All About Acute Stress

All About Acute Stress January 31, 2018 How Stress Impacts Your Health Overview Signs of Burnout Stress and Weight Gain Benefits of Exercise Stress Reduction Tips Self-Care Practices Mindful Living Acute stress isnt serious, but it can build up. Heres how to manage it. Annie Engel/Cultura/Getty Images There are several different types of stress, and not all of them are necessarily unhealthy.    Acute stress  is one of the least damaging types of stress, which is good because it is also the most common type.  We experience acute stress multiple times throughout the day.  Acute stress is experienced as an immediate perceived threat, either physical, emotional or psychological. These threats dont need to be intensely threateningâ€"they can be mild stressors like an alarm clock going off, a new assignment at work, or even a phone call that needs to be answered when youre relaxing on the couch and your phone is across the room.  Acute stress can also be more serious, like being pulled over for speeding, getting into an argument with a friend, or taking a test.  The threat can be real or imagined; it’s the perception of threat that triggers the stress response.   During an acute stress response, the  autonomic nervous system  is activated and the body experiences increased levels of  cortisol,  adrenaline  and other hormones that produce an increased heart rate, quickened breathing rate, and higher blood pressure. Blood is shunted from the extremities to the big muscles, preparing the body to fight or run away. This is also known as the  fight-or-flight response. Acute stress can be easily managed because it occurs and then its over. It doesnt bring the toll on health that comes with chronic stress because it is possible and relatively easy to recover from acute stressâ€"simple relaxation techniques can work quickly of your stress response doesnt resolve into a relaxation response on its own. Repeated instances of acute stress, however, can bring more of a toll. Either multiple instances of different acute stressors (a series of unrelated stressful events) or repeated occurrences of the same acute stressors (experiencing the same stress repeatedly) can add up to a state of chronic stress where the bodys stress response is constantly triggered. Because of this, its important to have a stress management plan.  The following steps can reduce the chances of having your acute stressors add up to more significant levels of stress. Eliminate Stress When Possible Cutting down on the little things that repeatedly stress youâ€" your tolerationsâ€"can minimize your overall stress levels.  You can also take other steps to  minimize lifestyle stress.  You cant eliminate all stress (nor would you want to), but you can cut out stress where possible and this can really add up. Learn Relaxation Techniques That Work for You   This means finding ways to  relax your body and calm your mind.  You cant always predict the stressors in your life, but you can reverse your stress response after you encounter these stressors. Adopt Resilience-Building Habits   Yes, certain habits can build resilience toward stress.  These include  meditation, exercise, and more. Taking on one of these habits (or several) can really help you to manage acute stress as well as chronic stress.

Analysis Of The Story Of An Hour And Nathaniel Hawthorne...

Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour† and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Birthmark† examine the complex relationship between a husband and wife. The two works take two different approaches to convey the same message: Marriage is not a fairytale, it requires sacrifice and unselfish behavior in order to work. Relationships are difficult to begin and harder to maintain. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and Aylmer and Georgiana are two relationships that shatter the surreal perception of marriage and expose readers to the raw truth, marriage is not a fairytale. Upon hearing the news, Mrs. Mallard is overwhelmed with grief, which swiftly turned into hope. Mrs. Mallard’s reaction upon receiving the news of her husband s death is considered to be unusually by society’s standards. In the beginning of the story it is revealed that Mrs, Mallard suffers heart problems; however, when it is revealed that her husband is dead her heart is relieved. She was thrilled that she was able to be her own person again. It was revealed through her reflection on her marriage that she â€Å"had loved him - sometimes† (16). Mrs. Mallard overcame is quick to overcome her grief after the realization that she has been set free of her horrible marriage. As a married woman, Mrs. Mallard is miserable, but as a widow she feels a sense of relief that she is free of her marital vows. At the end of the story Mrs. Mallard dies of a failing heart which it ironic because typically a woman would be filled with joy to find out

The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin Essay - 580 Words

To answer the question, How is the utopian society Anarres structured, one can attack it at many ways. First one can look at the cultural context of the time period in which the novel was written. LeGuin wrote The Dispossessed in 1974. One can argue that the community of Anarres was in inspired by the social movements of the late 1960s and early seventies. The civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the environmental movement, and the 60s counter culture or hippie values are all reflected in the culture and society of Anarres. Anarres is a society of anarchists. The society was formed after a revolution and war against the centralized government and plutocracies of Urras. On Anarres every one was created equal because†¦show more content†¦Although refusing posting is met with great disapproval and rejection from their peers. An Anarrastis incentive to work is not a need for money, finances or the desire for profit but they take pride and pleasure in completing tasks and working with others. A person likes to do what he is good at doing. People take the dangerous, hard jobs because they take pride in doing them, they can egoize (they call it) or show off to the weaker. Its is the opinion of they neighbor that becomes the all mighty driving force. The private and social conscience knows that, there is no other reward, on Anarres, no law. Ones own pleasure, and the respect of ones fellows, that is all they have. This relationship between the individual and society is later recognized as the bureaucratic machine (centralized government) that these Anarchists fight against. The Anarresian people can not refuse a posting (order by PDC) because they are ashamed. The social conscience completely dominates the individual conscience, in stead of striking a balance. We dont cooperate--we obey. We fear being outcast, being called lazy, dysfunctional, eoizing, as Shevek once pointed out, We fear our neighbors opinion more than we respect our own freedom. Because this was part of there thinking the Anaressian people could not see these laws, laws of conventional behaviorShow MoreRelatedEthical Values From The Book The Dispossessed Written By Daniel P Jaeckle1761 Words   |  8 Pagesethical values into their stories, which sometimes give the reader an insight into the kind of person the author is. Making references to an article by Daniel P Jaeckle, I will be analyzing the three ethical values from the book The Dispossessed written by Ursula K. LeGuin, that have been layered together in a way that it creates interpersonal ethics, ethics of mutual aid, ethics of shared pain, and ethics of the bond, designed to meet the needs of an anarchist society. Anarchism is a philosophy basedRead MoreThe Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin1486 Words   |  6 PagesThe Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin is a criticism of today’s capitalism by investigating what society structure would be best for human society. Le Guin uses the two models of capitalism and communism to be compared and contrasted against one another to determine which would function better and how to achieve such success. In order to depict what a replacement structure would look like; Le Guin creates two worlds to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of influence that each of these models

Robinson Crusoe Free Essays

Robinson Crusoe was born in a town called York in the seventeenth century, the youngest son of a merchant of German origin. Crusoe’s father wanted him to become a lawyer but he expresses his wish to go to sea instead because he was adventurous. His family was against Crusoe going out to sea, especially his father. We will write a custom essay sample on Robinson Crusoe or any similar topic only for you Order Now Initially, Robinson is committed to obeying his father, but he eventually gives in to temptation and embarks on a ship bound for London with a friend, without his family’s consent: â€Å"but if he goes abroad he will be the miserablest wretch that was ever born: I can give no consent to it†(p. ) However he decides to runaway: â€Å"I resolv’d to run quite away from him†(p. 6) His character seems resourceful because whenever he feels that he has to do something, he manages to find the resources to complete what he wants to do. This is a theme as this continuous in the novel, he obviously manages to go to sea without any hassle, his friend gives him a free ticket and so therefore he makes a use of it. The first thing that caught my eye when reading this opening of the novel was that it has been written from a first person’s narrative. â€Å"I† is the first word of the ovel, presenting what he himself observes usually, he favours a more factual narrative style and focuses more on events and actions. Crusoe is the narrator and also the main character of the tale, everything is described in his own words and as mentioned earlier, he expresses a factual and detailed narrative style. It goes on to talk about himself, the main character and his brother and father. This shows that his family had a big influence on him, this familiarization of his fam ily brings the readers closer to the character and shows that Crusoe an ordinary man. Having read the novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’, I will now comment on how the opening scenes to introduce themes which will be important to the novel as a whole. The first theme I have noticed from the opening is betrayal because he disobeyed his father even though his father did not want him to go on an adventure. He then regrets this and wishes he were at home: † I would go directly home to my father and never set it in a ship again while I lived. â€Å"(p. 8) Crusoe says this long before the adventure has started, this quote gives a sense of egret and therefore makes the readers curious about what is going to happen next and therefore gives a sense of enigma. Regret meaning that whatever is going to happen, is not going to be good so therefore Crusoe is already unhappy with the adventure, so from this we, as the audience know that there is more to come. He prepares us for the adventure and makes it seem that at that time, he didn’t think much of his father’s advice. Now that he has experienced and found out he did the wrong thing he is on his father’s side: My father, a wise and grand man, gave me serious and excellent council against what he foresaw was my design†(p. 4) There is an also religious element being portrayed here because religious people usually believe in a plan that has been designed by god. He becomes more religious due to being isolated on the island and starts communicating with god, so religion becomes a theme in the novel. Even though he seems to be religious later on, he still accumulates money from all his adventures and he also manages to make a profit out of his loss. This makes him an conomical man and this all comes down to his family background and the way he been brought up from what we gather in the first few paragraphs: â€Å"prospect of raising my fortunes by application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure†(p. 4) His father always reminded him about the middle class people and told him that it is the best station of life and to be grateful of what he already has. You can tell that Crusoe is very fond of money because of the way he has been brought up, he thinks about raising his fortunes by application and industry, so we know that he has an educated background (father. He also sees money as ease and pleasure: â€Å"That the middle Station of life was calculated for all kind of Virtues and all kinds of Enjoyment; that Peace and Plenty were the Hand-Maids of middle Fortune. â€Å"(p. 5) The first few paragraphs are highly specific and detailed which fully informs the reader about every situation Crusoe goes through (his family’s definition and his escape from home). This also makes the novel an eyewitness account and gives the sense of truthfulness, this makes the readers more connected to the character and therefore are able to relate more to the novel. This shows that Defoe is quite good at creating a sense of realism. Finally, Crusoe seemed to be in control of his life where he didn’t want to listen to his father but later on in the novel manages to have success in mastering his situation, overcoming his obstacles and controlling his environment. So Crusoe wanting to be in control and independent of his life and rebellious against his father in the first few paragraphs seemed to help him later on in the novel and taught him to take control of his life. Every reader can in some way identify with Crusoe and his situation. His inner conflicts are obvious in the first few paragraphs, which are duty and independence, the duty being that he had to stay home and study law as his father wished, and the independence being the fact that he wanted to be independent and that happened to him. Hope and despair is another inner conflict because when he left home, he realised what he has done is not what he expected so therefore regretted the runaway which made him quite desperate but he had hope. His hope shows that he is an optimistic person. When he was at home, he was not happy with what he had, we know this by his haracter, always looking for something he didn’t have, but later on in the island, he made himself happy with what he had and made the most of everything. This shows a change in his character to be a more mature man rather than a little immature boy with unrealistic dreams. The themes of religion, resourcefulness, independence, betrayal, management and economics are definitely important in the novel as a whole. They are emphasised on later when gets stuck on the island and I would say that the two most important themes would be religion and economy management. How to cite Robinson Crusoe, Papers

Petroleum free essay sample

Names and events happened in this publication has been disguised and any similarity found is mere coincidence. Information found in this publication must be treated as HIGHL Y CONFIDENTIAL and shall be for the purpose of fulfillment of this MBA program. No references and reproduction of any parts of this publication shall be made without prior knowledge and approval from the author. Views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors opinion and not to be construed as the views of PETRONAS, nor PETRONAS in any way responsible for the content thereof. AHMAD HUSSAIN No Matrik : OS01390 16 September, 1999 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I t is both my pleasure and obligation to acknowledge generous people who have provided me with the guidance and inspired me to make this happen. Special thanks to the lecturers who have thought me during the night classes and member of my family for their continuos support. Without their support and courage, completing this MBA program would have been difficult, if not impossible. We will write a custom essay sample on Petroleum or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I wish to express my gratitude to the following people for their kind assistance in this MBA p rogram and the case dissertation. Although much of my appreciation has been expressed, I wish to express my sincere thanks to Tuan Hj. Yaakob Ibrahim, the MBA coordinator for making this a reality to me. I want to acknowledge my special appreciation to Associate Professor Dr. Zainal Abidin Mohamed, who is my project case supervisor, for his continuos support in completing this case dissertation. It is truly impossible to express my feeling of gratitude in mere words. My friends and fellow colleagues in the MBA program, thank you for being a good teammates and shared my problems throughout this study. Your assistance, ideas and criticism are treasured in my heart. Never can I forget my family for being instrumental, cherish, motivating and more importantly for their patience throughout this course. To them I remain grateful and nor can I ignore them from my memory. I would never have been able to complete this MBA program and the case dissertation when I did if ever at all. II DEDICATED TO My Wife Norfishah bt Ab Wahab My Children Mohammad Fakhri Mohammad Fakhrullah Mohammad Fakhrusysyakirin Fathin My Parent Tuan Hj. Hussain Tamysa Hajjah Rokiah Bt Harun III Abstract PETRONAS vision was To be A Leading Oil and Gas Multinational Company of Choice and it stated the globalization effort in 1994. PETRONAS global operation had extended to Africa countries, Confederate Independence of Soviet Union (CIS), Middle East and Asia Pacific countries. Some of the Africa countries included Sudan, South Africa (downstream Engen), Libya and Algeria. The investments in CIS were Turkmenistan and Kazarkstan. The investment in Middle East countries included Iran, Syria and Iraq. In the Asia Pacific, the oversea portfolios extended to Vietnam, Mynmar, China and Australia (both Upstream and downstream). The oversea upstream activities were undertaken by its subsidiary PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd (PCSB) through its oversea subsidiary companies. When PETRONAS started its globalization efforts, the environmental factors were very much favorable. However, in 1 997 and 1998 there were adverse changed in these environmental factors and had affected PETRONAS globalization efforts. Some of these factors were the regional and world economic turmoil, regional financial and currency devaluation, slower economic growth, low demand of oil and gas, lower oil and gas price and lower prospectivity and commerciality of the oil and gas projects. This case study evaluated PETRONAS strategic position and the impact on the international portfolios and made recommendation relating to these strategic issues. This case study analyzed the environmental factors influencing the company future direction through the used of the SWOT analysis and determined the strategic thrust to comprehend the SWOT analysis. This study assessed analytically, through the used of SPACE, the future company direction and evaluated the oversea portfolios to determine the portfolios growth opportunities and provide the decision as to whether these portfolios should be retained, partnered or divested. IV Abstrak Visi PETRONAS adalah Menjadi Syarikat Minyak dan Gas Antarabangsa Yang Terulung dan Terpilih dan ia telah memulakan usaha globalisasi pada tahun 1994. Usahanya ke arah globalisasi telah menjangkau ke negara-negara di Afrika, Confederate Independence of Soviet Union (CIS), Asia Tengah dan Asia Pasifik. Negara-negara di Afrika adalah termasuk Sudan, Afrika Selatan (operasi hiliran Engen), Libya and Algeria. merangkumi negara-negara seperti Turkmenistan and Kazarkstan. Pelaburan di CIS Manakala pelaburan di Asia Tengah menjangkau ke negara-negara Iran, Syria and Irak. Oi Asia Pasifik, pelaburan antarabangsanya termasuk Vietnam, Mynmar, China dan Australia (huluan dan hiliran) Operasi huluan dikendalikan oleh anak syarikatnya iaitu PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd (PCSB) melalui anak-anak syarikatnya yang lain. Pada ketika PETRONAS memulakan usaha globalisasi, faktor-faktor sekeliling adalah begitu mengalakan. Walau bagaimanapun, dalam tahun 1997 dan 1998, terdapat perubahan ketara pada faktor-faktor sekeliling ini sehingga mencengkam usaha globalisasi PETRONAS. Antara faktor-faktor yang mengalami perubahan ketara adalah kejatuhan ecomomi serantau dan dunia. istem kewangan yang lemah, susut nilai matawang serantau, pertumbuhan ekonomi yang lembab, penurunan kadar permintaan minyak dan gas, kejatuhan harga minyak dan gas dan tahap prospek dan keupayaan niaga projek yang rendah. Kes in; menganalisa strategi PETRONAS dan implikasi keatas potfolio antarabangsanya dan seterusnya memberi cadangan untuk menyelesaikan isu-isu tersebut. faktor-faktor sekeliling ya ng mempengaruhi arah tuju masa Kes ini menganalisa depan syarikat dengan menggunakan analisa SWOT dan SPACE bagi menetapkan tunjak strategik dan membuat analisa potfolio antarabangsanya semaada untuk enjualnya. v terus memegangnya, berkongsi atau TABLE OF CONTENT PAGE I PENGESAHAN KEASLIAN LAPORAN II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III DEDICATIONS IV ABSTRACT 1. 0 PETRONAS GLOBALISATION AND THE DILEMMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1 2. 0 COMPANY BACKGROUND .. .. . .. .. . 2 3. 0 PETRONAS VISION, MISSION AND OBJECTIVES . 6 3. 1 ViSiON .. 6 3. 2 MiSSiON .. 7 3. 3 OBJECTiVES .. 8 3. 4 PETRONAS VALUES SYSTEM . 9 . . . . .. . 10 PCSB ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE . . 11 4. 2 FINANCIAL .. . 13 4. 3 MARKETING 15 4. 4 OPERATION MANAGEMENT .. . .. . . 17 4. 5 5. 0 PETRONAS ORGANIZATION ENVIRONMENT .. . 4. 1 4. 0 MANAGEMENT 19 . .. . . . .. . 20 5. 1 LEGAL POLITICAL .. . .. .. 20 5. 2 ECONOMiCAL 20 5 . 3 SOCIAL CULTURAL . .. . . .. 21 5. 4 TECHNOLOGiCAL . 22 5. 5 SUPPLIER .. .. . .. . 22 5. 6 SUBSTITUTE . 22 . . . . ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. . .. . . .. VI . . .. . .. .. .. . . .. .. . .. 5. 7 23 PETRONAS UPSTREAM GLOBAL VENTURES .. . . . .. . . .. 24 ViETNAM .. 4 6 . 2 SyRIA 25 6. 3 SUDAN . . .. . .. 26 6. 4 IRAN .. .. .. . .. .. 27 6. 5 TURMENISTAN . .. .. . .. . 29 6. 6 ALGERIA .. 30 COUNTRY ANALYSIS . . .. 31 7. 1 VIETNAM . . . .. .. . . . .. . .. 31 7. 2 SYRIA . .. .. . .. .. ,. 32 7. 3 S UDAN .. . .. . 33 7. 4 IRAN . .. .. .. . .. .. .. . . 33 7. 5 TURMENISTAN .. . .. . . .. . 34 7. 6 8. 0 CUSTOMER . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. 6. 1 7. 0 23 5. 8 6. 0 COMPETITOR .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. ALGERIA .. .. . . .. . . .. 35 THE PETRONAS EP DILEMMA . . .. . 36 . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . PART II: CASE ANALYSIS . .. 38 . . .. .. .. 40 . .. .. .. .. 42 ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS . .. .. .. .. .. 42 12. 1 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE .. 42 12. 2 FINANCIAL STATUS .. .. . .. .. .. .. 43 12. 3 MARKETING 9. 0 INTRODUCTION 10. 0 SITUATION ANALYSIS 11. 0 PROBLEM STATEMENT 12. 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 VII 12. 4 OPERATION MANAGEMENT . 45 12. 5 MANAGEMENT . 45 ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS . .. 47 13. 1 LEGAL POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT .. . 47 13. 2 ECONOMICAL ENVIRONMENT .. .. . .. . 48 13. 3 SOCIAL CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT . .. . 49 13. 4 TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT .. . . 49 13. 5 SUPPLIER . . . . 49 13. 6 SUBSTITUTE . 50 13. 7 C OMPETITOR 50 13. 8 CUSTOMER .. . .. 51 14. 0 SWOT ANALYSIS . . .. . 53 15. 0 SPACE ANALYSIS .. . .. .. 55 16. 0 PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS . 58 16. 1 BCG GROWTH SHARE MATRIX . . .. 58 16. 2 PORTFOLIO ATTRACTIVENESS .. .. . . 59 13. 0 . . .. . .. . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17. 0 DECISION AND PLANNING . .. .. .. . .. 62 18. 0 IMPLEMENTATION . .. .. .. 64 18. 1 WORK PROGRAM AND SCHEDULE .. 64 18. 2 BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING 66 18. 3 VALUE CHAIN . 68 . . . .. . List o f Table List of Figures List o f Appendices VIII .. . LIST OF TABLE PAGE TABLE1 : ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS . 46 TABLE 2 : ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS . 51 TABLE3 : SWOT SUMMARY 53 . . .. . .. . . TABLE4 : SWOT MATRIX . 54 TABLE 5 : SPACE MATRIX COMPONENTS .. 56 TABLE6 : SPACE MATRIX CALCULATION TABLE .. 57 TABLE7 : PETRONAS BCG-GROWTH SHARE MATRIX 59 TABLE 8 : PETRONAS OVERSEA PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS .. 61 IX PAGE LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 : PETRONAS EVOLUTION .. . FIGURE 2 : ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE OF PETRONAS . .. FIGURE 3 : PETRONAS CARIGALI ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE . FIGURE 4 : PETRONAS TURNOVER . .. . . .. . . . FIGURE 5 : PETRONAS PROFIT AFTER TAX FIGURE 6 : PETRONAS TOTAL ASSET . .. .. FIGURE 7 : SPACE MATRIX ANALYSIS . .. . .. . FIGURE 8 : PETRONAS BCG GROWTH SHARE MATRIX .. . 5 12 1 4 1 4 15 57 58 . 61 . . . 65 . FIGURE 1 0 : WORK PROGRAM AND SCHEDULE .. . .. . .. .. . FIGURE9 : PETRONAS OVERSEA PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS . . 4 FIGURE 1 1 : PETRONAS REENGINEERING : NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIVISION .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . .. x . ,. 67 LIST OF APPENDICES PAGE .. 68 APPENDIX 2 : COUNTRY PERFORMANCE: SYRIA .. 70 APPENDIX 3 : COUNTRY PERFORMANCE: SUDAN 72 APPENDIX 4 : COUNTRY PERFORMANCE: IRAN .. 74 APPENDIX 1 : COUNTRY PERFORMANCE : VIETNAM .. .. . . . . 75 . .. . . 78 APPENDIX 5 : COUNTRY PERFORMANCE : TURKMENISTAN APPENDIX 6 : COUNTRY PERFORMANCE : ALGERIA . . . . . APPE NDIX7 : PETRONAS ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR 80 †¢ .. 81 APPENDIX9 : PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS : VIETNAM .. . 82 APPENDIX 10 : PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS : SYRIA .. . 83 APPENDIX 1 1 : PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS: SUDAN 84 APPENDIX 8 : PETRONAS EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR APPENDIX 1 2 : PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS : IRAN .. .. . . .. . .. . APPENDIX 13 : PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS : TURKMENISTAN . .. . APPENDIX 1 4 : PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS : ALGERIA XI 85 86 87 1. 0 PETRONAS GLOBALISATION AND THE DILEMMA Tan Sri Hassan Marican, president of PETRONAS, the national oil company of Malaysia, was on his way back after a week long business meeting with his new partners in Sudan, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), State Petroleum and Sudapet, the Sudan National oil company. Accompanying him on his privately hired jet plane, were other vice presidents, they were Dato Mohamad Idris Mansor, senior vice president of Exploration and Production Business Unit and Mr. Muri Mohammad, the vice president of Gas Business Unit. They were having serious discussions on the prospectivity of the new joint venture and the resources invested in Sudan. There were about 23 8 PETRONAS employees working in Sudan, and PETRONAS has invested US$1 30 million to date. At one juncture, Tan Sri Hassan posed a question to Dato Idris, Dato Idris, PETRONAS has interest in many different countries around the world, with a total investment of US$6 billion. So far, we have been receiving revenues from Sirri projects in Iran, Dai Hung and Ruby projects in Vietnam. Dai Hung has been a disastrous venture to us, millions of dollars were lost due to lower oil reserves than expected. We may have to relinquish the field and return back to the Vietnamese Government. I wonder how are our other project stands? With the adverse changed in the environmental factors and current uncertainties in the global economy, how are our oversea portfolios doing and do we need to strategies our future direction? . There was a long sighed and Dato Idris later replied with cautious, We have been able to grab the oversea projects because we made a thorough analysis and feasibility study. However, in the exploration and production business, the risk is very high. Base on our limited data and information then, it was the best decision. However, I agreed that there is a need to reassess our projects and to decide whether to retain the projects or divest in some. We will reevaluate the project feasibility and carry out the portfolio analyses to determine which are the portfolios that can be retained and those that need to be divested. We will advise the board for the next course of action. The tense and dilemma were immensed on Dato Mohd Idris Mansor. He needed to know what were the situations, what adverse environmental changed occurred and the surrounding forces governing these assets. Was the political in the country, in which PETRONAS had invested, permitted a good investment climate? What impact did the global economy have on the projects prospectivity. What would the future scenarios be? Could the vision, mission and objective of the company be met? Should PETRONAS continue to aggressively expand the international operations, what should be done to the existing international portfolios and what should PETRONAS future direction be? His contract with PETRONAS valid for another three months. He knew that he needed to impress and make the Management Committee convince based on solid factual data and analyses, what are best for these international portfolios. He needed provide with proper recommendations and direction for PETRONAS to adopt. to His contract extension could be in jeopardy if he failed to provide the right decision and direction. 2. 0 COMPANY BACKGROUND PETRONAS was a Malaysian national oil and gas company, which was incorporated on August 17, 1974 under the Malaysian Company Act 1965. The Malaysian Petroleum Development Act (PDA), 1974 was passed by the Parliament on October 1, 1974. It placed petroleum development under the portfolio of the Prime Minister. Under the PDA, PETRONAS was vested with the ownership of petroleum resources, and had exclusive rights, power, liberties and privileges of exploring and developing petroleum resources. 2 In return for the ownership and rights, PETRONAS paid royalties to the Federal and State Governments. PETRONAS was given the right to carry out? processing, refining of petroleum and manufacturing of petrochemicals. This act had given PETRONAS the sole right to regulate the petroleum resources in Malaysia and was entrusted to manage the resources for the benefit of the nation. Towards the end of 1976, the first production sharing contracts were signed with three different major oil companies i. e. Sabah Shell, Sarawak Shell and Esso. During the initial years, PETRONAS roles mainly focus on managing and regulating the exploration activities of their contractors to ensure the upstream activities were being well administered and properly managed. Since PETRONAS emergent in 1974, it had developed itself from merely management of petroleum resources to project management and later established itself as the operator in the upstream activities before diversifying its activities and went international. PETRONAS evolution is shown in Figure 1. I n 1984, with the establishment of PETRONAS CARIGALI Sdn Bhd, it became the operating arm in the upstream activities. Later, several strategic studies were carried out by PETRONAS that led to diversification of its activities into oil refining, gas processing and utilization and petrochemical manufacturing and international marketing. To optimize the value and maximize synergy of the natural resources, it had integrated the upstream and downstream activities and transformed PETRONAS into an integrated oil and gas company. In 1994, PETRONAS started to diversify its activities oversea through its operating arm PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd. In 1998, it had expanded the global activities into 15 different countries in the upstream and downstream. PETRONAS global operation had extended to Africa countries, Confederate Independence of Soviet Union (CIS), Middle East and Asia Pacific countries. Some of the Africa countries included Sudan, South Africa (downstream Engen), Libya and Algeria. The investments in CIS were Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. The investment in Middle East countries included Iran, Syria and Iraq (still in negotiation). In the Asia Pacific, 3 the oversea portfolios included Vietnam, Myanmar, China and Australia (both Upstream and downstream). In line with the globalization, PETRONAS had developed a new vision and mission in accordance to its core activities and the company aspiration of becoming a global company of choice. FIGURE 1: PETRONAS EVOLUTION †¢ Project Manager / . Operator + lt; lt; Project Manager I I + I Operator I I I I I I + Integrated Oil Cpmpany _ Petroleum was PETRONAS core business right from finding hydrocarbon up to processing and refining, petrochemical industries, manufacturing and transportation. The organization structure of PETRONAS is shown in Figure 2. Exploration and Production activities encompassed 4 exploration, development and production of petroleum refining resources. Refining activity focussed on the crude oil. Marketing was responsible in marketing, trading and retailing of petroleum products. Gas business was responsible in gas processing and transmission, gas liquefaction and gas utilization such as gas district cooling. The Petrochemical business was responsible for the petrochemical manufacturing and marketing the product. Maritime and logistic business included marine transportation, port management and terminaling and finally the logistic activities. FIGURE 2 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF PETRONAS . .. BOARD AUDIT r. ()MMITT .. . M ANAGEMENT r. ()MMITT MARKETING BUSINESS CORPORATE PLANNING DEVELOPMENT nlVI? lnN EDUCATION DIVISION FINANCE DIVISION 5 PETROCHEMICAL BUSINESS HUMAN RESOURCE DIVISION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT nlVI? lnN 3. 0 PETRONASs VISION, MISSION AND OBJECTIVES Mission and vision statement is very important to illustrate the organization reason for existence and the direction towards achieving the objectives and goals in the short and long term. PETRONAS had long developed the mission and vision statement. However, in 1995, after its globalization effort, PETRONAS changed its vision statement to incorporate the vision of being a multinational company of choice. Below are discussion on the three elements of PETRONAS undamental principle of its existence and the values system that it adored. 3 . 1 VISION PETRONAS vision was To be A Leading Oil and Gas Multinational Company of Choice. This defined that oil and gas as the core business and emphasized on significance of integrated upstream and downstream activities in adding values to the primary resource. In line with the industry trend in the downstrea m and the relevancy in the value chain, PETRONAS wanted to increase weighting towards gas and petrochemical. It expressed desired to leverage on the core businesses and out-sourced the non-strategic activities and units. PETRONAS has developed strategies where it emphasized on certain business segments, focused on certain geographical locations and leveraged its competitiveness in a certain market segment. In 1994, PETRONAS started its globalization effort to become a global multinational company. Thus a significant proportion of its operations were outside Malaysia and across several countries. Like other multinational company, PETRONAS had to deal and manage with multinationals and multicultural not only in Malaysia but other countries that it was operating. The vision stated that it wanted to be a world class organization, as 6 uch in 1996, the management has undertook business process reengineering to make PETRONAS more competitive internationally. The vision also stressed on being a company of choice and keenly preferred by all stakeholders, consumers and partners. 3. 2 MISSION The PETRONAS mission statement was developed to explain the reasons for its existence, strengthen the vision and articu late the corporate direction in achieving the vision. PETRONAS described its mission statements as follows; WE ARE A BUSINESS ENTITY PETROLEUM IS OUR CORE BUSINESS OUR PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY IS TO DEVELOP AND ADD VALUE TO THIS NATIONAL RESOURCE OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE WELL-BEING OF THE PEOPLE AND THE NATION The mission statement stated that petroleum, which constitute of oil and gas, as being the core business. Petroleum as a natural resource, had to be explored, developed, produced, processed and transformed to consumer products, e. g. gasoline, ethane as feedstock to petrochemical plant and gas for power plant. In this way, PETRONAS could maximized the value chain of this natural resource through synchronizing the upstream activities with the downstream activities. The upstream activities involved exploring and roducing the petroleum whereas the downstream activities involved processing and transformation of the natural resource into other utilities and feedstock to the petrochemical plants. The mission also mentioned that the objective was to contribute 7 toward the well being of the people and the nation. PETRONAS believed that since it was entrusted with the responsibility to develop the natural resources and given the exclusive rights under the PDA, it has the responsibility to protect the well being of the people and the nation whom, it believed, owned the wealth of the natural resources of the country. 3. 3 OBJECTIVES Taking the vision and mission as the foundation of the company direction, PETRONAS Exploration and Production (EP) business unit has developed their specific objectives in order to achieve the Corporates vision and mission. The specific objectives are discussed below. 1. Increase the share or revenues from international operation by 3 0% in year 2005. 2. Creating value to the company at RM 58 billion by year 2005. 3. To acquire 1billion of oil equivalent b y year 2000. 4. Be a leading upstream gas company in South Asia. S. Overall Total Corporate Return (TCR) of top quartile in International EP industry. In achieving the PETRONAS EP objectives some of these strategies were integrated across businesses to synergies and create value chain to the company. In its effort to maximize value creation to the company, PETRONAS had acquired service company alliance to minimize cost of development and strategic partnerships with other companies in its oversea ventures to share the risk. 8 3. 4 PETRONASs VALVES SYSTEM PETRONAS value system was developed to explain the values that the organization advocated and the expectation that the organization has on its employee. There were four values system adopted by PETRONAS. LOYALTY PROFESSIONALISM INTEGRITY COHESIVENESS The word loyalty referred to the staff loyalty to the nation and corporation. A loyal staff maintained high corporate image and would not make derogatory comments about the company and country. The staff would at all time provide constructive criticism within in-house forum, support and participate in ensuring the companys mission, role s, objectives in his or her activities either in-house, outside seminar, talks and social activities. Professionalism in PETRONAS terminology means committed, innovative and proactive an d always striving f or excellence. The staff would maintain correctness and high dignity of behavior in delivering his duty and firm in decision making based on objective assessment of situations in conducting affairs of the company. Integrity means honest and upright. It referred to staff trustworthiness in maintaining all confidentiality of companys affairs and business and put companys interest above personal interest and gains. 9 Cohesiveness means united in purpose and fellowship. Able to work in a team and contribute positively towards a common goal in conducting companys affairs and business with genuine concerns and respect to the people. . 0 PETRONAS ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT Some of the factors that impact the development of an organization include the financial, marketing, operation and management factors. Based on Fortune 500, August 98, in the Petroleum Industry category, PETRONAS has been listed has number 1 in term of return on revenues and return on assets with 28. 4 % and 1 3 . 9% respectively. Its h ad investment in 53 wholly owned companies with 2 1 located overseas and 32 locally, 27 partly owned with one in oversea and 30 associated companies with 1 1 located oversea. The mode of decision making was made centralized with specific business units had their own business committee chaired by the respective vise president. The organization decision-makings and guiding policies were made through Management Committee meeting and Board meeting. Members represented the Management Committee were mainly from the various heads of business units. The Board Members comprised of member from the senior management and Government representatives. The Exploration and Production (E P) business unit was responsible of the upstream activities. Petroleum Management Unit, which was part of the holding company, was responsible of managing the domestic petroleum operation and supervising the implementation of Production Sharing Contracts signed between PETRONAS and the contractors. 10 PETRONAS Carigali Sdn. Bhd. (PCSB) under the EP business units was the subsidiary of PETRONAS and was the operating arm of PETRONAS in the upstream sector. It has domestic assets as well as international assets. The international assets were being managed by wholly owned international subsidiaries headed by the country managers. Petroleum free essay sample Names and events happened in this publication has been disguised and any similarity found is mere coincidence. Information found in this publication must be treated as HIGHL Y CONFIDENTIAL and shall be for the purpose of fulfillment of this MBA program. No references and reproduction of any parts of this publication shall be made without prior knowledge and approval from the author. Views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors opinion and not to be construed as the views of PETRONAS, nor PETRONAS in any way responsible for the content thereof. AHMAD HUSSAIN No Matrik : OS01390 16 September, 1999 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I t is both my pleasure and obligation to acknowledge generous people who have provided me with the guidance and inspired me to make this happen. Special thanks to the lecturers who have thought me during the night classes and member of my family for their continuos support. Without their support and courage, completing this MBA program would have been difficult, if not impossible. We will write a custom essay sample on Petroleum or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I wish to express my gratitude to the following people for their kind assistance in this MBA p rogram and the case dissertation. Although much of my appreciation has been expressed, I wish to express my sincere thanks to Tuan Hj. Yaakob Ibrahim, the MBA coordinator for making this a reality to me. I want to acknowledge my special appreciation to Associate Professor Dr. Zainal Abidin Mohamed, who is my project case supervisor, for his continuos support in completing this case dissertation. It is truly impossible to express my feeling of gratitude in mere words. My friends and fellow colleagues in the MBA program, thank you for being a good teammates and shared my problems throughout this study. Your assistance, ideas and criticism are treasured in my heart. Never can I forget my family for being instrumental, cherish, motivating and more importantly for their patience throughout this course. To them I remain grateful and nor can I ignore them from my memory. I would never have been able to complete this MBA program and the case dissertation when I did if ever at all. II DEDICATED TO My Wife Norfishah bt Ab Wahab My Children Mohammad Fakhri Mohammad Fakhrullah Mohammad Fakhrusysyakirin Fathin My Parent Tuan Hj. Hussain Tamysa Hajjah Rokiah Bt Harun III Abstract PETRONAS vision was To be A Leading Oil and Gas Multinational Company of Choice and it stated the globalization effort in 1994. PETRONAS global operation had extended to Africa countries, Confederate Independence of Soviet Union (CIS), Middle East and Asia Pacific countries. Some of the Africa countries included Sudan, South Africa (downstream Engen), Libya and Algeria. The investments in CIS were Turkmenistan and Kazarkstan. The investment in Middle East countries included Iran, Syria and Iraq. In the Asia Pacific, the oversea portfolios extended to Vietnam, Mynmar, China and Australia (both Upstream and downstream). The oversea upstream activities were undertaken by its subsidiary PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd (PCSB) through its oversea subsidiary companies. When PETRONAS started its globalization efforts, the environmental factors were very much favorable. However, in 1 997 and 1998 there were adverse changed in these environmental factors and had affected PETRONAS globalization efforts. Some of these factors were the regional and world economic turmoil, regional financial and currency devaluation, slower economic growth, low demand of oil and gas, lower oil and gas price and lower prospectivity and commerciality of the oil and gas projects. This case study evaluated PETRONAS strategic position and the impact on the international portfolios and made recommendation relating to these strategic issues. This case study analyzed the environmental factors influencing the company future direction through the used of the SWOT analysis and determined the strategic thrust to comprehend the SWOT analysis. This study assessed analytically, through the used of SPACE, the future company direction and evaluated the oversea portfolios to determine the portfolios growth opportunities and provide the decision as to whether these portfolios should be retained, partnered or divested. IV Abstrak Visi PETRONAS adalah Menjadi Syarikat Minyak dan Gas Antarabangsa Yang Terulung dan Terpilih dan ia telah memulakan usaha globalisasi pada tahun 1994. Usahanya ke arah globalisasi telah menjangkau ke negara-negara di Afrika, Confederate Independence of Soviet Union (CIS), Asia Tengah dan Asia Pasifik. Negara-negara di Afrika adalah termasuk Sudan, Afrika Selatan (operasi hiliran Engen), Libya and Algeria. merangkumi negara-negara seperti Turkmenistan and Kazarkstan. Pelaburan di CIS Manakala pelaburan di Asia Tengah menjangkau ke negara-negara Iran, Syria and Irak. However, in the exploration and production business, the risk is very high. Base on our limited data and information then, it was the best decision. However, I agreed that there is a need to reassess our projects and to decide whether to retain the projects or divest in some. We will reevaluate the project feasibility and carry out the portfolio analyses to determine which are the portfolios that can be retained and those that need to be divested. We will advise the board for the next course of action. The tense and dilemma were immensed on Dato Mohd Idris Mansor. He needed to know what were the situations, what adverse environmental changed occurred and the surrounding forces governing these assets. Was the political in the country, in which PETRONAS had invested, permitted a good investment climate? What impact did the global economy have on the projects prospectivity. What would the future scenarios be? Could the vision, mission and objective of the company be met? Should PETRONAS continue to aggressively expand the international operations, what should be done to the existing international portfolios and what should PETRONAS future direction be? His contract with PETRONAS valid for another three months. He knew that he needed to impress and make the Management Committee convince based on solid factual data and analyses, what are best for these international portfolios. He needed provide with proper recommendations and direction for PETRONAS to adopt. to His contract extension could be in jeopardy if he failed to provide the right decision and direction. 2. 0 COMPANY BACKGROUND PETRONAS was a Malaysian national oil and gas company, which was incorporated on August 17, 1974 under the Malaysian Company Act 1965. The Malaysian Petroleum Development Act (PDA), 1974 was passed by the Parliament on October 1, 1974. It placed petroleum development under the portfolio of the Prime Minister. Under the PDA, PETRONAS was vested with the ownership of petroleum resources, and had exclusive rights, power, liberties and privileges of exploring and developing petroleum resources. 2 In return for the ownership and rights, PETRONAS paid royalties to the Federal and State Governments. PETRONAS was given the right to carry out? processing, refining of petroleum and manufacturing of petrochemicals. This act had given PETRONAS the sole right to regulate the petroleum resources in Malaysia and was entrusted to manage the resources for the benefit of the nation. Towards the end of 1976, the first production sharing contracts were signed with three different major oil companies i. e. Sabah Shell, Sarawak Shell and Esso. During the initial years, PETRONAS roles mainly focus on managing and regulating the exploration activities of their contractors to ensure the upstream activities were being well administered and properly managed. Since PETRONAS emergent in 1974, it had developed itself from merely management of petroleum resources to project management and later established itself as the operator in the upstream activities before diversifying its activities and went international. PETRONAS evolution is shown in Figure 1. I n 1984, with the establishment of PETRONAS CARIGALI Sdn Bhd, it became the operating arm in the upstream activities. Later, several strategic studies were carried out by PETRONAS that led to diversification of its activities into oil refining, gas processing and utilization and petrochemical manufacturing and international marketing. To optimize the value and maximize synergy of the natural resources, it had integrated the upstream and downstream activities and transformed PETRONAS into an integrated oil and gas company. In 1994, PETRONAS started to diversify its activities oversea through its operating arm PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd. In 1998, it had expanded the global activities into 15 different countries in the upstream and downstream. PETRONAS global operation had extended to Africa countries, Confederate Independence of Soviet Union (CIS), Middle East and Asia Pacific countries. Some of the Africa countries included Sudan, South Africa (downstream Engen), Libya and Algeria. The investments in CIS were Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. The investment in Middle East countries included Iran, Syria and Iraq (still in negotiation). In the Asia Pacific, 3 the oversea portfolios included Vietnam, Myanmar, China and Australia (both Upstream and downstream). In line with the globalization, PETRONAS had developed a new vision and mission in accordance to its core activities and the company aspiration of becoming a global company of choice. FIGURE 1: PETRONAS EVOLUTION †¢ Project Manager / . Operator + lt; lt; Project Manager I I + I Operator I I I I I I + Integrated Oil Cpmpany _ Petroleum was PETRONAS core business right from finding hydrocarbon up to processing and refining, petrochemical industries, manufacturing and transportation. The organization structure of PETRONAS is shown in Figure 2. Exploration and Production activities encompassed 4 exploration, development and production of petroleum refining resources. Refining activity focussed on the crude oil. Marketing was responsible in marketing, trading and retailing of petroleum products. Gas business was responsible in gas processing and transmission, gas liquefaction and gas utilization such as gas district cooling. The Petrochemical business was responsible for the petrochemical manufacturing and marketing the product. Maritime and logistic business included marine transportation, port management and terminaling and finally the logistic activities. FIGURE 2 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF PETRONAS . .. BOARD AUDIT r. ()MMITT .. . M ANAGEMENT r. ()MMITT MARKETING BUSINESS CORPORATE PLANNING DEVELOPMENT nlVI? lnN EDUCATION DIVISION FINANCE DIVISION 5 PETROCHEMICAL BUSINESS HUMAN RESOURCE DIVISION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT nlVI? lnN 3. 0 PETRONASs VISION, MISSION AND OBJECTIVES Mission and vision statement is very important to illustrate the organization reason for existence and the direction towards achieving the objectives and goals in the short and long term. PETRONAS had long developed the mission and vision statement. However, in 1995, after its globalization effort, PETRONAS changed its vision statement to incorporate the vision of being a multinational company of choice. Below are discussion on the three elements of PETRONAS undamental principle of its existence and the values system that it adored. 3 . 1 VISION PETRONAS vision was To be A Leading Oil and Gas Multinational Company of Choice. This defined that oil and gas as the core business and emphasized on significance of integrated upstream and downstream activities in adding values to the primary resource. In line with the industry trend in the downstrea m and the relevancy in the value chain, PETRONAS wanted to increase weighting towards gas and petrochemical. It expressed desired to leverage on the core businesses and out-sourced the non-strategic activities and units. PETRONAS has developed strategies where it emphasized on certain business segments, focused on certain geographical locations and leveraged its competitiveness in a certain market segment. In 1994, PETRONAS started its globalization effort to become a global multinational company. Thus a significant proportion of its operations were outside Malaysia and across several countries. Like other multinational company, PETRONAS had to deal and manage with multinationals and multicultural not only in Malaysia but other countries that it was operating. The vision stated that it wanted to be a world class organization, as 6 uch in 1996, the management has undertook business process reengineering to make PETRONAS more competitive internationally. The vision also stressed on being a company of choice and keenly preferred by all stakeholders, consumers and partners. 3. 2 MISSION The PETRONAS mission statement was developed to explain the reasons for its existence, strengthen the vision and articu late the corporate direction in achieving the vision. PETRONAS described its mission statements as follows; WE ARE A BUSINESS ENTITY PETROLEUM IS OUR CORE BUSINESS OUR PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY IS TO DEVELOP AND ADD VALUE TO THIS NATIONAL RESOURCE OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE WELL-BEING OF THE PEOPLE AND THE NATION The mission statement stated that petroleum, which constitute of oil and gas, as being the core business. Petroleum as a natural resource, had to be explored, developed, produced, processed and transformed to consumer products, e. g. gasoline, ethane as feedstock to petrochemical plant and gas for power plant. In this way, PETRONAS could maximized the value chain of this natural resource through synchronizing the upstream activities with the downstream activities. The upstream activities involved exploring and roducing the petroleum whereas the downstream activities involved processing and transformation of the natural resource into other utilities and feedstock to the petrochemical plants. The mission also mentioned that the objective was to contribute 7 toward the well being of the people and the nation. PETRONAS believed that since it was entrusted with the responsibility to develop the natural resources and given the exclusive rights under the PDA, it has the responsibility to protect the well being of the people and the nation whom, it believed, owned the wealth of the natural resources of the country. 3. 3 OBJECTIVES Taking the vision and mission as the foundation of the company direction, PETRONAS Exploration and Production (EP) business unit has developed their specific objectives in order to achieve the Corporates vision and mission. The specific objectives are discussed below. 1. Increase the share or revenues from international operation by 3 0% in year 2005. 2. Creating value to the company at RM 58 billion by year 2005. 3. To acquire 1billion of oil equivalent b y year 2000. 4. Be a leading upstream gas company in South Asia. S. Overall Total Corporate Return (TCR) of top quartile in International EP industry. In achieving the PETRONAS EP objectives some of these strategies were integrated across businesses to synergies and create value chain to the company. In its effort to maximize value creation to the company, PETRONAS had acquired service company alliance to minimize cost of development and strategic partnerships with other companies in its oversea ventures to share the risk. 8 3. 4 PETRONASs VALVES SYSTEM PETRONAS value system was developed to explain the values that the organization advocated and the expectation that the organization has on its employee. There were four values system adopted by PETRONAS. LOYALTY PROFESSIONALISM INTEGRITY COHESIVENESS The word loyalty referred to the staff loyalty to the nation and corporation. A loyal staff maintained high corporate image and would not make derogatory comments about the company and country. The staff would at all time provide constructive criticism within in-house forum, support and participate in ensuring the companys mission, role s, objectives in his or her activities either in-house, outside seminar, talks and social activities. Professionalism in PETRONAS terminology means committed, innovative and proactive an d always striving f or excellence. The staff would maintain correctness and high dignity of behavior in delivering his duty and firm in decision making based on objective assessment of situations in conducting affairs of the company. Integrity means honest and upright. It referred to staff trustworthiness in maintaining all confidentiality of companys affairs and business and put companys interest above personal interest and gains. 9 Cohesiveness means united in purpose and fellowship. Able to work in a team and contribute positively towards a common goal in conducting companys affairs and business with genuine concerns and respect to the people. . 0 PETRONAS ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT Some of the factors that impact the development of an organization include the financial, marketing, operation and management factors. Based on Fortune 500, August 98, in the Petroleum Industry category, PETRONAS has been listed has number 1 in term of return on revenues and return on assets with 28. 4 % and 1 3 . 9% respectively. Its h ad investment in 53 wholly owned companies with 2 1 located overseas and 32 locally, 27 partly owned with one in oversea and 30 associated companies with 1 1 located oversea. The mode of decision making was made centralized with specific business units had their own business committee chaired by the respective vise president. The organization decision-makings and guiding policies were made through Management Committee meeting and Board meeting. Members represented the Management Committee were mainly from the various heads of business units. The Board Members comprised of member from the senior management and Government representatives. The Exploration and Production (E P) business unit was responsible of the upstream activities. Petroleum Management Unit, which was part of the holding company, was responsible of managing the domestic petroleum operation and supervising the implementation of Production Sharing Contracts signed between PETRONAS and the contractors. 10 PETRONAS Carigali Sdn. Bhd. (PCSB) under the EP business units was the subsidiary of PETRONAS and was the operating arm of PETRONAS in the upstream sector. It has domestic assets as well as international assets. The international assets were being managed by wholly owned international subsidiaries headed by the country managers.

20 Words Meaning Being or Existing in the Past

20 Words Meaning Being or Existing in the Past 20 Words Meaning Being or Existing in the Past 20 Words Meaning Being or Existing in the Past By Mark Nichol This list features former and eighteen other adjectives (and a prefix) that can be used to refer to a position no longer held or a state no longer active, exclusive of the synonyms for original. 1. antecedent: Though this word is usually seen in noun form, it can also be an adjective, as in â€Å"She wants to answer the antecedent question.† 2. earlier: This comparative of early, like most words on this list, can function as an adjective as well as an adverb; in the former usage, one can say, for example, â€Å"The earlier iteration had many flaws.† 3. erstwhile: This somewhat stuffy, self-conscious synonym for former was originally an adverb, as in â€Å"The two were erstwhile adversarial† but has been in use as an adjective since the early 1900s. The first syllable from this word from Old English is from the superlative for ere (â€Å"before†). 4. ex-: This prefix is attached, nearly always with a hyphen, to a noun to signify that a status is no longer current, as in â€Å"All four living ex-presidents attended the event.† (The exception is when an en dash is used in place of the hyphen to signal that what follows the prefix is an open compound, as in â€Å"All four living ex–vice presidents attended the event.† It might be better, however, just to use former or another alternative.) The prefix, which originally meant â€Å"from† or â€Å"out of† but now has several senses, is also sometimes used as a stand-alone word, especially in reference to a former significant other, as in â€Å"Oh, I saw your ex the other day.† 5. former: This is the default word to describe the sense of something no longer being what it was; it can also be used as the antonym of latter to refer to the first of two things. 6. late: When used on its own to modify a person’s name (â€Å"the late John Smith†), it means that the person is deceased. â€Å"Late of,† however, is an outdated way of saying that someone is no longer associated with something, as in â€Å"Mary Jones, late of Centerville† (meaning that she recently lived there). 7. onetime: This synonym of former (â€Å"Mary Jones is a onetime resident of Centerville†) may also mean â€Å"done or happening one time only†). The word is sometimes hyphenated when the latter meaning is intended. 8. old: Old distinguishes something from something else from an earlier time that was replaced, as in â€Å"I think that the old design looks better.† 9. original: This word can be used in place of former or a synonym to refer to an initial state, as in â€Å"The original plans called for a large entrance.† 10. other: This word occasionally substitutes for former, as in â€Å"In other times, we might not have given it a second thought†; a similar usage is, for example, â€Å"the other day,† referring to a recent day. 11. past: This word is used narrowly in the sense of someone who no longer holds a position, as in â€Å"past president.† 12. precedent: Like the similar word antecedent, this term is usually used as a noun but can function as an adjective, as in â€Å"A precedent event in her life turned out to be a character-defining one.† 13. preceding: Preceding has the same sense as precedent and is used more commonly. 14. preexisting: This word means â€Å"existing in an earlier time.† (Note that the prefix pre- is not attached to the root word with a hyphen.) 15. previous: Previous can mean â€Å"existing before in general† or â€Å"existing immediately before,† depending on whether one writes, for example, â€Å"a previous administration† or â€Å"the previous administration.† 16. prior: This word is identical in meaning to previous, though it is less likely than that word to be used to refer to mean â€Å"immediately previous†; it also has the sense, rarely employed, of â€Å"being more important because it came first.† 17. quondam: This direct borrowing from Latin was originally an adverb and a noun, but those usages are obsolete, and adjectival use is rare and often considered overly formal. 18. sometime: Sometime began as an adverb. Later, it acquired the sense of â€Å"at some future time,† as in â€Å"I’ll see you again sometime,† and finally developed an adjectival sense. 19. then: The adverbial use of this word (â€Å"I’ll go, then†) and its function as a conjunction (â€Å"First, I waved, and then I called out to her†) were followed by the development as an adjective meaning â€Å"being at that time†; it should be used in place of former or most other synonyms to indicate that the state existed during the time being discussed, as in â€Å"In 1968, then California governor Ronald Reagan considered running for president.† (Note that then is not hyphenated to the following word.) 20. whilom: This synonym for former (and formerly) is archaic and rarely used anymore. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:75 Contronyms (Words with Contradictory Meanings)Confused Words #3: Lose, Loose, Loss10 Writing Exercises to Tighten Your Writing

American Indian Movement History and Profile

American Indian Movement History and Profile The American Indian Movement (AIM) started in Minneapolis, Minn., in 1968 amid rising concerns about police brutality, racism, substandard housing and joblessness in Native communities, not to mention long-held concerns about treaties broken by the U.S. government. Founding members of the organization included George Mitchell, Dennis Banks, Eddie Benton Banai, and Clyde Bellecourt, who rallied the Native American community to discuss these concerns. Soon the AIM leadership found itself fighting for tribal sovereignty, restoration of Native lands, preservation of indigenous cultures, quality education and healthcare for Native peoples.​ â€Å"AIM is difficult to identify for some people,† the group states on its website. â€Å"It seems to stand for many things at once- the protection of treaty rights and the preservation of spirituality and culture. But what else? †¦At the 1971 AIM national conference, it was decided that translating policy to practice meant building organizations- schools and housing and employment services. In Minnesota, AIM’s birthplace, that is exactly what was done.† In its early days, AIM occupied abandoned property at a Minneapolis-area naval station to draw attention to the educational needs of Native youth. This led to the organization securing Indian education grants and establishing schools such as the Red School House and the Heart of the Earth Survival School that provided culturally relevant education to indigenous young people. AIM also led to the formation of spin-off groups such as Women of All Red Nations, created to address women’s rights, and the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media, created to address the use of Indian mascots by athletic teams. But AIM is most known for actions such as the Trail of Broken Treaties march, the occupations of Alcatraz and Wounded Knee and the Pine Ridge Shootout. Occupying Alcatraz Native American activists, including AIM members, made international headlines in 1969 when they occupied Alcatraz Island on Nov. 20 to demand justice for indigenous peoples. The occupation would last for more than 18 months, ending on June 11, 1971, when U.S. Marshals recovered it from the last 14 activists who remained there. A diverse group of American Indians- including college students, couples with children and Natives from both reservations and urban areas- participated in the occupation on the island where Native leaders from the Modoc and Hopi nations faced incarceration in the 1800s. Since that time, treatment of indigenous peoples had yet to improve because the federal government had consistently ignored treaties, according to the activists. By bringing attention to the injustices Native Americans suffered, the Alcatraz occupation led government officials to address their concerns. â€Å"Alcatraz was a big enough symbol that for the first time this century Indians were taken seriously,† the late historian Vine Deloria Jr. told Native Peoples Magazine in 1999. Trail of Broken Treaties March AIM members held a march in Washington D.C. and occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in November 1972 to spotlight the concerns the American Indian community had about the federal government’s policies towards indigenous peoples. They presented a 20-point plan to President Richard Nixon about how the government could resolve their concerns, such as restoring treaties, allowing American Indian leaders to address Congress, restoring land to Native peoples, creating a new office of Federal Indian Relations and abolishing the BIA. The march thrust the American Indian Movement into the spotlight. Occupying Wounded Knee On February 27, 1973, AIM leader Russell Means, fellow activists, and Oglala Sioux members began an occupation of the town of Wounded Knee, S.D., to protest corruption in the tribal council, the U.S. government’s failure to honor treaties to Native peoples and strip mining on the reservation. The occupation lasted for 71 days. When the siege came to an end, two people had died and 12 had been injured. A Minnesota court dismissed charges against the activists who participated in the Wounded Knee occupation due to prosecutorial misconduct after an eight-month trial. Occupying Wounded Knee had symbolic overtones, as it was the site where U.S. soldiers killed an estimated 150 Lakota Sioux men, women, and children in 1890. In 1993 and 1998, AIM organized gatherings to commemorate the Wounded Knee occupation. Pine Ridge Shootout Revolutionary activity did not die down on the Pine Ridge Reservation after the Wounded Knee occupation. Oglala Sioux members continued to view its tribal leadership as corrupt and too willing to placate U.S. government agencies such as the BIA. Moreover, AIM members continued to have a strong presence on the reservation. In June 1975, AIM activists were implicated in the murders of two FBI agents. All were acquitted except for Leonard Peltier who was sentenced to life in prison. Since his conviction, there’s been a large public outcry that Peltier is innocent. He and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal are among the most high profile political prisoners in the U.S. Peltier’s case has been covered in documentaries, books, news articles and a music video by the band Rage Against the Machine. AIM Winds Down By the late 1970s, the American Indian Movement began to unravel due to internal conflicts, incarceration of leaders and efforts on the part of government agencies such as the FBI and CIA to infiltrate the group. The national leadership reportedly disbanded in 1978. Local chapters of the group remained active, however. AIM Today The American Indian Movement remains based in Minneapolis with several branches nationwide. The organization prides itself on fighting for the rights of Native peoples outlined in treaties and helping to preserve indigenous traditions and spiritual practices. The organization also has fought for the interests of aboriginal peoples in Canada, Latin America and worldwide. â€Å"At the heart of AIM is deep spirituality and a belief in the connectedness of all Indian people,† the group states on its website. AIM’s perseverance over the years has been trying. Attempts by the federal government to neutralize the group, transitions in leadership and infighting have taken a toll. But the organization states on its website: â€Å"No one, inside or outside the movement, has so far been able to destroy the will and strength of AIM’s solidarity. Men and women, adults and children are continuously urged to stay strong spiritually, and to always remember that the movement is greater than the accomplishments or faults of its leaders.†