Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Relationship Between Firm Performance and Corporate Term Paper

The Relationship Between Firm Performance and Corporate Diversification - Term Paper Example It is the hope of this author that such an identification and understanding be helpful in further defining diversity and exposing the way in which further productivity can be had; thereby leading an organization to experience a benefit. Overview of Issues and Definitions: Although there are currently many definitions of what diversity ultimately means, for purposes of this brief analysis, it will be defined as the extent and level to which the organization/entity in question is able to effectively represent the realities of the environment within which it operates. Ultimately, such a definition implies that diversity in an of itself should be a means by which the organization seeks to reflect the racial, ethnic, and religious realities of both the market that it seeks to compete within and the population that it draws from stop in such a way, such a broad definition allows for this level of diversity not only impact upon the way in which healthcare provision is conducted within a par ticular region but also have far-reaching applications with regards to how individuals interact with and represent those populations with which they seek to provide healthcare solutions for. Diversity cannot and should not be understood as merely trying to fill slots within a corporate structure. Instead, qualified individuals that can both represent the needs of the firm/entity as well as promote further diversity are the ones that should be hired. Under no circumstances should a business entity, or any other entity for that matter, ever engage in seeking to hire specific race, gender, or ethnicity. Ultimately, such process, although oftentimes engaged in the desire to promote diversity is the polar opposite of what equality should mean for all applicants. Ultimately, a final â€Å"no go† that should be referenced is the fact that the firm should be perennially aware of the fact that its diversity is very much a part of its culture. In such a way, the extent and level of imp ortance or lack of importance that diversity espouses is ultimately reflected within the culture of the firm at each and every level. Literature Review: In seeking to trace an understanding of diversity, the first article that will be mentioned within this brief literature review is entitled â€Å"Shifting the Diversity Climate† (Ringold & Feinstein, 2011). As such, Ringold and Feinsten point to the ways in which firms have recently made a marked shift towards seeking to promote greater degrees of diversity in the hopes that it could boost their success. Realizing that it is not possible for a firm to be profitable and exist and thrive in a market that is itself increasingly diverse, As such, the authors argue that firms have come to realize the means of capturing such a market was at least tangentially dependent upon the level of diversity they could represent (Hewlitt et al., 2013). A similar approach is made with respect to Anand and Winters’ (2008) analysis that so ught to integrate a further level of appreciation for the way in firms led the shift towards appreciating

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Strategic Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Management - Case Study Example The expansion in this industry, may involve the increase in the products available in the market. For instance, Gucci can decide to produce more bags into the industry hence increasing their market share of the total bags in the industry. This strategy, however, can lead to overproduction in a company, which relates to oversupply in the markets (Bandinelli et al., 2013). Such situations often lead to a decline in the market prices of related commodities in the market. Apart from expansion, diversification is an internal growth approach that enables the companies to enter new business lines that not similar with the current business operations. Diversification has four major divisions namely the vertical, concentric, horizontal and conglomerate diversification. Diversification improves the marketing and economic ability of a company and enables the companies to tap into market sectors that are underperforming towards the fulfilment of customer needs (Capello & Ravasi, 2009). This strategy, nevertheless, in the Italian fashion industry, may require extreme knowledge of the industry and the prevailing trends in that particular industry. In the event that a clothing company decides to diversify into the manufacture of shoes, the company may have to invest extra funds in hiring quality professionals to produce shoes that will attract customers from the other retailers. On the other hand, external growth strategies are development plans that involve cooperation between one company and another from the same region, country or from foreign regions and countries. Collaboration is a major trend in the Italian fashion industry that involves the companies working jointly to pursue a common goal. The Valentino Fashion Group that involves the Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and the Armani Collections is an example of external growth strategy that aims at gaining

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The role of culture in human society

The role of culture in human society Culture is the essential part of the humans society. Every person is spending his or her life within a certain cultural community. It frequently defines what kinds of person a man or woman is and what values will they have. Does the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology? Let us discuss this topic step by step. To understand it better, we can at first define what the cultural environment is and what influence it has on people within it. The very nature of the cultural environment is cultural and social aspects. It is could also be called a social context and sometimes milieu. It is a culture of a society or a group where a certain person is living or getting an education; it is institutions and people who interact with a certain human. By interaction we can mean not only different types of personal communication (like on a workplace, in class, with neighbors etc.); people could also communicate with each other by means of different communicational media (like phone, internet, newspapers, television etc). In spite of non personal type of the communication, people whom a man or a woman meets in internet can have an influence on his or her values and point of view. Also television and other mass media form our perception of life and other people little by little. This type of interaction we c an call one way or anonymous. It does not always imply the equality of the social status. Thus, the concept of a social environment is wider that the concept of a social circle or a social class. Nevertheless, it is common that those people who have the same social environment start having a sense of solidarity. They easily help and trust each other; also they tend to create a social group. As a result, those people will always have a similar way of thinking and similar patterns even if they make different conclusions. It shows us that people depend on society and culture around them very much whether they recognize this fact or not. Let us briefly define what culture itself is. It is going to help us understand what kind of effect it has on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology. There is plenty of information about culture and different consequences of it. It is impossible to transmit a culture through genealogy. Culture is not something innate; culture is something that everybody should learn. Different facets of it are interrelated; a culture is spread by those people within a group. Nowadays different cultures could easily exist within a country side by side (like it commonly happens in African countries). According to Hoebel (1960), the definition of a culture is following: The integrated sum total of learned behavioral traits that are manifest and shared by members of society. According Lawton (1975), culture includes age grading, religious rituals and athletic sport. According to Frow (1995) there are traditional differences in task and doing business were breaking down and this meant that standardization rather than adaptation is becoming increasingly prevalent. Probably, a culture is one of the most significant environmental variables that should be considered within a global marketing. Often a culture could not be freely overlooked; it often hiding from a view. Culture consists of some elements; they are language, aesthetics, religion, values and attitudes, education, social organization and material culture. It is necessary to discuss briefly every element of it. Material culture includes communications, power, transportations and others. Language is the next aspect of culture. It is a reflection of the values and nature of a certain society group. It could be sub-cultural languages, for example, dialects; in some countries it could be two or even more languages. Aesthetics includes art, dancing, arts-music. It concerns good taste, beauty, form and color of it. Education, as it is easy to see, includes the transmission of ideas, attitudes, skills and training in certain disciplines as well. Moreover, education serves as a transmitter of cultural and social values. Sometimes a child was introduced to the cultural value by school or later by university. Religion gives the humans behavior the best insight and as well it helps us to answer different questions, for example, why people behave n this way and not in another. We can see that culture is a complicate conception; it includes different aspects. What can we say about values conception? What is commonly meant by values? Shortly, by values a person may mean something that is really matter to him or her. It is beliefs and ideas somebody holds as special. Social and cultural environment forms ones values. Home, church school there are just some places where people could study values that are common for everybody within their cultural environment. Teachers, friends, parents are forming our personal system of values from day to day. As a result we have personal values. Arts et al. (2003) summarized that they consist of something that we accepted from people around as and that part that came with our own life experience. It is too compulsory to accept everything a person is hearing around him or her; nevertheless, values of cultural environment around us has its strong influence on our own system of values. Now, when we recognize what values, culture and cultural environment commonly mean we can examine the direct effect that the cultural environment has on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology. Before discussing the influence of a cultural environment on a person according to anthropology let us briefly mention the definition of the science. Saying shortly anthropology is the inquiry of humanity. Its origins throw back in the social sciences, natural science and humanities. The term itself is taken from the ancient Greek language and has two parts: man and study or discourse. The matters of anthropology are how do people behave, what are their physical traits, why we can see differences and variations between groups of people, and finally who was the ancestor of the modern humans. Anthropology is commonly divided in to four fields; they are cultural, or social, anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology and biological, or physical, anthropology. We can see that anthropology itself is the science that studies social and cultural values, differences, origins, roots etc. Thus, it is important to talk about the influence of culture environment according to this certain science. According to anthropology, a culture could be seated deeply; unprepared person could take some type of a culture like something senseless, strange and even cruel. Let us give an example. According to the Muslim culture a woman must cover her face with yashmak and hide herself from any alien. Nilaweera Wijetunga (2005) emphasized that this custom could appear strange and senseless to any person from Europe, United States or numeral other countries where people flaunt a womans form openly. Here is another example of the opposite culture. In some African countries (like Congo, Kenya etc) women do not wear top cloths. Oyeshile (2004) explained this fact that according to their culture, their traditions and according to their hot climate they do not consider the top of the female body something that they should cover or hide. There are many other different examples of things and customs that are unacceptable and even criminal in one part of the world; at the same time at another part of it people consider it the culture and commonly do it. Summarizing this short extract we can see that cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for anthropology. Continue the two examples above, a woman from the African country where there is not common or compulsory to cover her body with upper wear have values that are different from the values that are precious for a woman from a Muslim country. If those women could try to explain themselves their culture, values and reasons why they are keeping those culture values they would hardly understand each other. It is common that Muslim people condemn women from Europe and America. For them even the most modest and restrained American female seems to be a woman without culture values because she shows certain part of her body What can we say about the influence of the social environment on personal values for psychology? What is psychology? It is the science of the humans behavior and mind. This science is an attempt to understand humanity by exploring certain specific cases and by discovering some general principles as well. One of the main goals of psychology is to benefit the society. Scientists who involved in it we can divide in to some groups: cognitive scientists, social scientists and behavioral scientists. Among others, social behavior is among different subjects of psychology. The science of psychology explores following concepts: emotion, cognition, phenomenology, perception, attention, brain functioning, behavior, motivation, personality, unconscious mind and interpersonal relationships. As anthropology, the science of psychology is a social science and it has a strong connection with social environment. According to psychology, some type of behavior could be considered normal and other type c ould be considered abnormal. Commonly, humanity has the same nature. For example, murdering and cruelty is considered abnormal in every social group and community. Nevertheless, within some cultures the conception of cruelty may vary. Let us give an example. In American and European countries violation in any form is unacceptable even within a family. Thus people who keep doing it to others would consider psychologically abnormal. According to the culture of some eastern countries, especially countries with Muslim culture, a husband can beat his wife or punish her or in any other way if she does not satisfy him. What kind of misdeed could a wife do? She may cook a food that her husband does not like; she may say a word that her husband could consider unacceptable. People within the community with such culture are considered psychologically normal even if they commit violence every day. According to their culture cruelty is acceptable. A woman is expecting for it and she has no even right to complain. According to the example above we can see that psychological situation within a community could have a strong negative effect on personal values of a human. A person can look at low values of members of the community around him or her and subconsciously this person could understate those values that he or she had before. Psychologically people inclined to depend on society. That is why we can state that the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for psychology. Sociology is the last science that we are going to discuss. It studies the society using different methods of critical analysis and empirical investigations. This science refines and develops knowledge about the activity of human society. One of the aims of sociology is to achieve the social welfare with the mean of the knowledge. Mancheno-Smoak et al. (2009) stated that the field of interests in sociology varies from the micro level of interaction and agency to the macro level of social structures and systems. It is a very broad conception that is focused traditionally on social class, religion, social stratification, social mobility, secularization, deviance and law. It includes all spheres of peoples activity. It is interesting that sociology studies different types of interactions between people. We are living in the age of the world wide globalization when the whole planet is becoming one big house. Different cultural and social communities are not staying separate from each oth er like it was some hundreds years ago. People are moving, migrating and spreading their culture and different values among other societies. Why can we state that according to sociology, the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community? First reason is that people like to communicate with each other. It means that they getting some new knowledge and values. Roniger (1995) declared that when representatives of different cultures are staying in contact for some time they will get used to new values. It will stop being new for them. New cultural values will become common and according to sociology people will start accepting it in their lives. In some time they would not remember that one or another culture or value was not imparted to them. And it is the second reason why the cultural environment has an effect on values of people for sociology. In other words, when people move from one place to another they create a new social group with mixed culture and values. In conclusion of all factors and aspects that we discussed above we can see that anthropology, sociology and psychology are connected between each other. These three sciences are all about the human nature, culture and community. They are examining interactions and cooperation between different people; we can state that the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology because according to these sciences it is up to peoples nature to take something new from others. According to religion, human society was created as one big family. Let us agree that this statement is right; thus, we need to accept that people within a social community have a direct effect on each other in the same way in which members within an ordinary family have. Every science that we discussed has one main aim to make our society better. We need to remember that it is up to everybody to help in achievement of this aim.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Teacher Leadership as a Change Agent Essay -- york barr,education syst

Teachers have always played one of the most important roles in schools and in the educational histories of most students. One of the greatest challenges facing education systems is implementing the changes that would increase student learning. In this paper, I seek to investigate the traditional views of school reform by redefining the roles teachers can play in school change and thus, increasing student’s learnings outcome. How do we make change happen in education? Considering current framework in light of the ever-changing context of schooling, appear to view classroom-based teachers as having little to no authority, as being incapable of initiating school wide change according to their will. Mostly, teacher has been considered in two roles. The first role of the teacher as a receiver and implementer of the strategies & practices formulated by others, i.e. national policy efforts or principal change initiatives. The second role of the teacher as a leader of official reform initiatives, such as those found in policies created by school district and school level principal. Moreover, both roles of the teacher also place more value on the school’s context rather than on the teacher’s potential to make change independently. Under these prevailing roles of teachers, it is very hard for teachers to initiative for school improvement without the help of traditional school leaders. The time has co me to enforce new role of the teachers that is more consistent with the 21st century’s learning framework and can provide better service to the students, where Teachers are more active than recipients and more central to school improvement than taking the lead on implementing externally-driven reforms. Thus, by studying the two dominant roles ... ... 1993.Change Forces: Probing the depths of educational reform .London: Falmer Press Fullan, M. 2011.The new meaning of educational change. (4th ed.).New York: Teachers College Press. Harris, A .2002.Building the capacity for school improvement. Hargreaves, A. 2007. Five flaws of staff development and the future beyond. Journal of Staff Development 28: 37-38. Jilek, J., Loadman, W., &Derby, L. 1998.ohio’s P-12 systematic educational reform: Implications for the preparation of teachers and administrator. Murphy, J. 2005. Continuing teacher leadership and school improvement .Thousand Oaks, CA: Crownie Press Rogers, E.M. 2003.Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press. York-Barr, J. & K. Duke (2004) what do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of educational research 74(3), 255-316.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

The effect of inadequate protection of migrants in the food

The research paper critically analyses the effect of inadequate protection for migrant workers in the food and beverage industry. The research identifies the lack of adequate shelter, anti-immigration laws and lack of basic citizen’s rights. A critical analysis of the data sources and methods applied is considered. The Literature review section highlights the work of other researchers with respect to the research question â€Å"What exactly does it mean to say that migrant workers lack adequate protection in the food and beverage industry† A further analysis on the methodology is conducted which includes: Evaluation of housing conditions, the impact of   staffing, animals salary and the â€Å"No- Match† analysis. The research paper is   then conducted by highlighting the fact that there are labor shortage in the industry, therefore there is an increased dependency on migrant workers. Despite this fact, migrant workers are left without good conditions of service and ultimately lack of adequate protection especially with the anti-immigration laws in place. The paper then concludes by proposing better rights and protection for migrant workers in the food and beverage industry. Purpose The purpose of this research is to critically assess and analyse the effect of inadequate protection of migrants in the food and beverage industry. Scope This research identifies the lack of housing, anti- immigration laws and basic citizen’s rights in the food and beverage industry. Data, sources and Methods applied. An assessment of the housing conditions of the migrants was evaluated. The Sonoma and Napa counties of California was studied. The total numbers of the combined work force was determined and thereafter the percentage and number of migrants that have a shelter was then evaluated. A survey of the impact of staffing and plant services as a result of anti-immigrant laws was carried out. Annual salary and the job satisfaction was surveyed among the migrants. Finally, the use of the â€Å"NO -MATCH† data in the enforcement of immigration laws evaluated to show the effect of incorrect earning and information of migrant workers in the food and beverage industry. Limitations Certain limitations were encountered in this research. The effect of improper medical service and due compensation have not be considered in detail due to the lack of relevant data. LITERATURE REVIEW Robert Mondavi has often mentioned, â€Å" California has the soils and climate. California along with Australia, has led the wine world in technical advance in the winery and now in the vineyard- although there is still work to be done there. California can compete with other wine producing regions at almost every price level. From $5 a bottle to $100- plus,†Ã‚   (Mondavi, October 2002). Over the pact fifty years, national surveys of Americans   (NORC 1947,1972-98; Harris 1973,1981) Shows consistently that California has one advantages over the competition: the vineyard workers. There isn’t another vine growing region that workers with the worth ethnic the ability to rapidly learn necessary skills and the joy of life that California has with its Mexican and other Latin American field workers. They are an asset that can hardly be measured in dollars. The Sonoma and Napa counties alone have a combined harvest workforce of 16,000. there are only a few hundred beds for migrants on the entire North coast workers sleep in churches, crawled into single rooms, under bridges and wherever they can find room for a blanket. The vineyard workers, both migrants and permanent, documented and undocumented, are the most precious commodity California vine growers have. (FirstenFeld, 2002). Amelia Morgan Ceja put it well (Morgan, A.C., 2002) when she said that without the Mexican workers, there would be no California wine industry. The workers are responsible adults, supporting familiar back in Mexico. They deserve to be treated as such and allowed  the refreshment and relaxation that comes from a cold or (why not?) a glass or two of wine. It is bitterly ironic that wine generous should enforce prohibition on their own workers. Over the past two decades researches have increasingly investigated the determinant of the effect of larger staff (Kearl, Harris 1981) on the food and beverage industry. They postulated that the larger the staff and the better the welfare, the more efficient and productive the industry becomes. Requests for supplementary personnel were followed by wishers for more communication and better directions, better or updated equipment and computer technologies, more training and the availability of proper resources. While doing more with less has been an issue for years in most industrial especially the food and beverage (Harper, February 2004), pending anti-immigrants laws may have a huge impact on the operating efficiency and staffing in industry. When asked to described what, if any impact on staffing and plant services might occur as a result of anti-emigrants laws, Nancy Cruzan, stated that â€Å"one hundred percent of plant hourly workers are migrants, so we would be grateful affected by anti-emigrants labor initiatives (Cruzan, 2004). However, some researchers are more optimistic. â€Å"Industry will experience a period of labor shortage, but these problems will diminish over time as the migrants work force learns the proper process to gain employment† (Doyle, 2005) and â€Å"It should improve staffing by providing a system to get manual labor to do unskilled job through a documented controlled process. â€Å" (Doyle, 2005 Accordingly to Joy LePree, food and beverage workers find their jobs satisfying, but say there’s room for improvement ( LePree, December 1, 2006) Peter Wellington, a wine maker wrote a letter decrying the treatment received by the migrants workers He stated â€Å" This is not a problem of illegal immigrants, it’s a problem of homeless immigrants that creates a problem both for the community and the workers who don’t have decent facilities, (Wellington 1991). He relates â€Å"If you’re going to go out and pick group 10hours a day and have to cook over an open fire and not have a toilet or a place to take a shower or a dry place to sleep when it rains, that’s in human† In mainland China, there is and enormous floating population moving into the industrial towns cities. Their hands have helped build the cities high-rises, and their blood and sweat has paved the enter-city highways. The toil over 10 hours a day producing a range of goods in the manufactureing industry. Let they do not even have basic citizens rights. (Chen K.K, 2002). Migrants workers may be workers, but the industry in only interested in exploring their most productive years. They are not given adequate shelter, not insured against unemployment or old age, they are still denied pensions overtime pay, and working hours may as well not exist. Underlying every theory in the issue of inadequate protection. What exactly does it mean to say that migrant workers lack adequate protection in the food and beverage industry?. This is because migrant workers constitute the majority work force and are essential to the growth of the industry. They lack adequate protection, yet they are indispensable. METHODOLOGY Evaluation of housing conditions. An evaluation of the housing conditions of the migrants workers was conducted. The study considered the case of Sonoma and Napa countier of California. The total number of the combined workforce is 16,000. Only 500 beds are for migrants workers on the entire North cost. Workers sleep in churches, crowed into single rooms, under bridge and wherever they can find room for a blanket. Impact of staffing As surveying was carried out on the impact of staffing and plant service as a result of anti-immigration laws. Some of the employers in the industry were 100% of the result showered that â€Å"immigrants. This could lead to a huge effect on the productivity in the food and beverage sector. Another 50% of the work force could be lost. Still, others fear it would shut down operations entirely. However, some were more optimistic that the industry will this problem will diminish over time as the migrant workforce learns the proper process to gain employment. Immigration issues ranked among the top five most important workplace issues companies face today. When respondents were asked in a open ended question about the most important workplace issues faced today, safety was cited most often retaining trained staff and a qualified workplace was the second most significant issue with competition and the labor shortage tying third, communications ranked fourth and finally, immigrants taking fifth place. Annual Salary The annual salary of migrants workers shows that 90% of migrants workers are under paid, 10% still make good money ($75-$100) a ton). Most of them come back year after year. Job satisfaction in good but can be better No- Match data The use of SSA’s â€Å" No-match data with respect to immigration laws was analysed. A survey shows that employers used the same SSN for as many as 10 different workers in the same tax year as many as 308 times over a 16-year period studied. The result showed that employers used the same SSN for more than 100 earnings reports. Employers most frequently associated with incorrect earnings reports belonged to industry groups historically known to employ illegal immigrants such as agriculture, food and beverage industry. Employers in these industries are most likely to file earnings reports with incorrect information. CONCLUSION For decades, the most labor-intensive sectors of American agriculture have been dependent on alien workers to meet basic workforce needs. In recent years almost all sectors have dealt with labor shortage by employing alien workers. The food and beverage industry is no exception. Unfortunately, these migrant workers are given inadequate protection in terms of housing wages pension and anti-immigration laws. Despite the fact that the contribution of these workers in the industry cannot be quantified, they are not given better conditions of service. Better rights for alien workers is therefore proposed. References REFERENCES 1.Chen K. K, 2002,† Unprotected Migrant workers†. Wines and vines Publishers 2.Cruzan, 2004, â€Å"Effect of anti- immigrant laws†. Evans Publishers. 3.Doyle, 2005, : â€Å"Labor Shortage and the Food Industry†. Chicago Press. 4.Firstenfeld, 2002, â€Å" What Wine Growers Have†. Heineman Publishers 5.Harper, February 2004, â€Å"Alien workers and anti- immigrant laws â€Å" Wines Vines. 6.Kearl; Harris 1981, â€Å" Adequate Compensation for Migrants workers† New York Press. 7. Le Pree December 1, 2006, â€Å"The joy of Food and Beverage workers†. Mcgraw hill Press 8. Mondavi R, October 2002, â€Å" working in wine and vines†. New York Press. 9. Morgan. A. C, 2002 â€Å"California’s secret Weapon†, Wines and Vines Publishers. 10.   NORC, 1947, 1972-79, Harris 1973, 1981, â€Å" National Survey of Americans†. New York Press. 11.Wellington 1991, â€Å" Treatment received by Migrant Workers†. Retrieved the pick of the crop.            

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Domestic Animal Essay

Even every child knows what it is animal. And I bet with you that every child sees it interesting to have some animal at home, to own it and to care for it. My first animal was given to me in my age of seven and it was little guinea-pig which was three-coloured. That time, I think, my love for animals begins and I doubt it will ever stop. I always hear children say they really want to have some pet – cat or dog, mostly dog. And most of the time they have to wait until they can buy it by themselves because their parents don’t want to be responsible for other member of their family. And yes, animal like cat or dog becomes member of your family if you want it or not. But I fell in love with guinea-pigs. I had four of them till now. But every time it was one single animal in my room with me, one little friend. As I grew up it wasn’t only friendly and definitely lovely face which I like on them but their character which was different in every of them. They can be snuggling but they can easy become angry with you and then you have to be careful to find your way to them again. After some time guinea-pigs became my new hobby. I caught up with few breeders and found out new interesting things for example about genetics of exhibition guinea-pigs. I said before that animals like dogs become members of your family but after all even a far more little â€Å"thing† joined to our family life. Once I told my father that he’s speaking more with our Jack than with me! 🙂 And when we are talking about family life maybe the next time I will buy a couple with genealogical tree and join to the breeders†¦ But now I have something else in my room, something which can be counted to animals. It is my little sister. She is like other children. She wanted dog, but zhen I explained to her very carefully that she should try something else to our parents. Finally it seems that she is more practical now so we have periodical discussion about bunnies on Sunday and I think that it won’t last long to break our mom. And after all bunnies are good friends with guinea-pigs†¦ but we will have to think up what to do with the hunte-cat of our neighbours.