Barriers to Entrepreneurship Development in Tajikistan

Barriers to Entrepreneurship Development in Tajikistan Introduction The development of the entrepreneurship as an essential component of the economy of Tajikistan is taking place for the past 19 years, in spite of its certain downturn during the civil war in the country in 1991-1997. Within the given period, the legal framework for the regulation of business activities was developed and amendments to the particular conditions of the governmental policy related to the entrepreneurship support were made. The stage of the entrepreneurship establishment required the improvement of its sectoral structure and enhancement of the economic efficiency. It is obvious that the prospects of its development are directly related to the alleviation of particular barriers which business people currently encounter. At the same time the inception of economical growth should initiate the positive influence on the entrepreneurship promotion. The essay will exclusively focus on the analysis of entrepreneurship establishment and development in Tajikistan with the reference to SME sector including the importance of entrepreneurship for the socio-economic development. In addition, the essay will describe main barriers to entrepreneurship development and possible ways to alleviate the difficulties related to its promotion. The rationale for the decision to write about this specific issue is based on following particular reasons: there are very few research works describing problems of entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan. Although, some scholars described these issues in the former Soviet Union countries, in most of their works Tajikistan is only slightly mentioned among the other countries. The objective of this given paper is to define the entrepreneurship situation in Tajikistan, the importance of its development as well as to identify the difficulties for entrepreneurship development and to provide recommendation for the solution of the existing problems. In order to reach the stated objective, the following research questions were raised. First of all it is important to understand, what are the main barriers to entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan? Secondly, what are the possible ways to promote entrepreneurship development? The theoretical and empirical grounds for the given paper are the analytical works of Tajik and foreign scholars, statistical data, as well as surveys and reports of various international institutions. Due to the analysis of both foreign and Tajik experts assessments the reader will be enabled to find the dual opinion on the described issue. Chapter One The role and importance of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan 1.1 Tajikistan at a glance: background information In order to explain the entrepreneurship situation in Tajikistan, it is worth to describe the background information about the country. Being a landlocked country, Tajikistan is located far from the main Eurasian highways. Infrastructure is poorly developed due to the fact that 93% of the all territory is mountains. In fact there are a number of scientific works describing the linkages between the infrastructure and the country development, including development of the entrepreneurship. However, in the framework of present essay the impact of poor infrastructure to the entrepreneurship development will not be discussed. During 1929 1991 Tajikistan was a member of the Soviet Union. After the breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country gained independence and started the transition to the market economy. After gaining its independence, the country was immediately faced with the economic problems caused by the collapse of the centrally-planned Soviet economy: such as, disruption of guaranteed markets, withdrawal of subsidies and instability of exchange (Middleton, 2007). Due to these facts, economical as well as political transformations of Tajikistan were difficult, primarily due to the holdover of various centrally planned command and control approaches to the national development (Suhir, 2003). According to Johnes, Tajikistan can be considered as the poorest of the countries of the former Soviet Union. At the beginning of its independence the position of the country was undermined by a civil war which lasted from 1991 until 1997. During that time the economy suffered significantly. In addition, the war has seriously disrupted the entire infrastructure of the country and contributed to the emigration of almost one million people, this number was equaled to a sixth of the total population. After the end of the civil war, the government undertook an aggressive program of reforms. As a consequence, by the beginning of 2000, the majority of small sized enterprises had been privatized, and most of the large enterprises were transformed into joint stock companies. Moreover, almost half of all cropland belonged to private people. In addition, being a neighbor of Afghanistan, the country has fallen victim of the drug trade and has been directly affected by drug-related criminal infi ltration (Johnes, 2002). Despite its growth, Tajik economy is not still fully recovered from the effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the civil war. The gross domestic product in 2007 was still only 72% of the 1991 level in real terms, which is visually represented in the Chart 1. Chart 1: Real GDP continues to recover but has not reached the level of 1991 Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 1.2 Definition and types of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan The process of society democratization and the implementation of market relations which are taking places in Tajikistan nowadays caused a variety of positive effects. Entrepreneurship which influences all economical spheres can be considered as such effect. In developed countries the role and the importance of entrepreneurship are being evaluated quite high. Our country, which has chosen the path of market economy, is considering the issues of entrepreneurship and strengthening of its role as a matter of paramount importance (Rahmon, 2001, own translation). According to the State program of Protection and support of entrepreneurship in the Republic of Tajikistan for the years 2002-2005, entrepreneurship is described as an activity which independently carried out by the persons registered in an order established by the law; this activity is directed to the earning of profit from use of property, sale of goods, manufacture, performance of works and rendering of services. Entrepreneurship development is one of the priority directions of financial and economic policy in the conditions of market economy and it is directed on increase in production and rendering of services as well as provision of new workplaces (Soliev, 2004). It is quite possible that the reason of such simplified definition of entrepreneurship was to motivate as much as possible people to become entrepreneurs. Tajik scholar Juraboev described entrepreneurship as a search for new spheres of rationalization and a profitable investment of recourses, performance of new combinations in manufacture, movement to the new markets, and creation of new products. It is aimed at making a profit above the average level (Juraboev, 2003, own translation). The tendency of entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan started from the period of 1993 1994. At that time the quantity of enterprises which performed entrepreneurial activity and had a status of legal entity was equaled to 3304 enterprises for the year of 1993 and 3988 enterprises in 1994 (Statistical yearbook , 2006). The entrepreneurship area was dominated by the cooperatives, farmers, private and individual enterprises. However, the crisis in the economy caused by the severance of economic relations between the former Soviet Union countries which had common free market zone before, and the post-war factors with corresponding decrease of nation welfare became the reasons of reduction in the quantity of private enterprises, especially SMEs. Nevertheless, in later years the entrepreneurship in Tajikistan, which for the purposes of this essay is described by the SME sector, started to recover from the consequences of Soviet Union breakup The obvious development of SME sector can be proved by the available data that shows that in October 2006 the amount of small and medium enterprises in Tajikistan was equaled to 12167, including 7578 active enterprises. The structure of the SME sector can be described as follows: the highest amount of 38.4 % is commercial enterprises, the share of trade and catering 17.2%, construction 13.3 %, industry 12.3%. The part of other economic activities is equals to 20% (Nazarov, 2006). In addition to the information provided above it is important to identify the SME sector in Tajikistan. In compliance with the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan ÂÂ «On State Protection and Support of Entrepreneurship in the Republic of TajikistanÂÂ » passed in 2005, the SME sector is composed of three typologies of businesses. The first group is individual entrepreneurs, who is involved in a business activity without forming a legal entity and operate it at their own risk. The second group is dehkah farms enterprises involved in the production and sale of agricultural products. Dehkan farmers operate as individual entrepreneurs according to the State Registration Certificate. Third group includes small and medium sized companies (Law On State Protection and Support of Entrepreneurship, 2005, own translation). Moreover, the special SMEs criteria are also being significant. As consistent with the Tax Code of Tajikistan, small enterprises are individual entrepreneurs and legal entities which perform business activity and their gross revenue (before taxes) is not exceed 150 000 USD. The average quantity of employees should not exceed 50 for agricultural sector and 30 for other sectors. Respectively, medium enterprises are individual entrepreneurs and legal entities whose gross revenue is more than 150 000 USD but does not exceed 3.7 million USD. The average quantity of employees can vary from 50 to 200 for agricultural sector and from 30 to 100 for other sectors (Tax Code, 2009, own translation). In fact the Micro-enterprises are not defined in the Tax Code. 1.3 The importance of the entrepreneurship in the socio-economic development of the country Nowadays private enterprises are functioning almost in all fields and spheres of the economy of Tajikistan. With the presence of necessary support, the entrepreneurship plays an important role: it contributes to the state budget, creates new employment and stimulates the social and economic development of the regions. Furthermore, entrepreneurs play a significant role in the social and political life of society. According to the statistics, in the year of 2007 approximately 1.7% or 19 thousand people of all population working in the private sector belonged to the SMEs. Over the last years, the quantity of employees of small and medium enterprises has increased by 14.5%, while the amount of enterprises has risen by 35%. However, the most interesting fact is that the total quantity of employees in the SME sector in 2007 was lower compare to the 1998 (Statistical Yearbook, 2008). Visually this information is presented in the Chart 2. Chart 2: Dynamics of the quantity of employees in SMEs (in thousands) Source: Tajikistan: 15 Years of Independence. Statistical yearbook, Dushanbe, 2006 It can be assumed that the relatively low quantity of employees in the SME sector is resulted from the tax burden of the employers. In fact, the amount of social tax which the employers have to pay equals to 25% out of the total payroll fund. Moreover, in contrast to the other countries, the existing taxation system in Tajikistan does not have the tax remissions in connection with the increase of the quantity of workers (Nazarov, 2006). Furthermore, the role of entrepreneurship in the market economy is very significant in terms of solving a number of socio-economic problems as well as in the poverty alleviation. Small and medium enterprises create the most favorable opportunities for the entrepreneurship especially at its initial stage. The presence of the substantial amount of SMEs on the market promotes the competition. And by promoting the competition, small and medium enterprises stimulate the increase of production efficiency as well as production growth which in its turn may cause the real growth of the economy. As a short summary of the given section about the importance of entrepreneurship in general and SMEs in particular, it can be stated that it is both the aim and the tool for the development of market economy. The dual role of entrepreneurship is confirmed by the analysis of the functions of SMEs which were classified into two groups. These groups are objective functions and tool functions. The objective functions promote the development of small and medium entrepreneurship and being considered as one of the governmental tasks. These functions include the impact on the unemployment reduction, the acceleration of the technological progress by means of innovations and ensuring the social and political stability in the society. According to the tool functions, small and medium entrepreneurship is being used in order to limit the tendencies of monopolized economy, to support formation of a middle class and to fill the particular market niches which are not attractive for the large enterpr ises (Chapek, 2004. own translation). 1.4 Characteristics of entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan The establishment of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan started at the time when the legislative foundations were absent. The Law On entrepreneurship activity was passed only in December 1991 and up to day it has completely changed. This law had a lot of disadvantages which negatively affected the process of entrepreneurship establishment in the country. Other economic laws which could support and secure the entrepreneurial activity in Tajikistan were passed later. For instance, The law on property (1996), The law on privatization of state property (1997) as well as laws related to taxation, customs and currency circulation (Nazarov, 2006). The formation of the entrepreneurship took place at the period of destabilization of finances and significant level of unemployment, which were caused by the collapse of the centralized control system. Another unique feature of entrepreneurship formation and development in Tajikistan is the limitation of strategic behavior. There are two reasons explaining it. First of all, during the first years of the market economy establishment, the formation of entrepreneurship was influenced by the substantial advantages of short-term transactions in the sphere of circulation and in the financial market. This circumstance created an appropriate attitude, stereotypes of thinking and behaving. Secondly, there is a significant gap between the profitability of long-term investments in manufacture and short-term financial transactions. The conditions for the implementation of long-term investments projects in the production sphere are such that invested funds will be paid off only in 3-5 years; howe ver, in conditions of the transition economy this process may take even longer. Therefore such areas of entrepreneurship as trade and catering remain the most attractive for the entrepreneurs (Soliev, 2004). According to the statistics, at the beginning of 2008 there were 55,8 thousands of enterprises registered in Tajikistan; in fact, 60% of them are private enterprises including both SMEs and large enterprises (Statistical Yearbook, 2008). There is a trend toward positive increase of total amount of enterprises in general as well as private enterprises in particular, as it is demonstrated in the Chart 3. Chart 3: Dynamics of total amount of enterprises, including private enterprises (in thousands) Source: Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 2008 The dynamic development of SME sector is caused by several specific advantages of the latter. According to the Kamarov, the most important fact is that SMEs are able to get their own market share, although they have much less funds for implementation of important strategic researches compare to large enterprises. In addition, small and medium businesses are quite flexible and mobile, which allow them to react fast for the market demand as well as to adapt for the changing conditions. Small entrepreneurship can be characterized as an originative type of economic behavior which at the same time being described as special entrepreneurial spirit and creative action (Kamarov, 2009). Another important fact is that on every 1000 of economically active population in Tajikistan there is in average only one SME; in contrast, in Russia there are 3 enterprises on every 1000 of economically active population (Davgyalo, 2007). Chapter Two Barriers to entrepreneurship development 2.1 General overview of difficulties related to the entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan As it is demonstrated by the world experience, the more opportunities for the widening of the activity by the entrepreneurs, the higher growth rate can be seen for the country. Under the given circumstances, the creation of the favorable conditions for the entrepreneurship development is a crucial factor. The entrepreneurship of Tajikistan faces particular barriers, among the others they are: instability and imperfection of the legislative system related to entrepreneurship, high level of taxes, complexity of tax collection, insufficiency of the start-up capital and current capital, difficulties with the access to bank loans, corruption, shortage of the qualified staff, difficulties with the rent of the production space as and others. In most cases there is no proper social and personal security for owners and employees of the private enterprises (Soliev, 2004). The current institutional mechanism of entrepreneurship promotion demonstrates that although the entrepreneur is secured by the laws and governmental instruments, the level of entrepreneurship development is not correspond to the high taxation level and crediting rates. (Asrorov et al., 2004). Therefore the entrepreneurs are acting in the environment of legal and economical limitation. The barriers faced by entrepreneurs impede the inflow of billions of dollars of potential profit for the country each year and threaten to derail the political and economic transition. These losses take place due to the ill-designed, complicated laws and regulations that unnecessarily raise the cost of doing business in the formal sector. As a result of high costs of doing business, entrepreneurs are using in their operations limited funds in order to survive with presence of low income and consequently they are losing the economic potential. In addition, the costly business regulations encourage potential investors to invest in the more favorable business environments and therefore country faces the lack of the needed investments (Suhir, 2003). The experience of entrepreneurship establishment and development in Tajikistan demonstrates that the majority of business owners are not aimed at the further growth. Their main goal is to ensure the stable existence, to preserve their capital and market position (Urdashev, 2005). The given situation can be explained by two reasons. First of all, there is no effective system for the stimulation of entrepreneurial activity. Secondly, entrepreneurs are experiencing the certain pressure from the tax, custom and law-enforcement authorities. 2.2 Main barriers faced by entrepreneurship in Tajikistan In this section of the paper the main barriers to the entrepreneurship development will be described in details. These barriers are: difficulties related to licensing, access to finance, imperfection of taxation system, poor infrastructure, corruption and lack of sufficient knowledge by entrepreneurs. Licensing IFC defined license as a special permit issued by a state body authorizing a business to carry out a certain activity under specific terms and conditions. When a business is subject to licensing requirements, it must obtain the specific license before starting its activities. Thus licensing happens after business registration, but before a company is allowed to start operations in the activity to be licensed (IFC, 2009). The barriers related to the licensing can be classified as the continuation of the Soviet system of permissions whereby one must obtain approval from the authorities in order to perform even the smallest tasks. The present permissive entrepreneurial climate which characterized by abundant regulation, continues to inflict losses on entrepreneurial activity in all sectors of the economy (Suhir, 2003). According to the world practice, the low-risk activities and those which do not involve any limited resources should not be subject to licensing. In fact, Tajikistan licenses some activities that are not licensed in many other countries; for instance, real estate valuation and tourism (IFC, 2009). The Chart 4 illustrates that in spite of the recent reforms, the number of activities licensed in Tajikistan is still relatively high compare to some other countries. Chart 4 Number of economic activities subject to licensing in selected countries Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 For instance, IFC reports that eight of the 65 licensed economic activities are related to the transport. However, the implementing regulations of the Licensing Laws divide these eight economic activities into 22 sub-activities, each of that in its turn requires a separate license. In addition, the period of validity of licenses as well as their cost still remains a problem. The law foresees that the minimum period of validity for the license is 3 years; however, on practice the licenses are being issued for the period which in average is less than one year (IFC, 2009). The short periods of licenses validity impede the investments and long-term development as well as create the grounds for the extortion by the officials. Access to finance One of the main conditions of the entrepreneurship development is the existence of proper financial infrastructure. In general the Tajik financial system was growing rapidly over the past years, although it still remains small. Recent data shows, that there are twelve commercial banks (including one state-owned bank), seven credit societies, one non-bank financial institution and eighty eight microfinance institutions operating in Tajikistan (IFC, 2009). The banking systems in Central Asia in general and in Tajikistan in particular can be considered as insufficient since they impose impossible demands on entrepreneurs due to the unreasonable time-frames and terms of credit repayments, it is difficult to provide collateral and to find a guarantor for securing a loan (Suhir, 2003). Thus in order to get a loan from some commercial banks the entrepreneur should provide the collateral which values up to 3 times more compare to the actual amount of requested loan. The survey performed by the IFC demonstrates that more than half of rejected loan applications in 2007 were due to the insufficient loan collateral (IFC, 2009). In addition, the process to formalization and registration of the collateral is complicated and expensive at the present time. Besides that, the loans themselves became not very attractive because of the interest rate. Additional factor of distrust to the banking area is the lack of reliable mechanism for the protection of the borrowers interests. In this respect the majority of entrepreneurs actually not able to use services of commercial banks. The Chart 5 demonstrates what kind of problems entrepreneurs encounter in terms of access to the finance. And it is quite clear that the most important issue is high interest rates. Chart 5: Main obstacles as identified by the potential borrowers (in %) Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 In general, in compliance with the Doing business report, Tajikistan is ranked as 167th overall in terms of easiness to getting credit (World Bank, 2010). And firms consistently rate access to credit as among the greatest barriers to their operation and growth. Taxation system The modern tendency for the entrepreneurship development can be described as the one with the lack of unity of economic aims between entrepreneurship and government. On the one hand, the governmental regulations related to the entrepreneurial activity are grounded on the creation of the favorable conditions for the entrepreneurship development; however, on the other hand, they are directed on provision the maximum tax revenues to the state budget. At present there are 18 different taxes in Tajikistan. According to the statistics, forty-eight percent of countrys tax revenues in 2008 came from the value-added tax. Tax code states that the value-added tax is equal to 18%, income tax 30% and social tax 25% (Tax Code, 2009). Such level of taxation does not correspond with the taxation systems used in developed countries. As a rule, developed countries increase tax rates in order to restrain the overproduction (Davgyalo, 2007). In fact there is no problem of overproduction in Tajikistan. On the whole the tax regime in Tajikistan is characterized by high complexity and instability. The Tajik Tax Code, which went into effect in 2004, has been amended 9 times since that time. Unfortunately given amendments neither caused the simplification of tax obligations nor improved tax administration. The World Bank Groups Doing Business 2009 report demonstrates evidence that taxes impose a heavy burden on business taxpayers in the country. This report ranks Tajikistan as 159th out of 181 countries in terms of ease of complying with the tax obligations (World Bank, 2009). Besides, the procedure of preparation the tax forms is complicated, the average Dehkan farmer or individual entrepreneur has spent almost 5 working days on the filing and on payment of taxes in 2007. While the average SME spent more than three weeks on this process. Moreover, there is a lack of effective communication infrastructure for the acceptance of the tax reports by mail. Although the Tax Code states that it is possible for taxpayers to submit their tax declarations in three ways: by certified mail, in person, or electronically; in practice, entrepreneurs submit tax reports in person. In addition, the survey performed by IFC shows that that submission of tax declarations involves a significant period of time spent waiting in lines at the tax office in order to get the appropriate signatures (IFC, 2009). Corruption The harmful nature of corruption between government and business enterprises is a classic conflict of the political economy, which goes back to Adam Smiths The Wealth of Nations. In the socialist period, bribery was widely practiced as a sort of necessary evil among citizens in Soviet Union Countries. It operated as a special social mechanism used to overcome obstacles established by bureaucratic systems as well as chronic shortages of supply which could affect business operations and everyday activities. In contrast, in the transition period, the corruption between entrepreneurs and bureaucrats started to take place more for self-interest rather than as a socially necessary evil like it was in Soviet Union time (Ichiro Iwasaki, 2007). Interesting explanation of the existence of corruption was provided by Clark and Naito in their article. According to them, corruption is endemic in all countries of Central Asia. However, the additional factor which contributes to the level of corruption results from the existing barriers with respect to the cooperation between various Ministries. In fact, nowadays the level of cooperation is relatively small and as a consequence there is a shortage of transparency in the system. The lack of transparency in its turn allows corruption to flourish as there are no checks and bounds on the system (Clark, Naito, 1998). The number of surveys performed by the World Bank confirms the fact that corruption remains a main constraint for entrepreneurship in Tajikistan. This demonstrated by the high frequency of informal gifts requested from enterprises by the government officials, so called Graft Index. The Graft Index shows the proportion of instances in which enterprises were either requested or expected to pay an informal payment for licenses, permits or public services (IFC, 2009). Visually the situation with corruption in Tajikistan in comparison with some other countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia is presented at the Chart 6. Chart 6: Tajikistan has the highest graft index in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) ECA Regional Average Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 However, the survey performed by IFC in 2007 demonstrates that the situation related to the informal payments in Tajikistan has improved over the last years. According to the survey responses, entrepreneurs were asked for or expected to pay bribes or give informal gifts in 2007 fewer compare to previous years. Although this is a positive development, it is too early to conclude that corruption is no longer a problem. Data demonstrate that 21% of enterprises have defined the informal payments as a main obstacle for their business activity. In fact, only high tax rates were defined as a major obstacle more often than corruption (IFC, 2009). Lack of the sufficient knowledge by entrepreneurs Johnes stated that the main resource which is available to Tajikistan is its people. Generally the level of education in the country is high, with a literacy rate about 98% (Johnes, 2002). However, one of the obstacles which may be additionally observed in Tajikistan nowadays is the lack of the sufficient knowledge in the area of entrepreneurship. This fact can be explained by taking a look at the history. In the Soviet era entrepreneurship was considered as a speculation. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia defines speculation as a process of buying up the goods on closed markets and resale those goods on open and deficiency markets in conditions of constraining the freedom of trade, for example, during the war (Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1978, own translation). This activity was punishable either by high fines or imprisonment and due to this reason was considered as a part of the shadow economy. Based on the above mentioned information, the following conclusion can be drawn the entrepreneurship as an activity as well as entrepreneurs are still being considered as unacceptable or even discreditable activity by the people of older generation. It is obvious that problems related to managerial issues are really crucial for the private entrepreneur due to the reason that the manager should be a specialist with a broad knowledge in the area of management, finance, accounting and marketing. In fact, nowadays the universities of the country are not preparing such versatile managers for the private sector (Urdashev, 2005). The current situation in Tajikistan is such that the majority of entrepreneurs have problems due to the lack of proper knowledge. Thus according to the IFC survey, more than one-third of individual entrepreneurs did not keep any financial or tax records in 2007 (IFC, 2009), despite the existing requirements. The responses presented in the Chart 7 demonstrate the reasons for the absence of necessary records. It is clear that the lack of knowledge is a very significant issue in this respect. Chart 7: Reasons f

The Use Of Animal Imagery In Othello Essay -- William Shakespeare

In William Shakespeare’s play â€Å"Othello† the use of animal imagery was evident throughout the telling of the story. Shakespeare explained several characters actions by comparing them to similarities in animals. The characters in â€Å"Othello† were often depicted as having animal-like characteristics. Some characters were even compared to animals by other characters in the play. By defining characters in terms of these characteristics one can get a clear description of what the character is doing or saying as compared to certain animals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this paper I hope to give examples of animal imagery used in â€Å"Othello† that assist in explaining the play. The specific examples I present will describe a character either as seen by himself or by a fellow character.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first use of animal imagery I noted occurred came in Act One when Iago, Othello’s standard bearer, has awaken Brabantio, who was a Venetian senator and the father of Desdemona, to tell him that Othello has taken his daughter Desdemona, and as they speak is making love to her. Iago was attempting to instigate a fight between Othello and Brabantio, using Desdemona as the bait. Iago stated, â€Å"Your heart is burst. You have lost half your soul. Even now, now, very now, and old black ram is tupping your white ewe† (p. 13). In that statement Iago was comparing Othello to an old black ram by comparing Othello’s skin color to that of the black ram’s, and the white ewe, a young female sheep, to Desdemona. Shakespeare was trying to illustrate in his writing the act of and old black man making love to a young white woman. The use of a black ram and a white ewe to compare Othello and Desdemona helped in the visualization of their affair.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shakespeare displayed animal imagery again in Act Two when Cassio was explaining to Iago that if he had as many mouths as Hydra, a many headed monster slain by Hercules, he could silence the many questions asked of him. In this Shakespeare presented Cassio as being burdened by many questions that he could not answer all at once, but if he had as many mouths as Hydra it would be more accessible for him to do so. Cassio said, â€Å"I will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me I am a drunkard! Has I as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all† (p.101). Cassio was explaining to Iago that if he went to Othello now... ...eceptive tears. Desdemona, in the eyes of Othello, was not sorry, but was rather hiding something from him. Shakespeare’s use of animal imagery here was similar to his earlier uses. Shakespeare was trying to display a woman, who in the mind of her husband, was crying tears of deception. Othello had let his mind be so altered by Iago’s lies, that he had even began to believe everything he said. This action of Othello was fueled by his earlier animal-like change caused by Iago.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, Shakespeare’s use of animal imagery in â€Å"Othello† was crucial to the description of the story. In â€Å"Othello† certain scenes would have been harder to understand or relate to if it was not for the animal imagery related to it. Shakespeare’s comparison of characters to certain animals is unlike any other’s. Shakespeare’s portray of a character’s emotions and thoughts through animal imagery helped in the understanding of that particular scene. Lastly, without the vivid comparisons of animals and characters, this play would undoubtedly have been more complicated to both interpret and understand. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Othello. Toronto: Pocket Books, 2008.

Cool Beans Coffee Cafe

Cool Beans Coffee Cafe Kimberly A. McKelvy Dr. Patricia Obiefule BUS 335 – Staffing Organizations February 3, 2013 Identify the type of employment relationship you would establish between the coffee shop and employees from a legal perspective. Explain your reasoning. Cool Beans Coffee Cafe is planning on establishing an employer-employee relationship. A written agreement is going to represent our employment contract, â€Å"the terms and conditions of which represents the promises and expectations of both parties† (Heneman III, Judge, & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012, p. 48).The employer-employee relationship will be governed by the common law principle which establishes that either party can terminate the employment contract at any time without prior notification. This type of relationship also allows for both Cool Beans Coffee Cafe and a potential employee to establish any additional term of employment and have them placed in writing so there are no discrepancies. Suggest ways that you could avoid claims of disparate treatment. Cool Beans Coffee Cafe is going to follow four principles that should avoid claims of disparate treatment.First, train management about legal obligations under anti-discrimination laws regarding hiring, training, and overall treatment of employees (Lario, Parliman, Kelly, Feher, & Chavey, 2009). Second, create and enforce policies that pertain to how employees will conduct themselves to prevent discrimination. Third, the coffee cafe has to perform yearly audits on employment records and promotion policies and procedures to ensure disparate treatment is not being committed. Lastly, make sure that all job postings and promotions are listed in a central location that all employees can access.Identify the type of external influences that could hinder staffing and how you would address them. Competition for certified baristas with managerial experience might be hard to find. Cool Beans Coffee Cafe is a gourmet coffee cafe that speciali zes in espresso and coffee artistry. The three store managers have to be able to train at least six employees to become coffee artisans. They also have to be experience and creative managers with at least two years of managerial experience. However, we will do our research to see what the competition is offering its entry level and managerial level employees.Then offer a competitive compensation package to potential employees. Competition is the niche market of gourmet coffee shops is saturated. The coffee cafes main competition is Starbucks and other gourmet cafes that serve coffee. In addition, competition from the students that are on the college meal plan that may. The Cool Coffee Beans Cafe will use this to our advantage by creating a gourmet coffee experience that is accessible, affordable and college student friendly. It will give us a competitive advantage over the usual coffee experience.Legal factors and health regulations are an outside influence that has to be addresses. Health regulations such as no employees with communicable diseases can be employed in food service limits the pool of employable candidates. Child labor laws limit the number of people the coffee cafe can employ. In order to address these limitations during the hiring process place job postings in as many avenues that can be used to find qualified candidates. Create a plan that you can use to deal with employee shortages and surpluses.Short Term Shortages Plan * Give incentives to retain current employees. * Rearrange employees from slower shifts to busier shifts (Monegain, 2010). * Ask employees to work overtime at time and a half. * Attract new and creative employees on a temporary basis. Long Term Shortage Plan * Buy state of the art $2,000 coffee machines to increase efficiency, effectiveness, employee satisfaction and customer service. * Instead of making all baked goods in house, subcontract baked good to a recent culinary arts graduate and profit share goods sales. Hire two more part time employees for the busiest shifts. Short Term Surplus Plan * Reduce the amount of overtime hours available. * Temporarily make all employees part-time except for store managers. * During summer months when there are fewer students on campus shorten cafe hours Monday – Friday 6 am to 6 pm and Saturday – Sunday 8 am to 8pm. Long Tem Surplus Plan * Freeze hiring and when an employee leaves do not replacement them. * Reduce workforce by laying off one store manager, one part-time and one full-time employee. Permanent pay cut for all employees. Outline a strategy for workforce diversity. The first workforce diversity strategy is opening recruiting to the largest demographic group possible (Heneman III et al. , 2012). Since Cool Beans Coffee Cafe is located next to a college campus, job postings should be posted in central locations around the college campus to gain the most visibility. Also post job opening for coffee baristas at local culinary art schools bec ause there is a wide array of ethnicities and age groups.The second workforce strategy is encouraging all employees to apply for all open promotional opportunities that they qualify for. Lastly, require all employees to interact in mandatory team building activities that promote diversity. Conduct a job requirements analysis for the store managers and coffee servers in order to identify tasks, KSAOs, and context for those positions. Store Manager Specific Task * Hire, train, and monitor the development of employees. * Schedule employees to cover all shifts and maintain payroll guidelines. Hold team accountable to prepare and serve beverages and food products to company standards. * Complete all training programs and maintain barista certification. Store Manager KSAOs * Knowledge of specialty coffee shop operation and policies. * Ability to work a flexible schedule based on coffee shop needs. * Knowledge of basic math and proficient computer skills. * Skilled at creating unique and a ppealing coffee blends. Coffee Server Specific Task * Take customer orders and provide receipts that identify order numbers. Brew coffee, espresso and other beverages in containers that customers request. * Serve customers in a friendly manner at counter or at dining tables. * Perform cleaning duties at front counter, kitchen, customer tables, and restroom. Coffee Server KSAOs * Knowledge and fluency in English. * Skilled at actively listening to customer orders and communicate customers order back for correctness. * Able to assess information, evaluate problems and find the best possible solution for the coffee shop. References Heneman III, H. G. , Judge, T. A. amp; Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D. (2012). Staffing Organizations (7th ed. ). Middleton, WI: Mendota House / McGraw-Hill. Lario, W. J. , Paliman, G. C. , Kelly, T. A. , Feher, K. J. & Chavey, V. C. (2009). EEOC’s ‘Best Practices’ To Avoid Disparate Treatment Claims by Employees. Retrieved from http://www. marti ndale. com/legal-management/article_Day-Pitney-LLP_696000. htm. Monegain, B. (2010). AHA offers 10 tips on how to deal with workforce shortages. Retrieved from http://www. healthcareitnews. com/news/aha-offers-10-tips-how-deal-workforce-shortage? page=0,1.

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