Introduction

John Rawls ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 233-236

In the United States, full-time working women on average earn 82 percent of what full-time working men earn.1 Globally, women often fare much worse, earning an average of 68 percent of men’s earnings.2 In addition to getting paid less than men to do the same jobs, women often do not have the opportunity to do the jobs men do. Men still occupy most business leadership positions both in the United States and in the world more broadly. In 2019, less than 5 percent of Fortune 500 companies had a female CEO....

Author(s):  
Nabeel A.Y. Al-Qirim

In small countries such as New Zealand, small to mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) are defined as enterprises employing 19 or fewer employees. Small enterprises are defined as those employing zero to five full-time employees (FTEs) (often called microbusinesses), and medium-sized enterprises as those employing six to nineteen FTEs. Other countries, such as the United States and European countries, define their SMEs as having a much larger number of employees (200–500 or fewer). SMEs contribute significantly to the economies and to the employment levels of different countries in the world. For example, SMEs constitute around 95 percent of enterprises and account for 60–70 percent of employment within the countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 1997) and other countries across the globe, including the United States. Not to forget that SMEs are usually the source of most of the profound inventions and innovations (Iacovou, Benbasat, & Dexter, 1995). Historically, SMEs have been accused of being uncritical about the strategic importance of IT and its use in their businesses. This laggardness in adopting or using IT in business was attributed to various organisational, technological, and environmental deficiencies in SMEs. The recent emergence of the Internet, in general, and the Web, in particular, revolutionises business activities (Abell & Lim, 1996) and promises to provide unprecedented opportunities to SMEs to expand in scope and in market reach. However, despite the apparent media hype (Premkumar & Roberts, 1999) and the enthusiasm among academicians (Adam & Deans, 2000; Abell & Lim, 1996; Infotech Weekly, 1997; Poon & Swatman, 1999a) and professionals (Deloitte, 2000; IDC, 1998; PWHC, 1999) about electronic commerce (EC), the published EC research portrayed a gloomy picture about EC uptake and use by SMEs. Thus, investigating reasons behind such laggardness in adopting and in using EC effectively is essential. This research attempts to highlight some of the important issues that could assist in bridging the existing divide between SMEs and EC. These issues could be of interest to SMEs and to other stakeholders interested in SMEs and EC.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHENNETTE GARRETT-SCOTT

In early December 1923 in Memphis, Tennessee, Minnie Geddings Cox sat in a hastily arranged board meeting across from Heman Perry, clear now that the man she had believed her advocate was most assuredly her adversary. Cox and Perry, a man Forbes magazine would describe in 1924 as the richest Negro in the world, spent nearly a year maneuvering a merger to join her company, Mississippi Life Insurance Company, the third largest black-owned life insurance company in the United States, with his Standard Life of Atlanta, which ranked second.1 They shared a vision to create the largest black-owned life insurance company in the United States—or so Cox thought.


Author(s):  
Sofia Calsy ◽  
Maria J. D'Agostino

In the public and private sectors, women continue to address multiple hurdles despite diversity and equity initiatives. Women have made tremendous strides in the workforce but are still a minority in leadership positions worldwide in multiple sectors, including nonprofit, corporate, government, medicine, education, military, and religion. In the United States women represent 60% of bachelor’s degrees earned at universities and outpace men in master’s and doctoral programs. However, a significant body of research illustrates that women’s upward mobility has been concentrated in middle management positions. Women hold 52% of all management and professional roles in the U.S. job market, including physicians and attorneys. Yet women fall behind in representation in senior level positions. In the legal profession, for example, women represent 45% of associates but only 22.7% are partners. In medicine, women represent 40% of all physicians and surgeons but only 16% are permanent medical school deans. In academia, women surpass men in doctorates but only 32% are full professors. Furthermore, only 5% of chief executive officers (CEOs) in Fortune 500 companies and 19% of the board members in companies included in Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Composite 1500 Index are women. Progress is even more elusive for women of color despite making up 38.3% of the female civilian labor force. Only two women of color are Fortune 500 CEOs and only 4.7% of women are executive or senior level official managers in S&P 1500 companies. There are more women in leadership positions in the public sector than in the private sector. In 2014, 43.5% of women between the ages of 23 and 34 were managers at public companies, compared to 26% in similar positions in the private sector. In 2018, 127 women were elected to the U.S. Congress and 47 of those serving in 2018 were women of color. In addition, the first Native American woman, first Muslim woman, and Congress’s youngest woman were elected in that year. However, there is still progress to be made to close the gap, especially in senior-level positions. The significance of these statistics is staggering and confirms the need for attention. The percentage of women holding leadership positions in the public and private sectors, especially in business and education, has grown steadily in the past decade. However, subtle barriers like bias and stereotypes unfavorably encumber women’s career progression and are often used to explain the lack of women in leadership positions.


Author(s):  
Olena DZHEDZHULA

Lending to higher education in the world and in Ukraine is gaining in popularity. According to statistics, almost 60% of Ukrainian students study at a contract basis. The increase in tuition fees, the deterioration of the financial situation of families, and the desire of young people to obtain higher education creates contradictions, one of the ways to overcome credit education. In developed countries, mechanisms of educational lending have been developed that provide young people with the opportunity to acquire education. It should be noted that educational loans are effective in countries with high-quality education systems that guarantee a future graduate with a reliable job security and stable salary. The United States relates to the seven countries with the best educational systems. Therefore, it is relevant to look for lending mechanisms for student youth in Ukraine to study the trends of lending education in the leading countries of the world, and in particular, in the United States. The problem of finding out the mechanisms and causes of instability in the provision of educational loans in the United States has yet to be sufficiently highlighted in research by academics. The purpose of the paper is to study the peculiarities and prospects of educational lending in the United States. The cost of education in any country depends on GDP. The analysis shows a stable GDP growth in the United States. Expenditures on education and higher education have a certain degree of stability as a percentage of GDP. Thus, in comparison with 2016 this indicator in 2017 and 2018 increased by 0,1% and amounted to 5,1%. In 2019, expenditures are expected to increase by 0.1%, and in 2020 - by 0.2%. The indicator of expenditure on higher education in relation to GDP also does not have a sharply pronounced tendency to increase. In 2016, total expenditure on higher education as a percentage of GDP amounted to 1.7%, and in 2017 and 2018, this figure dropped to 1.6%. In 2019 and 2020, higher education expenditure relative to GDP is projected at 2016 (ie 1,7%). Such a state of education financing leads to an increase in tuition fees and updates the issue of education lending. The main reason for the increase in tuition fees economists consider inflation processes, which are an integral part of a market economy. The average tuition fee in 2018 increased by $ 250 (by 2.5%, respectively, the inflation rate is 2.9% in 2017). At the same time, the average federal payments per student were reduced. Consequently, you can confidently predict the increase in fees and in subsequent years. In US education lending programs, you can select 3 types: federal, private, parent. The greatest demand is federal loans. The most popular types of education loans today are Stafford Federal Student Joan and Federal Perkins Loans For College Students. The average loan amount is 21 thousand dollars. The most important advantage of these products is the possibility of repayment after the university graduate begins to work. Compared with loans for education in Ukraine, the lending rate for American students is much lower and ranges from 5-7%, and the maturity of the loan may reach 30 years. The peculiarity of these loans is that they are issued not only to the student's education, but also to his life. Stafford's federal educational loan is more widespread. Its advantages are low interest rate and flexible repayment system. However, the maximum amount of a loan can only be provided if the requirements of this program: success, full-time education, the borrower must be a US citizen. Experts believe that a significant percentage of students do not receive federal loans owing to insufficient information support for federal educational credit programs and formalities for their registration. A simplified procedure for private student loans facilitates their active dissemination. Private lenders work directly with borrowers and are personally interested in distributing this type of banking product. The reasons for reducing educational loans should be considered as problems in debt repayment. As of March 2018, 52% of the outstanding debt on federal education loans amounted to 14% of borrowers worth $ 60,000 or more; 56% of borrowers with outstanding debt owed less than $ 20,000. Student loan arrears rank second in the structure of Americans' loan debts and exceed $ 1.4 trillion, which negatively affects the US economy. Consequently, the United States has the most advanced system of educational lending, which is a powerful incentive for higher education, and ensures its availability to the wages of people with different levels of income. For students, three types of educational loans are offered: federal, private, and parenting. The lowest interest rates may be obtained through a federal educational loan. The last 3 years are characterized by a decrease in educational loans The reasons that led to a decrease in the use of federal loans were the lack of awareness of students about this kind of lending, strengthening control over the implementation of loan agreement conditions. The provision of educational loans in the United States is associated with a sharp increase in their arrears, which may lead to a financial crisis. Therefore, the development of mechanisms for their return becomes an economic problem that requires urgent resolution. We consider the prospects for further research with the study of debt relief programs in the United States.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Meyer ◽  
Eliot Metzger

This paper identifies barriers that prevent corporations in the United States from advocating for climate policy so that companies can break them down and embrace climate advocacy. We find companies face seven key barriers to comprehensively adopting a science-based climate policy agenda. None of these barriers are an excuse for inaction. The purpose of this paper is to help individuals within a company anticipate and overcome these obstacles. In the conclusion, we offer a checklist of specific actions and strategies to clear multiple barriers (e.g., conducting a risk analysis) and to help advance essential public policies that address climate change. The audience for this paper is C-suite and other key staff members within large (Fortune 500) companies that strive to be climate leaders. Though the United States grants companies of all sizes the right to engage in political lobbying and campaign financing, those that have larger operations and revenue have a greater capacity, empowered by greater resources, to directly participate in the federal policymaking process. Similarly, this paper focuses on political influence at the federal level.


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 186-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malini Ratnasingam ◽  
Lee Ellis

Background. Nearly all of the research on sex differences in mass media utilization has been based on samples from the United States and a few other Western countries. Aim. The present study examines sex differences in mass media utilization in four Asian countries (Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore). Methods. College students self-reported the frequency with which they accessed the following five mass media outlets: television dramas, televised news and documentaries, music, newspapers and magazines, and the Internet. Results. Two significant sex differences were found when participants from the four countries were considered as a whole: Women watched television dramas more than did men; and in Japan, female students listened to music more than did their male counterparts. Limitations. A wider array of mass media outlets could have been explored. Conclusions. Findings were largely consistent with results from studies conducted elsewhere in the world, particularly regarding sex differences in television drama viewing. A neurohormonal evolutionary explanation is offered for the basic findings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 32-54
Author(s):  
Silvia Spitta

Sandra Ramos (b. 1969) is one of the few artists to reflect critically on both sides of the Cuban di-lemma, fully embodying the etymological origins of the word in ancient Greek: di-, meaning twice, and lemma, denoting a form of argument involving a choice between equally unfavorable alternatives. Throughout her works she shines a light on the dilemmas faced by Cubans whether in Cuba or the United States, underlining the bad personal and political choices people face in both countries. During the hard 1990s, while still in Havana, the artist focused on the traumatic one-way journey into exile by thousands, as well as the experience of profound abandonment experienced by those who were left behind on the island. Today she lives in Miami and operates a studio there as well as one in Havana. Her initial disorientation in the USA has morphed into an acerbic representation and critique of the current administration and a deep concern with the environmental collapse we face. A buffoonlike Trumpito has joined el Bobo de Abela and Liborio in her gallery of comic characters derived from the rich Cuban graphic arts tradition where she was formed. While Cuba is now represented as a rotten cake with menacing flies hovering over it ready to pounce, a bombastic Trumpito marches across the world stage, trampling everything underfoot, a dollar sign for a face.


Author(s):  
Jakub J. Grygiel ◽  
A. Wess Mitchell ◽  
Jakub J. Grygiel ◽  
A. Wess Mitchell

From the Baltic to the South China Sea, newly assertive authoritarian states sense an opportunity to resurrect old empires or build new ones at America's expense. Hoping that U.S. decline is real, nations such as Russia, Iran, and China are testing Washington's resolve by targeting vulnerable allies at the frontiers of American power. This book explains why the United States needs a new grand strategy that uses strong frontier alliance networks to raise the costs of military aggression in the new century. The book describes the aggressive methods which rival nations are using to test American power in strategically critical regions throughout the world. It shows how rising and revisionist powers are putting pressure on our frontier allies—countries like Poland, Israel, and Taiwan—to gauge our leaders' commitment to upholding the American-led global order. To cope with these dangerous dynamics, nervous U.S. allies are diversifying their national-security “menu cards” by beefing up their militaries or even aligning with their aggressors. The book reveals how numerous would-be great powers use an arsenal of asymmetric techniques to probe and sift American strength across several regions simultaneously, and how rivals and allies alike are learning from America's management of increasingly interlinked global crises to hone effective strategies of their own. The book demonstrates why the United States must strengthen the international order that has provided greater benefits to the world than any in history.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document