BASF

BASF has managed to focus its efforts on non-cyclical products to broaden its market base and increase the company’s growth potential globally.   The diversification and innovative technologies used by BASF has enabled it to sustain a large market presence, particularly in the non-cyclical product areas such as vitamins, crop protection, petrochemicals and plastics and fibers. In the past, vitamin companies were involved in a scandal with price fixing.   The scandal resulted in a loss in the market for all natural vitamins and many pharmaceutical products.   When BASF took over American Cyanamid the companies were able to produce herbicides that were competitive in price and betterment of crops.   Using this new process enabled BASF to get a jump on the vitamin competitors because the company was offering modified crops that were resilient against plant diseases, mildew and other harmful environmental factors. With the higher yielding plants, BASF is able to derive natural and quality ingredients needed to produce the vitamins and other pharmaceutical products.   Global competitors such as Roche have been challenged and no longer can claim the majority of the market with BASF’s innovative technologies as the new competition. In addition to the takeover of Cyanamid, BASF also took over the vitamin business from Takeda.   With the takeover, BASF has managed to capture the markets in Europe, North American and Asia.   Plans are being integrated for BASF to eventually takeover the pharmaceutical division of Takeda.   With the proposed changes, BASF could potentially corner the market on pharmacy drugs to compliment its already strong market presence for the vitamin industry. With growth and innovative technologies, BASF has been able to increase its market value for the vitamins and pharmaceuticals while decreasing the operating costs for the products.   This change in growth instills an even stronger presence in the market place for BASF.   Many of the primary ingredients that go into vitamins and nutritional supplements are produced by BASF thus reducing cost and making the company yield higher volumes of the products. In addition to crop protection, pharmaceutical plans and vitamin mergers, BASF has also focused its attention on the sale of petrochemicals.   BASF merged as a very strong market force for its colorants and finished products used in the automotive industry.   In this division of BASF record sells were achieved and anticipated to only increase in the following months and years.  Ã‚  Ã‚   BASF colors are of lasting quality and used as the primary protective coating for car dealers.   In addition, petrochemicals created by BASF have been used as safe and environmental friendly cleaning agents. Complimenting the development of environmentally friendly and easily disposable petrochemicals, BASF has used its innovative technologies to capture a wide range of the plastics and fibers market.   Many of BASF plastic and fibers are used as household products as well as in major companies.   Many of the plastic and fiber products manufactured by BASF are used for safe and quality packaging materials.   BASF focuses its efforts on producing plastics and fibers that are cost efficient to use for packaging materials as well as biodegradable has given BASF a jump on the market competitors for this part of the global market. As BASF continues to expand its resources into producing innovative and environmental friendly products, BASF is sure to do nothing but grow as a company.   Instead of focusing its investments and technologies strictly in one area, the company’s diversity enables BASF to obtain a substantial amount of profits in its non-cyclical parts of its operations. The company’s growth has been boosted tremendously.   The protection of crops, vitamin and pharmacy mergers, marketing of petrochemicals and increased environmentally friendly plastics and fibers has enabled BASF to not only be a diversified but also a competitive global company within the market place.

Does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy work best for Bipolar I or Bipolar Research Proposal

Does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy work best for Bipolar I or Bipolar II Disorder - Research Proposal Example Other aspects that were found to be common among bipolar II patients include interpersonal conflicts, breakdown of families and instability in marriage (Marneros and Goodwin, 2005, p. 95). What a psychotherapist is supposed to realize is that, people who have a high risk of falling from grace are those with a bi-polar disorder. They are also most likely to get into problems because of failing to adhere to advice or due to the state of their moods. This may lead them into several behaviors that may be risky. It is however paramount for any given psychotherapist to realize that some patients may be required to fail for quite a while before learning from their mistakes and acquiring mastery. Therefore, important nuances for management are being able to leave the door open for the patient to come back at another stage or showing a certain level of leniency in the course of psychotherapy. This is suitable rather than doing away with psychotherapy to someone who seems not to be compliant ( Yatham, 2010, p. 350). Nonetheless, since a bipolar disorder may be progressive with the accumulation of episodes, and it may readily show response to interventions been done at a period early enough during the sickness, attempts to engage patients in treatment early enough are of paramount importance. Moreover, a set of problem strategies that are family based, cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal have been detailed to apply to those who have the condition of bipolar II (Yatham, 2010, p. 350). Arguments have been put forth in support of the well being plans for patients with bipolar II disorder. The axiom ‘knowledge of power’ is the underlying one for the strategies. It is observed that the often-used strategies are ensuring enough sleep, being able to manage stress, being aware of early warning triggers and signs, taking suitable medication and seeking relevant professional support (Yatham, 2010, p. 350). It is therefore in the scope of this research to establish whether Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) works well for Bipolar I or Bipolar II. Research Questions There are three research questions in this study: The first one is what is the comparison between bipolar I and bipolar II disorders; the second one is how does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy work for bipolar I and bipolar II; and lastly, between bipolar I and bipolar II disorder, which one appears to have Cognitive Behavioral Therapy working better for? Research Hypothesis The first hypothesis reveals that using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will lead to significant outcomes for the case of bipolar I than bipolar II. On the other hand, according to the null hypothesis, there will be no significant difference between the outcomes of using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in bipolar I and bipolar II. Basis and Purpose of the Research The basis of this research is to ensure that answers have been provided for the above hypotheses to the extent of the effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on bipolar I and bipolar II disorders. The research is particularly intended to find out whether Cognitive

Understanding of the Relevant Literature on the Skills Managers Dissertation

Understanding of the Relevant Literature on the Skills Managers Require in the 21st Century - Dissertation Example Understanding of the Relevant Literature on the Skills Managers Require in the 21st Century However, it is important to remember that the present age has new facets that are critical for the company’s success. Businesses nowadays are strongly influenced by globalisation and technological innovation. Hence, in order for managers to be effective, they must be capable of managing the forces that has characterized the new century. Moreover, since the new business age is very dynamic, it is therefore important for the managers of today to be more nimble and agile in order to anticipate and act quickly on the changes before they are pushed into obsolescence. That way, they can capture opportunities as they are realized or defend against threats as they emerge. Moreover, globalisation has demanded that managers become able to manage a diverse workforce as more and more companies are expanding overseas (Khatri and Ong, 1999). Hence there has been an increase in the demands of managers to go beyond their talents and skills to ensure that they are able to innovate themselves s ince this is basically the game that companies and managers have to play in the 21st century. The new century has offered new and exciting challenges for businesses all over the world. The massive improvements in technology have greatly helped in the advancement of communications and information capabilities of countries, companies and individuals worldwide. Basically, this has put an end to the industrial age and heralded the information age which has even brought to fore a new breed of employees, the knowledge workers. These people have radically changed the manner of doing things wherein the office hours as well as office spaces have been practically taken out of the equation (Serrat, 2008). This is all the more demanding if the company is trying to get and maintain a global presence since there is the inescapable need to source out manpower from the different countries from which they operate in as well as to be able to maintain this global workforce. Moreover, there has been a general shift from solely focusing on the financial indicators as the sole measure of the strat egic success of a company. Kaplan and Norton (2005) have shed light on the lack of capability of measuring the success of a company’s strategy by basing on the financials alone. According to these Harvard business thinkers, it is important to have a balanced view of the lagging as well as the leading indicators in order to properly gauge the company’s overall situation. Hence, they have brought forward the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in order to properly capture these indicators in their four perspectives which are the Learning & Growth, Internal Business Process, Customer and of course the Financial Perspective. All these provide a confluence of indicators for the company to properly analyze their situation and make changes, if necessary, in order to ensure that they remain on track with their targets. However, all these goes to show the increasing demands to the managers of the 21st century wherein there seems to be a shift towards the capability to multi-task and be ab le to adapt to the fast-paced and multicultural business environment of today. Aim The purpose of this paper is to