Riordan Gap Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Riordan Gap Analysis - Essay Example However, the company can use this as a opportunity to better manage its operations. It can give different compensation packages and work schedules to different groups of people and take advantage of the situation by improving its production, The second issue that the company is facing that there are several late consignments in the last few months. There is some problems in the operations management of the company. The company can again use different sets of people to solve the problem. By allocating different work schedules and holidays, the company can operate in holidays because one or two groups will always be present to work because different cultures have different holidays falling on different days, months and years. This way the company can reduce the problem of late consignments. The third issue for the company is lack of qualified resources. However, the company can train them to achieve great benefits out of them as they would command fewer salaries than qualified resources. Hence, the company can improve its profitability. There would be different interests for management, government and employees. The management would want high productivity and achievement of overall vision. The government would want the organization to follow all rules and regulations and to respect the natural environment. However, the employees would want better conditions of work and high salaries. These interest might conflict with each other and the company will have to choose a framework to decide which aims to follow and which to ignore depending on the firm’s own value network. For example, paying high salaries to worker would mean that the company’s vision of being a profitable firm would suffer. Hence, the company will have to make a decision on what is best for the firm to follow. The company would want to achieve workplace harmony. This means that no culture is conflict with the company’s polices and that there is no infighting within the organization. The

Homework Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Homework - Case Study Example In contrast, bottom up planning relies on administrators to provide the guidelines to manage projects. When both planning styles are compared, top down planning is far more efficient as a security mechanism. Top down planning ensures interdepartmental coordination, allocation of adequate resources as well as support from the all the required ends. 3. The SecSDLC deals risk management better compared to the SDLC. It relies largely on precise risk and threat measurement along with the execution of specific controls to deal with such problems through active risk management. In contrast, SDLC relies on generalized information system design and implementation in any organization. 4. Anything that provides an unvarying danger to an asset can be classified as a threat. Threats are further categorized as human actions that result in malfunction, intentional harm, intentional disruption and wreckage, purposeful software assault, negative variances in quality provision from service providers, technical let downs in software, downbeat actions in intellectual property domains, purposeful information extortion, intentional theft, force majeure, technical let downs in hardware and outdated technology. The CSI security study is one of the most comprehensive reviews regarding cyber security. The survey is carried out independently and the report is adopted in a similar manner. The key economic impacts of cyber crime are looked into including estimated damages. For the year 2010-11, the CSI report outlines a number of key areas for security failures. These were: The measurement for the current survey took place between July 2009 and June 2010 and consisted on responses from 351 information technology and information security personnel from various fields across the United

Evaluation of a social work practice

Evaluation of a social work practice Evaluation of Social Work Practice with Hispanic Children and Families Example of a practice evaluation A practice evaluation is a review and evaluation of individual practice within program and how the practice affects the person or recipient of services. Within The Place for Hope and Restoration, is the Raid and Rescue program has service practices for the â€Å"outreach workers† is to â€Å"raid† the streets to identify possible victims, such as prostitutes, exotic dancers, and/or service workers, such as cooks, busboys, waitresses, and day laborers. The outreach workers provide information about the other programs of the agency, to include how they can provide a safe place to stay, help the victim learn how to be a survivor, provision of advocacy and legal services, etc†¦ and offer â€Å"rescue† service, to include transportation to the Safe Harbor program and the other programs within The Place for Hope and Restoration. How these service practice affect the person is essential in identifying the impact to the individual, the staff, the agency and the comm unity. Some areas of practice to be reviewed would include: access, safety, effectiveness of outreach, raid procedures, barriers to the raid and rescue process, along with the needs of the individuals and program. Through the use of data, such as structured record reviews, individual case reviews, surveys or other data, the program practices can be evaluated regarding the efficacy, efficiency, and outcomes. Through evaluation of the practices of the Raid and Rescue program, stakeholders will be able to determine the ongoing needs of the practices, identify program deficits and determine if the practices are meeting the defined outcome measures for the target population and the community. This should assist the overall program in determining the need to continue, modify, or discontinue the practice utilized by the Raid and Rescue program to meet the needs of the stakeholders. Example of a Program Evaluation A program evaluation is the systematic review of a â€Å"program’s current (and future) interventions, outcomes, and efficiency to aid in case – and program-level decision making in an effort for our profession to become more accountable to stakeholder groups† (Grinnell, Gabor, Unrau, 2012, p.26). Program evaluations come in a variety of formats, but should include evaluation of the program’s goal(s), mission, program objectives, practice objectives and activities (Grinnell, Gabor, Unrau, 2012, p. 55) to determine if the outcomes and purpose of the program are being met. As noted previously, The Place for Hope and Restoration has multiple departments including outreach, Safe Harbor, fundraising, advocacy and policy, and administrative services. Within each department there are several programs. An example of this is the outreach department has the â€Å"Raid and Rescue† and â€Å"Community Outreach† programs under it. Each program then has s pecific goals to meet the needs and requirements of the stakeholders and funding source(s). A program evaluation is focused on the specific program, not the department nor the specific practices, though they are part of the comprehensive program evaluation. Utilization of the Six-Steps of the Program Evaluation Process The first of six steps of the evaluation process for a program would include the engagement of stakeholders. To evaluate the Raid and Rescue Program, stakeholders would need to be identified and engaged to provide feedback. This will be accomplished through a variety of formats including public hearings, meeting with community service coalition groups, and the use of standardized survey tools. Both internal and external stakeholders should be involved in this evaluation process. Internal stakeholders would include those involved in the operation of the program. This includes, but is not limited to, funders, board members, administrators, staff and volunteers. External stakeholders would include law enforcement, legal services, community service programs, family members, elected officials, and the community-at-large. The recipients of services are also key stakeholders and need to be involved in the evaluation process, both those who are currently participating in the program, those w ho have transitioned into other programs of the agency and those who either refused or did not follow through with accessing raid and rescue. The next step in evaluating the program would be to clearly describe the program. To do this one must identify the expected effects, activities, resources, stage of development, context, and logic model (Grinnell, Gabor, Unrau, 2012, p. 31). This will be achieved through the review of the agencys strategic plan, the mission statement, funding requirements, and various other agency resources that describe what the purpose and goals of the program. The third step of this program evaluation process is to develop a plan of how the program will be evaluated. For the Raid and Rescue program, the Theory of Change will be utilized to determine if the program is effective and what the practices are effective within the program. This will be completed through a retrospective chart review, client and stakeholder surveys, and stakeholder focus groups. Step four is the gathering and evaluation of data (Grinnell, Gabor, Unrau, 2012, p. 32). For this program the data from the surveys, chart revie ws, and focus groups will be gathered, analyzed to determine strengths and areas of need. Data will be presented as both qualitative and quantitative data, to demonstrate success rate, completion rate and other variables, determined by the stakeholders. Outcomes towards program goals will also be evaluated to determine if Raid and Rescue is reaching victims and if their practices are helping victims. Step five is tied directly into step four of the evaluation process as this is the development of conclusions and making recommendations, based upon the data. To complete this step one must â€Å"judge the data against agreed-upon values or standards set by the stakeholders† (Grinnell, Gabor, Unrau, 2012, p. 33) and present the conclusions in a clear and consise manner. Lastly, there is a need for follow-up regarding the program evaluation in order to ensure the process was meaningful. The results should be disseminated, meetings should take place to review the results with key stakeholders, such as advisory committees, management staff, project teams in order to prioritize any needs and outliers of the program and develop action plans, based upon the identified needs or to continue current practices. The stakeholders should also be provided information regarding the successes of the program through focus groups, reporting results back to coalition groups, and through the use of media, such as newsletter articles, social media formats, program reports to funders, and formal reports to board members. References: Grinnell, R. G. (2012). Program Evaluation for Social Workers (Sixth ed.). New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Cyber-Learning To Make Cyber-Teachers :: Internet Education Learning Essays

Cyber-Learning To Make Cyber-Teachers Cyber-culture is a large group of people the majority of which are young. This is because the internet's prominence is new. Fifteen years ago very few people were on-line at home. Children who have grown up with the Internet are more likely to use it as a tool for learning and communicating; they had the choice of not writing by hand, of always emailing instead of phoning. People who grew up without the Internet did not have that choice; there was a time when they had to write by hand, when they had to use the phone. So there are many children who have always learned and communicated with the Internet; they are the core of cyber-culture, they are the cyber-children. The cyber-children of today read and write differently. George Landow, in his essay â€Å"Twenty Minutes into the future, or How Are We Moving Beyond the Book†, said, â€Å"These new digital information technologies involve fundamental changes in the way we read and write, and these radical differences, in turn, derive from a single fact, the physical to the virtual† (219). The fundamental changes that Landow is talking about need to be recognized; they need to be understood by the teachers that cyber-children have. Cyber-children are not going to respond to ways of teaching that were designed before the Internet. And since most of the teachers today finished school and got their degrees and teaching certificates before the Internet’s present prominence, there is a problem. Teachers need to use methods of teaching reading and writing that reciprocate the needs of cyber-children. There is a problem with the ways in which teachers teach these children who are the core of cyber-culture. Much of the problem stems from how the students learned to read and write as it differs from how the teachers learned. Cyber-children have learned to read on-line, their teachers learned with print. James Sosnoski, in his essay â€Å"Hyper-readers and Their Reading Engines†, points out differences between reading printed text and reading what he calls hypertext. He says that readers of hypertext use, â€Å" . . . filtering: a higher degree of selectivity in reading† (402). So cyber-children are geared toward the bigger picture, and they leave out details.

Data Mining and Data Warehouse Essay

ABSTRACT Data mining, the extraction of hidden predictive information from large databases, is a powerful new technology with great potential to help companies focus on the most important information in their data ware houses. Data mining tools predict future trends and behaviors, allowing businesses to make proactive, knowledge- driven decisions systems. Data warehouse is a computer system designed to give business decision-makers instant access to information. The warehouse copies its data from existing systems like order entry, general ledger, and human resources and stores it for use by executives rather than programmers. Data warehouse users use special software that enables them to create and access information when they need it, as opposed to a reporting schedule defined by the information systems (IS) department. This paper describes the meaning of data warehouse and data mining basic architecture of data warehousing and data mining, functions and working of data mining. It also prese nts data mining from data warehouse INTRODUCTION: Modern organizations are under enormous pressure with recent development of the technology. Clearly we need a rapid access to all kinds of information. To assist this we need to consider the past and to identify relevant trend analysis. So to perform any trend analysis we must have a database. In most organizations you will find really large databases in operation for normal daily transactions. These types of databases are known as operational databases; in most cases they have not been design to store historical data or to respond to queries but simply to support all the applications for day to day transactions. The second type of database found in organizations is the data warehouse. This is designed for strategic decision support and is largely built up from the databases that make up the operational database. The basic characteristic of a data warehouse is that it contains vast amount of data which can mean billions of records. Smaller, local data warehouse are called data marts. A data warehouse is designed especially for decision support queries; therefore only data that is needed for decision support is extracted from the operational data and stored in the data warehouse along with the time when it was retrieved from operational databases. DEFINITION DATA WAREHOUSING A data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-variant and non-volatile collection of data in support of management’s decision making process. Subject-Oriented: A data warehouse can be used to analyze a particular subject area. For example, â€Å"sales† can be a particular subject. Integrated: A data warehouse integrates data from multiple data sources. For example, source A and source B may have different ways of identifying a product, but in a data warehouse, there will be only a single way of identifying a product. Time-Variant: Historical data is kept in a data warehouse. For example, one can retrieve data from 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, or even older data from a data warehouse. This contrasts with a transactions system, where often only the most recent data is kept. For example, a transaction system may hold the most recent address of a customer, where a data warehouse can hold all addresses associated with a customer. Non-volatile: Once data is in the data warehouse, it will not change. So, historical data in a data warehouse should never be altered. The following are the typical steps involved in the data warehousing project cycle. * Requirement Gathering * Physical Environment Setup * Data Modeling * ETL * OLAP Cube Design * Front End Development * Report Development * Performance Tuning * Query Optimization * Quality Assurance * Rolling out to Production * Production Maintenance * Incremental Enhancements Benefits of a data warehouse A data warehouse maintains a copy of information from the source transaction systems. This architectural complexity provides the opportunity to: * Maintain data history, even if the source transaction systems do not. * Integrate data from multiple source systems, enabling a central view across the enterprise. This benefit is always valuable, but particularly so when the organization has grown by merger. * Improve data quality, by providing consistent codes and descriptions, flagging or even fixing bad data. * Present the organization’s information consistently. * Provide a single common data model for all data of interest regardless of the data’s source. * Restructure the data so that it makes sense to the business users. * Restructure the data so that it delivers excellent query performance, even for complex analytic queries, without impacting the operational systems. * Add value to operational business applications, notably customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Data Mining (DM) Data mining, also known as â€Å"knowledge discovery,† refers to computer-assisted tools and techniques for sifting through and analyzing these vast data stores in order to find trends, patterns, and correlations that can guide decision making and increase understanding. Data mining covers a wide variety of uses, from analyzing customer purchases to discovering galaxies.In essence, data mining is the equivalent of finding gold nuggets in a mountain of data. The monumental task of finding hidden gold depends heavily upon the power of computers The purpose of DM is to analyze and understand past trends and predict future trends. By predicting future trends, business organizations can better position their products and services for financial gain. Nonprofit organizations have also achieved significant benefits from data mining, such as in the area of scientific progress. The concept of data mining is simple yet powerful. The simplicity of the concept is deceiving, however. Traditional methods of analyzing data, involving query-and-report approaches, cannot handle tasks of such magnitude and complexity. Data mining consists of five major elements: * Extract, transform, and load transaction data onto the data warehouse system. * Store and manage the data in a multidimensional database system. * Provide data access to business analysts and information technology professionals. * Analyze the data by application software. * Present the data in a useful format, such as a graph or table. Data mining services can be used for the following functions: * Research and surveys: Data mining can be used for product research, surveys, market research and analysis. Information can be gathered that is quite useful in driving new marketing campaigns and promotions. * Information collection: Through the web scraping process it is possible to collect information regarding investors, investments and funds by scraping through related websites and databases. * Customer opinions: Customer views and suggestions play an important role in the way a company operates. The information can be readily be found on forums, blogs and other resources where customers freely provide their views. * Data scanning: Data collected and stored will be not be important unless scanned. Scanning is important to identify patterns and similarities contained in the data. * Extraction of information: This is the processing of identifying the useful patterns in data that can be used in decision making process. This is so because decision making must be based on sound information and facts. * Pre-processing of data: Usually the data collected is stored in the data warehouse. This data needs to be pre-processed.by pre-processing it means some data that may be deemed unimportant may therefore re removed manually be data mining experts. * Web data: Web data usually poses many challenges in mining. This is so because of its nature. For instance, web data can be deemed as dynamic meaning it keeps changing from time to time. Therefore it means the process of data mining should be repeated in regular intervals. * Competitor analysis: There is a need to understand how your competitors are fairing on in the business market. You need to know both their weaknesses and strengths. Their methods of marketing and distribution can be mined. How they reduce their overall costs is also quite important. * Online research: The internet is highly regarded for its huge information. It is evident that it is the largest source of information. It is possible to gather a lot of information regarding different companies, customers and your business clients. It is possible to detect frauds through online means. * News: Nowadays with almost all major newspapers and news sources posting their news online it is possible to gather information regarding trends and other critical areas. In this way, it is possible to be in the better position of competing in the market. * Updating data: This is quite important. Data collected will be useless unless it is updated. This is to ensure that the information is relevant so as to make decisions from it. How does data mining work? While large-scale information technology has been evolving separate transaction and analytical systems, data mining provides the link between the two. Data mining software analyzes relationships and patterns in stored transaction data based on open-ended user queries. Several types of analytical software are available: statistical, machine learning, and neural networks. Generally, any of four types of relationships are sought: * Classes: Stored data is used to locate data in predetermined groups. For example, a restaurant chain could mine customer purchase data to determine when customers visit and what they typically order. This information could be used to increase traffic by having daily specials. * Clusters: Data items are grouped according to logical relationships or consumerpreferences. For example, data can be mined to identify market segments or consumer affinities. * Associations: Data can be mined to identify associations. The beer-diaper example is an example of associative mining. * Sequential patterns: Data is mined to anticipate behavior patterns and trends. For example, an outdoor equipment retailer could predict the likelihood of a backpack being purchased based on a consumer’s purchase of sleeping bags and hiking shoes. Industries/fields where data mining is currently applied are as follows: 1. Data Mining in the Banking Sector Worldwide, banking sector is ahead of many other industries in using mining techniques for their vast customer database. Although banks have employed statistical analysis tools with some success for several years, previously unseen patterns of customer behavior are now coming into clear focus with the aid of new data mining tools. These statistical tools and even the OLAP find out the answers, but more advanced data mining tools provide insight to the answer. Some of the applications of data mining in this industry are; (i)Predict customer reaction to the change of interest rates (ii)Identify customers who will be most receptive to new product offers (iii)Identify â€Å"loyal† customers (iv) Pin point which clients are at the highest risk for defaulting on a loan (v)Find out persons or groups who will opt for each type of loan in the following year (vi)Detect fraudulent activities in credit card transactions (vii)Predict clients who are likely to change their credit card affiliation in the next quarter (viii)Determine customer preference of the different modes of transaction namely through teller or through credit cards, etc. 2. Data Mining in the Insurance Sector Insurance companies can benefit from modern data mining methodologies, which help companies to reduce costs, increase profits, retain current customers, acquire new customers, and develop new products .This can be done through: (1)Evaluating the risk of the assets being insured taking into account the characteristics of the asset as well as the owner of the asset. (2)Formulating Statistical Modeling of Insurance Risks (3)Using the Joint Poisson/Log-Normal Model of mining to optimize insurance policies (4)And finally finding the actuarial Credibility of the risk groups among insurers 3. Data Mining in Telecommunication As on this date, every activity in telecommunication has used data mining technique. (1)Analysis of telecom service purchases (2)Prediction of telephone calling patterns (3)Management of resources and network traffic (4)Automation of network management and maintenance using artificial intelligence to diagnose and repair network transmission problems, etc 4. Data Mining in Fraud Detection Data dredging has found wide and useful application in various fraud detection processes like (1)Credit card fraud detection using a combined parallel approach (2)Fraud detection in the voters list using neural networks in combination with symbolic and analog data mining. (3)Fraud detection in passport applications by designing a specific online learning diagnostic system. (4)Rule and analog based detection of false medical claims and so on. An Architecture for Data Mining To best apply these advanced techniques, they must be fully integrated with a data warehouse as well as flexible interactive business analysis tools. Many data mining tools currently operate outside of the warehouse, requiring extra steps for extracting, importing, and analyzing the data. Furthermore, when new insights require operational implementation, integration with the warehouse simplifies the application of results from data mining. The resulting analytic data warehouse can be applied to improve business processes throughout the organization, in areas such as promotional campaign management, fraud detection, new product rollout, and so on. Figure 1 illustrates an architecture for advanced analysis in a large data warehouse. Figure 2 – Integrated Data Mining Architecture FROM DATA WAREHOUSE TO DATA MINING DM is a set of methods for data analysis, created with the aim to find out specific dependence, relations and rules related to data and making them out in the new, higher-level quality information. As distinguished from the data warehouse, which has unique data approach, DM gives results that show relations and interdependence of data. Mentioned dependences are mostly based on various mathematical and statistic relations . Figure 3: Process of knowledge data discovery EMERGING TRENDS IN DATA MINING Web mining – is the application of data mining techniques to discover patterns from the Web. According to analysis targets, web mining can be divided into three different types, which are Web usage mining, Web content mining and Web structure mining. | Web usage mining Web usage mining is the process of extracting useful information from server logs i.e. users history. Web usage mining is the process of finding out what users are looking for on Internet. Some users might be looking at only textual data, whereas some others might be interested in multimedia data. Web structure mining Web structure mining is the process of using graph theory to analyze the node and connection structure of a web site. According to the type of web structural data, web structure mining can be divided into two kinds: 1. Extracting patterns from hyperlinks in the web: a hyperlink is a structural component that connects the web page to a different location. 2. Mining the document structure: analysis of the tree-like structure of page structures to describe HTML or XML tag usage. Web content mining Web content mining is the mining, extraction and integration of useful data, information and knowledge from Web page contents. Data Stream Mining is the process of extracting knowledge structures from continuous, rapid data records. A data stream is an ordered sequence of instances that in many applications of data stream mining can be read only once or a small number of times using limited computing and storage capabilities. Examples of data streams include computer network traffic, phone conversations, ATM transactions, web searches, and sensor data.

Economics Of Mexico Essay

A federal constitutional republic located in North America, Mexico is surrounded by Belize, Guatemala and the United States. This Latin nation has about 11 million people in population. In nominal terms, Mexico’s economy stands as the 13th largest in the whole word according to the World Bank. It stands as the 11th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. Mexico is considered to be an upper middle income economy based from its region and income as classified by the World Bank. Mexico practices a free market economy system and they rely mostly on their export sector as it has provided the country great economic success over the years. Mexico is extremely dependent on the exports to the U. S. hence its economy is strongly connected to the business cycle of the United States. As the economy of the U. S suffers, Mexico also endures the economic crisis that the U. S economy bears. Mexico’s services also contribute a bigger share in the country’s total gross domestic product. In 2006, the country’s real gross domestic product grew by 5. 1%. In 2007 and 2008, it raised to about 3. 3% and 1. 3% respectively (Diaz 245). Mexican government officials are expecting a 4%-5% growth in the economy for this year (2010). The trade regime of Mexico is among the most open internationally. They have free trade agreements with about 44 countries including Canada, the European Union, and the United States. The Mexican administrations following the 1994 crisis have provided improvements for the nation’s macroeconomic essentials. The economy of Mexico comprises fast developing modern service as well as industrial sectors, with rising private ownerships. The current administration of Mexico has extended and expanded competition in telecommunications, ports, electricity generation, railroads, airports, and natural gas distribution, as it aims to upgrade the infrastructure of the country. Macroeconomic, financial and welfare indicators Mexico suffered the gravest economic crisis in the years 1994-1995. 50% of the country’s total population fell into poverty during those times. Poverty was alleviated during Zedillo’s and Fox’s administration because of NAFTA and other trade agreements that were initiated during those terms. The macroeconomic finances of Mexico were also restructured resulting to decline of the poverty rate of the country. According to the World Bank, the poverty rate of Mexico was reduced from about 24. 2% in the year 2000 to only 17. 6% four years after (2004). Most of this decline came from the rural districts of Mexico whose poverty rate was reduced from 42% down to 27. 9% in a span of four years (Lustig 175). Urban poverty on the other hand was idled at 12% from the years 2000-2004. The World Bank also declared that 17. 6% of Mexico’s total population in 2004 lived in severe poverty, while 21% lived in average poverty. The CIA Factbook also had their own figures, as it reported that 13. 8% of Mexico’s population during that year was living under the poverty line, making this judgment based from the food-based poverty. In 2006, the Gross Domestic Product of Mexico in purchasing power parity was approximately at US $1. 353 trillion (Lustig 212). The World Bank declared that in 2007, the country had the second highest Gross National Income in terms of market exchange rates in Latin America next to Brazil. Mexico is considered to be an upper middle-income nation because of its GDP. According to World Bank, Mexico’s population (2008) is at 106,350,434. Their GDP (PPP) in 2009 was at an estimate of $1. 459 trillion. Remittances are huge contributors to the growing Mexican economy. These are the contributions sent by Mexicans who live in other countries, generally in the United States, to their relatives and families back in Mexico. These contributions are substantial and in 2005, these remittances reached about $18 million. In the year 2004, Mexico was the tenth biggest source of remittances after their other sources of income such as manufactured goods, oil, electronics, industrial exports, automobiles, food, construction, heavy industry, financial services and banking. Remittances were even bigger than tourism expenditures and it stood for 2. 1% of Mexico’s GDP. The increase in foreign income has been outstanding. Income inequality as well as regional differences has been a constant dilemma in Mexico. Quintana Roo is one of the states with the highest GDP growth rates at 9. 04% followed by Baja California with 8. 89%, and San Luis Potosi with 8. 18% (Moreno-Brid & Ros 194). Mexico’s economy has been less centralized ever since the 1980s era. Amongst the federal units in Mexico, the Federal District had the highest GDP per capita in 2000, with US $17,696. However, the annual rate of Gross Domestic Product in the Federal District has been the smallest amongst all federal entities during 2003-2004 at only 0. 23%. Radical decrease has been observed in the industrial and agricultural sectors. Nonetheless, the Federal District of the nation still contributes for the 21. 8% total GDP of the country (Walton 166). Industry One major breakthrough in the industry sector of Mexico came from the trade liberalization that the country has undertaken. Almost 90% of all export earnings in 2000 came from this undertaking. The current major industries include automobile and aircraft industry, cement & construction industry, food and beverages, petrochemicals mining, tourism and consumer durables. The automobile industry is by far the most successful and most important industry in Mexico. Since the 1930’s, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler (The Big Three), have started creating plants in Mexico. The 1960’s and 1970’s came and other internationally renowned automobile manufacturers like Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Honda, operated inside Mexico. The success of the Mexican automobile industry can be attributed to its difference with other Latin American countries. Mexico is not a mere assembly manufacturer; in fact, the industry produces advance and complex technological components for automobiles and engages in some research and development pursuits. Besides, because of the high requirements of North American components in the industry, even European and Asian parts suppliers have extended into Mexico. However, the local manufacturers are actually relatively small in size compared to the international brands. The local manufacturers only account for a fraction of the massive industry that is the automobile industry. Some of the mainstays of local automobile manufacturers include DINA Camiones S. A. de C. V. , a truck and busses company operating for almost 50 years now; Vehizero and Mastretta, which builds hybrid trucks and evolving sports cars respectively. Furthermore, new car manufacturers keep on joining the tight competition in the Mexican automobile industry (Lustig 246). Mexico has other large industries that includes Cemex, which is the third largest cement corporation in the world; companies like FEMSA which other than owning breweries and OXXO convenience store chains, is also the second-largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world; alcohol beverage companies that include world-renowned companies like GrupoModelo; Gruma which accounts for the biggest supplier of corn flour and tortillas in the world; and other high-tech industrial producers which according to the World Bank account for almost 1/5 of the country’s total exports (Moreno-Brid & Ros 278). Mexico is also focusing in the development of an aerospace industry and a jet aircraft and helicopter jet fuselage assembly. With the arrival of foreign companies like Bell, Bombardier, Cessna and MD Helicopters, the aircraft and regional jet fuselages industry in Mexico has been in high hopes. Likewise, local companies emerged such as Aeromarmi and Hydra Technologies which builds light propeller airplanes and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) respectively. Furthermore, companies like KuoAerospace that builds parts for aircraft landing gears and Frisa Aerospace that builds jet engine parts for the new Mitsubishi Regional jet are also emerging players in the growing industry of aerospace. Another thriving industry in Mexico is the Maquiladoras. Maquiladoras are Mexican factories that import raw materials and produce goods for export. They have been a Mexican landmark trade. Free trade also boosted this industry that since NAFTA, real income from the maquiladora sectors has increased by 15. 5% since 1994. The non-maquiladora industries in Mexico were actually left by the maquiladora sector for it has been since the 1960’s that their products can enter the U. S. duty free as part of the 1960s industry agreement (Lustig 289). Finally, other industries in Mexico includes the food manufacturing industry, that by international companies have strived while local companies have failed to develop; a developing computer industry led by LANIX that now has two manufacturing plants in Mexico and Chile; a new industry that is Robotics, where Mexico’s robots are being developed for future years for advanced commercial applications. Illegal immigrants immigrating to the USA For so many years now, Mexicans have illegally immigrated into the United States. One notable reason is the close proximity between the two nations and the apparent difference in the quality of living between the two countries (Borjas 64). Many Mexicans come from the destitute towns of Mexico are dreaming the â€Å"American dream† hence the strong desire to cross borders. For most people, having a low-paying job in the United States is still much better than a stable job in their home land. In the 1980s period, the United States witness a considerable rise in the number of illegal immigrants coming from Mexico (Hellman 89). This immigration influx did not come from just a specific region from Mexico but from all the communities all over the nation. Mexicans have an average wag of about $4. 15 per hour and those individuals working in the agricultural sector receive even less (Borjas 101). People in Mexico who are working may survive with such pay alone, however those with families especially those with more kids find it difficult to survive with the average pay that the Mexican government provides. The unemployment rate of Mexico is about 5. 6% (2009) but about 25% of the working Mexicans are considered underemployed (Diaz 145). As the government continuously provide and create jobs, these are still not enough to meet the rising demand of the Mexicans. The low pay that the Mexicans get, stop them from having even the most essential and basic necessities. Hence, a lot of Mexicans regardless whether they’re from the small or big cities, see the United States to be extremely desirable. Even though there have been treaties like the NAFTA or North American Free Trade Agreement that allowed American companies in the country, jobs are still not enough and several wages are still comparatively low. Illegal immigrants are most likely individuals with lower skill levels meaning that they end up having jobs in construction, landscaping, agriculture, household services, restaurants, and low-end manufacturing in the United States. The United States Department of Homeland Security together with certain advocacy groups have been condemning a program of Yucatan, a state in Mexico, and a federal Mexican agency which allows Mexicans to directly migrate and reside in the U. S. According to the Homeland Security and advocates, the assistance that the Mexican program provide includes recommendations and suggestions on how to get across the United States border unlawfully, where to enroll their children, and find proper healthcare (Borjas 188). Accordingly, identity cards are also given out by the Mexican federal government to the Mexicans who live abroad. The giving out of Matricula Consular or Consular Registration are strictly opposed by advocate groups. These identifications card given by the Mexican government via its consulate offices reveal that the holder is of Mexican nationality but is living outside the country. Through this identification card, illegal immigrants can open bank accounts in the United States as it is accepted in many financial establishments. Most Mexican immigrants still choose to work in the United States and other countries in order to improve their way of life. Illegal immigration in the United States has becoming to be more and more difficult due to advanced infrastructure, technology, and enforcement. In the past year (2009), the number of immigrants has declined due to the economic slowdown of the United States. Nevertheless, thousands of immigrants are still yearning to cross borders and get a job. Immigrants sometimes pay smugglers or â€Å"coyotes† in order to help the cross borders. When a Mexican has successfully immigrated to the United States, he aims to work hard in order to send money back home in Mexico. A part of an immigrant’s desire is to bring more of his family members to the U. S. This is why remittances in Mexico stands at a great value since immigrants are increasing in number. Most of these illegal immigrants live a better life away from their home country. Mexican immigrants benefit from the high value of living in the United States, and in a way the United States economy also benefit from these illegal aliens. These immigrants are willing to take any job in the United States even the more dangerous ones. Aside from the, American employers are also able to get workers at lower costs since Mexican immigrants are also open to low-paying jobs since what’s important to them is to be on the U. S. territory. The United States economy also benefits as these immigrants pay for Social Security. No matter what jobs or little benefits these immigrants may get, they are still grateful for the opportunities that await them in the United States. Little by little, and over time, these Mexican immigrants are able to save more than enough in order to alleviate their living conditions. Some immigrants eventually gain permanent residency (through green card) and possible citizenship status. Mexican immigrants have a particular belief that coming to the United States can be the solution to their search for a much better life. Comparing the Gini Coefficient and Lorenz Curve with USA and other Latin American countries (2) As the way of living between Mexico and the United States can be observed, statistical data establish these observations. The Gini coefficient measures the inequality of a distribution in different disciplines such as health science, chemistry, ecology, and economics. It is usually used in measuring inequality of wealth or income. Canada and European countries have Gini indices of around 24 and 36 between them. Mexico and United States on the other hand have Gini indices that are both over 40, signifying that the inequality between Mexico and United States is very great. In 2002, Mexico ranked as the 15th country with the greatest inequality with a Gini index of 53. 1 (Walton 122). The Lorenz Curve is also used in establishing the proportionality of a distribution. It is usually associated with income distribution computations and often used in analyzing inequality. Using the Lorenz Curve, Mexico’s average income in their rural area was at 1,221. 9 pesos in 2005 while the urban side was at 3,002. 7 pesos (Diaz 191). The inequality of income distribution in Mexico is so great that finding establish that even if Mexico is a relatively rich nation compared to the other developing countries, severe poverty is felt in the rural area. The social stratification dilemma of Mexico still haunts the nation to the present day. Over the years, the lower class has always been the ones who cultivate the lands that are owned by those belonging in the upper class. At present, land ownership is still the grounds for wealth amongst the Mexicans. Though, the industrial transformation in Mexico’s economy has also brought in wealth amongst the citizens. Sadly, only 10% of Mexico’s population is wealthy. The 30% belongs to the middle class while the whole 60% of Mexico’s population are poor. These Mexicans are usually those industrial workers or peasant sector (Moreno-Brid & Ros 214). The income distribution of Mexico is very unevenly distributed with the wealthy 10% owning 38% of the nation’s income (2000). The middle 30% owns the 36% of income while the poorest 60% shares 26% of the country’s total income. The distribution of consumption or income by percentage (survey year 1995) is as follows: Lowest 10% – 1. 4 Lowest 20% – 3. 6 Second 20% – 7. 2 Third 20% – 11. 8 Fourth 20% – 19. 2 Highest 20% – 58. 2 Highest 10% – 42. 8 This data was from the 2000 World Development Indicators [CD-ROM] and it refers to income shares by percentiles of the Mexican population and is ranked according to per capita income. It doesn’t take an expert to figure out the huge disparities between the poor and wealthy in Mexico. No need to check the indexes of housing, education, and health, to understand the uneven distribution of income. In recent years, relentless poverty remains to be one of the enduring problems of Mexico’s economy. Unemployment rate increases and the poor do not get any kind of welfare compensation. The economic policies of Mexico have worsened the situation like inflation has battered the real wages of those poor people. Every time a new administration begins in Mexico, different programs have been proposed to address the basic needs of the poor. Oftentimes these programs have worked for the time being and at times, they failed. With the inequality of income distribution and other social issues haunting the Mexican economy, it seems that the situation of the country is worsening. Agriculture The Mexican agricultural sector is one of the biggest in the world and it has become a very significant factor in the whole economy of the country. In the beginning the agriculture of Mexico was not very flourishing but as soon as the Mexico Revolution was over a restructuring and improvement in the agricultural sector was made. This reformation took place after the 27th edition of the Mexican Constitution was released. Before the 1990s, the Mexican government focused and encouraged their agricultural sector into planting crops such as beans and corn only. After 1990, they have restricted the import of such crops from other countries through the implementation of particular acts and policies. Following that change in the agricultural sector, Mexico’s agriculture has increased but their percentage of Gross Domestic Product had declined (Lustig 123-124). Mexico is the number one country in producing avocados, lemons, chayote, limes, onions, as well as the seed of Safflower. The country is ranked second for their production of dry fruits, peppers and chilies, and Papaya. Their production of chicken meat, whole beans, asparagus, mangoes, and oranges, ranked them at third worldwide. Mexico is known for the variety of fruits that they are capable of producing. The country experiences one of the best weathers of all time hence they are able to produce such various types of fruits. Their fruit production has given a huge impact on their economy for years. Various organizations are also present in Mexico in order to help the farmers in whatever they may need during their agricultural productions. NAFTA is a type of organization that has help Mexican farmers and the Mexican agriculture prosper. Trade and trade agreements Mexico in general is an export oriented nation. Its economy heavily relies on trade. Mexico was the 15th largest merchandise exporter in the world in 2005, and 12th biggest merchandise importer. The trade activities of Mexico increased five times from 1991 to 2005. Mexico is the biggest importer as well as exporter in the whole Latin America. Mexico exported about US $213. 7 billion in 2005 alone; approximately just equal to the sum of all Argentina’s, Brazil’s, Uruguay, Venezuela’s, and Paraguay’s total exports for that year. The trades of Mexico however are closely tied to its North American neighbors (Lustig 184). About 50% of their imports and 90% of their exports are traded with Canada and the United States. NAFTA or the North American Free Trade Agreement has not produced a change in the trading of Mexico. The trade between Mexico and the United States from 1993-2002 increased for about 183% and in Canada with 165%. However, the other trade agreements that Mexico has shown even more remarkable outcomes. Their trade with Chile increased at about 285%, with Honduras at 420% and in Costa Rica at 528%. With the same time phase of 1993-2002, Mexico’s trade with European Union rose 105% (Walton 210). In 1986, Mexico became part of GATT or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. At present the country is an active and productive member of the World Trade Organization. Mexico has about 12 free trade agreements with 44 nations. Some of their most notable trade agreements are as follows: Nicaragua in 1998, Chile in 1999, Israel and the European Union in 2000, Uruguay in 2004, and in 2005 with Japan. One of their most known trade agreement is the NAFTA with Canada and the United States in 1994 and the Group of the three or Grupo de los tres with Venezuela and Colombia in 1995. Venezuela however terminated their agreement by the year 2006. Mexico has publicized their desire of being an associate constituent of Mercosur. Mexico has also begun to form deals and negotiations with Peru, Singapore, South Korea, and Australia. NAFTA The NAFTA or North American Free Trade Agreement is an arrangement signed by the administrations/governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The agreement was launched on January 1, 1994 and it outdated the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement that Canada and the U. S had. The trade block between these 3 countries had the largest combined PPP (purchasing power parity) GDP in the entire world, and ranked 2nd largest in terms of nominal GDP (Cameron 86). The aim of this agreement was to get rid of the barriers of investment and trade between Canada, USA, and Mexico. The implementation of the agreement on the 1st of January in 1994 immediately had its effect as tariffs were eliminated on more than one half of the imports coming from Mexico and over one third of the US exports that were going to Mexico. This agreement also aims to abolish non-tariff trade barriers. By far, the NAFTA is the most significant trade agreement that the Mexican government has signed. NAFTA is more inclusive than the other trade agreements that Mexico is involved with. NAFTA has two supplements which are the NAALC or North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation and NAAEC or North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation. The NAAEC supplement of the agreement was an answer to the environmentalists’ interests and worries that companies would move and transfer to Mexico or that the United States would drop its standards if the three nations did not attain an agreed and undisputed guideline or parameter on the environment. Its goal is to be more than just a series of environmental rules, but also address environmental and trade concerns through the establishment of NACEC or North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The NADBank or North American Development Bank was also formed to assist and finance ventures that concern the reduction of pollution. All these have provided great economic advantages and benefits to Mexico. The NAALC supplement’s goal was to form a foundation for mutual aid between the three countries in resolving labor problems and promoting greater support among social groups and trade organizations. The huge amount of trades between the United States and Mexico had led to a few trade disputes concerning comparatively small amounts. These disagreements were in general settled by NAFTA panels or WTO or by way of negotiations among the two nations. The total benefits of NAFTA have been measured and reported by numerous publications. They have evaluated the positive effects that NAFTA has provided Mexico. Poverty rates in Mexico have declined and the real income wages have increased even after the economic crisis in 1994-1995 (Cameron 134). However, NAFTA has not been enough to create an economic union nor to lessen the poverty rates significantly or to further increased rates of growth. The fall in real wages and absence of secured, well-paid jobs are serious difficulties that the Mexico’s workforce has been facing. While NAFTA has been beneficial to some sectors of Mexico’s economy particularly the maquiladora industries, NAFTA has also in a way increased inequality and decreased the job quality and incomes for the great majority of Mexican workers (Cameron 197). In more ways than one, NAFTA has stopped the progress of development. An example would be the stagnation of the industrialized share of employment that led to the regression of some sectors. NAFTA has provided several of the most vital challenges for the development of Mexico for the 21st century. The question is whether or not Mexico, under this agreement, can revive the slowed down development of its economy and find a means to restructure and redistribute the benefits of the consequential growth. Future of Mexico’s Economy The Real GDP of Mexico has fallen last year (2009) to 6. 6% because of the collective effects of the global financial crisis that have severely affected the US imports and manufacturing. Nonetheless, significant growth in non-oil exports and manufacturing is expected in 2010, as prompted by the rising US manufacturing and trade. The GDP of the country is expected to demonstrate a solid growth in the near future, suggesting in part how essential activity dropped in 2009. Continuous strong links with the economy of the United States will drive Mexico’s economic stance for the near future. US manufacturing and imports are expected to bounce back from the horrible fall down as witnessed in 2009. Mexico must be more competitive in order to increase and improve the market share of their exports to the United States and to better influence and control its liberal net of free trade agreements. Works Cited Borjas, George. Mexican Immigration to the United States (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report). Illinois: University Of Chicago Press, 2007. Print. Cameron, Maxwell. The Making of NAFTA: How the deal was done. New York: Cornell University Press, 2002. Print. Diaz, Araceli. Economic Growth and Income Inequality in Mexico: A Panel Data Approach. Germany: VDM Publishing, 2010. Print. Hellman, Judith. The World of Mexican Migrants: The Rock and the Hard Place. A New Press, 2009. Print. Lustig, Nora. Mexico: The Remaking of an Economy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998. Print. Moreno-Brid, Juan Carlos, & Ros, Jaime. Development and Growth in the Mexican Economy: A Historical Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Walton, Michael. No Growth without Equity: Inequality, Interests, and Competition in Mexico. World Bank Publications, 2009. Print.