Are families adapting or declining Research Paper

Are families adapting or declining - Research Paper Example Moreover, the living spaces that developed close to factories and other worksites were expensive and could not be expanded as had previously been done in the rural setting. It came to be that when people lives around others who were strangers to them, their families became a refuge for them from the strange new environment in which they lived (Lasch 168). Despite the lack of any significant industrial growth in developing countries, the development of mass media, education and other services had a hand in the creation of modern families. An example of this is in some African countries where there has been a movement towards abandoning the traditional practice of polygamy and this is being replaced by monogamy due to the strengthening of marital bonds. Furthermore, the strengthening of the bond between the parent and the child over any other familial relationships has ensured that the nuclear family has developed and this is also due to the fact that emphasis is being put on what the parents owe to their children instead of what the latter owe to their parents (Coontz 9). The modern family has also seen a decrease in the number of children born within it and this can be described because of the declining death rates among children. The declining child death rates also leads to a decline in the birth rates, because parents are now more secure because they know that there are enough resources available today to ensure that their children survive. Another reason for this is the fact that the economic conditions of today do not allow parents to have more than a few children at a time because they cannot afford to have more even if they wanted to. This results in not only fewer children, but it also means that there are fewer ties to the extended family and this in turn means that in subsequent generations, there will be fewer uncles, aunts and cousins than in previous generations. Therefore, it can be said that the current economic factors as well as the small numbe r of children being born are not sufficient to sustain the type of extended family that existed before in our society (Cherlin 19). When it comes to the matter of whether the modern family is doing better than how the institutional family did, then the answer would be yes. This is mainly due to the changes that have been brought about by the modern lifestyle and these include an increase in the family’s income, a decrease in the mortality rates, an increase in life expectancy, a high nutritional status, more educational opportunities, among many others. Modern families are therefore better off with these changes than they were without them despite the fact that the institutional or extended family is collapsing. The demise of the extended family is a consequence of its members trying to adapt to the modern way of life and it is a fact that its decline and eventual fall is inevitable. It can be claimed that the modern family has come because of the commoditization of the famil y life. In order for the economy to remain profitable, ways have been devised to ensure that almost everything, especially human activity, has been turned into a commodity or a form of commodity. This commoditization of life has increased the rift between family members because some activities that used to be done exclusively within families have now

Risk Assessment. The business of Tesco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Risk Assessment. The business of Tesco - Essay Example Tesco has its retail stores spread over 14 countries all over the world and also holds the leading market share in the retail markets of UK. The primary products of Tesco include the retail grocery items and other retails consumer products that are being sold through its departmental stores, supermarkets and the retail chains. The economic liberalization policies adopted by the policy makers have resulted in the increase in the number of players in the retail grocery markets of UK and in other countries. In order to attain sustainability of business, Tesco has diversified its product portfolio with the activities of retailing of clothes, electronic items, music DVDs, books , financial services, etc (Tesco 1). Vulnerability to risks The business of Tesco which is spread in several countries all over the world is vulnerable to several risks. A list of risks to which the business of Tesco is vulnerable has been given in tabular form below. Sl. No. Risk 1 Interest Rate Risk 2 Foreign Cur rency Risk 3 Liquidity risk 4 Credit Risk 5 Insurance Risk The two major risks to which the business of Tesco is most vulnerable are the interest rate risk and the foreign currency risk (Frank 174). Due to the increase in interest rates as an outcome of the monetary policy, the interest payout in the form of debt liabilities are likely to increase (Weston 24). This would result in increased cash outflows which reduce the net income of the group and also lesser repayment of debt and liabilities. This is risky for Tesco as they would continue to have higher proportions of debt with respect to the equity (Tesco 1). The foreign currency risk is the uncertainty that Tesco faces due to the fluctuation of currencies in the local markets. As a result of the depreciation of the local currency, the currency conversion rates between the local currency and Pound Sterling would be affected (Cowan 96). This poses the risk to Tesco as foreign currency fluctuation would result in reduction of reven ue earnings of the group and the volume of profits repatriated to the home country would also decrease (Whaley 226). Probability The probability of the two risks, namely the interest rate risk and the foreign currency risk have been explained as follows based on the information available from the annual reports of Tesco and the events that have occurred in the last financial year. The interest rate risk poses uncertainty to Tesco as the company is subject to fluctuation of interest rates by the central banks in several countries (Sullivan and Sheffrin 172). As per the information available from the annual reports of Tesco, it has been observed that the company had to bear the cost of increase in the interest rates implemented by the central banks. As monetary policies and in order to control the inflation rates in the economy, the increase in the interest rates has been implemented by the central banks in many countries where Tesco runs its operations (Brown 341). Thus the cost of d ebt incurred by the company has increased (Handlechner 36). The probability for the fluctuation of interest rates has been assumed to be 60% looking at the trend of impacts on the financial parameters of Tesco’s performance. It is highly probable that the foreign currency conversion rates are further going to fluctuate as the economies are in the mode of restructuring after the occurrence of the global financial crisis (Hennessy and Zechner 271). The uncertainty in the foreign currency conversion is likely to have a cascading effect on financial performance of Tesco. The cost of finance obtained by Tesco in the local mark