover, by representing such a range of diversity within the firm, the multicultural aura of business and business competition will be bolstered to allow the firm to compete more effectively. Regardless of the potentially flawed an incomplete understanding and appreciation for how race impacts upon the individual and society that the workers within a parti cular industry might necessarily have, it is incumbent upon the manager/stakeholder to seek to distance himself/herself from any of these faulty pre-conceived and ultimately unscientific interpretations.

Capital structure analysis Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Capital structure analysis - Math Problem Example Since the managers are not sure of the accurate share price IST, the company would face a lemons problem if it would wish to raise the amount of capital required through issuing equity. A lemons problem takes place when both the buyers as well as the sellers have asymmetric information about the worth of the product in order to take an informed choice, and it is not possible to get hold of the correct information. For example, if in the market, the buyer cannot determine the value or worth of the product precisely, then he might be willing to pay only an average price for it, which is near about the mean value of the bid price and the offer price. But, this skews the balance towards the lemon seller (whose products are not of high quality), because receiving an average price for his low quality product is good enough for him; as the average price would definitely be higher than the price the product would command if the buyer knew in advance about the quality of the product. This occ urrence also places the seller of a good quality product in a disadvantageous position, since the best value such a seller can anticipate to get for his product is an average price, which is actually lower than the value the product should command (Tel Aviv University, n.d.). Prob. a) In the case of IST, since the managers of IST are not sure about the accurate price of these shares and feel that it is either $12.5 or $14.5, so as the investors have chosen an average price and hence the shares of IST are presently trading at $ 13.50. i) At present, if the company issues equity to raise the required capital, the share price will remain $13.5. The managers of IST would always want to maximize the long-term share price of the company. If the managers know that the accurate value of the share is $12.5; because the shares would be priced at $13.5 which is higher than the actual correct price, the company will have to issue comparatively lesser number to shares as compared to the situatio n if the shares were priced at $12.5. If the share price was $12.5, IST would have to issue 40 million shares to raise $500 million and now that the share is trading at $13.5, it will have to issue 37.037 million shares. Thus, since in this case IST has to issue 2.96 million less shares, it gains around $40 million (2.96 million times 13.5) and hence the managers would definitely choose to issue equity to raise $500 million ii) But, if the managers know that the accurate value of the shares is $14.5, issuing equity would mean that the share price would remain at $13.5 though its actual value is more. This would go against their policy to maximize the long-term share price of the company and would also imply that the company would have to issue 2.55 million more shares than it would have at share price of $14.5. This would lead to a loss of $34.42 million (2.55 million times 13.5). If the company borrows the required amount, it has a threat of potential financial distress and the pre sent value of the financial distress cost would be more than any tax benefit, by at least $20 million. The potential loss by issuing debt is much less than the loss by issuing equity, hence in this case the mangers would choose to borrow $500 million instead of issuing equity. Prob. b) If the management of IST issues equity, then the investors should conclude that the

Admission Seeking Interviews Essay Example for Free

Admission Seeking Interviews Essay There are several reasons why a person would consider and actually go through with committing fraud. It could be due to a perceived pressure, for example financial problems, abuses like drugs or alcohol, pressure from superiors, or simply because the individual is a disgruntled employee who thinks the company â€Å"owes them†. Or the reason could be they want to increase their lifestyle like â€Å"keeping up with the Joneses†. Other pressures could come from superiors who coerce employees to go along with the fraud or lose their jobs. Fraudsters rationalize their misdeeds with thoughts like; they will replace the stolen asset in the near future before anyone notices, or maybe the boss is doing it so why can’t I? Higher level employees like the CEO may rationalize that stock prices will be higher if they manipulate the financial statements, after all who they are hurting? It all comes out in the wash, right? Creative accounting is all it takes and adjustments could be made in the future to remedy this year’s fraud. Individuals who do a fraudulent act typically have the opportunity to commit the fraud. It could be because of shoddy internal controls; even with good internal controls a determined person could find a way to override them. A CEO or manager may think they are high enough on the totem pole that no one would question their antics. Once a fraud has been discovered or reported the fraud examiner must do his/her homework. They must secure data and documents to determine if a fraud has actually happened. Once all the evidence has been gathered about the crime and the subjects background has been determined the fraud examiner sets up an appointment which could be a planned or spontaneous event. He/she would interview the interviewee using a variety of techniques and executing objectivity, fairness and professionalism at all times. The subject who thinks the interviewer is out to help them and does ot judge their misdeeds would be more forthcoming with information so it is important that the interviewer thanks the person periodically offers breaks and concessions lie coffee or a drink. Once it has been determined that the subject was involved through investigation and preliminary interviews the examiner would sympathize with the subject stating such things as â€Å"anyone would do that in your position†. It is important that they establish a rationalization and motive for the fraud. The fraud examiner could produce other witness’ statements to try to get the subject to reveal their motive. Once the motive or rationalization is uncovered it would be important to discover how the act took place. What opportunities did the subject have to commit the crime? Examples could be poor internal controls, management that was lax, or the fraudster was capable of outsmarting his superiors. There are many recommended methods to have a successful interview. Each case is unique and has to be handled in a different way, but the outcome is pretty much the same. The purpose to an admission seeking interview is to determine how it was done, opportunity, why it was done, rationalization, and finally what made the person do it, perceived pressure. In closing, people are complex and unique in their make-up; there is no mold or template that determines who will commit a fraud or why they may do it. Not all people that have pressures for example sole providers of a struggling family, or can rationalize a reason, or have the opportunity will commit a fraudulent act. Basically we all have to live our lives under a certain code of conduct. People who deviate from the honest worker lack morals in my opinion. It is up to the examiner to uncover the truth. The fraud triangle is a helpful tool that gives a standard of the typical fraudster. Classifying potential pressures, opportunities, or probable rationalizations and by using the techniques of a successful interviewer one should net the desired result in determining if the subject is indeed guilty or just being set up by the whistleblower for whatever reason.

The BP Oil Spill and Considering Business Ethics

The BP Oil Spill and Considering Business Ethics Based on the BP Oil Explosion in Texas, the tragedy caused huge environment damages and the threaten to human safety and health: the deep-water oil spilled on the ocean and the shorelines, the effects on the ecology of coastline and marine habits, the burning-off oil-water mix causing air pollution, the hazardous material leak into the atmosphere, the old drum too closed to highly flammable Isom waiting to explode, in which 5 workers were killed and 170 were injured on March 23 2005. The problems with the incident involve unsafe working environment, disproportionate efforts and insufficient information of safety knowledge. While this error attributes to the workers individual improper act, the statement is inaccurate in that it fails to reflect how to make safety environment in working in BP oil plants. In addition, between BPs upper-class executives, who made more scandals, in order to reduce operation costs and make better financial business cycles, they even resigned avoid to accident responsibility, made false audit financial statement, disapproved Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board reports, delayed all essential expenditures. On the other hand, who is responsibility for handling with the accidents, who is taking care of employees safety and life, and who is preserving the earth we live and giving us good environment? According to the accident BP oil spill explosion in Texas refinery, it has caused serious environment damage and irreversible dead and injured. This inspiration is given is that the corporation have to ensure the corporation security, find out security problems to avoid the accident happen again. In this accident, the spokesman of BP Ron Chapman claimed, The BP fatal investigation team did not identify previous budget decisions or lack of expenditure as a critical factor or immediate cause. The clarification is vague and unacceptable. To enhance corporation safety, we could reveal the fact by discounting several of clues: The claim that the workers injures are caused by of the workers individual inattention to the safety code is doubtful. According to Baker Panels reports, the BPs employee agreed to follow the existing security conduction. In contrast, Bakers Panel found that the workers were lack of operating discipline, which implicates the responsibility vaguely. In Baker Panels r eports, on 9th Dec 2005 BP invested 10,000,000 on Texas. Unfortunately, BP dealt with the accident on financial way. BPs irresponsible attitude could be found on Lord Browne, BPs chief executives early retirement when the accident happened. Afterwards, BPs safety policies are stops at paper work only to exhibit the safety and health regulations. In the similar way, the boards of director and executives monitored the safety systems by emphasizing the workers safety repeatedly on the reports. And, another irresponsible attitude is, Carolyn Merrits, chair of CBS, said CBSs executives disagree with the report about the financial budgets. In corporations safety and health conduction, someone would responsible for safe operating practices. However, the workers do not have proper safety and health conduction to follow. The safety code in BP to acting is only concentrated on reducing personal injuries which is useless on save workers life such a dangerous industry, petroleum firm ignore th e safety process and can not control petroleum safety. First of all, I believe that the BPs employees, especially the workers do not be treated fairly based on the safety and healthy conduction. The law can not protect the employees from danger and threaten of the chemicals and petroleum. For example, the employee made much more efforts to earn their safety and only on preventing self injuries, not on all unexpected dangers and threatens. In addition, BP workers are lack of training based on the safety and health conduction. The workers do not have sufficient knowledge and training to fully make their work environment safely, so that the accidents happen all the time. While the accident happened, the workers cannot handle with the situation so that they lose their life or get injuries. However, by law, the corporation safety is supervised by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Obviously, OSHA is an inefficient organization, and it does not supervise the corporation safety and health. As we read, OSHA did not help BP mak e Safety and Health code, OSHA did not inspected whether BPs safety action is accurate under the safety and health code periodically. OSHA did not make sure the workers use chemical in the right way, did not make sure the petroleum facilities are safe and did not make sure the worker works in a safe working environment. On the other hand, BP workers do not protect by the labor law, despite the corporations have to obey the law and respect the human rights, the company does not follow. The workers overtime work, explode on the danger environment, their life and safety are threatened all the time, and their human rights are not respected. In the second place, the financial cycles become an only factor in running companys business. In order to make more business benefit, the BP Company canceled security budget, thus BP used a pressure budget to run safety program which cause serious safety problem. On the basis of BPs financial statements, BP only bought cheap equipment so that it caused the blow down drum leak hazardous material into atmosphere. Moreover, the drum in Texas was built in 1950s and refitted in 1997 which is exactly old that is why caused BP explosion accident. So far as we know, on BPs financial statement, based on the oil majors mantra: squeeze more cash out of a well, or plant, by cutting costs to the bone, and delay all but essential expenditure. More cash from shrinking assets: higher returns. BP delayed all essential expenditure to other companies, government, investorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ which is unfaithful to the people who supported BPs business, nevertheless, BP made more serious environment polluti on on them. To make matters worse, BP shrunk most of their assets to the cash which made more unstable business. Nevertheless, BPs executives were still proud of their financial management which made high profits and good business cycles. Such a company does not pay their expenditures, makes dangerous and unstable of assets and cashes, how could the citizens and residents listen to the company and trust the company? The only thing BP Company concerned about is high profit. To maintain adequate safety and health standards, companies must avoid: Business decision against safety and health regulations. Business decision against human rights. Business decision against environmental laws. Ineffective management on safety and health conduction. Ineffective management of OSHA. Ineffective management of safety and health line management. Ineffective management of broad committee. Insufficient information of safety and health discipline. Irresponsible attitude of management. Cost cutting in safety and health budget. Cost cutting in training, discipline of safety and health. Cost cutting in buying proper equipment or buy inexpensive equipment under safety and health code. Contribution to political interests, or other interests outside the companies. Participating unacceptable business practices. Under the business interests, the corporations tend to act on behalf of their own short-term interests, not on behalf of the environment. This clam gives rise to complex issues about business interests and corporation responsibilities. In my view, the claim assumes a distortedly narrow view of corporation responsibilities, ignoring certain aspects of more expenditure of safety and health and environment prevention. On the contrary, maximizing shareholders wealth and preserving security environment at times coincides and at times conflicts. While the companies may only focus on the business interests, an unknowing toxin pollutes the environment, it would be cost much more to clean up and restore the environment. Furthermore, the compensation of the dead and injury workers caused the companies more losing their interests than business interests. Thus the employees would lose their jobs, and the shareholders would lose their benefits as well. Thus it caused the increasing of the oil pri ces, consequently individuals all around the world paid for these irresponsible of environment damage. Financial cycle of course an important factor to be taken into account but there are also many more essential factors playing just as pivotal a role and not one of them, including, the safety and health, corporation environment, social obligation, good managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Corporation responsibilities is determining in every single case. However, few companies take more consideration of business benefits, but the BP explosion tragedy told us the importance of the corporation responsibilities: Financial cycle should not be overriding factor in running the business; the corporation should not take ethics in trading off individuals for the sake of its own profits. As it stands, the company need take corporation responsibilities to protect employees safety and preserving the nature environment. Accordingly, the corporations have to fairly treat their employees by following the labor law. The companies have to respect the human right of their employees; do not make the workers overtime work, make over efforts, and employees have the rights to have adequate discipline of safe and health working environment. Consequently, the corporations have to protect the employees safety and health by following the safety and health conduction. The corporation need have their own safety and health regulation to prevent the unexpected safety and health accidents. On this ground, the companies have to follow the relevant safety and health authorities conduction; the companies have to make sure have the proper safety and health action for employees to follow. The companies have to give the employees sufficient safety and health information, proper safety and heal th training, criteria safety and health facilities and review the safety and health conduction periodically. The workers not only have the knowledge of prevent individuals from injuries, should know about their job-related problems, but also having the thorough knowledge of the safety and health conduction to know how to protect their selves from danger chemicals, petroleum and unexpected accidents. While it makes some sense in a vague way to share the responsibilities, the obligations belong to individuals will allocated by all relevant lines of authority within the organization. When we do assign responsibility to organizations, it must be clearly distributed to individuals. Nowadays fewer and fewer individuals accept to work in a risk, unsafely and unhealthy working environment. More and more companies increase ethical standards to turn into the corporation responsibilities. The primary obligation to preserve the environment is necessarily to be obeyed by the companies. The corporation must, at the very least respect the law, respect the human rights; obey the safety and health regulations and environmental preserving conductions. The law and the human rights will priority to run the business. In order to practice the law, the companies require portioning out fixed and proper safety and health budget which is at least enough to maintain equipment, provide sufficient safe and health information and training to the employees as an essential budget in running the business. To prevent other external interests the companies from cutting the safety and health budget, the companies should not give political contributions or unacceptable business practices from corporation funds which other external interests could affect companies budgets. Besides, the penalties or compensations might be a measure to prevent companies unwilling to act corporation responsibilities. Furthermore, the corporations require obeying the safety and health regulation via the supervision of the directors of board committees and also the corporations require being supervision under safety, ethics and environment assurance committee. Moreover, the corporation could make ethical strategies into trading rules which benefit a corporation financially thus the shareholders will choose the high ethical to follow when pursuing high business interests. The government might be advised to enhance more safety and health competitions to stimulate more economy maximize highly ethical behavior when the businesses maximize profits. In the final conclusion, business ethical is always beyond business interests. Thus the choice to follow high ethical standards, in many cases, it will make the life better. Notwithstanding, few corporations concerned about their short-term interests, we could make the law to help the organizations to follow business ethics as an essential factor to make the company profits and help the company long-term survival. To make the good life, good future and achieve such goals, we encourage the leadership to turn into the right direction, to think more about ethical behavior when attempting to run the maximum profits. BPs oil spill explosion tragedy is an example to tell us to practice corporation responsibilities and preserve the nature environment. The safety and health environment belongs to each individual. Because workers, employees and individuals cannot scope the environment regulations and safety and health conductions, the corporations, industries, relative authorizations, and org anizations must to do so.

The Major Macroeconomic Policy In Malaysia Economics Essay

The Major Macroeconomic Policy In Malaysia Economics Essay Among the major macroeconomic policy in Malaysia is to achieve sustained economic growth. Continued economic growth means an increase and expansion of an economy of a country. Increased economic activity is shown by the ability of an economy to produce goods and services increasing. To achieve sustained economic growth will increase a countrys income and per capita and can provide employment opportunities to the public. Continued economic growth to measure the performance of a countrys economic development. Continued economic growth means the economic development of a physical nature such as the total production of industrial goods, increase production of other economic sectors, infrastructure development, increase the number of school social and economic development or other. Continuing economic growth rate achieved by a country can be measured by the growth of real national income. In the economic growth we can see from the developments of an economic activity in terms of increased production of goods and services. To determine the growth of an economy, we can measure using real GDP or GNP. GDP is the total market value of all final goods and services issued by a country within a year regardless of who issued it. While GDP means the total market value of all goods, services produced by the end of the only citizen of a country within a year. There are factors that affect economic growth, continuing the development of educational standards and providing training facilities, the use of high technology, foreign investments and market expansion. Hence, to achieve low unemployment is one of the main macroeconomic policies in Malaysia. Unemployment means a condition in which part of the workforce who wants to work at a certain rate of wages in the market that cannot be any jobs. Labor or labor in an economy cannot be equated with the population in an economy. Labor can be referred to those aged between 15 and 58 years were working. While unemployment is not including school, college, university, and retirees. Unemployment is divided into 6 types of unemployment is frictional unemployment, structural unemployment, cyclical unemployment, technological unemployment, seasonal unemployment, and unemployment is not significant. The effect of unemployment will have an impact on the economy they do not encourage economic growth and will make the waste of factors of production. While the impact on individuals and society will lose the skills nor the person and the political and economic instability. To achieve a lower unemployment usin g monetary policy. Monetary policy to cope with unemployment in some way. First, reduce the statutory reserve ratio. When unemployment, the central bank should reduce the statutory ratio of commercial banks made. This will provide the ability for banks to increase lending. Meanwhile, brush will also increase public purchasing and to provide opportunities to meet the aggregate demand in the community. Hence, unemployment will be low and decreasing. In addition, lowering the bank rate or discount rate from the central bank to reduce unemployment. Bank rate is the interest rate charged by central banks to commercial banks. When the bank lowered rates by the central bank will lead to commercial banks will lower interest rates on public investment. Low interest rates will increase investment and to provide increased employment opportunities increased. Low inflation one of the main macroeconomic policy in Malaysia. Inflation means that prices are going in the general price level. Price means the price will generally reflect the overall price level of goods and services is available in an economy at a particular time. One method to reduce the general price level is taking a number of specific goods and services as a representative of the overall goods and services is there an economic performance and price will be measured using the price index. To achieve macroeconomic policy, we need to take several steps to achieve the lowest inflation rates. Among the basic use of physical. Physically able to control the tax policies of the items referred to the food, household goods, electrical goods, electronics and so forth. In addition, the terms of the administrative government should continue efforts to encourage healthy competition to produce goods and services performance of high productivity, technological modernization and competitiven ess of the industry in terms of product prices. Increasing food production capacity as well as to reduce the inflation rate. Finally, the balance of payments is one of the main macroeconomic policies in Malaysia. Definition of an account balance payments showing the inflow and outflow of foreign currency from any country. Foreign currency is to buy one currency and selling of another currency. The balance of payments is also a statement about the show business value. When the transaction value of its exports more than imports, the balance of payments in surplus and vice versa when the transaction value of its imports exceed exports, the balance of payments will be reduced.

Vascular Epiphytes of Far North Queensland :: Botany Plants Nature Essays

Vascular Epiphytes of Far North Queensland There are several definitions of epiphytic plants, each with a subtle difference. Heywood (1993) states that an epiphyte is, "A plant that grows on the surface of another, without deriving food from its host". Raven (1992) states that an epiphyte is, "a plant that grows on another plant, but is not parasitic on it." Basically, a plant that derives its physical support from another plant (host = phorophyte (Luttge 1989)) is an epiphyte. Epiphytes fill important ecological niches in variety of habitats. Epiphytic species can exist as 50% of the tree leaf mass and make up 30% to 50% of vascular plant diversity in tropical forests (Benzing 1990). It is thought that the epiphytic diversity in tropical forests allows an increased fauna diversity. Epiphytic species, while not agronomically important, play intricate roles in ecology. HISTORY Columbus wrote the first known documentation of an epiphytic species. Martinus de la Cruz, an Aztec Indian physician, illustrated the first epiphyte (an orchid) in the Badianus Manuscript in 1552. Trade around the world by the 1770's included many exotic and tropical plants with epiphytic species among them. Orchids, ferns and others were valued by decorators and collectors (Benzing 1990). Scientific interest did not keep pace with trade interest. The scientific study of epiphytes has not been extensive when compared to the study of plants with other specializations, ie. carnivory. Within recent years, due to increased interest in rainforest preservation, an increase in epiphytic study and resulting literature has occurred. EVOLUTION Epiphytes have evolved to take advantage of resources not widely available to other plants. Epiphytes have evolved a variety of morphological and physiological differences to deal with difficulty in mineral absorption, photosynthesis, propagation, water acquisition and water retention. There are two basic theories on the evolution of epiphytes. The first theory indicates that epiphytes may have been shade adapted plants, struggling for light that moved into the canopy. The second theory suggests that plants preadapted to high sun exposure moved from dry savannahs and steppes into the canopy (Luttge 1989). The fossil record does not provide any support for either theory mentioned above. Plant and pollen fossils thought to belong to current day plant families containing epiphytes, can't be labeled epiphytic because the ancient habitats of the plants can't be readily observed. Other research has proposed that epiphytic diversity arose from the Pleistocene / Pliocene ages (roughly 1.

Violence in the School Systems Essay -- Violence Education Crime Essay

Violence within this country has been an ongoing problem throughout history. Due to all the media coverage of more recent violent events in school history, such as Columbine, it is of popular belief that violence in school systems is the worst it has ever been. There are many questions about what type of violence occurs most often, what gender and what ethnicity violence is most affecting in schools. Violence can be defined by any deliberate act, serving no legitimate purpose, which causes injury or which could reasonably be expected to cause injury to another person. To be considered reportable, the conduct should be either intentional or reckless in nature. (Basic Education Circular on Safe Schools, 1996) School violence can also be defined as any school related activity that produces a victim. The first table was a chart that was drawn up in conclusion to a survey that was conducted in 1999. It was asking children in grades 9-12 different question about feeling threatened and carrying or seeing weapons in school. The chart was broken down into different grades, along with various ethnicities, and gender. (www.nces.ed.gov/crime2001/tables) Out of all the questions asked in the survey, the highest positive response to a question of illegal drugs on school property. An average of 30.2% of the children responded that they had been offered, sold or given illegal drugs at school. Leading the category was Hispanic males with 36.9% of them having engaged in some form of drug distribution or some one offering them drugs. The next question with a high response was if these children have ever engaged in a physical fight on school property. A total of 14.2% answered yes to the question. In the same category Hispanic ... ... help the students set goals and come to appreciate the relationship between responsible good behavior and achieving goals. In this program they will earn privileges for good attendance, work accomplishments and goal achievements. This program will be evaluated to determine if similar programs are to be set up in the future throughout the state. (www.msde.state.md.us/juvenilejustice alt.html) Although violence in the United States is a problem that needs a lot of attention, the amount of episodes is and hopefully will remain declining over the years. Teachers, parents and peers all have an impact on each and every child that goes through school systems. As long as they keep teaching violence prevention programs, the numbers will keep dropping. Although this problem will never fully go away, the percentage of violence in schools will be constantly dropping.

The Hound of the Baskervilles Essay -- English Literature

The Hound of the Baskervilles At the start of the story the setting is described through the legend of Sir Hugo Baskerville. Sir Hugo is described in the legend as a â€Å"wild, profane and godless man† This suggests that his inhumanity and â€Å"evil† make him a potentially viable enemy who will stop at nothing. It is Sir Hugo that sets the tone for the setting. Sir Hugo uses his power and Baskerville Hall as a prison for the young girl. She manages to escape by â€Å"the aid of the growth of ivy which covered the south wall.† The ivy indicated the age and wildness of the hall and its setting. The â€Å"moon† is â€Å"shining bright† and the act â€Å"which was liked to be done† on the moor adds to the sense of danger and isolation that we, as readers, encounter at the start of this tale. As grown men leave the impression of â€Å"screaming† and fear being associated with the moor, we are going to be given one final warning, â€Å"caution you to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted† which tells us that this setting is both dangerous and a potential trap for those who dare to live there. We also learn about the death of Sir Charles. â€Å"The day had been wet† and the wild, untamed environment sets the tone perfectly for a mysterious death such as this. We are told that â€Å"there is a gate which leads out onto the moor.† This gate is like a barrier between the moor and Baskerville Hall that separates good from evil, and if anyone were to cross this barrier then anything could happen to them â€Å"Sir Charles lay on his face, his arms out, his fingers dug into the ground, and his features convulsed.† This creates a sense of isolation as it seems as if the only safe place on the entire moor is Baskerville H... ... find out who the man on the tor was. Watson says that â€Å"there was this feeling of an unseen force† out upon the moor, and because he is supposed to be acting as Sherlock’s eyes and ears, he is compelled to find out who or what this â€Å"unseen force† is. Watson goes up onto the tor which he describes as a â€Å"barren scene† and there he feels a â€Å"sense of loneliness and mystery and urgency.† Watson feels as if â€Å"the unknown might be lurking there,† and when Sherlock is discovered he reveals that the â€Å"figure of a man upon the tor† that Watson had seen upon the night of the convict hunt had indeed been Sherlock, when he admits â€Å"I was so imprudent as to allow the moon to rise behind me.† Because the unknown figure turns out to be Sherlock the mystery of the Barrymore at the window remains unsolved and the moor is still a place full of secrets and unanswered questions.

Enforing schools to all have a school uniform

When you think of your typical pupil, what are they dressed in? Some people would state in denims and in a jumper, but the right reply would be in a school uniform! For many old ages now we school uniforms have been the symbol for smart, focused, and hardworking pupils. We are besides really stylish ; I personally make my pupil expression astonishing and mature with my chevrons and colorss. So I ask you, Ontario Ministry of Education, why are we non used in all of your schools? Some would reason that school uniforms limit a pupil from showing themselves, but there are many other ways to show yourself, non merely in your apparels ( â€Å" Do you believe in School uniforms? â€Å" , par. 9 ) . We are non harmful, but in fact are good to both the pupils and the schools and therefore should be used in all of your schools. We ‘re helpful in many ways, but most significantly because we teach pupils subject and focal point, we help schools place interlopers from pupils, and we elimi nate a major beginning of intimidation ; vesture. Enforcing a rigorous frock codification may look harsh to some, but it teaches pupils to train themselves and to concentrate more. You may non believe it, but school uniforms do assistance in a pupil ‘s focal point. Research at a school with uniforms found that â€Å" 44 % of parents have found that their childs are more focussed in school after have oning uniforms † ( Lalwani, â€Å" School Uniforms: Facts on School Uniforms † , par. 3 ) . With about half the pupils more focussed than earlier, it is clear that my brothers and sisters at that place improved their concentration to the point where even the parents noticed. Some would oppugn how precisely we could assist pupils concentrate. Well, maintaining that in head, research besides found that the pupils were more focussed â€Å" because they are non obsessed with the manner they look in comparing to others † ( Lalwani, â€Å" School Uniforms: Facts on School Uniforms † , par. 4 ) . Everyone is se lf-aware of how they look, worrying about if they are have oning the right apparels or the best trade names ( â€Å" Do you believe in School uniforms? â€Å" , par. 5 ) . This changeless badgering distracts pupils from their surveies. If schools were to utilize my friends and household, so pupils would n't blow clip worrying over their apparels. Aside from the immediate benefits, implementing this rigorous frock codification besides helps the pupils ‘ hereafter as good. Learning to be punctual with a rigorous frock codification such as a uniform is a life accomplishment that the pupils will larn while in school if we are used. Alternatively of larning this accomplishment while working at a occupation where you can acquire fired, the pupils will already be ready. As you can see, one of our many occupations is to better a pupil ‘s academic life and besides to assist schools catch intruders. Probably one of the most of import benefits of utilizing us, from a school ‘s position, would be that anyone who is non a pupil would be easy identified. In schools without a uniform, it is about impossible to pick a intruder out from a crowd of pupils merely by looking at them because there is nil seeable that separates pupils from interlopers. I can remember many occasions where this pupil walked into another school to see his friends, and the instructors were non even cognizant he was intruding. Schools can truly merely be certain who goes to the school or non by looking at the pupil cards, but it takes excessively much clip to inquire each pupil to demo their cards. We are the solution to this job because we â€Å" could assist school decision makers identify non-students intruders, and other visitants in the hallway who stand out in the crowd † ( â€Å" School Uniforms, Dress Codes, & A ; Book Bags † , par. 3 ) . It is rather obvious who the intruder is in a crowd if everyone except one is have oning a school uniform. If you still are non positive, I know of one clip where an interloper was identified in a school with uniforms. My close friend was being worn by his pupil one twenty-four hours when a individual walked into the school without a uniform. The pupil rapidly informed a instructor and the instructor approached the adult male and told him to go forth. Since the interloper stood out, he was identified every bit shortly as he walked in. Clearly uniforms aid schools with the issue of intruders, and besides with the issue of strong-arming. It is a known fact that childs get bullied in school. However there is one manner to cut down the sum of intimidation and struggles and that is to utilize school uniforms. Research at California ‘s Long Beach Unified school proved the relationship between uniforms and struggles at school because they had a lessening in offenses, suspensions and sex offenses by at least 90 % after raising the unvarying frock codification ( Lalwani, â€Å" School Uniforms: Facts on School Uniforms † , par. 2 ) . Once the school started to utilize uniforms, non merely was at that place less intimidation, but besides less offenses in general. The ground for this is that â€Å" childs are non picked on due to the sort of apparels they wear † ( Lalwani, â€Å" School Uniforms: Facts on School Uniforms † , par. 4 ) . Obviously no 1 would pick on person because of their apparels if they are besides have oning the same apparels. Basically what we are making is uniting the pupils ( à ¢â‚¬Å" Do you believe in School uniforms? â€Å" , par. 1 ) . Even if two pupils have ne'er met before, they will experience little more familiar with each other because they ‘re have oning the same apparels, stand foring the same school. Wearing my sort â€Å" instills a sense of uniformity and the feeling of being oneaˆÂ ¦ † ( Lalwani, â€Å" School Uniforms: Facts on School Uniforms † , par. 4 ) . With this integrity, pupils can look past the visual aspects and societal positions and merely be friendly with each other. It is easy to separate the societal positions based on apparels, giving the wealthier people with nicer apparels a ground to bully the non so affluent people. â€Å" When I was in high school, my household was hapless. I had three braces of bloomerss to have on at school, one brace of places and possibly 4-5 shirts. My friends and non-friends noticed. Many said things they thought I could non hear † ( â€Å" Do you believe in Schoo l uniforms? â€Å" , par. 11 ) . This individual that came from a hapless household did non hold a batch of apparels so he was bullied because everyone noticed. Had the school used uniforms, no 1 would hold noticed. Thankss to uniforms, intimidation has been reduced in many schools ; nevertheless we can merely assist the schools that are willing to make out and take our manus. It is clear now that we, school uniforms, are good to pupils and the schools. It has been proven that pupils are more focussed in school, schools are safer in general, and intimidation is reduced by a batch. Some schools have realized merely how utile we are. However we wish to assist as many schools as we can. We merely exist to function the pupils and the schools. With this many benefits, non merely should some schools have uniforms, but all schools in Ontario should hold uniforms. It is up to you to take the first measure towards a better educational system and towards the redress for most school issues ; school uniforms.

How Does Knowledge Management Influence Innovation and Competitiveness?

How does knowledge management influence innovation and competitiveness? The Authors Alberto Carneiro, Alberto Carneiro is Assistant Professor in the Polytechnic College at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Abstract Is concerned with human value management, examines the relationships between organizations’ competitiveness, innovation advancements, and knowledge management and presents a set of considerations regarding how these relationships affect strategic management and the formulation of competitive strategies. By considering how knowledge development is related with personal characteristics and personal development, this study review attempts to provide useful insights on the linkages between innovation and competitiveness. These considerations point out the importance of knowledge development and the role of knowledge management in order to assure competitiveness. This work proposes also a conceptual model, with special focus on the relationships between knowledge management, competitiveness, and innovation. The major factors are presented and directions for future research are suggested according to the proposed model. Introduction Management is increasingly aware that knowledge resources are essential to the development of their organizations. Nowadays, the knowledge and the information technology (IT) are critical success factors for strategic formulation. Critical success factors refer to those managerial and organizational constructs that need to be effectively addressed in order to further the likelihood of implementation success. Since industry attractiveness depends on those factors, strategies and their implementation should be supported by a set of informational data and a knowledge development process. Knowledge is becoming progressively more useful because management is taking into account the value of creativity, which enables the transformation of one form of knowledge to the next. The perception of the existing relationships among several systems elements leads to new interpretations and this means another knowledge level where a new perceived value is generated. This relationship indicates that the innovation highway depends on the knowledge evolution. On the other hand, all the technologies that are present in the activities of the chain value have to be articulated and assisted by an efficient knowledge level. Some of the knowledge involved in the use and improvement of technologies can be written down in detail in procedures manuals and use instructions. Others are tacitly transmitted and learned through practical knowledge. Moreover, the success of technological modifications needs to be supported by more clarified and enhanced knowledge. With but few exceptions, most firms have had difficulty in developing a viable strategic knowledge system. There are manifold reasons for this, but certainly a major one is the omnibus nature of the sources required. Knowledge may flow into the organization in a continuous but unsystematic manner, probably because the amount of information processing resources varies by level of management activity. The lack of specific system objectives inevitably led to a data bank of enormous magnitude. It is necessary to consider the structure of such a system and to implement it, in accordance with the organizational functions that use information to realize activities and to decide. Considering the need to increase managers’ concerns, this work sustains that a set of factors is dramatically useful to justify the relationship between innovation process, competitive advancements and a strategic knowledge management (KM). First, it presents a brief review of the relevant literature on the role of knowledge in the management processes. Second, and in a modelization perspective, we will discuss the relationships among these factors to suggest a better way to deal with human value, to improve KM, and to attain a higher level of competencies. Finally, this article discusses the implications of KM on innovation and competitiveness and presents suggestions for future research. Knowledge: an organizational asset What kind of knowledge should organizations develop? Organizations need to use adequate information to check the status of business activities as well as to make informed business decisions (Martin et al. , 1998). According to their tasks, managers must have the adequate information and the ability to analyze and evaluate alternatives in the light of the goal sought. This information comes from different internal and external sources and their credibility is crucial to provide an adequate knowledge (Joyce, 1993). Managers have to consider that the most valuable human attributes should be developed because they are one of the most important assets of many corporations. To do so, they need to adopt a new KM philosophy, based on search of information and innovative efforts. In this philosophy, managers should distinguish between different levels of knowledge. Initially, everybody can be aware of various facts and use data coming from those sources. This means that knowledge is reduced to a basic level, although each individual already has a professional understanding of his/her role in the organization. In the next phase, knowledge tends to specialization. The knowledge level and the fields of specialization will increasingly be taken as standards to measure the companies’ value of their assets. However, without being stimulated, it may stay in a static relation within functional areas, although tasks are performed in a qualified manner. If management is interested in knowledge development, it is necessary to consider that knowledge workers should be included in a dynamic process. This process demands the support of motivation, creativity and the ability to improve an intellectual and comprehensive vision of the relationship between the organization and its environment. Management should differentiate these levels, because the core of the decision-making process could be severely damaged if they were intended as similar. In fact, knowledge workers (strategists, engineers, technicians, researchers, etc. ) are able to offer insights in what concerns problems and/or new situations. In an upper level they can also contribute drastically to include more evident values into the company’s offering in order to generate the client’s preferences. Knowledge workers are the core intellectual competence of many firms. In fact, they dominate their expertise fields and, for example, they know how to optimise the systems software that is relevant to strategic decisions. Knowledge workers create most of the value in some industries. The benefits are immediately visible in some innovative industries, such as software, pharmaceutical, health care, financial services, communications, and consulting. That is, knowledge influences competitiveness. At this moment, it is necessary to underline a question: can knowledge be seen as a specific value for the organization or is management only using the employees’ brain capacities in a very innocent manner, because they are human resources? In the past, the returns on investment came predominantly from physical assets like physical products and equipment. Today, knowledge is the main source of another type of assets: intellectual assets. Knowledge levels can be an asset only if they are enhanced and efficiently used. Being so, managers must purposely organize, motivate and control the development of their knowledge workers. These ones are able to provide new solutions in the complex network of organization-client relationships. Owing to technologies, materials, and competitiveness, several industries find themselves in complex scenarios. Knowledge is not the solution, but, in the near future, the intellectual capital will be required to deal with this complexity, and to support innovation and creativity (Brooking, 1996). Usually and specially in the context of dynamic industries, higher knowledge levels live near a frequent dissatisfaction and the capacity of questioning what seems to be already understood. The need of search is one of the consequences. In various industries, the search activities can lead to new products and to innovative processes. Undoubtedly, the increasing complexity of research militates in favor of formal institutions like universities and government laboratories. Nevertheless, if KM is able to stimulate and support their commitment, individual innovators may have an important role in the changing process. Moreover, research activities in the business sector tend to be integrated within manufacturing firms (Mowery, 1983) and they can propose incremental innovation. Considering their missions and strategic objectives, organizations have to define what kind of knowledge will be more important to take care of. Managers should develop the ability to stimulate knowledge workers in order to obtain better effective levels in what concerns the analysis of target markets, technological innovations, and economic trends. Knowledge and information technology Data and information are used for a variety of purposes in organizations, namely for improving the possibility of increasing knowledge potential. Some information is simply data obtained from the database in its initial stage, which is mainly supported by internal documentation and tacit knowledge. Sophisticated or specific information is included in a management information system. Based on various subsystems of information, KM may use many combinations of factors in accordance with the database system and data that are provided by the users (DeSanctis and Gallupe, 1985). In general, firms’ search for information can be viewed as part of a process, through which an organization adapts to its external environment in order to survive and to become more competitive. Particularly, organizations look for information about specific activities, such as the purchase of new equipment and launching of new products, to obtain benefits of improved final decisions. Information requirements depend on the nature of each situation and on the need to formulate competitive strategies (Wetherbe, 1991). Building effective information systems is a very important challenge that managers are facing today, but it is necessary to pay attention to the need of comprehensive information systems architecture. A firm and its managers use a variety of approaches to combine, sort, and process the environmental data to produce timely and relevant information for forming, monitoring, evaluating, and modifying strategy. This variety should reach a high integration level in order to be possible to obtain a strategic information system. Knowledge professionals do have a decisive role in this integrative task. Summarizing, aggregating, comparing, or combining various sets of data collected in the environment and from competitors and customers produces other information sets, which are used, for example, to measure performance and report on the financial health of the organization. Knowledge workers are often exposed to incomplete information on new events and modifications, but they also have the option to search for additional information in order to update their knowledge levels (Ozanne et al. 1992; Burke, 1990). KM is also a question of cultural way of operating in the market. To enable this culture to prevail, IT is needed. Nowadays, IT is assuming a decisive role in KM and is one of the most important tools, which is used to decide, to fight competitors, and to catch target markets. In fact, adequate software can capture and distribute to knowledge workers all the useful information the company has stored over t ime. Taking this operation as a training process, knowledge workers can integrate several types of data and try to find new solutions for their problem tasks. This is true because they can use information about clients and competitors, technical databases, decision support systems, management models, successful solutions to competitive situations, and access to specialized sources of knowledge. Understanding, interpretation, and the use of IT may enable a possible competitive advantage to be identified and obtained. These three aspects cannot be done without specific and organized knowledge of the relationships among hardware, software, processes, and required results. In fact, some equipment replaces human command-and-control procedures, but knowledge advances have o be used to optimize this equipment utilization. Knowledge workers have adequate qualifications to communicate the information that is needed. Information sharing is a very usual practice. However, some of them avoid this communication flow, because they are not able to see the organization as a system, where the global objectives should be accepted as a common value. In some organizations, information sharing should be stimulated, because it is one of the most important tools of creativity and, moreover, intellectual assets, unlike physical assets, increase in value with use. Knowledge management: some guidelines Management has to analyze in the right time all the environmental elements because they affect the organization performance. Managers must intend to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies goal achievement. The main role of environmental analysis is to detect, monitor, and analyze those current and potential trends and events that will create opportunities or threats to the organization. A number of companies have developed effective means of learning about their environments and, most importantly, have implemented strategic decision systems which allow them to capitalize on opportunities and to defend themselves against threats. These analyses and systems are based on IT and KM. KM improves the conditions for strategic action by way of appreciating and treating problems and challenges by the company. Strategically, the success of most management decisions depends also on a competitive effort, which includes a deep knowledge of customers’ attitudes and an adequate analysis of the stronger competitors (Curren et al. 1992). This means that managers must learn: weaknesses, strengths and movements of their direct competitors; and how their customers perceive their products. Finally, all these findings should be integrated into a management information system. Managers should become aware that the great challenge is settled on the efforts to innovate, to exploit te chnological advances, competitors’ failures, industry opportunities, and the investment in knowledge processes and knowledge workers. In fact, knowledge and knowledge workers can be interpreted as a company’s intellectual capital, and also as a key factor to its sustainable development. According to Kao (1996), some companies are already able to carry out internal knowledge audits in order to quantify the innovative effort for competitive advantage. Most of the times, the intellectual capital is not well recognized and remains largely hidden from the view of financial analysts and executives alike. As a consequence, it is undermanaged. This means that its potential is not entirely used. Top management should focus their attention on these situations because the intellectual capitals of their companies and innovation infrastructure are one of the real sources of future competitiveness (Leonard-Barton, 1995). It is well known that managers have to face uncertainty, that is, they must make decisions under uncertain conditions, often before all the required data are in. Today, managers must be able to embed more knowledge-value in their decisions. Doing so, they will become much more prepared to come out with a new improved and even better alternative before their competitors. Knowledge workers may help in these situations. In fact, they are adequately able to deal with information and present hypotheses and proposals. Therefore, they can have an efficient role in the reduction of uncertainty. This point of view demands new directions of KM. To stimulate the development of creative skills, management should point out some directions to the most important knowledge workers: †¢to be able to define objectives of each task in a systemic network in order to share knowledge and available information with others; †¢to increase the level of individual commitment; †¢to be entirely aware of the amount of resources (equipment, software, materials, assistance) that they are going to need; and †¢to ask for answers, creativity, and innovative solutions. Management needs to show some interest in the intellectual capital, the crucial importance of creativity, the need to sustain a constant flow of innovation, and the new concept of learning organization. Competitiveness and knowledge management Knowledge and the formulation of competitive strategies The success of a strategy depends also on a co-ordinated resources management. Resources may be divided into two groups: physical resources (money, equipment, materials, facilities, and time) and conceptual resources (data, information, and knowledge). Managers have to decide how available resources will be distributed throughout their organizations. In fact, the organizational context calls for or demands certain decisions and results. Being a manner of finding a solution for a problem or formulating a strategy to achieve the objectives previously defined, every decision should be based on: an integrated set of information; the knowledge skills of human resources. In what concerns dynamic organizations, KM is a valuable strategic tool, because it can be a key resource for decision making, mainly for the formulation of alternative strategies. KM should be able to combine innovation efforts, updated IT, and knowledge development in order to achieve a set of capabilities to increase competitiveness. In fact, when this combination is adequately managed, the company can formulate competitive strategies, which integrate innovative products and new technological weapons to face its competitors. Management decision is a very complex process whose evolution integrates several stages. The first step in solving a decision problem is its formulation. In a practical perspective, defining its boundaries and critical components depends on information resources. The analysis of input data needs also a complete and updated understanding of several realities and the capability to find relationships among them. Further, the decisionmaker is able to predict the outcomes because they result from each available alternative. These stages are always based on data, which need to be organized in order to be useful; that is, every management decision must be supported by a set of information because of each situation, the context where it is occurring, and the organization objectives achievement. In a fast-changing environment, the competitive advantage of many companies is based on the decision to exploit, to develop the power of knowledge development. That is why some corporations try to provide opportunities for personal and professional development and are seeing that they should stimulate knowledge development to formulate competitive strategies. To find out and exploit opportunities, companies need to establish the main orientations of KM in order to enlarge their growing possibilities based on innovation and competitiveness. Managers know that it can be disastrous to enter or compete in an industry without being aware of changing critical success factors that define their target markets, since they play a significant role in determining the likelihood of implementation success or failure. If a firm is entirely aware of the vital importance of these factors, management decisions have to consider a complex background where the knowledge of the clients’ needs and preferences and the competitors’ strategies is decisively important. Practically, this means that a market orientation includes the concept of competitive orientation (Slater and Narver, 1994; Day, 1994, 1990). In this context, a company can decide its competitive advantage as a function of the capability to generate radical change in its processes and technologies and of the flexibility to adapt its resources to the strategic formulation. For example, if an organization decides to become a fast innovator, managers should co-ordinate the ability to formulate a competitive strategy and to build advantages against competitors. This ability depends on the capacity of speeding up creative operations to generate innovations (Page, 1993). These considerations are already known and well accepted, but we need to extract from them the logical consequences. A competitive decision should be based on a wide and quite firm support, which shall integrate the different relationships among several types of knowledge. As a consequence, a comprehensive knowledge is the vital ground where competitiveness should be built. Increasing competitiveness using knowledge benefits According to modern approaches, KM is already considered as a key factor in the organization’s performance, because it deals with different resources that can aid decision makers in many ways (Keen, 1991). Managers require complete and updated information and, according to their level of activity, they hope to rely on their knowledge workers. Nevertheless, this hope is useless if these experts are not effectively motivated to deepen continuously their levels of knowledge. Some companies know that the innovation effort and the adoption of new procedures and new technologies may increase competitiveness (Goel and Rich, 1997). This relationship seems to have the following reasons: †¢the innovators can be inventors if they are able to manage research and development function (Gilbert, 1995); †¢knowledge workers can perceive and deal with what target market accepts or expects as value; †¢knowledge development is a fruitful background where incremental innovation may be attempted; †¢if a company can use a knowledge-based competitive edge, it is able to defend itself against the aggressive movements of its competitors. The need for scientific and technical information flow within the firm is well recognised. Knowledge and information derived from data are required for competitive initiatives such as improving customer satisfaction, developing new products and markets, and providing faster response. The link between knowledge and systemic databases should be understood within the context of information resource management (McFadden and Hoffer, 1994). This means that effective decision making requires a rational selection of inter-related data and the possibility of these data being integrated into KM. This orientation can be applied in the strategic planning area, and it presents flexible capabilities. In fact, managers have the possibility of asking for more updated information, using pre-programmed models based on the integrative knowledge of previous situations, considering alternative solutions, and stimulating the construction of innovative proposals. A KM can lead managers to anticipate problems better and to experiment and innovate. Based on a good KM, managers are more able to analyse and evaluate environmental scenarios, and adequate response alternatives in the light of the global objective previously determined (Dutta and King, 1980). At this point, managers can desire to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies the achievement of global objectives. This means that they are deeply concerned with increasing competitiveness. A primary objective of this orientation in modern business organizations is to contribute to greater efficiency in achieving organizational objectives. To assure this contribution, researchers should reinforce their efforts to explore the relationship between the competitiveness optimisation and the KM optimisation, and also the effectiveness of a KM, which has not been entirely clarified. Innovation and knowledge management Can knowledge management support innovation? The innovative efforts include the search for, and the discovery, experimentation, and development of new technologies, new products and/or services, new production processes, and new organizational structures. The consequences of these efforts are sometimes seen as a raw material of information industry. New management philosophies are aware that information is the result of knowledge evolution and that a solid network between intellectual effort and technological innovations is enlarging. The innovative efforts are also the right consequence of the investment in knowledge and knowledge workers. If KM is positively influenced by the search of innovations, the investments in the development of new knowledge may propel companies into new business in more rewarding markets. To achieve better results, innovative efforts have to be strategically combined with a competitive orientation and its consequent movements. This combination depends vitally on the highest level of individual knowledge and on its technological basis. Many companies are taking into account that new technologies and management approaches are changing the traditional perspective of managing intellectual resources. According to some works (Harari, 1994; Nonaka, 1994; West, 1992), the organizations that are able to stimulate and to improve the knowledge of their human capital are much more prepared to face today’s rapid changes and to innovate in the domain where they decide to invest and to compete. Managers should recognise that the skills of human resources and the motivation level make possible creative suggestions, different proposals, and research activities to build up innovations. Due to the new insights of KM, a creative knowledge worker can contribute to face the problems that need new kinds of resolution, the situations that demand innovative approaches, and the relationships that can be discovered in the more and more complex markets where companies are operating. In old times, capital was the company’s most critical and scarcest resource and human attributes were used to contribute decisively to obtain the return of the company’s investment in equipment and plants. Presently, companies are trying to understand and to use a new logic of value, which is founded on its competencies, customers’ evaluation criteria, and competition. It should be underlined that the knowledge development in the fields of technological innovations, specialisation on business processes, and innovative products is the strongest source of competencies. Moreover, all competitive efforts, which come from competitors’ knowledge and innovations, dramatically affect the success of strategies (Gatignon and Robertson, 1993). Innovation should be viewed as a complex process, which involves a set of investment possibilities. In this investment perspective, knowledge has to be considered as a sort of capital. Owing to this reason, its development process is a managerial concern, because it can lead to the launching of a new product. The success of an innovative product is notoriously connected to research activities and changing orientation. On the other hand, these two elements depend on the development of knowledge levels and the innovative efforts of knowledge workers. Knowledge development How to intensify learning involvement One of the most important objectives of a competitive KM should be to increase frequently the different levels of knowledge. Increasing them implies: †¢to straiten the links among the latest advances of IT and the processes of gathering and process information; †¢to motivate knowledge development by recognising its importance in companies’ evolution; †¢to promote the acquisition of scientific culture, specially in the fields directly connected with the company’s main activities; †¢to invest in theoretical courses and practical training; †¢to intensify an effort to get updating in industry. According to the usual characteristics of all learning and experience curves, the knowledge level may grow exponentially if management is able to stimulate the conditions to learn more and to increase experience. Considering the power of these stimuli, which should be integrated into a global human resources policy, management has to define the adequate procedures to enlarge and to deepen knowledge development. Within a scenario of competitive imperatives of speed and considering the need to innovate constantly, learning will be the essential hedge against the possibility of negative consequences. Organizational learning should be seen as one of the most important responsibilities of top management. In fact, organizations may use the individuals’ learning activities and learn through them to create an organizational learning system, which provides the possibility of enhancing the capacity to generate new offering proposals (Coopey, 1995; Sinkula, 1994; Senge, 1990). Some authors consider that an organizational learning includes the ability to increase the understanding level from experience through analysis of problems, experimentation of solutions, and evaluation of results (McGill and Slocum, 1994; McGill et al. 1992). Organizations’ development needs to have the support of the positive changes in the education and training of the work force. This means that management should stimulate and organize this changing process. In general, there are two main ways that managers have to consider: 1. (1) updating efforts: scientific and technological knowledge is almost constantly changing and everybody in the organization should be conscious of the state-of-art of their fields of work; 2. 2) knowledge progresses have to be transformed in a more effective effort in order to obtain better production processes and more competitive technological advances. Learning involvement could be defined as a state of energy that a knowledge worker experiences in regard to an effort to increase his/her knowledge level (McQuarrie and Munson, 1987). A knowledge worker who is highly involved in learning is likely to expect more abilities to create and to suggest new ideas. A set of adequate information technologies should be foreseen. In fact, at any time during the learning process, errors or imprecision can occur. To avoid their negative consequences, KM should take into account the reliability of the information sources and also the data accuracy. These factors will affect positively the objectives’ achievement. Knowledge development as a strategic management instrument If management has a true strategic orientation, the knowledge development is a systematic, integrated, and planned approach to improve the effectiveness of intellectual capital of an enterprise (Edvinsson and Malone, 1998). It is designed to solve problems that adversely affect operating efficiency at all levels. Knowledge is one of the branches where development movements can occur to help managers in their decision-making process, to create new responses, and to enable a set of competitive reactions and/or pro-active proposals. In the last two decades, we have seen a knowledge explosion and a change of the labour force. In fact, knowledge workers are not directly involved in manual activities, but make up a greater proportion of the labour force than ever before. Many companies try to provide an internal environment for experiential learning in which knowledge workers become more and more involved in solving job-related problems. In a quickly changing environment, the organization’s flexibility is one of its key success factors. This flexibility should be strategically combined with knowledge workers’ adaptability and high-quality standards to obtain two types of competition tools: 1. (1) sustainable advantages against competitors; 2. (2) capability to offer to the target market new alternatives. Knowledge development is a sort of response to changes in the external environment and nternal situations. It can be adapted to solve problems that negatively affect operating efficiency, including the need to replace obsolete products by new ones. In what concerns knowledge development, the improvement of products (incremental innovation) and process innovation (radical innovation) should be integrated. The aim is to improve the horizo ntal flow of information, because this flow is a very important tool to understand the relationship between the organization, its clients and its competitors. To make better decisions, managers have the option to search for more accurate information. One of the most important sources is the knowledge development of their collaborators, because they have been adequately trained to find out what are the new advances of science and technology. Training and motivational measures can be used to leverage professional intellect, but human intellectual capabilities can not be managed as if it was the only goal. In fact, top managers must consider the critical knowledge bases, the intellectual skills, and also the accumulated experience that can be used to increase the organization performance and to support their strategic decisions. Most developments at enterprise level are not possible without changes in education and training of the human resources, namely the intellectual capital. In fact, this capital is focused on innovative effort, on the information about competitors, and on proactive strategic decisions (Prescott and Gibbons, 1993). In many important complex problems there simply are not enough empirical data to provide a basis for complete analysis. Many aspects of a decision process require personal judgement, that is, the presence of updated knowledge workers. The problem-solving capabilities of knowledge workers lie in education background, professional training, creativity, and motivation. Non-routine processes demand for more skilled workers, because innovative solutions should be found and adapted to market needs. Sometimes, an organization needs to assimilate competitors’ technologies, to imitate them, and, in a benchmarking perspective, to adapt them in order to obtain specific benefits (reduction of costs, faster capacity to satisfy their market needs). This strategic effort demands a sufficiently motivated intellectual capital. In fact, even people with exceptional talent will not be able to develop potential without the adequate motivation (Twining, 1991). Moreover, knowledge development should include an effort to integrate the intellectual power of the organization’s human resources. Skills that are integrated according to a systemic perspective are more effective than a set of disconnected and/or uncoordinated talents. The co-ordination of the various abilities and aptitudes may lead to a learning process with a holistic approach. Being so, knowledge workers can learn more, recall information more accurately and use all their resources to build up innovative solutions. Influence of KM on competitiveness and innovation The influence of KM on management decisions effectiveness should be considered to support and also provide insight into how knowledge workers can contribute to obtain better results. However, management must consider that knowledge is not a simple and unique entity. The commitment to generate new discoveries and a more demanding understanding is not enough. The organizations need to look for the knowledge that is able to add value. Value adding knowledge is very different to an information-mix. This mix can be important, but first it is necessary to find out how the markets perceive the presence of value. These considerations can be taken as a guideline for KM. There are perhaps an unlimited number of factors that can define management attitudes regarding the role of intellectual capital into organizations’ life. Some managers evaluate significantly this capital as a very important resource that should be used to obtain adequate profits. Therefore this capital should be constantly improved. As can be seen in Figure 1, a conceptual model of KM is proposed. It emphasises that innovation and competitiveness can be a function of the KM. This model takes into account numerous determinants (determinant factors) of the relationships among various fields. The top portion of the model shows the most common factors that usually define management’s attitudes and deals with the following questions: †¢How important is intellectual capital? †¢How does management evaluate knowledge development? Is training one of the important aspects to be planned? †¢Is knowledge considered as a strategic tool? †¢Are managers prepared to motivate knowledge development? †¢Are managers able to stimulate the potential capacities of their knowledge workers? KM has to deal with two domains: 1. (1) personal characteristics of each knowledge worker; 2. (2) factors that affect personal development. The most common factors t hat affect initially the personal characteristics of a knowledge worker are education level, attitudes and values, innovativeness and creativity (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993; Allen et al. 1992; Mayo and Marks, 1990; Bearden et al. , 1986; Hirschman, 1980). Innovativeness is an important factor for supporting innovative efforts and it contributes also to define the personality. However, it is not enough to desire new products or new processes. In fact, an innovation that an enterprise presents into the market may be also due to the creativity of its knowledge workers. Personal development is directly related to professional experience. Any personal experience may be an information source and a learning situation. As a result from a personal or a managerial decision, training courses may contribute to reawaken previously acquired knowledge and to facilitate the access to a higher knowledge level. The development of each knowledge worker has its own dynamics, which is related with personal objectives. The more demanding the objectives are the more the learning efforts should be intensified. Nowadays, learning processes and knowledge updating procedures depend on information technology. Moreover, it has a decisive role on knowledge development because competitive advantage can only be maintained by the use of information for innovation (Huffman et al. 1990). Nowadays, managers have to decide whether they want to obtain better results from their knowledge workers or they prefer to lose the creative power that they possess in their minds and their professional experience. Managers’ attention must be focused on personal development. To obtain an effective knowledge level, investment in knowl edge development is needed. Managers should improve their ability to motivate knowledge workers to attain higher knowledge levels, because the arousal of this set of intellectual needs may be caused by external stimuli. Motivations should be intensified, because they should impel knowledge workers to increase their knowledge levels. This movement will be decisive in terms of innovation and can contribute to a stronger competitiveness. Even when no innovation is possible, an improved knowledge of the market and competitors can lead to more competitive movements. The technical capacities of a modern information technology will help this motivational scheme. Companies have to find ways to reach knowledge workers’ involvement. A person’s level of involvement plays a role in how much effort is used to learn new subjects or to deepen knowledge. Moreover, this involvement is an adequate condition for information sharing among knowledge workers. Adding IT, creativity and knowledge leads to a particularly potent combination. Managers can obtain impressive results in what concerns the companies’ abilities to innovate if they are able to develop the stimulation of innovative proposals through motivational methods and adequate rewards. The same can be said in what concerns key success factors: managers should practice frequently the stimulation of competitive efforts, provided through utilisation of both existing and new technologies. This conceptual model intends to interpret the relationship between KM, innovation, and competitiveness. It may contribute to an integrated understanding of the knowledge development process and its influences into the domains where management efforts should be focused. Conclusions This article intends to provide insights to a better understanding of KM in what concerns the possibility of influencing innovation and competitiveness. Its considerations provide considerable support for the importance of knowledge workers as a decisive contribution to the strategic enhancement. The implications for managers have been underlined. Regarding these implications, some concluding remarks can be made: †¢define methods for measuring the degree of KM effectiveness; †¢develop effective strategies for integrating innovative efforts, professional experience, skills, interactive capacities to create value for a company’s competitiveness; †¢determine the means to capture, transfer and leverage knowledge effectively; †¢let KM enter into strategic decisions concerning the profitability of intellectual assets. The suggested model also enables us to extend some of the frameworks for understanding managers’ evaluation criteria. This extension to traditional models of management strategic decisions is a direct result of the informational complexities in modern organizations. Consequently, these considerations intend to represent an important step forward in unravelling the KM as an efficient support for innovation and competitiveness relationships. Directions for further research Deepening the analysis of managers’ interest on knowledge is critical to understand how KM can contribute to improve strategies’ formulation. Future research should examine the differences among industries, and measure accurately the relative importance of the factors that affect personal characteristics and knowledge development. Because these relations are not fully investigated, we suggest additional studies concerning the industries where knowledge workers have a more defined and important role. Future research on managers’ attitudes facing the linkages between strategic management and human value may have to examine carefully the role of a KM orientation as an effort to support adequately successful strategies. This discussion contributes to a better understanding of the consequences of a management orientation, which is able to leverage knowledge advances. 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