The College Degree Just Another Pyramid Scheme Essay

College is an institution of higher learning, providing general or liberal arts education rather than technical or professional training; and for years, has been determined to be the best investment. Popular opinion denotes attending college to be paramount to social and economic accomplishments, and lacking a college degree decreases employment, self-pride, and success. However, nothing in America’s history has risen and continues to rise as the cost of college tuition, which is now up more than five hundred (500) percent since 1985 (Rampell). Research shows the rising cost of tuition creates more debt for students, a college degree does not guarantee social or economic success, and causes additional stress, which can lead to suicide. In†¦show more content†¦Your net price is a college’s total cost minus grants and scholarships you receive. Its a discount of your college costs that you do not have to pay back. For example, the average published price of tuiti on and fees at a four-year public college is $8,660, but the average net price — what the average family really pays — is just $2,910. Although grants, scholarships and financial aid are available not every student receives them. Therefore those who do not are left no other choice but to take out loans to compensate their college cost. There are many types of student loans federal, private, institutional and state loans. While federal student loans have standard interest rates set by the federal government, private, institutional and state loan terms can vary greatly. Students using a Sallie Mae private student loan should expect their loan to triple as their interest rates range from 3.25%-12.88%. A recent U.S. News article tells the effect of loans on students: Average student loan debt grew by more than 10 percent between 2011 and 2012, according to new data†¦byShow MoreRelated Internet Crime Essay1429 Words   |  6 Pagesthe U.S. Air Force. Ironically enough the site’s sponsor was the U.S. Department of Defense.[2] Fortunately, the hacker only fouled things up enough to leave the message that the site was not secure. Many times, hackers are not so generous. Another frightening fact is that in the past couple of years, sites like the Justice Department, NASA, and the CIA have been hacked. Email has become a popular vehicle for malicious hacking, much of it in the form of mail bombs. A mail bomb is, simplyRead MoreMulti Level Marketing2958 Words   |  12 Pagesdoor. Distributors recruit other distributors who do the same. Each distributor makes money on the products that their recruits sell in addition to the money they make from their own sales. The idea is that eventually the original distributor can just sit back and let the distributors he recruited make money for him. For a fee, usually between $25 and $100, these MLM companies will sell people a distributor kit that includes informational brochures about the product they will be selling, priceRead MoreMotivations for Young People to Engage in the MLM-Business Vemma2614 Words   |  10 PagesModeling Nature Motivations for young people to engage in the MLM-business Vemma Nowadays, having a bachelors or even a masters degree does not have any guarantee for future employment (Fevre, 2007). Furthermore, the rates of job dissatisfaction are extremely high (Fevre, 2007).People are not satisfied with the type of work they do, neither with the people whom they work with or their working hours (Fevre, 2007). During this time of high rates of job dissatisfaction and low employment, theRead MoreBernard Madoff s Influence On The Great Depression Essay2089 Words   |  9 Pagesproved that their financial dealings weren’t successful. Young Bernie was introduced into this type of lifestyle at an early age, although he didn’t seem as interested in it at the time. Madoff graduated from Hofstra in 1960 receiving his bachelor’s degree in political science. With the help from his father in law, a retired CPA, Madoff and his wife started their investments firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC. He took $5000 from his personal savings and borrowed an additional $50,000Read MoreImportance of Science Education5289 Words   |  22 Pagesone solution for IndiaÕs economic problems and that is science, more science and still more science. Homi Bhabha, the father of IndiaÕs atomic energy programme, while addressing the General Assembly of the International Council of Scientific Unions, just before his death, emphasized, What developed countries have and what developing countries lack is modern science and an economy based on modern technology. The problem of developing countries is therefore the problem of establishing modern scienceRead MoreThe Importance Of Keeping And Improving Overall Quality Of Teachers Essay2363 Words   |  10 Pagessystem and sets the framework for base pay allocation†. From the perspective of pay structures, schools—as large bureaucratic organisations—include different levels of teachers in school who are paid differently conforming to the traditional hierarchy pyramid. As mentioned earlier, there exists a large pay gap between qualified and unqualified teachers, and teachers in different areas earn differently as well, as demonstrated in Figures 2 and 3. Figure 2 Figure 3 2.3.2 Job Evaluation Job evaluationRead MoreThe Case of Bernard Madoff4541 Words   |  19 Pagesanalysis can be made on decision making and lack of ethical training which we think is an important topic to focus on this course. On Dec. 11, 2008, Bernard Lawrence Madoff confessed that his vaunted investment business was all one big lie, a Ponzi scheme colossal in volume and scope that cost investors $65 billion. Overnight, Madoff became the new poster child for Wall Street gall, greed and corruption. Business ethics are the guidelines a company uses when interacting with entities inside andRead MoreCapstone Format4756 Words   |  20 Pagesprepared in their respective careers. The bulk of the work (i.e., the Research / Capstone Project work itself) is to be done outside of the classroom. I. Research / Capstone Project Agenda The Research / Capstone Project agenda/thrust of the College of Information and Computer Studies (CICS) in this university includes the following: * Business and Industry Development * Business Studies * Industry Studies or Ancillary Studies * Spatial Studies * Socioeconomic DevelopmentRead MoreMy Eulogy Essay1984 Words   |  8 Pagesyour family name, let’s not forget, two horse thieves, four drug smugglers, six prostitutes and numerous corrupt politicians hang from your family tree. Trust me; no one will notice a college dropout perched on one of its branches. Besides, I inherited my father and grandfather’s artistic genes and don’t need a degree in art. Furthermore, Whitney, I made my decisions based on the fact that the sight a white canvas and a paint brush in my hand induces unbelievable boredom and consequently, I’ve acceptedRead MoreTheories Of Personality And Personality Theory4645 Words   |  19 Pagesshould consist of methods from various dissimilar theoretical viewpoints, without the clinician necessarily adopting the theoretical basis for those techniques. According to Lazarus (1991) there was no way to assimilate the diverse psychological schemes below one philosophy. Lazarus and Butler (1993) propose that concepts are only sensible if they are initiated empirically consequential from associations amongst customer unruly, salutary technique, and effect; and persons that framework this procedure

Brave New World Essay - 1235 Words

Huxleys work, Brave New World, is a book about a society that is in the future. This book contains many strange things that are generally unheard of today. Yet we see that some of the ideas that are presented in this book were already present in the 20th century. The idea of having one superior race of people can easily be seen as something that Hitler was trying to accomplish during the Holocaust. Huxley presents the society in his book as being a greater civilization. A totalitarian type of leadership is also presented in his book. According to him, this would be the best and most effective type of government. Hitler also thought that a totalitarian government was best. We see several similarities between Hitlers Germany and Huxleys†¦show more content†¦The society that we see portrayed in Brave New World had the same goal. The objective was to build a nation that is superior to the common people. Brave New World portrays common people as being disgusting savages with no refinement. Just as during the Holocaust the Nazis wanted one greater, more beautiful and more refined society; so in Brave New World we also see them pursuing this goal. We can see that seeds of the society, conceived by Huxley, were sown in the 20th century during the Holocaust. Totalitarianism alsogrew during the 20th century. A totalitarian government is one in which a single party rules over the entire state and has complete control. The people in a totalitarian society have no say in anything. This was the type of society that Hitler controlled. Everyone under Hitler was controlled by his rules and power. When Hitler rose into power, the Germans were still recovering from the aftermath of World War 1. Hitler promised the people radical changes and an end to all their sufferings and before long they came to love him. As a cause for all their sufferings, Hitler blamed the Jews and thus the Holocaust began. Hitler made many promises and told the people whatever he knew they want ed to hear. Before long, the people were brainwashed by him and started to submit to whatever Hitler told them to do. Germany quickly became a totalitarian state. The people were made to thinkShow MoreRelatedA Brave New World? Essay1485 Words   |  6 PagesA Brave New World? In the novel, Brave New World, by Adolous Huxley we are introduced to a world where an all-powerful government dictates the occupation, intelligence, morals, and values of an individual. The government known as the World State controls the entire process of a human, from life to death. The society is based almost solely on an consumer foundation, where making money is the sole goal of the government. Although the society is radical in its nature there are certain aspects ofRead More Brave New World Essay962 Words   |  4 PagesBrave New World Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a fictitious story about a future utopian society where people are mass-produced in laboratories. People have no emotions in this world where drugs and promiscuous sex are greatly encouraged. People are given labels according to their pre-natal intelligence assignment. These different classes all have specific roles within society and nobody is unhappy with their place. The Brave New World he was a fictitious story that sets upRead MoreBrave New World Essay1091 Words   |  5 PagesA smart, scholarly and skillful author named Aldous Huxley once said â€Å"Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards†. The advancement, improvement and the wrong use of technology has affected the world in a really negative way. When technology first started to improve and become more advanced was during the WW1 and WW2, which caused the most destructive wars in human history. For example the wrong use of technology led the Americans to produce one ofRead MoreEssay on Brave New World696 Words   |  3 PagesBrave New World George Santayana once said, â€Å"Ideal society is a drama enacted exclusively in the imagination.† In life, there is no such thing as a â€Å"complete utopia†, although that is what many people try to achieve. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is an attempt at a utopian society. In this brave new world, mothers and fathers and family are non-existent. Besides being non-existent, when words of that sort are mentioned, ears are covered and faces of disgust are made. In a report to theRead MoreEssay on Brave New World823 Words   |  4 Pages Imagine a world where all of your fantasies can become reality. Imagine a world without violence or hate, but just youth, beauty, and sex. Imagine a world of perfect â€Å"stability† (42) where â€Å"everyone belongs to everyone else† (43), and no one is unhappy or left out. This sounds like the perfect world. But it’s not. Looks can be deceiving as proven in Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New W orld. In his novel, he introduces us to a society that strives to satisfy everyone’s wants and needs by inflictingRead MoreEssay on Brave New World851 Words   |  4 PagesBrave New World It seems clear that most people in the World State are happy and contented. There are no longer problems such as disease, war, poverty, or unemployment in this society. Why then, do Bernard Helmholtz and John criticise the quality of their lives? What is wrong with World State Society? 600 hundred years into the future has advanced the new World State technologically, and perhaps also in the way of life for its citizens. Some might even go so far as to say it is an improvement.Read MoreThe Brave New World Essay859 Words   |  4 PagesThe Brave New World has a lot of complexity and topics that are still relevant in the 21st Century. Throughout the novel one of the themes that caught my attention was how the World State uses social programing to structure their society. The society is being taught not to think about change, follow orders, have a sexual life, and be happy by using soma. Sexuality is all over the book to the point were it got uncomfortable. The following quote explains how Fanny is having a conversation with LeninaRead MoreEssay on Brave New World1797 Words   |  8 PagesBrave New World In the past 100 years, the world has completely turned around. The technological and computer revolutions have completely changed the way the world works. Henry Ford revolutionized factorial production through the creation of the assembly line. It increased efficiency and a basic standard of conformity among products, therefore making the company a lot more successful. The rest of the industry creating a nation-wide revolution based on efficiency adopted this new innovationRead MoreEssay on Brave New World-Allusions1337 Words   |  6 PagesAllusions to the Brave New World 1. Ford Henry Ford (1863-1947) revolutionized the automobile industry with the assembly line method of production, which proved very successful for 15 million Model Ts were sold. Humans were similarly produced in the Brave New World where the embryos passed along a conveyor belt while a worker or machine would have a specific task dealing with the specimen. Again, this assembly line method proved very successful. 2. Lenina Vladmir Lenin (1870-1924) foundedRead MoreEssay on Brave New World528 Words   |  3 Pages Back in the 1930s when Brave New World was published, no body dreamt that world of science fiction would ever come into reality. Surely there must have been a time though when a machine that could wash clothes too, seemed like science fiction. That machine has come into reality though. With todays technology and already seeing how far weve advanced scientifically, whos to say we couldnt push further. For that reason, its believable that the Brave New World could come into reality.

Recruitment And Selection Process In Hospitality Section - Samples

Question: Discuss about the Recruitment And Selection Process In Hospitality Section. Answer: Introduction Recruitment and selection is the process of sourcing and selecting the most suitable job candidates for the right position of an organization. The success of an organization is highly dependent on effective recruitment and selection process, which hires the most effective employees towards achieving organizational success. In case of hospitality sector, the success of organizations is completely dependent on the skills and talent level of employees for satisfying the customers (Huang et al., 2016). Hence, the hospitality recruiters must be extremely crucial in their hiring process for selecting most suitable and talented employees towards leading organizational success. This paper will choose 5 peer reviewed journals on different aspects of recruitment and selection process in hospitality section. The description of each annotated bibliography will also discuss the contribution of the articles in the study of recruitment and selection in hospitality sector. Communication skills, recruitment and selection, retention, turnover, assessment This article examines that the employers of hospitality industry in Macau are facing extreme challenges in recruiting and selecting best employees due to tight labor market condition. As per this article, the employers in different countries prefer different types of selection methods for selecting the best employees. The employers of United State mostly prefer reference check method for selecting best employees. Furthermore, the employers assess the abilities of the employees through a trial work period. Application form, initial interview and reference check methods are the best rated assessment method in United Kingdom. Furthermore, the article has highlighted on structure interview, performance test and personality test for substantive assessment of the employees (Chan Kuok, 2011). The research question of the article has been focused on the preferences of employers regarding best recruitment and selection method. The purpose of the article is to assess the important employee sk ills considered by the employers during recruitment and selection. In order to collect data regarding the research topic, the author has selected 135 employers of Macau hospitality industry. Moreover, survey questionnaires have been distributed among the selected employers, which were regarding their preferences of employee skills and selection method in employee selection. Moreover, the article has concluded that resume and interview method are mostly used by the employers for employee selection and assessment. This study is particularly applied to recruitment and selection methods used in hospitality sectors. The findings of this study will be highly useful in my study of hospitality sector because it suggests best recruitment and selection method for hiring high quality employees. I will use these findings to analyze hospitality sector, as it has demonstrated key skills required among the employees of hospitality sector. From the findings of the article, I have understood that the employees of hospitality industry need high level of human relation skills. Such skills can help the employees in provide high quality customer service to the customers for leading high level of customer satisfaction. On the other hand, competitiveness of the hospitality sector is also largely dependent on the verbal and interpersonal skills of the employees. Moreover, the sector can provide warm welcome and attractive service to the customers through the employees having high level of interpersonal skills. Entry-Level managers, gap analysis, recruiters, students, skills, curriculum design The article examines the differences in the perception between hospitality recruiters and hospitality students in regards to skills required for entry level managers in hospitality sector. The research questions of this article have been designed to explore the gaps in the perception of KSA requirement for entry level managers in hospitality sectors between the recruiter and students. Furthermore, the purpose of the study is to minimize the gap of perception between the recruiters and students regarding the KSA requirements for entry level managers in hospitality sector. As per this article, the recruiters of hospitality sector mostly prefer oral communication, analytical ability, teamwork and leadership, interpersonal skills, adaptability and self management skills for selecting entry level managers (Huang et al., 2016). However, the students are not much aware of the adaptability and self discipline skills, as they are not integrated with the hospitality programs. The article has s elected pilot study, where survey was conducted on five enrolled students in the home institution of the researcher. Apart from that, the article has also selected a list of recruiters at a Midwestern hospitality program. Moreover, the study has concluded that relocation and self discipline are the big gaps between the hospitality recruiter and hospitality students. Moreover, the hospitality professionals should cultivate self-disciplines of the students at the campus for preparing them effectively for the position of entry level managers. This study has been particularly applied to hospitality sector, which can help me to know huge useful information regarding this sector. Moreover, the findings of the article have identified the gaps in the perception between the hospitality recruiter and hospitality students regarding the KSA of entry level managers. I will use these findings to enhance my knowledge regarding the actual KSA requirements for the entry level managers in hospitality sector. I have understood that the managers at entry level of hospitality sector must understand the value of relocation for the business progress. Moreover, the adaptable nature of the entry level managers will help them in better adjust with the new business location. On the other hand, the findings of the article have also explored that the hospitality recruiters prefer the intrinsic characteristic of the candidates more that their specific skills. Moreover, such skills are highly required for the entry level managers to maintain warm re lationship with the employees. The hospitality professional should cultivate self-discipline among the students for best preparing to be preferred by the hospitality recruiters in the position of entry level manager. Recruitment process, selection factor, front desk agent, hotel, hospitality This article examines the selection factors, which the recruiters and hiring mangers consider the cover letter, resumes and face-to-face interview, while hiring front desk agent in hospitality sector. The purpose of the study is to assess the perception of recruiter and hiring managers, while hiring front desk agents for hospitality sector. The objective of the article is to promote, improve and better achieve desired outcome in selecting successful applicants. As per this article, the review of resumes and interview are considered as the most frequent and relevant ways of selecting a front desk agent. The cover letters demonstrate the personality and communication skills of the applicants, which are extremely important for the front desk agents to solve problems, provide excellent customer service and developing teams (Meagher, 2017). On the other hand, the resumes are extremely important for identifying the information regarding the educational qualification, work experience, inter est and achievements of the applicants. The article has also explored the importance of interview in assessing the cognitive ability of the applicants. The article has selected 12 recruiter and hiring managers of hotel sectors for collecting data regarding the research questions. Moreover, the study has concluded that the recruiters and hiring managers mostly review resumes and interview for hiring front desk agents. Such method assesses the personality, hospitality experience and people interaction of the applicants. The study is particularly applied to the recruitment and selection process for hotel industry. More specifically, the findings of the study have revealed the suitable recruitment and selection factors adopted by the recruitment and hiring mangers to hire quality front desk agent in hotel sectors. I have understood that the hiring managers of hotel sectors face extreme challenges in selecting quality and experienced front desk agents. However, the recruiters and hiring should review the cover letter of the applicants for assessing the personality and communication skills of the applicants. I have understood that that work experience is the most important factor, which the recruiter should consider during selection of front desk agents. It is extremely important for my study to understand the importance of resumes in selecting the applications. Moreover, the resumes reveal the work experience, extracurricular activities and educational qualification of the employees. Furthermore, the a rticle is also important for me to understand the important of structured interview in selecting the best applicants in hotel sectors. This method recognizes the cognitive skills of the applications, which help them to interact with the customers effectively. Recruitment and selection, human capital, human resource management practice, innovation The article examines the importance of human resource practices in fostering innovation in organization. The major focus of this article is relied on exploring the mediating role of human capital in enhance organizational performance. The recent investigation of this study has revealed that effective recruitment and selection process helps the managers to hire quality talented employees, who can contribute in the innovation process of the organization. However, recruitment and selection process does not have direct impact on enhancing the level of human capital (Nieves Quintana, 2018). The hypotheses of the article have been set to explore the importance of rigorous recruitment and selection process in the level of human capital. Furthermore, the purpose of the article is also to assess the significance of training and development in enhancing the level of human capital, which is targeted towards fostering organizational innovation. The author has selected cross-sectional survey on the employees of 109 hotel establishments for collecting important data regarding the research hypotheses. Moreover, the study has concluded that recruitment and selection process does not necessarily contribute in enhancing the level of human capital, but it directly contributes in innovation process. Effective hiring and selection process attracts and selects highly talented employees, who can directly apply their unique knowledge and ideas in fostering innovation ideas towards organizational competiveness. The article is completely concerned about assessing the effectiveness of recruitment and selection process in enhancing the level of human capital. Moreover, the findings of the article suggest that recruitment and selection process enhances the source of talented employees in organizations for fostering organizational innovation. One of the important things, which I have understood from the study, is that recruitment and selection process does not directly influence the quality enhancement of the employees, but it directly attracts and hires the talented employees for fostering unique ideas on business process. Hence, this article has highly contributed in my study of recruitment and selection in hospitality sector. Moreover, the article has also helped me in assessing the importance of training and development in the innovation process of the hospitality sector. Effective training and development process of the key for enhancing the level of human capital. Such process develops the skills, knowledge and abilities of the human capital and encourages them to foster innovative ideas for generating competitiveness in organizations. Recruiting, selection, employee level, social networking sites The article investigates the importance of social networking sites for the selection purpose of hospitality sector. As per this article, most of the USA employers in hospitality sector are using social networking sites for screening and investigating the job candidates. Moreover, the employers use these sites to verify the information provided by the job applicants. 45% of the U.S employers are already using social networking sites for assessing the personal preferences, interests, demographic information, links and favorite videos of the job candidates posted on their social media profile (Chang Madera, 2012). Moreover, it has been considered as the most effective, inexpensive and easy selection method for screening the job candidates before their selection. The objective of this article is to explore the way in which the recruiters are using social media sites for screening the job applicants. Furthermore, the article is also aimed at assessing the extent to which the valence of i nformation posted on social media accounts influence the recruiters on their usage of social sites in recruitment and selection. The author has selected 80 hospitality industry recruiters and conducted survey method on them for assessing their level of social site usage in selection process. The article has concluded that the employers mostly consider the negative information of job application on the social accounts for rejecting them. It is evident that the hospitality recruiters mostly use social networks for hiring management level employees than hiring entry level employees. The findings of the article are extremely important for my study of hospitality sector and its recruitment and selection process. This article has focused on an interesting aspect of selection process, where 45% of hospitality recruiters are using social networking sites for screening the job applicants before hiring them. I have understood that social networking sites are the most efficient and cost effective ways of screening process, where the employers can validate the information actually provided by the applicants. I can also use these findings to assess the importance of management level employees over the entry level employees. Moreover, the turnover of management level employees is quite expensive than the turnover of entry level employees. Hence, most of the recruiters use social networking sites for assessing personal information of the management level job candidates before hiring them. References Chan, S. H., Kuok, O. M. (2011). A study of human resources recruitment, selection, and retention issues in the hospitality and tourism industry in Macau.Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality Tourism,10(4), 421-441. Chang, W., Madera, J. M. (2012). Using social network sites for selection purposes: An investigation of hospitality recruiters.Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality Tourism,11(3), 183-196. Huang, Y., Lalopa, J., Adler, H. (2016). An analysis of entry level management requirements: Are there differences in perceptions of hospitality recruiters versus hospitality students?.Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality Tourism,15(3), 346-364. Meagher, K. A. (2017). An examination of the recruitment selection factors for a front desk agent.Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality Tourism,16(2), 171-191. Nieves, J., Quintana, A. (2018). Human resource practices and innovation in the hotel industry: The mediating role of human capital.Tourism and Hospitality Research,18(1), 72-83.

Peerless Starch Company free essay sample

The Peerless Starch Company of Blair, Indiana. b)Grading to be based on the CWE scoring rubric previously provided. c)Assignment must be placed on the online portfolio and must be submitted to etutoring for review. d)Read the case study below in its entirety and give it some serious thought. Then, in your own words, summarize the issues involved in this case (there are quite a few) and indicate whether Glen Baxter has a case and provide a thorough discussion to support your conclusion. Finally, and within the write-up, discuss what you would do if you were John Ludwig? Essay word count should be no less than 750 words. e)Required dates: a. Provide your instructor a copy of your initial write-up that you are placing on the online portfolio and sending to etutoring by Friday, April 4. b. Send to etutoring ASAP and provide your instructor a revised write-up based on etutoring comments by Friday, April 11. We will write a custom essay sample on Peerless Starch Company or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page f)Access the Writing Center LibGuide for instructions on how to have your work reviewed by etutoring and how to set up an online Portfolio if necessary. The Peerless Starch Company of  Blair, Indiana For as long as anyone in Blair, Indiana, could remember, the Peerless Starch plant had always been the biggest thing in town. Built on a slight hill above the sluggish river and designed to look as much like the Tower of London as anything in Indiana can, the plant dominated the town spiritually even more than it did physically. The Peerless Starch Company was the largest employer in town, employing well over 8,000 men out of a population of 120,000 or every fourth head of a family. It paid the highest wages, if only because most of the men were rated as skilled workers or technicians. And alone of all the large businesses in Blair, it was locally managed; the Peerless top management sat on the fifth floor of the big mill itself, in the New Building that had been put up in the 1940s. And from the chief executive officer the grandson of the founder on down, all executives were Blair men who had started in the mill and worked their way up, and who were more often than not second- or third-generation Peerless employees. The Peerless Starch Company had started in Blair, Indiana during the Civil War when the founder had developed one of the first methods to extract starch from corn. Until the 1940s, Peerless had only one mill. But the company had prospered so much that three additional mills were built in rapid succession during the years after World War II: one in Illinois, one in Texas, and, the biggest yet, in Oregon, built in the late 1950s. But while the Peerless Starch Company had flourished, the town of Blair, Indiana had not. During World War II it had boomed. But then Blair, Indiana had gradually drifted into being first a run-down and then a depressed area. One after another, many of the towns other factories had laid off people and then fi ¬nally closed their doors. The Peerless Starch Company mill in Blair, Indiana seemed to be the only exception to this general rule of slow decay and downhill drift. But appearances were deceptive. Actually, the Peerless mill in Blair was in terrible condition and was kept going only by the success of the new Peerless mills in other states. The Blair, Indiana mill’s sales were about one-fifth of the entire Peerless Starch Company’s. But the Blair mill in Indiana employed almost half of Peerlesss hourly rated labor force and three-quarters of Peerlesss managerial and professional people. Unlike the other mills in the other towns, the Blair, Indiana Mill did not make its own raw ma ¬terials but got intermediates from outside suppliers or from the other mills. It should therefore have needed less labor per unit produced. Instead, it needed up to four times as much. There were reasons for Blairs high costs or at least there were arguments to justify them. The mill itself was a towering structure built to withstand the Crusaders armies but ill equipped for modern production. All newer Peerless mills, for instance, were single story buildings, whereas Blair had five stories capped by twin towers. Nobody at Blair ever got fired; if a man couldnt do a job, the word from the head office was Find him another one. If a new process came in, the workers on the old-one were quietly moved to plant maintenance or, if they had any skills, were made supervisors, with the ridiculous result that there were entire departments at Blair with more supervisors than workers. Above all, Blair considered itself a quality mill, and that apparently meant that nothing could be produced in quantity. But the central problem of Blair, and the greatest drain in money, was that Blair did not turn out quality products. Rejection rates at Blair ran almost twice as high as at the other mills. What the Blair quality-control inspectors accepted provoked angry complaints from the customers. Indeed, as everyone knew, the sales ¬people spent little time selling. They spent most of their time talking customers into not sending the stuff right back to Blair as faulty and unusable, often by granting the complaining customer a nice rebate. The rebate never appeared in the Blair direct cost accounts but was. charged off to the overhead account miscellaneous customer service. Things had been drifting from bad to worse and no one in the Blair, Indiana Mill expected that they would ever change. But then suddenly, in the spring of 1985, a number of circumstances coalesced. 1. The founders grandson, the old man who had run the Peerless Starch Company for thirty five years, died. And, it turned out that the founding family owned practically no stock at all. Thereupon the outside directors, who had not dared speak up while the old man was alive, refused to appoint his son-in-law or his nephew as his successor. Instead they picked an outsider to become president and chief executive officer: John Ludwig, who was not even a native of Blair, Indiana, let alone a chemical engineer or a starch machinist. In fact, Ludwig had been with Peer ¬less less than four years and had been forced on the old man by some of the outside directors. Having started as an industrial psychologist, Ludwig had first taught, then worked for the Pentagon as a training specialist, then in Industrial Relations for Ford, where he helped reorganize one of the major divisions and then had become general manager of one of the smaller Ford Motor divisions. He had come to Peerless in 1981 as its first professional manager at least the first one in Blair and as executive assistant to the president. The old man had kept him busy with the affairs of the other plants in the other towns, so that Ludwig knew very little about the Blair, Indiana Mill. Although he had several times thought of resigning what he felt was a futile and frustrating job, he now found himself in charge. 2. Even before the death of the old man, things had turned critical at Peerless, and Especially at the mill at Blair, Indiana. The market had sud ¬denly become competitive. Synthetic starches and adhesives were flowing onto the market out of the labs of the chemical companies and the oil companies and the rubber companies businesses that never before had been competing in the starch market. Peerless and a few other companies used to have the field all to themselves and carefully refrained from hurting each other too badly. But the new ¬comers didnt know what everyone else in the industry knew: you cant make the market bigger by lowering the price or improving product performance; all you can do is spoil the market for every ¬body. Worse still, the success of the newcomers seemed to disprove such old truths. The new mills in Illinois, Texas, and Oregon had managed to hold their own indeed Oregon did phenomenally well and managed to bring out a highly profitable new line of synthetics (without even telling the folks in Central Research in Blair, Indiana) that quickly became industry leaders. But Blair came close to collapse. With supply abundant, customers flatly refused to tolerate the Blair quality or lack of quality anymore. Despite all the efforts of the sales department, whole carloads of the stuff came back often with a curt note: Dont bother to call on us anymore; we have contracted to buy our supply elsewhere. And Blair, which for years had been barely breaking even, plunged into the red and began to lose money. By mid-1985 Blair was losing more money than the other three mills made, so that Peerless no longer showed any profit and, indeed, barely managed to earn the interest on its fixed debt. Blair, clearly, was bleeding Peerless white. As soon as Ludwig had become president, he asked the ablest man in Blair management an assistant manager of the Blair plant to study what could be done with Blair. The result was a recommen ¬dation to spend some $25 million on modernizing the Blair plant. For this sum, the assistant manager promised, Peerless would get as modern a plant as any in the country (to build one from scratch would cost around $60 million). Employment in the modernized plant would shrink from 8,000 to 2,600. Ludwig had resolved not to take any action until the assistant manager completed his study. But he hadnt been idle during that time. He himself carefully studied the economics of Peerless, which had previously been kept rather secret. It soon became apparent to Ludwig that, economically, Blair was on very shaky ground. The only economi ¬cally justifiable course was to close the Blair mill and not replace it. The existing mills in Illinois, Texas, and Oregon could easily replace Blairs production volume at a fraction of Blairs cost and at supe ¬rior quality. Closing Blair would entail very heavy short-run costs, mainly severance pay. But within six months, the Peerless Company would have absorbed the loss and would have become profitable again. If Blair was kept going, no matter how successfully modern ¬ized, Peerless could at best hope to break even and the capital required to rebuild Blair would use up all the credit Peerless could possibly command if indeed that much money could be raised in Peerlesss shaky condition. Ludwig was deeply disturbed by this conclusion. He knew how much the Peerless Mill meant to Blair; without it there werent going to be any jobs in the town. He himself was old enough to remember the Depression days when his father, a machinist in a Milwaukee automobile plant, had been unemployed for three bitter years. Yet Ludwig also knew that he had to make a decision fast. When he had been made president, he had asked the board of directors to give him six months to study the situation and the board had given him that much time only grudgingly. At that time the board had not really known how bad things were and at the next Board meeting, in January 1986, he would have to tell them that the first nine months of 1985 had been catastrophic months. Surely at that meeting, if not before, the board would expect him to have a definite recommendation. As a business decision, there was clearly no choice: Blair had to be closed. But what about the companys social responsibility to Blair and to the people who depended on the Peerless mill for their livelihood? The more Ludwig thought about this the more he became convinced that Peerless had the social responsibility to try to save the Blair mill, and the town with it. There was a fair chance, after all, that the rescue operation would succeed. He was not at all sure that his board would go along indeed, he half-suspected that the board would ask for his resignation rather than authorize spending $25 million on Blair. Still he saw no choice in conscience but to try. But before recommend ¬ing to the board that the Blair mill be remodeled, Ludwig thought it prudent to discuss the matter with an old acquaintance, Glen Baxter. Baxter had attended the same college as Ludwig, had wanted to become a minister, and had actually had a year or two of divinity school, but had then turned to economics and was now the economist for the very union that represented the Peerless workers. Ludwig was really more interested in getting Baxters support than in getting his advice privately, he had always considered Baxter somewhat of a radical and an oddball. But Ludwig knew that he needed union support for any plan to rebuild Blair and that his board would not even listen to such a plan unless he could give assurances of union support. And surely Baxter would support a plan that maintained 2,600 jobs for his members! Much to Ludwigs surprise, Baxter did no such thing. On the contrary, he became almost violent in his opposition. To invest all this money in rebuilding Blair, he said, is not only financial folly; its totally irresponsible socially. You arent just president of the Blair, Indiana mill; you are president of the Peerless Starch Company with its 8,000 employees outside of Blair, Indiana. And you propose to sacrifice the 8,000 people you employ outside of Blair, Indiana just for the people at Blair. You have no right to do so. Even if you succeed and Blair survives, Peerless will have lost the capacity both to pay severance pay and pensions should you have to lay off more people and to raise the money to modernize and expand the other mills and to maintain the jobs there. All right, John Ludwig, maybe youll be a hero in Blair, Indiana with your plan, maybe people there will think youve done great things for  ¬them. But in my book  youll be a cheap demagogue as president of the Peerless Starch Company you are paid for doing the right thing and not for being popular. Of course, Baxter said, we in the union will do everything to make closing the Blair, Indiana mill as expensive as possible for Peerless we do have a responsibility toward our members. But for you to jeopardize the jobs and livelihoods of all of the workers in the healthy plants just because you have a guilty conscience about Blairs mismanagement all these years thats the height of social irresponsibility. Now that you have finished reading the above case, give it some serious thought. Then, in your own words, summarize the issues involved in the case (there are quite a few) and indicate whether Glen Baxter has a case and provide a thorough discussion to support your conclusion. Finally, and within the write-up, discuss what you would do if you were John Ludwig?