First Electric Toaster, Pop-Up Toast, and Sliced Bread

Toasting began as a method of prolonging the life of bread. It  was initially toasted over open fires with tools to hold it in place until it was properly browned. Toasting  was a very common activity in Roman times; tostum is the Latin word for scorching or burning. As the Romans traveled throughout Europe vanquishing their foes in early times, it’s said that they took their toasted bread right along with them. The British developed a fondness for the Romans toast and introduced it in the Americas when they crossed the ocean. The First Electric Toasters The first electric toaster was invented in 1893 by Alan MacMasters in Scotland. He called the device the â€Å"Eclipse Toaster,† and it was manufactured and marketed by the Crompton Company. This early toaster was reinvented in 1909 in the U.S. when Frank Shailor patented his idea for the â€Å"D-12† toaster. General Electric ran with the idea and introduced it for use in the home. Unfortunately, it only toasted one side of the bread at a time and it required that someone stand by to manually turn it off when the toast looked done. Westinghouse followed with its own version of a toaster in 1914, and the Copeman Electric Stove Company added an â€Å"automatic bread turner† to its toaster in 1915. Charles Strite invented the modern timed pop-up toaster in 1919. Today, the toaster is the most common household appliance although it’s only  been in existence in the U.S. a little over 100 years. An unusual online museum is dedicated to the toaster, with lots of photos and historical information. Otto Frederick Rohwedder and Sliced Bread Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the bread slicer. He first began working on it in 1912 when he came up with the idea of a device that would hold the slices together with hat pins. This was not a resounding success. In 1928, he went on to design a machine that sliced and wrapped the bread to prevent it from going stale. The Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri started selling Kleen Maid Sliced Bread on July 7, 1928, possibly the first sliced bread sold commercially. Pre-sliced bread was further popularized by Wonder Bread in 1930, helping to spread the toasters popularity even further. The Sandwich Long before Rohwedder figured out how to efficiently slice bread and before Shailor patented the first American toaster, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, originated the name â€Å"sandwich† in the 18th century. Montagu was a British politician who served as secretary of state and first lord of the Admiralty. He presided at the Admiralty during the British defeats of the American Revolution, and he was notoriously unpopular for his charges of obscenity against John Wilkes.  He loved to eat beef between slices of bread. His  sandwich allowed the Earl to leave one hand free for card playing.  Hawaiis Sandwich Islands are rumored to have been named after him by Captain James Cook in 1778.

In recent years, an increasing number of financial institutions have

Essays on In recent years, an increasing number of financial institutions have started to serve the bottom-of-the-pyramid markets. Explain the rationale for doing so and illustrate your answer with the critical analysis of the Santander in Brazil Essay Bottom-Of-The-Pyramid’ Markets Financial s have started to serve the ‘bottom-of-the-pyramid’ markets The ‘bottom of the pyramid’ is a term which has recently led to a heated debate on its explanation. From the basic terms, the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ market is the majority of poor people of the world who are currently underused by the few rich. With the heated cry of these majority poor, financial institutions have now shifted focus on them. They started as a small number of the institutions but right now, the number is increasing (Prahalad, 2005). The financial institutions want to involve most of the people at the base of the pyramid in development for various reasons. These reasons vary according to the context in which they are applied. There are various financial institutions in the whole world that are engaging these majority of the population who survive on five dollars, thus making their existence miserable. The Compartamos Bank in Mexico is a nonprofit making financial institution that was founded in 1990. Its main goal is to empower the female entrepreneurs in Mexico through micro financing. The next stop is the Standard bank of South Africa whose main goal is to bring banking closer to the people of South Africa. It was founded by MrTshabalala. The reasons that highly drive these and other financial institutions of the world to bring their service closer to these people is to apply their business principles they have gained over time to solve most problems which face them. The next reason is the delivery of low cost solutions to their problems. Furthermore, the financial institutions are seeing opportunities at the base of the pyramid. They also want to bring cooperation between the community of the people at the base andthemselves {the financial institutions} (Boberski, 2006). According to Berger (2013), in the recent past, banks have been employing the composite strategies in order to survive.The composite strategies are aimed at solving societal complex problem such as unequal treatment of people , unequal opportunities ending up with some living in unfortunate areas like slums whereas others living in high end suburb leafy estates. Some of these strategies include shifting most of their interest to the base of the pyramid where majority potential account holders are. Another financial institution of interest is the Santander of Brazil. Santander is the Brazilian form or unit of the Spain’s Santander. It has adopted the composite strategy whereby its focus is on the slum dwellers of Rio de Janeiro. It is one of the largest non-governmental financial institutions and controlled by a financial group that has world outreach. It is the largest in both the categories of being a non-governmentally owned and owned by a global financial group. It deals in its three main subdivisions of wholesale banking, commercial banking, and asset management as well asinsurance. Santander has targeted the slums of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil so as to link up with Brazil’s base of the pyramid (Beck, 2007) Most of the inhabitants of these slums in Brazil do not operate a bank account and this has made Santander to shift its base to these future account holders, thus increasing its customer grasp in the whole of Brazil. This is due to the study carried out in Brazil that revealed that out of the 84 Million people that comprise the population of Brazil, 50 Million people and who make up majority of the active working force of the economy of Brazil, don’t own a bank account (Enew, 2013) According to the case of Santander, the expansion of its services to include the major occupants of the base of the pyramid is aimed at giving more Brazilians access to banking and other financial services. The services offered are such like the payment of bills and this is a great relief to the slum inhabitants due to their life being far from the big urban centers and also due to lack of banks in the slums (Beck, 2007). Santander has it that the monthly income of the account holders in Rio’s Complexo do Alemà £o slum is not more than US$882, thus making them be eager for loans. This increases the bank’s source of revenue but also there are high risks of default borrowers who might make the bank run at a loss. For those slum dwellers in Brazil who are interested in borrowing from Santander, things have been simplified as the applicant doesn’t need proof of income to qualify for the loan. All they need is an identification card, an Individual Taxpayer Registry {CPF} and the proof of address. This is also Santander’s way of attracting customers who are willing to borrow and start business or invest in other ventures but they lack the proof of income.Santander action to open a bank in Rio’s most dangerous slum, Complexo do Alemà £o, was due to its partnership with a non-governmental organization called AfroReggae that mostly provides promotion for the series of actions within the city that played a big role in helping Santander choose its location . London (2011) argues that in Santander’s branch in Complexo do Alemà £o, there is a specific division that is tasked with receiving customers having interest in the field of microfinance especially micro-credit or the microloans. This is a market niche for Santander, where it has invested heavily due to the increasing purchasing power of the low-income slum dwellers in the past years. This initiative has had the economy of Brazil stabilizing in that, the national minimum wage has more than just doubled from 2002’s R$200 to 2010’s R$510. This has also reduced the rate of unemployment and the rate of inflation is now under control. In the year 2012, Santander released US$164.70 million all to the micro-entrepreneurs. This topped that one released between the year 2002 and the year 2009 was US$133.52 million and thus a greater achievement. The increase of more bank accounts has been as a result of an increase in the number of formal jobs in Brazil, which is fuelled by the country’s steady improvement in its economy. There has been a competition between Santander and Bradesco of which is also a Brazilian bank having interest at the base of the pyramid. This has been a global phenomenon where most of the financial institutions are moving toward (Enew, 2013). To this end, world financial institutions as is the case with Brazil’s Santander have had the taste of the reality at the pyramid’s base, and have known their positive sides. This has led to the trend of gradually shifting their interest towards these markets for various reasons as outlined above. Within no time, economic empowerment shall have come to these people. Bibliography List Beck, T. D.-K. (2007). Access to and use of banking services across countries. JoFE, 234-266. Beck, T. D.-K. (2007). Finance, inequality and the poor. Journal of Economic Growth, 27-49. Berger, E. N. (2013). Implementing Technologies for Financial Service Innovations in Base of the Pyramid Markets. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 1199-1211. Boberski, V. (2006). Community banking strategies. Steady growth, safe portfolio management, and lasting client relationships. Hoboken/New Jersey: John Wiley Sons. Coupland, C. (2006). Corporate social and environmental responsibility in web-based reports: Currency in the banking sector? Critical Perspectives in Accounting, 865–881. Enew, C. W. (2013). Financial Services Marketing. An international guide to principles and practice. Abingondon/Oxon: Elsevier . Hoepner, A. W. (2010). Social, Environmental, Ethical and (SEET) Issues in Banking:. Edward Elgar Publishing. London, T. H. (2011). Next Generation business strategies for the base of the pyramid: New approaches to building in mutual value. Upper Saddle River: NJ: FT Press. Prahalad, C. (2005). The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid: Eradicating poverty through Profits. Philadelphia: Wharton School Publishing.

Chinas Managed Float free essay sample

The  RMB  is  unlikely  to  be  floated  freely  in  the  near  term  as  the  countrys  economyfaces  internal  difficulties  during  its  reform  drive  and  external  uncertainties  of  the  globaleconomy,  the  report  quoted  Xia  Bin,  a  member  of  the  monetary  policy  committee  of  thePeoples  Bank  of  China  (PBOC),  or  the  central  bank,  as  saying. To  create  a  relatively  stable  exchange  rate  formation  environment,  the  governmenthas  to  gradually  open  its  capital  market,  so  the  RMB  can  not  go  global  too  soon,China  moved  to  shift  from  a  conventional  dollar  peg  system  to  a  managed  floatingexchange  rate  system  in  2005,  which  means  the  central  bank  now  does  not  link  theyuan  only  to  the  U. S. dollar. Chinas  RMB  go  global  drive  requires  totally  free  exchange  of  the  yuan,  which  meansthe  regulation  of  capital  accounts  should  be  fully  opened,  and  that  exchange  rates  willbe  largely  determined  by  the  demand  and  supply  in  both  domestic  and  global  markets. But  the  country  can  not  handle  this  at  its  current  stage  of  economic  development,  Xiasaid. Xia  suggested  that  the  government  should  well  coordinate  policies  concerning  theexchange  rate,  capital  management  and  reform  while  matching  the  reform  of  itsexchange  rate  policy  with  that  of  capital  management  during  the  RMBs  regionalizationprocess. Chinas Managed Float free essay sample Why do you think the Chinese government originally pegged the value of the Yuan against the U. S. dollar? What were the benefits of doing this for China? What were the costs? I believe that the Chinese government originally pegged the value of the Yuan against the US dollar as an attempt to compete with the U. S. and the rest of the world. The US dollar was the strongest in the global market. The benefits for China were that their yuan would stay weak, and their exports would remain cheap while their economy thrived on production for the U. S. economy. The costs for China were that they had to exchange for U. S. dollars every month and that their exchange was the U. S. deficit. The U. S dollars movement will effect the China’s economy either way. 2. Over the last decade, many foreign firms have invested in China and used their Chinese factories to produce goods for export. We will write a custom essay sample on Chinas Managed Float or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If the yuan is allowed to float freely against the U. S. dollar on the foreign exchange markets and appreciates in value, how might this affect the fortunes of those enterprises? If the yuan is allowed to float freely against the U. S. ollar on the foreign exchange markets and appreciates the value, foreign enterprises would not benefit when trying to export out of China. Most foreign enterprises move their materials into China to use Chinese labor. If they continue, their production costs will rise. These enterprises may find selling into China more attractive because the Chinese buying power will increase. 3. How might a decision to let the yuan float freely affect future foreign direct investment flows into China? Letting the yuan float freely could increase direct investment flows into China. A free flowing yuan makes China richer. This will boost the Chinese economy and make the Chinese people’s buying power higher. Because of this higher buying power, foreign investors will look to take advantage of the growing Chinese economy. Therefore, foreign direct investments will increase. 4. Under what circumstances might a decision to let the yuan float freely destabilize the Chinese economy? What might he global implications of this be? The decision to let the yuan float freely could destabilize the Chinese economy because of inflation. With the increased value of the yuan, the Chinese economy may slow because there will be less cheap materials imported into Chinese manufacturers. This would make Chinese goods more expensive. Globally, however, this could be an opportunity for foreign producers to sell in China. 5. Do you think the U. S. government should push the Chinese to let the yuan float freely? Why? No, the U. S. government would only be harming their economy. It would create more jobs for Americans, but, the cost of labor would be higher and that would translate over to the final product’s retail prices being higher. . What do you think the Chinese government should do? Let the yuan float, maintain the peg, or change the peg in some way? I think it would be a good idea for the Chinese government to maintain the peg. The yuan would still maintain a pretty low value, keeping their economy thriving. Maintaining the peg would also allow for the other world currencies to compete with the yuan. The Chinese government should look out for what is best for its own economy and keep the yuan pegged and cheap.

Synchronous and Asynchronous Communications-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Synchronous communication and Asynchronous communication. Answer: Introduction Communication is a crucial aspect of any organization. Effective communication processes in a business enable transparent flow of information and efficiency in business processes. In the given case, our office is based out of Sydney and is currently planning to commence operations across New York, Beijing and Mumbai. Therefore communication between these teams would involve virtual tools. A virtual team often causes discomfort and extra scheduling but for teams which are not in the same city, a virtual team is the only solution. Expansion is an imperative part of the growth of any business. This expansion if geographical requires employees to coordinate and devise strategies to communicate effectively. Such a communication is better known as asynchronous communication. Every organization is party to synchronous as well as asynchronous communications. Both of which are described below. Synchronous communication As the name suggests synchronous communication refers to communication between people who are in sync. They happen to converse in real time and hence create an effective flow of information (Gossweiler Gargi, 2014). Synchronous communication happens as per a fixed external clock and all the parties respond to the communication based on the same. The advantages and disadvantages of synchronous communication are as below: Advantages Transparent flow of information: synchronous makes the information very transparent as the information can be sent and received at the same time and a two way communication can be established at the same time (Austin Pinkleton, 2015). Less chances of miscommunication: Synchronous communication has less chances of miscommunication or misunderstanding as in case of a discrepancy it can be immediately addressed by both the parties at the same time Faster decision making: Since the sender and receiver are both available at the same time, the decision making happens at a faster pace which is beneficial for the overall performance of the organization. Less turnaround time: Once the sender has sent the message, the receiver responds to it almost instantly. This leads to lesser turnaround time and quicker conclusions. Disadvantages Difficulty in collaboration: It is often difficult to get all the participants of the communication process to contact at the same time. This creates a difficulty in collaborating all the members and getting them available at the same time. Technical glitches: Except in case of a face to face communication, technical glitches may arise that would hamper the flow of communication. This is even more prevalent in case of instant messengers, video calling tools and telephonic conversations (Garvey, 2014). Asynchronous communication Asynchronous communication refers to communication that happens at the participants own time without a referred external clock. It involves the exchange of messages by reading and responding as the schedule permits rather than according to the same clock that is synchronized for the sender as well as the receiver. The advantages and disadvantages of asynchronous communication are as below: Advantages Improved documentations: Asynchronous communication happen frequently over emails and other such tools. This is why it becomes easier to document asynchronous communications. Documentation of communication helps in ensuring that there is no miscommunication and can be referred to in case of conflicts (Bawm Nath, 2014). Better informed decisions: Since the responder of the message gets sufficient amount of time to reply, he or she can make better and more informed decisions. Higher number of people can be looped: in case of a video call, a maximum of 6 people can be added to the loop. However, in case of asynchronous communication any number of people can be looped. Even if someone joins the conversation late, he or she can be given a feedback of the entire conversation as everything remains documented. Disadvantages Slower decision making: The decision making process takes a longer amount of time in asynchronous communication as the recipient of the message may not be available to respond immediately. This may lead to slower decision making and may indirectly affect organizations productivity. Higher chances of miscommunication: asynchronous communication often happens among people belonging to different cultures and time zones. Therefore the possibility of a miscommunication is much higher. Delayed response: As people respond as per their earliest convenient time in asynchronous communication, the response might be delayed (Baker Warren, 2015). It is advisable that people commence an asynchronous communication by keeping a buffer of time. References Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E., 2015.Strategic public relations management: Planning and managing effective communication campaigns(Vol. 10). Routledge. Baker, T. and Warren, A., 2015. The Nine Common Barriers to Communication. InConversations at Work(pp. 54-74). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Bawm, Z.L. and Nath, R.P.D., 2014, December. A Conceptual Model for effective email marketing. InComputer and Information Technology (ICCIT), 2014 17th International Conference on(pp. 250-256). IEEE. Garvey, W.D., 2014.Communication: the essence of science: facilitating information exchange among librarians, scientists, engineers and students. Elsevier. Gossweiler, R. and Gargi, U., Google Inc., 2014.Managing nodes of a synchronous communication conference. U.S. Patent 8,749,610.