The Yanomamo and the Fierce Anthropologist free essay sample

The controversy revolving the tribe of the Yanomamo and the professionals linked to anthropology has caught the world’s attention. Rapid and unforeseeable events have set the tone for the controversy. The study of these Amazonian Indians, who live in regions of the Venezuela and Brazil border, has turned in western exploitation. Accusations about of unethical anthropologist are abundant, but little facts about such accusations are evident. The grand attention that these events have attained has turned into a focus on larger issues in anthropological practices. By comparing the approach and relationships of other research projects, we can identify just ethical standards. Most of the controversy stems from the publications about the Yanomamo tribe by anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon. His 1968 volume Yanomamo: The Fierce People made the tribe famous due to good writing and extensive interaction with one of the most isolated people on the planet. But ultimately, the way that he portrayed them–violent and fierce–is what attracted wide audiences. We will write a custom essay sample on The Yanomamo and the Fierce Anthropologist or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Much of his books and his video productions are centralized around the theme that the Yanomamo have an immutable trait of violence. According to Chagnon, he collected data, interacted with opposing Yanomamo villages, and received testimony to arrive to his findings. His researched was very lucrative; his book sold more than 4 million copies, which is well beyond the average of other ethnographies. He not only gained financial benefits, he began to be praised and attacked by people around the globe. People accused Chagnon of exaggerating the fact that violence is a part of their culture. For instance, French anthropologist Jacques Lizot, who lived with the Yanomamo for more than twenty years, said that violence is periodic; it does not govern their social life for long periods of time. It is worth noting that Lizot was accused of homosexual acts with young Yanomamo and distributing guns. Others, like Kenneth Good, accused Chagnon of sensationalizing violence, which he elaborated in his book, New Yorkers: The Mugging and Murdering People. He explains that just because violence occurs within the Yanomamo, does not mean they should all be generalized as violent. Good also received backlash for his research because he married a young Yanomamo girl, whom he now has three children with. Another compelling argument came from the studies of Brian Ferguson. He identified Chagnon’s representation of violence as a historical situation. He states that there is a spike in violence during contact with Westerners. As it relates to Chagnon, because he brought western manufactured goods, such as steel and iron tools, he disrupted trading relationships, which lead to inter-village violence for the unequal access of those scarce and desired tools. Among all the accusers, journalist Patrick Tierney gave the controversy the most attention. Tierney’s book, Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientist and Journalist Devastated the Amazon, explored the affects of Yanomamo’s exposure to the outside world. Published in 2000, the book accuses Chagnon of misrepresenting the Yanomamo as fierce people, being responsible for warfare by interrupting trading relationships, staging film scenes, fabricating data, giving unsupported claims of being the first to contact with the Yanomamo, violating Venezuelan law, and overall unethical practices. The next set of accusations involves geneticist James Neel, who joined Chagnon in the fieldwork of the Yanomamo in 1968. He accuses Neel of helping the measles epidemic worsen because he provided outdated vaccines and misadvised the Yanomamo, which resulted in the deaths of thousands. Many of these accusations were prevalent since Chagnon’s work in the 1960’s, but Tierney’s publication brought them together for mainstream audiences. Subsequently, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) was compelled to launch an investigation on the controversy. After investigating the abundant accusations, the AAA exonerated Neel from worsening or causing the measles epidemic, found insufficient evidence to charge Chagnon with all of Tierney’s accusation, but did find that he did not have the Yanomamo’s best interest in mind. It is undisputed that this controversy is repelling. Even if all of the accusations were false, the mere accusations show that ethical standards were broken. Surprisingly, the controversy does reap some positive consequences; it encourages personnel–within and outside the field–to consider the appropriate standards that anthropologist should be held to. Ethical questions arise, such as: how an anthropologist explains and gains consent from the targeted group, what is just compensation, or the dynamics and limits of ‘doing no harm’ to the subjects. The unbalance of power between the anthropologist from developed societies and their isolated subjects is a relationship that needs to be treated with delicacy to avoid exploitation. We can compare the relationship that researcher and filmmaker John Marshall had with the Juhoansi people of the Kalahari Desert for ethical analysis. John Marshall first went to the Kalahari in 1950 and researched the Juhoansi for fifty years thereafter. His relationship with the Juhoansi was one of friendships. He, alike other anthropologist, compensated the Juhoansi for their cooperation with western goods, but he did not stop there. During one of Marshall’s visits, he found the Juhoansi living in government settlements, which provided food relief and low wage jobs, but also inflicted alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and the lack of independence. In the late 1970’s, Marshall began to advocate for more water access and agricultural opportunity from the government. Because there was such a significant interruption to the traditional way of Juhoansi life, desired changes beset different challenges. Marshall justly compensated the Juhoansi and kept their best interest in mind to avoid causing harm to them. The latter characteristic is one that is of greatest importance because harm can come in direct and indirect ways that are temporary or permanent. The American Anthropological Association standard, labeled the ‘do no harm’ rule, is one that anthropologist often have little ability to prevent. At bare minimum, anthropologists almost always interrupt a group’s way of life when doing research and compensating with goods that are scarce to their environments. Interruptions in general, require adjustment and adaption, and when dealing with groups that have customs and traditions that have not changed for possibly hundreds of years, those adjustments are problematic and often prove to be vitally harmful. For instance, Chagnon’s and other Yanomamo researchers brought western goods and weapons into their community, which created an interruption in trading and likely contributed to their state of warfare. Further, John Marshall also unintentionally created a significant interruption when his tire tracks that he created during his visits facilitated the contact with government entities, which ultimately changed most of the Juhoansi traditional ways of life. The difference between the two examples is that Marshall actually returned and improved their situation by advocating to their interests. Chagnon not only used more coercive techniques in gaining cooperation, there is also no trace of tangible efforts made to improve the harm he contributed to in the Yanomamo community. If the AAA standards were altered to ‘do not harm only while researching’ or compensate for cooperation, little ethical analysis would be needed, but that is not the case. Doing no harm to the group is indefinite and needs to be examined even after research is complete. Additionally, a â€Å"just† amount of compensation means that it needs to be fair, not just in the context of the region researched, but also that of the western entities benefiting from it; i. e. ten machetes given to the Yanomamo for an ethnography research is not equivalent $500k and advancement in the anthropologist respective career. Alike the Yanomamo, the Juhoansi continue to face challenges due to outside interference. However, their interference mostly comes form governmental entities, and the Juhoansi have been assisted by Marshall and treated ethically by other anthropologists, like Richard Lee. On the other hand, the Yanomamo face problems from miners camping in their territories, destruction of the environment by mining and other outside forces, along with other governmental issues, but it is also clear that the Yanomamo have been significantly exploited by the western world. This could be because of the lack of oversight and/or due to little ethical standards. In any case, these unfortunate chain of events should serve a greater purpose to the ethical standards of practicing anthropologist and aspiring students.

Confidence Interval for the Difference of Two Population Proportions

Confidence Interval for the Difference of Two Population Proportions Confidence intervals are one part of inferential statistics.   The basic idea behind this topic is to estimate the value of an unknown population  parameter by using a statistical sample.   We can not only estimate the value of a parameter, but we can also adapt our methods to estimate the difference between two related parameters.   For example we may want to find the difference in the percentage of the male U.S. voting population who supports a particular piece of legislation compared to the female voting population. We will see how to do this type of calculation by constructing a confidence interval for the difference of two population proportions.   In the process we will examine some of the theory behind this calculation.   We will see some similarities in how we construct a confidence interval for a single population proportion as well as a confidence interval for the difference of two population means. Generalities Before looking at the specific formula that we will use, lets consider the overall framework that this type of confidence interval fits into.   The form of the type of confidence interval that we will look at is given by the following formula: Estimate /- Margin of Error Many confidence intervals are of this type. There are two numbers that we need to calculate.   The first of these values is the estimate for the parameter.   The second value is the margin of error.   This margin of error accounts for the fact that we do have an estimate.   The confidence interval provides us with a range of possible values for our unknown parameter. Conditions We should make sure that all of the conditions are satisfied before doing any calculation. To find a confidence interval for the difference of two population proportions, we need to make sure that the following hold: We have two simple random samples from large populations.   Here large means that the population is at least 20 times larger than the size of the sample. The sample sizes will be denoted by n1 and n2.Our individuals have been chosen independently of one another.There are at least ten successes and ten failures in each of our samples. If the last item in the list is not satisfied, then there may be a way around this.   We can modify the plus-four confidence interval construction and obtain robust results.   As we go forward we assume that all of the above conditions have been met. Samples and Population Proportions Now we are ready to construct our confidence interval.   We start with the estimate for the difference between our population proportions. Both of these population proportions are estimated by a sample proportion.   These sample proportions are statistics that are found by dividing the number of successes in each sample, and then dividing by the respective sample size. The first population proportion is denoted by p1.   If the number of successes in our sample from this population is k1, then we have a sample proportion of k1 / n1. We denote this statistic by  pÌ‚1.   We read this symbol as p1-hat because it looks like the symbol p1 with a hat on top. In a similar way we can calculate a sample proportion from our second population.   The parameter from this population is p2.   If the number of successes in our sample from this population is k2, and our sample proportion is   pÌ‚2 k2 / n2. These two statistics become the first part of our confidence interval. The estimate of p1 is pÌ‚1.   The estimate of p2 is pÌ‚2.   So the estimate for the difference p1 - p2 is pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2. Sampling Distribution of the Difference of Sample Proportions Next we need to obtain the formula for the margin of error.   To do this we will first consider the   sampling distribution of   pÌ‚1  . This is a binomial distribution with probability of success p1 and  n1 trials. The mean of this distribution is the proportion p1.   The standard deviation of this type of random variable has variance of p1  (1 - p1  )/n1. The sampling distribution of pÌ‚2 is similar to that of pÌ‚1  .   Simply change all of the indices from 1 to 2 and we have a binomial distribution with mean of p2 and variance of p2 (1 - p2 )/n2. We now need a few results from mathematical statistics in order to determine the sampling distribution of pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2.   The mean of this distribution is p1 - p2.   Due to the fact that the variances add together, we see that the variance of the sampling distribution is p1  (1 - p1  )/n1 p2 (1 - p2 )/n2.   The standard deviation of the distribution is the square root of this formula. There are a couple of adjustments that we need to make.   The first is that the formula for the standard deviation of pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2 uses the unknown parameters of p1 and p2.   Of course if we really knew these values, then it would not be an interesting statistical problem at all.   We would not need to estimate the difference between p1 and  p2..   Instead we could simply calculate the exact difference. This problem can be fixed by calculating a standard error rather than a standard deviation.   All that we need to do is to replace the population proportions by sample proportions.   Standard errors are calculated from upon statistics instead of parameters. A standard error is useful because it effectively estimates a   standard deviation.   What this means for us is that we no longer need to know the value of the parameters p1 and p2.   .Since these sample proportions are known, the standard error is given by the square root of the following expression: pÌ‚1 (1 -  pÌ‚1 )/n1   pÌ‚2 (1 -  pÌ‚2 )/n2. The second item that we need to address is the particular form of our sampling distribution.   It turns out that we can use a normal distribution to approximate the sampling distribution of  pÌ‚1  - pÌ‚2.   The reason for this is somewhat technical, but is outlined in the next paragraph.   Both   pÌ‚1 and   pÌ‚2   have a sampling distribution that is binomial.   Each of these binomial distributions may be approximated quite well by a normal distribution.   Thus pÌ‚1  - pÌ‚2 is a random variable.   It is formed as a linear combination of two random variables.   Each of these are approximated by a normal distribution.   Therefore the sampling distribution of pÌ‚1  - pÌ‚2 is also normally distributed. Confidence Interval Formula We now have everything we need to assemble our confidence interval.   The estimate is (pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2) and the margin of error is z* [ pÌ‚1 (1 -  pÌ‚1 )/n1   pÌ‚2 (1 -  pÌ‚2 )/n2.]0.5.   The value that we enter for z* is dictated by the level of confidence C.  Ã‚  Commonly used values for z* are 1.645 for 90% confidence and 1.96 for 95% confidence.   These values for  z* denote the portion of the standard normal distribution where exactly  C percent of the distribution is between -z* and z*.   The following formula gives us a confidence interval for the difference of two population proportions: (pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2) /- z* [ pÌ‚1 (1 -  pÌ‚1 )/n1   pÌ‚2 (1 -  pÌ‚2 )/n2.]0.5

2014 news on inflation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

2014 news on inflation - Essay Example As a result, the cost of food, non-alcoholic drinks, and petrol declined. The statistic is still under expectation to fall to 1% towards the end of 2014. The fall in inflation has been good news for households since the prices of commodities were higher than the average income of individuals since the financial crisis. Initially, most of the families were not able to buy commodities due to the low income with a rising inflation in the UK. Also, the news in the article unveils to the consumers that their price indices were able to drop by 0.1% from 1.6%. In addition, the news suggests that the Retail Prices Index was able to drop from 2.5% to 2.4% as from the beginning of 2014 (BBC News). In conclusion, I have learnt few lessons from the news. I have learnt that the annual rate of inflation tells us the changes in the cost of living. I have also learnt that the Retail Prices and Consumer Prices Indices are the main measures of inflation in the country. Lastly, I have learnt that inflation can only be controlled by the Central Bank. Thus, the Central Bank determines the rate of inflation in the

Social policy approaches associated with need, risk and rights Essay

Social policy approaches associated with need, risk and rights - Essay Example The CYF operates under the Public Finance Act 1989 while its responsibilities are formed under other related legislation. The CYF was formed in 1999 to protect the rights of children and to improve outcomes for children and youth at risk. It ensures the delivery of efficient social services along with assisting and supporting the children at risk. It is responsible for ensuring safety to children and young people who have been harmed or offended or are at the risk of being harmed. They do this by the provision of specialist and rehabilitative services. Child, Youth and Family Services help to improve the wellbeing of defenseless and exposed children. It also works for young people exposed to similar risks. Child, Youth and Family services working either in association with other departments or alone funds a number of community-based services. CYF has agreements with a range of Maori, Pacific and community service providers. The department of Child, Youth and Family Services helps the Government to fight child abuse especially for children present in foster care or orphan children who are adopted. The department provides adoption services and keeps a regular check on the foster care and the homes where the adopted children are present. The department works to provide information and education to such children in order promote public awareness of child abuse and degree of neglect in them so that they can differentiate between love and abuse. Along with education, the department puts emphasis on legal care and protection and provides youth justice services children and young people and their families. It helps in development and funding of the required community services for the children and youth at risk. It gives policy advice and services to the Minister of Social Development and Employment and the Government. The Department’s social work is based mainly on the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 some of the most far-sighted and innovati ve legislation. This Act emphasizes the role and responsibilities of families and communities and provides for family decision-making through legal processes known as the family group conferences. The department of Child, Youth and Family Services also works under the legislations of the Adoption Act 1955, Adult Adoption Information Act 1085, Adoption (Intercountry) Act 1997, Guardianship Act 1968 and The Social Worker Registration Act 2003. The Social Worker Registration Act 2003 was introduced and passed into law on 9 April 2003. The main purpose of the Act is to improve the efficiency of social work in New Zealand. A social worker who wants to become registered under the Act, is required to have qualification of social work, and needs to pass social work competency assessment. The Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 believes and operates on the principle that the primary role in providing care and protecting a child or young person is the responsibility of the chi ld’s or young person’s family, Whanau, hapu, iwi and family group. It is only when the children are not safe or are at risk of being harmed or offended then according to the principles of the act the children should be placed in family like settings where they develop a sense of belonging while their personal and cultural identity are maintained. When the children are given for adoption, the department of Children, Youth and Family services prefer families who are

Kant Ethics Essay Example for Free

Kant Ethics Essay Introduction Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher born in 1724 and died in 1804. He is considered one of the most influential people on modern philosophy for his intensive research in the subject. This paper will discuss various articles written by Kant and analyze his thoughts on deeds that are right and deeds that are morally wrong. It will finally discuss importance of motives and duty of morality as illustrated by Kant’s work. Discussion Kant believed that there is no good that can emerge from the world apart from a good will (Kant, 1998). He said that without good will, qualities that are good and desirable become useless. This is because the person yielding these qualities may at times lack the fundamental will to implement and portray them. He called this lack of good will as bad character. He continued to say that when good will is not present, then Power, honor, health and the overall welfare, contentment and happiness will usually mess with the mind of the person and they will start pretending and believing lies created in their mind. Good will, according to Kant, can be facilitated by application of various qualities. However, these qualities may have no inherent absolute value, but constantly presume a good will, which succeeds the esteem that we simply have for them, not permitting us to consider them as extremely good. He attempted to identify the primary maxims of motives, which people are required to achieve. Kant did not base his opinions on claims about any subjective perception of the good, preferences, moral beliefs or regularly shared desires that people may have. Kant also recognized good will as the only absolute good; he refused to accept that the notion of good will could be established by referring to a tangible good. He believed that nothing could be a moral principle, if it was not initially a principle for everyone. According to Kant, morality starts with the denial of non-globalized principles. This idea was devised as a demand, which Kant termed as the Moral Law. He grouped the maxims in a manner that mediators could refer as â€Å"acting on the only adage that one can, and likewise will, just like an international law†. To clarify the point, Kant gave an example of an agent who gives false promises. He adds to this by saying that the agent’s action in this case does not fit to be termed as an international law. He explains that if the agent was hypothetical, then he would take part in the final outcome and this would make him stop his behavior of giving false promises (Kant, 2009). It is therefore clear that the principle of giving false promises cannot be categorized under universally shared principles. According to Kant, the principle of repudiating false promises is vital and the maxim of giving false morally forbidden. Kant is different from many utilitarian’s who regard false promises as wrong due to their adverse effects. He considers this principle as wrong since it cannot be used internationally. Kant identified two ethical modes of assessment, one of them being the fact that human beings have a high probability of evaluating the maxims adopted by agents. He asserted that if human beings had the capacity of evaluating such maxims, then principles with moral worth would come into being, since humans could decline immoral principles. He stated, â€Å"Those who accept principles that are not universal, have principles that are morally unworthy†. He considered those holding morally worth policies as working out of duty and said that human beings lack knowledge concerning the maxims of one another. Kant added to this by saying that people usually deduce the underlying principles or maxims of agents from the pattern of their actions, though no pattern identifies a unique principle. He gave the example of a genuinely honest shopkeeper by saying that his actions are not different from those of a shopkeeper who is reluctantly honest. Kant said that both shopkeepers deal justly out of an aspiration for a good reputation in business and would cheat if given the opportunity. Thus for common reasons, human beings usually do more than is of their concern with outer compliance to principles of duty, instead of paying attention to claims that an action was done out of such a principle. Kant discussed the relationship between principles of morality and people’s real inclinations and desires (Mac Intyre, 1981). He built the political insinuations of Categorical Imperative, which consists of constitution of the republic and value for freedom, particularly of speech and religion. He linked this with individual happiness which according to him can indirectly be viewed as an obligation. This is because one’s dissatisfaction with the wants of another might turn out to be a great lure to the wrongdoing of duty (O’Neill, 1991). He viewed this from another perspective and claimed that most men possess the strongest tendency to happiness. At this point, Kant gave the example of a gouty patient, who can make a choice of what he likes, and endure whatever suffering that comes with it. If he does this, he does not forego enjoying the present time to a probably wrong expectation of happiness believed to be experienced in good health (Kant, 1994). Kant states that, â€Å"an action from duty has its moral worth not in the aim that is supposed to be attained by it, but rather in the maxim in accordance with which it is resolved upon; thus that worth depends not on the actuality of the object of the action but merely on the principle of the volition† (ONeill, 1991). The moral worth of a deed does not lie in the result anticipated from it, nor in the action or maxim which needs to make use of its intention from the expected result. In relation to the discussed effects, the endorsement of other people’s happiness could be caused by other reasons (Beck, 1960). Conclusion Significance of motives and the role of duty in morality Motives can either be of good or bad intentions. They often influence one’s roles of duty. The morality of duty is relative to the law and is therefore compared to the morality of religion. It, therefore, does not criticize man for not making full use of his life or by not doing good. He states that, â€Å"There is nothing possible to think of anywhere in the world, or indeed anything at all outside it, that can be held to be good without limitation, excepting only a good will† (ONeill, 1991). Instead, it criticizes man for not respecting the fundamental principles and necessities required in life. A good example is the moral rule that man should not kill, since this does not have much to do with aspiration but the recognition that if one kills, he has not realized his duty of morality. I do not agree with Kant on the importance of motives and the role of duty in morality. This is because Kant only points out principles of ethics, but the same principles are so abstract that they can’t guide motives. Thus, his theory of the role of duty in morality is not motivating. He does not also give a full set of instructions to be followed. Kant lays emphasis on the appliance of maxims to cases that involve deliberation and judgment. He does insist that maxims must be abstract which can only guide individual decisions. The moral life is all about finding ways of good motives that meet all the obligations and breach no moral prohibitions. There is no procedure for identifying any motives. However, the role of duty in morality begins by ensuring that the precise acts that people bear in mind are not in line with deeds on principles of duty. References Beck, L. W. (1960). A Commentary on Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kant, I. (1998). Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kant, I. (2009). Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals. London: Thomas Kings mill Abbot. Kant, I. (1994). On a Supposed Right to Lie from Altruistic Motives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ONeill, O. (1991). Kantian Ethics. In A Companion to Ethics. Blackwell: Oxford. MacIntyre, A. (1981). After Virtue. London: Duckworth.

Ralph Ellison’s Prologue to the Invisible Man Essay -- Ralph Ellison P

Ralph Ellison’s Prologue to the Invisible Man The Invisible Man is not a story of things that go bump in the night, but of those in society who people refuse to â€Å"see†. The essay was written by Ralph Ellison, an African American writer of the 20th century, whose stories tended to focus on racial issues. The main character of this story’s prologue is anonymous and unseen. He resides in a basement and lives off stolen energy in Harlem New York. Throughout the essay it is hard to determine whether he prefers to be this way or not, but he does describe that he loves light and warmth. He is a character that most audiences can easily feel sympathetic for. Although the essay is a narrative story, on a more critical level it tells of the flaws of society, and how some people go unnoticed and unloved. It is also tells of the power and will of human spirit. Ralph Ellison’s Prologue to the Invisible Man is an effective essay because audiences can easily relate to it through its use of informal tone, subje ctive point of view, and its appeals to pathos. With the use of informal tone Ellison is able to relate the story to the audience better. The prologue is written in the first person, everything in the essay is being told from the storyteller’s point of view. This makes the reader feel as though the character is personally talking to them and telling of the events. Ellison also personally addresses the reader as â€Å"you† this also enables the audience to relate to the story. One particular quote form the story that was very effective was â€Å"You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you’re a part of all the sound and anguish.† It as though Ellison was truly talking with his audience in ... ...n so emotionally, readers are able to easily associate themselves with it, and this allows the message of the paper to convey itself to the audience. Ralph Ellison’s â€Å"Prologue from The Invisible Man† is a very successful and effective essay. By reading this it is possible to tell that Ralph Ellison is someone who may have first-handedly experience racism and unjust experiences. His essay tells of the negative aspects of society to generally overlook certain people of different races. However, on a more positive note, it also tells of the strength and everlasting hope of the human spirit. This text does indeed raise important issues and concepts to an audience. Due to its appeals to pathos, use of informal language, and subjective point of view, audiences are able to relate to Ralph Ellison’s Prologue to the Invisible Man, making it a successful essay.

Case Summary: Owens & Minor, Inc.

Minor did not want to pass up. This case explains the strategy Balderdash and his team approached to attain the bold with Ideal. The year prior to the bid, O&M was struggling to contain Its costs while trying to understand the profitability of their customers and services. By the end of 1995 the company had encountered an $1 1 knew that he needed to reevaluate the company's costing and pricing methods If they wanted to even be considered in winning the Ideal contract. Palavered and the team were concerned with their current cost-plus pricing method.Cost-plus signified that the customer paid a base manufacturer price plus a mark-up added on by the distributor. This allowed for drawbacks like customers engaging in â€Å"cherry-picking† and only enabling the distributors to manage low-margin, inexpensive products. This method also tied O's fee to the value of the product rather than the value of the service. The complexity of the pricing structure made it difficult for purchasing manager to track actual product costs or compare quotes from competing manufacturers and distributors.The company did more than what was being paid for. Their tasks included: Own and manage the inventory for the manufacturer Take on the financial risk associated with the function of managing the inventory flow to the hospitals Care for product returns Carry the receivables (cash flow issues due to long payment terms of customers) Carry and manage most of the inventory for the hospitals (stockpiles at times) Track and verify â€Å"customer prices for contracted product purchases† and â€Å"monitor agreements between end-users and manufacturers†.Owens & Minor creates a clear value-add for both manufacturers and suppliers. O&M takes the full responsibility for all parts of selling a product. On the other hand customers don't want to buy and own products before they are ready to use It. Thus O also enables them to achieve more efficient structures, while reducing addition al costs related to managing efficiently. The best decision for this company Is to follow activity based costing and develop that Into activity based pricing.Customers were requesting efferent types of services such as products to be packaged In smaller units and having stockpiles programs. Valves and his tea hoped that activity-based pricing system would align fees with services, reliving O of the burden of unprofitable customers. Using the BBC method would enable the company to evaluate their cost drivers and make efficient decisions based on that data. Although, Palavered and his team submitted a flexible plan where they offered to use both pricing methods, it method proving that they can be leaders in changing the market.